Sick from a Sharpie pen?

Question

I don't get it! I was planning on going to a friend's birthday party and for her present, i brought a (new) pillow to school and had all of our friends sign it and. But i didn't really take in account for the smell and for that day i had the worst headache possible and according to my friend, was a little bit high, apparently.

well, that was two days ago and i already aired out the pillow so that the sharpie smell was completely gone, but the next day/yesterday, i had a sore throat and i was sneezing all over the place. my chemistry teacher said that sharpies like melted the mucous in your throat or something but i didn't really think much of it. and now i have a sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, slight headache, and basically have all of the symptoms of a cold or fever.

through that, i'd have to say yes, it's true, but i still don't want to be too quick on deciding that. so is it true? can you really get a cold from inhaling sharpie pens, and if so, what do i do now? =[[

Answer 1

You don't have a cold.



Most likely, you are having an allergic reaction to the sharpie. The fumes can make you "high" too. It's not good for you to inhale sharpie fumes, so I suggest not using them very often.

Answer 2

Unless someone colored the whole pillow in Sharpie, I don't think you could have been exposed enough judging by your description of the contact you had with it, to be high or damaged by it.



You've probably just got a cold.



However, if you had been deliberately inhaling the Sharpie, the fume headache and soreness would fit with what's usually experienced after abusing solvents. It'll go away. As long as the headache has cleared and you have not done any permanent damage to your brain, the other effects will get better in a couple of days.

Answer 3

no, you cant get a cold from a sharpie, but when you're using it try hardest not to inhale fumes, they can cause bad headaches, and you lose a lot of brain cells, also if you inhale it too much you will ruin your sense of smell

Answer 4

you cant get a cold from a sharpie pen- you need the cold germ to get the cold symptoms



you can have a allergic reaction to it and can get high off the fumes



I think you were just unlucky enough to encounter the cold germs from someone around the same time you had your reaction