Close any intervening doors if you can.

Open a window, no matter how cold.  Even a couple inches of fresh air can help.

Set up a fan directing the airflow away from you and towards those who are not affected.

Do your best to go for a walk on any break times.

Document this.

I am sorry - that SUCKS.

Good thoughts.  I am paint fume (fume in general) sensitive, my sympathies.  

Thanks - I have my own office but it's internal so no outside facing windows.  I tried shutting my door but it must be the way the ventilation runs but it made it worse.  

I have a couple of things to do in the factory so I'm going to head out there for a while and if still horrible I'll have to camp in the conference room all day with laptop since at least I can open a window there.  I can't believe how fast and how hard this hit me...I don't think of myself as having chemical sensitivities, but there are some that are instant migraine triggers - but this is a migraine and then some.  The only thing I react this badly to is hot tar - no lead up just a whiff and like being stabbed in the head.

Thanks for saying that it sucks...I know it sounds stupid but that actually made me feel a lot better that it's not just me being a baby - this is a real thing and it does suck.  

You are NOT being a baby.

A major issue with my employer (with whom I have parted company) is that when they devised the new heating system, they placed the intake at the front of the building, right near where people (illegally) congregated to smoke.

I could often tell smokers were out there within minutes - as in, we could go out and speak to them because it happened that quickly.

I don't think of it as chemical sensitivity either (that was part of the argument) but however it is described, when an air-borne pollutant starts making a person feel miserable, it's just not cool.

I hope getting out and away helps.  I wish more employers were proactive about issues in this realm.

Wow, I'm surprised they aren't more cautious at least in regards to the liability -- that stuff is toxic and it's not just a mere "annoyance" to those who are affected, it's a potentially harmful thing even to those who don't feel the immediate effects like you are.

One way to protect yourself and get the message across subtly would be:

although that might not help the migraine once it's going.

Alternatively, as the IT person, you could make a scene about how the fumes will corrode hard drives, or something along those lines...

Anyway, my sympathies!

Yeah - i don't have a leg to stand on with hard drives .  I looked it up and can't find anything that points to long term harm from one time exposure especially if you're not actually painting (ie. being in the same room.)

And we can add sore throat and crazy sinuses to the misery list.  A cold is going around the office so that's what I've been diagnosed with.  

I just fucking hate the culture where there are serious (if unspoken) repercussions of going home sick, especially the day before a holiday.  I mean I can technically leave now - I wouldn't lose my job...but it wouldn't be worth the political fall out which would linger for a long time.

But the people who would make sure the fall out happened aren't here today - funny how that works.

And one of my least loved users is now having email issues and I HATE email issues like this because it involves my speaking to someone on the other side about why our email servers aren't playing nicely together.  And I am so sick of talking to people I cannot even tell you.  In the audit I've used up my interaction quota for the next 6 months.  

I'm going to head outside and breathe for a few minutes.  

We have these in the grinding department...hmmmmm.  You may have something there.

sinus?  sore throat?  That would be a vasomotor response  and indeed goes with the headache.  I was diagnosed with vasomotor rhinitis by an allergist/immunologist - or as I put it 'allergic to modern society'  - this is an irritant not an allergen.  And your whole system responds.   Includes (as I recall, changes in temperature, changes in atmospheric conditions, FUMES, smoke etc) 

This is the exact same response I get when I drive past where they are pouring hot tar...but worse because I'm not quickly moving past the source...I'm sitting in it.  I don't have this reaction to other stuff though.  I'll get mild headaches with some scents (for whatever reason Estee Lauder perfume will put me and all of my siblings in full grown migraine mode immediately.  So weird) and some skin reactions to certain soaps/lotions which are pretty mild.  (Learned here on FJ that the lotion thing could be related to why wool is painful to touch.)

Also, for some reason just touching microfiber cloth hurts my hands...drys them out and I start peeling in between my fingers.  It's literally painful to touch.  Latex gloves solves the problem, but that is new.  

Getting up every few and sticking my head outside...going in the back to help people on their PCs rather than remoting in has helped considerably.  I still have a splitting headache but I think I'm going to avoid a migraine since I haven't started to lose vision in one eye.  And when I vacate the area the nausea subsides within about 5 minutes so I'm hoping end of the day this isn't going to linger once I leave.