Archive for 'Keith Carlson'
Mary Canary shares life on the road
Posted on Jan 09, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, Keith Carlson, MCS, Media/Videos
The good, the bad, and the ugly side of life in an RV while coping with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
Post by guest blogger Mary Rives.
(Editor’s Note: Mary is the wife of Canary Report contributor Keith Carlson. Mary and Keith are currently living full-time in their new RV, traveling the highways and byways of America, visiting intentional communities, and bringing Laughter Yoga and the benefits of health and wellness coaching to new and old friends along the way. Read more about their trip at Mary and Keith’s Excellent Adventure.)
On Wednesday, I blogged about how to travel with a little help from your friends, and shared with you a template for a letter you might like to give friends and family before you visit. The letter was written by a friend on our behalf, and has some tips about how to prepare for a visit from loved ones with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
While it’s true we are having a wonderful adventure on the road, today I’d like to share with you a video that reflects the darker side of our journey, but of course I am being a pretty good sport! We are looking to switch from this diesel rig to a gas powered one in Texas, just two states away now. The veggie oil thing did not pan out and diesel is worsening my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, but all this nature is healing it too!
We are 14 intentional communities and 12 states on down the road from Amherst, where we began our journey. We’re hitting our stride with the new lifestyle and feel very blessed and grateful (even though it is as cold here in SE Alabama and NW Florida as it is in New England, for now anyway).
Happy New Year to all–and if you feel like it and haven’t yet, read our New Year’s letter to all on our blog: A New Year’s Missive from Keith and Mary.
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Bob the Nurse’s visit to Hawaii
Posted on Jan 09, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, Susie Collins, Susie's Secret Garden
Fun with a male nurse action figure with too much time on his hands.
I can’t believe I never told you about Bob the Nurse coming to visit me in Hawaii last summer. The Adventures of Bob the Nurse is the creation of Canary Report contributor Keith Carlson. Bob travels around the country visiting and indulging in the local culture in such diverse places as Arkansas, Georgia, Florida and Hawaii, just to name a few.
In addition to taking a canoe voyage in one of my ponds (above), Bob also got lei’d, helped out the chicks, went fishing, stood in awe of the Buddha, and took naps.
Take a look at two full pages of Bob’s Hawaiian vacay here and here. I do hope he’ll come visit again soon!
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How to travel with a little help from your friends
Posted on Jan 06, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, Keith Carlson, MCS
Advance work when traveling: A letter to friends and family about how to prepare for a visit from loved ones with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
By guest blogger Mary Rives.
(Editor’s Note: Mary is the wife of Canary Report contributor Keith Carlson. Mary and Keith are currently living full-time in their new RV, traveling the highways and byways of America, visiting intentional communities, and bringing Laughter Yoga and the benefits of health and wellness coaching to new and old friends along the way. Read more about their trip at Mary and Keith’s Excellent Adventure.)
This is a letter my friend kindly wrote for me. I edited it and then sent it to my parents yesterday. I am offering it to anyone as a prep tool should you go visiting with “chem people.” I plan to follow the letter up with an email and call. I suggest you find a friend who would agree to sign off on the letter. Here ya go:
Dear friends of Mary Rives, Keith Carlson, (and dog Tina),
Hi! My name is A.L., a longtime friend of Mary and Keith from Washington, D.C. I was at their wedding 20 years ago on July 2, 1989, and I have traveled and vacationed with them, visited each other long distances, met each others’ families and have been there for each other through many of life’s twists and turns.
As you know, our dear friends/family members are traveling the country in their RV (affectionately known as “Rigatina”) after simplifying their lives, including selling their home and letting go of most of their belongings. They will be experiencing the relief of permanently leaving the long, cold winters of New England that worsened Keith’s pain syndrome and increased Mary’s intermittent low back pain. They’re now living more simply in their radically downsized and carefully prepared non-toxic environment of their rig and have already visited more than a dozen intentional communities, perhaps to find one to live in near like-minded people in 2010. I know that visiting friends and family is an important part of their journey as they make a huge horseshoe trek, now completing the East Coast and soon to travel westward across the Gulf Coast. They will be in touch when they are nearer to your home.
I am writing to you because I’m concerned for Mary and Keith’s health. In addition to Keith’s Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Mary’s intermittent back pain, Mary and Keith have been chemically injured from a severe mold infestation in the attic of their previous home which has predisposed their bodies to being intolerant of many basic products designed for every day personal, home and office use. They have both been diagnosed, and are in treatment by environmental health specialist doctors, for what is known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) or Environmental Illness (EI).
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The woes of public restrooms
Posted on Dec 28, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity can make it an enormous challenge to use a public restroom.
Post by Keith Carlson.
Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), it can be an enormous challenge to be in a public place and simply need to use a bathroom. These days, public restrooms in the United States seem to have been permanently inoculated with so-called “air-fresheners” that make relieving one’s self an adventure in being actively poisoned.
For me personally, my struggles with public restrooms are exacerbated by the fact that I have an underlying medical condition (enlarged prostate) that necessitates fairly frequent urination, and this, my friends, can lead to some exceedingly challenging scenarios.
Just the other day, I was in a Trader Joe’s store here in Atlanta, where we’re visiting for the holidays. Feeling the urge, I sauntered warily towards the men’s room, hesitant to open that door but feeling that I had no real choice in the matter. Pushing the door open, I was hit with that disappointing, maddening and altogether overwhelmingly frustrating sensation that I had discovered—yet again—another public rest room that is simply verboten for my use. Sigh.
While I have no problem with peeing outdoors (which, in fact, is altogether preferable on so many levels), there are numerous situations in which doing so could lead to embarrassment, dirty looks, and—worst of all—a permanent label as a sex offender. Bearing in mind that many states do indeed prosecute public urination as a sexual offense, I frequently find myself at a loss as to what to do in order to heed nature’s (increasingly urgent) call.
You may then be led to ask, “Why not just use the stinky bathroom anyway, Keith? What could possibly happen to you?”
And I would reply, “Well, first of all, the clothes that I’m wearing can very quickly become saturated with the toxic smell of the substance in question. Although I do not develop respiratory symptoms like my wife does, I will find myself incredibly irritable, often with confusion, dulled mental faculties, and a difficulty finding words when speaking. A secondary and unfortunate sequela of my exposure to such a substance is that my wife will then react to the aura of chemical toxicity surrounding me, and she will then begin to have bronchospams, headaches, and a host of other symptoms which would have been otherwise preventable had I not entered that rest room in the first place.”
As you can see, the fallout from a simple visit to a men’s room can have far-reaching health consequences for both myself and my wife, and now that we are traveling, it is even more crucial for us to continue to use the toilet in our chemically safe mobile home when we can. Still, we often find ourselves in situations where we are far from our mobile haven, in need of a rest room, and unable to do what so many other people take for granted on a daily basis.
A “rest room” should truly embody the literal meaning of its name—a place for rest, to relieve one’s self and emerge refreshed and ready for the next chapter of one’s day. For those of us who are canaries in the coal mine of the toxic world around us, they are far from a restful place of repose. From the scented sprayers on the wall to the deodorizers in men’s urinals, public rest rooms are dangerous, exasperating, poisonous places to be avoided at all costs. When a safe rest room is found, it is cause for celebration and relief (both mental and physical). But when one needs to go and there’s nowhere to do so, it is a maddening moment of living in a toxic world.
~~~
This post was originally published on my blog Digital Doorway, a digital venue for creative expression, nursing adventures, reflections, thoughtful reverie, thoughtless repose, and other flotsam and jetsam.
You can also visit me at Mary and Keith’s Excellent Adventure, where my wife and I blog about living full-time in our new RV, traveling the highways and byways of America, visiting intentional communities, and bringing Laughter Yoga and the benefits of health and wellness coaching to new and old friends along the way!
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Toxic tiny bubbles in the tub
Posted on Dec 27, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, Products
Post by Keith Carlson.
Come follow our RV traveling adventures at Mary and Keith’s Excellent Adventure.
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Mary and Keith launch their excellent adventure
Posted on Nov 05, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
The peripatetic nurse is on the road.
Post by Keith Carlson.
Dear Readers,
My wife and I are now on the road, making our way down the East Coast towards the warmer weather. Our travel blog, Mary’s and Keith’s Excellent Adventure, is becoming increasingly robust with photos, videos and tales from the road.
Our new lifestyle poses many exciting challenges and novel experiences, one of which is health care. While we still have health insurance from my old job until November 30th, the next step will be securing (at least) minimal catastrophic coverage from that date forward, and then making sure we take very good care of ourselves while we travel. Good nutrition, exercise, high quality supplements and a plethora of fresh air are undoubtedly part of our personal health prescription.
I will be reporting on our health challenges and successes along the way, and hope to talk to other full-time RV’ers to see how they handle health on the road (although many full-timers are retired and relatively secure with Medicare coverage).
Stay tuned, and please visit our travel blog for further updates!
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway.
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A chemical nightmare at work
Posted on Jul 28, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS, Worker's Rights
There are poisons and toxins everywhere that can damage our health and cause us temporary or permanently debilitating symptoms that directly impact our ability to fully function in the world.
Post by Keith Carlson.
Last week, I was sitting in my office and began to notice an odd smell, sort of sickly sweet. Ignoring it against my better judgment for several days, I was even told by my astute boss—who is well aware that I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)—that something seemed amiss.
Since last week, I’ve been noticing increased confusion, memory loss, and a marked increase in my level of stress and anxiety. Granted, we are in the midst of selling our home and radically changing our lives, but this past week my emotional life has been over the top and I have been feeling physically unwell.
Today, my (chemically sensitive) wife came to visit my office, remarking immediately that my office seemed incredibly toxic to her and that I should leave immediately. Just prior to her arrival, I had literally been crawling around on the floor, trying to “sniff out” where the offending odor was coming from, an odor that had by now become almost overpowering in its sweet disgustingness.
With my nose on the top of the heat register, I detected the source of the odor emanating directly from the heater, even though it wasn’t on.
Bringing two colleagues into the office, they both agreed that the smell was very strong and that I should leave for the day and we would try to get to the bottom of it. Just then, one colleague mentioned that someone had moved into the office directly below mine last Tuesday, and perhaps there was a connection. Looking back, it was indeed Tuesday or Wednesday of last week that I began to feel unwell and that the faint smell had begun to make itself known.
Running down to the first floor with my wife, we quickly located the office directly below mine (which I had never before noticed), and although the door was closed and locked, the smell coming through the cracks was absolutely the same odor now filling my office on the second floor, although the intensity of it as it emanated through the door was enough to send us reeling.
My guess is that the new resident of this office installed a “Plug-In” on the day she moved in, the sort of plug-in that is filled with noxious liquid fragrance that is heated via an electrical outlet. These insidious and ubiquitous devices have taken over, with Americans of all economic stripes convinced that their homes will not smell “clean” without such unhealthy trash that poisons the very air that they and their children breathe.
Since the building manager was out, I sent him an urgent email explaining the situation, left work early (with dizziness and confusion continuing), and will not return to my office until the space has off-gassed for several days.
So, although I have fought for a fragrance-free workplace, low-VOC paints, “green” cleaning products, and other accommodations, this employee who moved into the office downstairs unwittingly created a toxic environment for me that has subsequently caused me a week of distress, confusion, and other neurological symptoms that will, I hope, decrease as the next few days allow me to detox from its deleterious effects.
When one has MCS (or even if one does not), there are poisons and toxins everywhere that can damage our health and cause us temporary or permanently debilitating symptoms that directly impact our ability to fully function in the world.
I was glad to get to the bottom of this situation, and hope that it will be rectified shortly and that I can recover from the impact of this unfortunate chemical event.
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway.
Link to image at NoFragrance.org.
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The challenge of finding a nontoxic recreational vehicle
Posted on Jul 19, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: An Inconvenient Reality
Post by Keith Carlson
As my wife and I shop for a recreational vehicle in which to spend the next year or two as we live, work and play, our Multiple Chemical Sensitivity has become even more of an inconvenient reality.
We all know that new car smell, and many people equate that smell with freshness and newness. We also know the particular smell of a new shower curtain which is now widely understood to be the off-gassing of pthalates and other very unhealthy chemicals. These are modern realities, and they’re making us sick.
Recreational vehicles (RVs) are manufactured just like homes and cars—they are filled with particle board, formaldehyde-based materials and nasty chemical-laden furnishings that off-gas for years. In our meanderings, we have entered several newish RVs and the chemical aura has hit us both like a brick wall, driving us out the door in seconds. One wonders about all of the retirees out there who buy brand new RVs and then hit the road. Do they develop cancers, memory loss or early-onset dementia more quickly than others? After all, they are living in a small area which is often sealed tight—a literal chemical soup.
Many people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity end up homeless because they can’t find safe housing. Small homespun businesses (like Taylor Designs) have indeed sprung up in an effort to fill a niche, creating “safe rooms,” MCS trailers, and other spaces designed to make living and sleeping healthy for those with environmental illnesses. Publications like “Our Toxic Times” and “The Canary Report” offer resources, advertisements and classifieds for those seeking safety and healthy alternatives, and many do-it-yourselfers take a shot at retrofitting trailers, homes and other structures to suit their needs.
For us, our only alternative may be a refurbished Airstream trailer, gutted and professionally retrofitted by Taylor Designs several years ago and now available through a private seller. However, what we really want is an all-in-one RV in which we can live, work, sleep, eat and drive, but every vehicle we look at or consider has been treated with, or is constructed with, materials that can put our health at risk.
Yesterday, after combing through Craig’s List, Mary found an RV that sounded great, and she called the owner. After a long and detailed discussion during which she patiently explained our MCS, the owner finally acknowledged that he has put Bounce dryer sheets in all of the storage compartments of the rig in order to ward off mice and “freshen” the air. That potential sale is going nowhere, of course.
So, we continue in our search, narrowing it down, looking under every rock, and may end up spending more than we care to on the retrofitted Airstream and a diesel pickup truck with which to tow it. This is another consequence of MCS—we can often end up spending more to get what we need because so much of the world is stacked against us. It’s a chemical soup out there, and we simply want to remove ourselves from the broth.
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway, my blog on creative expression, nursing adventures, reflections on healthcare, thoughtful reverie, thoughtless repose, and other flotsam and jetsam.
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Health Coaching and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Posted on Jun 07, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
Returning to the subject of becoming a health coach, there are several ways that this vocational choice could serve me and others, especially related to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).
Post by Keith.
As I have previously written on Digital Doorway, when you have MCS, working in health care can be like a minefield of chemical exposure. From hospitals to medical offices to nursing homes, disinfectants, air fresheners, cleaners and other chemicals abound, and the health care worker with MCS can simmer in a toxic soup for thirty or forty hours each week, compromising his or her health while trying to help others. Even though I have never worked in a hospital since graduating from nursing school (something I was told would be professional suicide), my chemical exposures over the years have been significant and occasionally compromising.
So, I realize that developing yet another way to earn a living without reporting to an office or facility is a creative way to be gainfully self-employed without putting myself at increased risk of unnecessary chemical exposure. As a coach, I could interact with coaching clients by phone and online, and those individuals could wear as much cologne or use as much Bounce and Tide as they wanted, and I would never have to know!
I also can see that, as a health coach, I could reach out to the MCS community, offering an educated shoulder upon which those with MCS could lean for support and advice. There are only so many places that people with MCS can go for support and guidance, and I am open to becoming one of those conduits for information and referral. There may be others significantly more educated about MCS, but I have lived it, and my experiences have already drawn many people to me who are looking for help as they navigate those toxic waters.
There are numerous pools from which potential coaching clients might arise: nurses, nurses with MCS, non-medical people with MCS, health care workers in general, and those simply seeking solace and advice in a frequently disturbing and unhealthy world. Coaching those with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a potential way in which I could empower individuals who often feel powerless in the face of a world that is largely indifferent to their suffering.
I frequently face the fact that I do indeed have MCS, and it does significantly impact my life on a daily basis. There are places where I and others with MCS can receive support, “The Canary Report” being one particular high-quality site that brings the MCS community together in meaningful ways. Perhaps I can offer my growing experience and knowledge in order to benefit others while allowing me to work from home, thus limiting my occupational exposures and increasing my ability to make a living. I in no way want to be isolated or quarantined with MCS, but creating a life wherein I can work independently and still serve others is a win-win situation that could have far-reaching benefits for many people, including me.
Speaking of “The Canary Report”, I want to thank Susie for her desire to reproduce my last blog post about coaching, for it was her request to do so that sparked the idea that I could offer targeted coaching to the MCS community. Discovering how to do this will be a process that I look forward to exploring, and I will share a great deal of that process here on Digital Doorway.
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway.
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A health coach?
Posted on Jun 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
With some expertise in the areas of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, case management, and chronic illness management, I find that people often ask me for advice, be it medical, nursing, or simply about life in general.
Post by Keith.
As I contemplate ways to make money and do good in the world without reporting to an office every day, I’ve been scanning my list of skills and credentials and coming up with some ideas.
Reviewing my vocational history, I am a Bachelor’s educated Registered Nurse with 14 years of experience of case management, hospice, ambulatory nursing, home care, community health, and public health. I have skills as a writer, blogger and editor, and have been published in several books.
Beyond nursing, I am a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor, a Certified Practitioner of Swedish Massage, a Level I Reiki Practitioner, and a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader.
With some expertise in the areas of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, case management, and chronic illness management, I find that people often ask me for advice, be it medical, nursing, or simply about life in general.
So, I frequently wonder about the possibility of “hanging a shingle” as a coach, perhaps as a professional health and wellness coach. While the idea is still germinating, I’m working with a health coach myself, experiencing the benefits of such a relationship, and realizing that I have the skills to do it.
Interestingly, a friend called tonight and asked me for urgent medical advice. While I don’t picture myself soliciting business for a personal “ask-a-nurse” hotline, I can see that my nursing can indeed be parlayed into a relationship wherein an individual in need of guidance and advice might benefit from the holistic intervention of a coach with a nurse’s education.
Speaking of nurses, I have also considered running workshops for nurses on burnout prevention, and perhaps there’s a new niche market in being a health coach specifically for nurses and health care providers. After all, we caregivers can be horrendous at taking care of ourselves, so there may indeed be very specific ways that someone like me can help nurses and others figure out how to make the most of their lives, care for themselves well, and optimize their health and wellness.
The wheels are turning, and we shall see how they continue to turn.
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway.
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Letter to neighbors about toxic fumes
Posted on May 20, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS, Susie Collins
A template for a letter you may use when asking your neighbors to stop using toxic products.
Editor’s Note: Here’s a template for a letter you may use when asking your neighbors to stop using toxic products that drift fumes onto your property and into your home. This letter was written by The Canary Report contributor Keith Carlson, aka Nurse Keith, who blogs at Digital Doorway. Keith and his wife Mary have graciously allowed it to be shared. Thanks, Keith and Mary!
Dear Neighbors,
March greetings! As we look toward the weather finally warming up and Spring settling over New England (yes, Spring is more than just a rumor, folks!), most of us turn our attention to spending more time outdoors, opening our windows, airing out our homes, and preparing for the long-awaited Summer!
For the two of us, the coming of Spring is ever so welcome, but it also brings with it certain health challenges. Some of you may recall a letter that we sent around to some of our abutting neighbors about a year ago. In that letter, we described how we both have developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)– also known as Environmental Illness (EI) and Chemical Injury– and how it has impacted our lives.
For the uninitiated, MCS is a syndrome that causes the affected individual to be extra sensitive to chemicals, fragrances and other toxins in the environment. While people with MCS are sometimes affected by different substances, the most commonly used chemicals that can severely impact the health of a person with MCS are dryer sheets, laundry detergents, car exhaust, smoke, petroleum products, perfumes, and fragranced personal products of various kinds. Symptoms can range from headache, fatigue and sore throat to respiratory distress, nausea, and neurological disturbances like memory loss, confusion, and emotional distress.
While we are both under treatment for our condition by a medical doctor, the best way to treat MCS is with avoidance of the offending substances, and you can imagine how very difficult that can be in this fragrance- and chemical-saturated world.
You may be wondering why we are writing to you, our neighbors, about this issue. The reason we are writing is that we have found that the fumes emitted from dryer vents can actually cause both of us rather severe symptoms, and those fumes, of course, carry the vaporized and heated fragrances and chemicals that are part and parcel of the dryer sheets that most Americans use when they dry their clothes.
Here is where the science speaks for itself. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the chemical and fragrance industries (which, by the way, are basically the same entity) have been wholly unregulated since World War II. The FDA does not regulate the ingredients in dryer sheets, laundry detergent and other household cleaners and personal care products.
Also, the companies that produce these products are not required to disclose their chemical contents. Next time you pick up a bottle of Tide, see if the ingredients are listed on the bottle. Chances are, the ingredients in Tide that are known carcinogens and neurotoxins have been conveniently left off of the list!
For your information, here are just some of the undisclosed ingredients in most commercial dryer sheets: formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, benzyl acetate, methyl benzoate, and many others, almost all of which cause neurological or other symptoms.
So, again, why should we be writing to you about this issue, aside from warning you of the potential health risks to you and your family when you use these products? Well, the fact is that we are in the very difficult position wherein we must inhale the fumes from our immediate neighbors’ dryer vents, and those fumes have a very unfortunate impact on our health. And as Spring comes and we open the windows of our home to let in the fresh air, our home is then filled with the chemical fumes that make us feel sick. How do we enjoy the benefit of opening our windows to the fresh air when we are then subject to fumes that make us sick?
Adding to the conundrum, we are often unable to spend time in our yard or on our porch due to the chemical fragrances wafting into our yard from nearby homes, including fresh lighter fluid being used to light charcoal. Sometimes we are made ill just by getting out of our car and walking to our homes due to dryer exhaust. It is a sad reality that we have been dealing with for some time now in “the Fields.”
So, dear neighbors , we are not expressly asking that you cease the use of your favorite fragranced laundry products, since it is indeed your right and choice to use them or not. We are, however, asking as your neighbors to please consider the possibility of switching to fragrance-free dryer sheets or even Trader Joes’ lavender dryer sheets, certainly a lesser evil as far as we’re concerned.
We do not wish to infringe on your individual or collective privacy, but we do ask that you consider that a ubiquitously used product is causing two of your physical symptoms and illness that we simply cannot control (and, of course, wish we could make disappear altogether!)
Also, if you use charcoal lighter fluid, we beg you to call us and notify us before you light up so we can close up our home, otherwise those toxic fumes cause a red alert for us, the results of which can zap our health for days.
Thank you for your attention and your patience in reading this long letter, and please feel free to contact us with questions or comments. We also attach recent research regarding the dangers of air fresheners that may be silently impacting your own family’s health. We’ve included additional information that we hope will be educational.
Yours Sincerely,
Keith and Mary
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Canary in a 21st century coal mine
Posted on May 18, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Keith Carlson, MCS
Having physiological reactions to fragrances is no fun, and convincing others that one’s reactions are not a personal affront to their way of life is also no picnic.
Post by Keith
Well, even though we’ve asked our neighbors to consider switching from fragranced dryer sheets to something less unhealthy, the toxic fumes just keep on blowing into our yard, causing us no end of symptoms and unhappiness.
Some of my recent posts have elucidated how the air blowing from neighbors’ nearby dryer vents causes us no end of symptoms and irritation, and we have indeed very recently been chased from our yard or our screened-in porch as the clouds of vapors have entered our space.
Luckily, several neighbors have responded to a series of letters that we have circulated through the neighborhood, and change may indeed be afoot. One neighbor knocked on our door just this evening to show us the hypoallergenic, eco-friendly dryer sheets she’d purchased with us in mind, and another neighbor called to accept my offer to purchase “dryer balls” for anyone who would like to give them a trial run.
Living in a relatively close-knit homeowner’s association with our homes in close proximity to one another, navigating these thorny issues of privacy and lifestyle can be a challenge. Just recently, I learned that a local cohousing community has officially banned dryer sheets altogether due to the deleterious effects that they have on some residents’ health, so examples have indeed been set of communities who look after their own and do the right thing.
Having physiological reactions to fragrances is no fun, and convincing others that one’s reactions are not a personal affront to their way of life is also no picnic. But when the world around you is saturated in toxic chemicals that can actually impair your ability to function and feel good, then sometimes radical steps must be taken. For us, it is asking others to kindly consider changing their habits. For others, homelessness is sometimes the only option.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is more common than we think, and living with such a life-altering condition can be the bane of one’s existence. Still, it is a lesson in asking for what one needs, making accomodations when necessary, and sometimes it simply necessitates removing yourself from places where one’s health is negatively impacted. It’s a toxic world out there, and those of us with MCS are the human canaries in the 21st century coal mine.
This post was originally published at Digital Doorway.
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Welcome to The Canary Report!
The Canary Report is a blog and social network about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
We compassionately bring you unfiltered and uncensored news and information you can trust directly from the source: people who have MCS. Dedicated to sharing, supporting, and inspiring with the Aloha Spirit, The Canary Report gives all canaries a voice. Come join us!
Aloha,
Susie Collins
Founder and Contributing Editor
Hilo, Hawaii
Let’s Connect on the Social Web
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DIY: Skip the chemicals, get a buzz
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International Multiple Chemical Sensitivity awareness project is launched
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