Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Green Living has a article in the Winter 2008 issue called “Wake Up and Smell the Chemicals,” with a section on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The link will take you to the online version of the issue, go to pages 46-47 for the story, it’s chock full of good information.

Articles like this validate claims made by those of us with MCS, who say chemicals found in many everyday personal care products are toxic not only to us but to everyone. Further, as the article explores, scientists are starting to understand the ways in which low levels of toxic chemicals, such as those found in perfumes and other fragrance, adversely affect the body. Take heart, Canaries, because eventually, science will catch up with us and our claims of exquisite sensitivity.

Glenda at Writing Life Stories tells a story about getting assaulted by fragrance from fellow patrons at a fast food restaurant. She writes:

As soon as I sat down, the smell hit me again. I looked up and saw the guy who had been standing in line near me. He had plopped down fifteen feet away from my table. The odor emanating from him smelled worse to me than a skunk’s spray, the chemicals in that fragrance he wore poisoned me. By the time I got out of there, hoarse and coughing, I gasped, sucked in the fresh outside air like it was my final breath.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. More and more of my friends are experiencing the same symptoms — spending tons of money on doctors who run tests and tell them they have asthma and to stay away from chemicals. Duh!! The asthma is caused by the chemicals we breathe every day, the chemicals all around us, the chemicals we can’t escape.

Thanks, Linda!

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Not to be outdone by Leslie at The Oko Box Blog and her post on The Crazy Sh!t We Gotta Do where she sealed off a door with foil to keep safe from her roomie’s fumes, Mokihana at Vardo for Two writes about her Denny Foil, golden folds of fabric, and The Kitchenette. “Leslie from The Oko Box Blog posted pictures and story of what it takes to live in ’safe’ fashion with stuff that ‘ordinaries’ or ‘civilians’ have/build with …Least I forget how MUCH WE HAVE living in The Kitchenette I felt compelled to make her our very special pin-up girl. With out her we would be dead meat!”

Keith at Digital Doorway writes about the exclusion of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in the recently released U.S. Census on Americans With Disabilities: 2005. In Keith’s post, “The Census and Americans with Disabilities,” he expresses his profound disappointment that illnesses such as MCS and Gulf War Syndrome are once again left out of the data.

While not addressing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity directly, Julie Mellum, president of Take Back the Air, writes at StarTribune.com about the absurdity of men using fragrances as a secret to business success. In her opinion piece, “Scents do not line the path to success,” she says:

…fragrances contain many of the same toxicants that are in tobacco smoke. These include formaldehyde, benzene, toluene and other hazardous volatile organic compounds that pollute the lungs and airspace of those around them.

Synthetic fragrances are about as romantic as a toxic-waste site, for many of their shared toxicants are on the EPA’s list of most hazardous wastes. They also contain highly addictive class A carcinogens. See www.takebacktheair.com for the facts.

Just as bottled deer musk masks the human scent as a hunting aid, so synthetic fragrances mask natural pheromones in people. Burger King has actually leapt into the fray with a new fragrance that smells like meat. That is downright comical, except for the fact that fragrance chemicals mimic estrogen with hormone-disrupting chemicals that are implicated in early puberty, reproductive birth defects and infertility.

Note: I neglected to add a link on Monday’s story to Leslie’s post on her door project. My apologies for the omission.

Thanks, Linda, for sending the second two stories my way! You find the best stuff on the Interwebs.

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

Leslie blogs today at The Oko Box Blog about her wacky project to seal off the adjoining door between her and her new roomie to keep her safe from contaminants. Please note that her new roomie is a dear friend and we should all be so lucky to have a friend like this who would go to such extremes to keep us safe! But GADS, the things we have to do to keep ourselves protected!

When dealing with chemical sensitivities even the most mundane tasks, plans and events become an olympic style obstacle course to get through…and due to economic breakdown I am getting a housemate. Anyone reading this who has MCS will understand this is the kind of event that can put the shake in the rattle and roll of fear, because other people bring things into your safe home that you normally can not tolerate. If you don’t have chemical sensitivities you may find the following project completely insane, but tell the Gulf War Veterans who are now officially declared to have MSC/GWS from chemical exposure, the still sick rescue teams from 9-11 who didn’t have protection going into the disaster, and my good friend Lou Cheese who was chemically injured on the job that their medical & government documented affliction is insane.

Jeanne at Jeanne’s Endo Blog tells a story about her trip to the dentist and the literally nightmarish aftermath of the nitrous oxide:

Anyway, nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) was no laughing matter for me!! It gave me zero effects during the dental appointment. There was nothing positive or negative. [But] while it appears to be a less common side effect of nitrous oxide, I am not the only dental patient to have had nightmares after nitrous oxide.

With nitrous oxide (at least in my case) you do stay awake during the procedure but it is supposed to make it easier for certain patients than just having Novocaine alone.

I am NOT one of those certain patients!! These nightmares were really bad. I am so glad to be awake. I’m so glad they were just nightmares and not really happening. (One example of a nightmare I had was a scene that was similar to but far, far scarier than a very, very graphic Grey’s Anatomy episode where everyone is standing around in scrubs and then bad things happen).

Let’s just say I am not one to be phased too much by the sight of blood but this nightmare was more than I could take without getting really upset before waking up suddenly.

I never want to go through that again!As I said, most people who have nitrous oxide (apparently) find it helpful and pleasant. I had no reaction at all when I needed it and the nightmares afterwards (just now) were just plain awful.

Hang in there, Canaries, it’s a crazy, dangerous world for us. Take care out there!

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?

The Pilot reports on a ruling favoring former county employees who claim they suffer myriad environmental illnesses caused by a sick building :

Seven former Moore County employees can continue pursuing their worker compensation claims that a county building made them sick in the early 1990s, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The seven employees filed worker compensation claims against Moore County and its insurance company, Sedgwick of the Carolinas, in 1995 and 1996. The county and the insurance carrier have disputed the claims, arguing that there was no proof that the building made them sick. [...]

The appeals court also said that since the workers first filed their claims, medical science may have made advancements to understand the situation better, so the commission could consider reopening the case.

“We also note that expert testimony in this case reflects the uncertainty about fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity that existed when the depositions were taken,” the ruling said. “However, plaintiffs originally filed their workers’ compensation claims more than 10 years ago, and in the intervening years the medical community may have gained a greater understanding of these conditions. Accordingly, the commission may, in its discretion, reopen the case for new evidence.”

Philstar.com reports that firecrackers are harmful to people, animals, the environment and create toxic waste :

[Ecowaste President Manny] Calonzo said firecrackers contain harmful substances that could trigger chemical sensitivities, asthma and other respirator ailments.

“The bursting of firecrackers (violates) the fundamental right of the people to breathe clean air and goes against the effort of the health and environmental authorities and the citizenry to improve air quality,” he added.

Exploding firecrackers, according to Calonzo, also results in “toxic litter” that adds to the heaps of holiday trash.

And the “loud bangs” of exploding firecrackers also torture and traumatize animals that are “most sensitive” to sound than humans, “hurting their ears, terrifying them and making them flee to safety.”

Ecowaste is promoting the use of “emission-free, zero waste” noisemakers from recycled materials such as tambourines made from bottle caps, maracas from tin cans, cymbals using pot lids, and shakers from plastic bottles, among others.

Germany strikes psychosomatic cause from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity guidelines

Germany’s Ministerium für Arbeit und Soziales removes the statement from the government’s disability guidelines that said Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a somatoform (psychological) disorder.

This is great news for people with MCS throughout the world! The German government has struck out the statement from its MCS guidelines stating the illness is psychosomatic. This is inspiring for everyone throughout the world with MCS as a very important step toward universal recognition of MCS as a physical illness caused by chemical injury.

Here is a translation of the news received through email via Canada’s branch of the Global Recognition Campaign:

Merry Christmas for MCS patients

Silvia Mueller writes on Christmas Eve:

Here is the best message. The German Government Department for Social is the main department for disability, The Ministerium für Arbeit und Soziales. There are guidelines which are used by doctors, courts, authorities,… when it comes to a disability. In our disability guidelines MCS is a physical disease. It is registered in the part for movement disorders, because we can’t go everywhere, etc. There was one sentence in this guideline which was disturbing and used by opposition to refuse our cases and say we are psychosomatic cases. It said MCS is a somatoform disorder.

One of my people at CSN wrote to the department and asked that this nasty sentence is removed from the guidelines. Now MCS is a physical disease nothing else.  We have also the ICD-10 which says MCS is a physical disease. With these two tools nobody can discriminate us anymore.

It’s a victory - It’s Christmas for chemically sensitive people over here. We gave this information and the government letter as a present to the CS people today. After we started an online party. The motto of the party is that we think also about those who have nobody and we write poems, place links to you tube videos, write fun, greetings,… If you like to send something I can place it in for you, the people will love it.

Link to CSN Blog.

Dr. Rea and nobody else should worry. They can’t stop chemical sensitivity or declare us nuts anymore. We call it “the train is gone”.

It happened too much, and the bonds between people all over the world are too strong. Doctors find out more and more. And we all will not stop talking about it.  They can’t quiet us anymore.

Bonita Poulin

Canadian Coordinator
GLOBAL RECOGNITION CAMPAIGN
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
and other Chemically Induced Illnesses, Diseases and Injury affecting civilians and military personnel

MCS Global

Feel free to leave some comment love on the CSN Blog based in Germany. What a beautiful and supportive community they have! I feel so very happy for them. Let’s achieve this same good news in America and throughout the world!

Thanks, Linda!

No 5 Chanel means no 5 Chanel

Cheryl at Leaves and Petals writes today about a recent experience with Chanel Number 5 perfume at a local department store. She’s a very good writer and in this post effectively explores the conflict of emotions evoked in her by a whiff of the fragrance she used to wear, contrasting the perfume’s meaning in her life before she developed chemical sensitivity and after. Those of us with chemical sensitivity have to give up so much, including what should be the most pleasant of daily rituals.

Here’s an excerpt of Cheryl’s perfume experience:

For the holidays, they had set up a huge display of Chanel No° 5; the scent filled the air. My first thought was to be angry (sometimes it feels like I can’t ever get away from other people’s perfume), but then my brain started doing flip-flops and memories came rushing back. Dancing to “Low Rider” in the basement of the Tasmanian Ballroom in that 50s black silk dress I had scooped from work; drinking Absolut before heading out to Komrads with my boys; a pair of huge hoop earring with iridescent marbles attached to them that I wore constantly; fries and sangria at the Bloor Street Diner.

I stood for a moment, looking up at the war memorial in the foyer that commemorates Simpsons employees in the first and second world wars, and just let the scent waft over me. I was tempted, ever so briefly, to ask the clerk for one of those scent strips they’re normally trying to jam in my face when I zip through the perfume department, but thought better of it. I was even tempted to buy some, I have no idea why, although I knew I could never actually use the stuff.

Link to Cheryl’s full post “Number 5″

Photo by Liutao

Green hospitals are better for everyone

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in a Hospital Setting, here’s a report in Time on Making Hospitals Greener and Patients Healthier. It would be so smart if all hospitals adopted these practices, not just so those of us with MCS don’t have to weigh out the consequences of exposure before seeking medical treatment for any ailment, but for everyone especially hospital staff.

In the typical hospital, “while we are trying to treat or cure illness and disease…we expose our staff and patients to irritants and carcinogens, and our treatments often contribute to the development of other diseases,” says Dr. Kristin Bradford, a family physician in Willits, Calif.

Enter “green medicine” — the effort to detoxify the healing environment and enhance patients’ and employees’ health, while reducing costs all around. The international advocacy group Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) — whose 2006 study of 1,200 nurses suggested a link between the hospital environmental and health problems among the staff — has been a pioneer in the movement, recently initiating collaborative research among major U.S. health systems to document how removing toxins from the environment impacts worker safety and lost time due to employee illness.

[Link to full article here]

We have a hospital here on our island, the North Hawaii Community Hospital, that integrates native Hawaiian cultural practices and other healing traditions such as Feng Shui into the environment. Note the difference in the corridor at left to a more common hospital corridor above. North Hawaii Community Hospital uses HEPA air filters, water filters, low VOC paints, and other nontoxic measures. Here’s a description of The Healing Environment in Blended Medicine at North Hawaii Community Hospital. And here’s a description of the Holistic Care they offer in addition to the traditional allopathic medical care and surgery.

I haven’t been to North Hawaii hospital for awhile for care, but when I was there some years ago for some tests, I did not have a bad reaction to the air quality. Unlike the hospital in California I visited this past summer when I was with my dad for his nutrition consultation– whoa, that was bad from the first breath I took once inside the front doors. But I’d have no hesitation going to North Hawaii hospital again for care if I needed it.

Photo at top by Julie

Thanks, Linda, for sending the Time article my way!

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in a hospital setting

Photo: Rodger Norris, who has multiple chemical sensitivity lives in a remote home in Timberon, New Mexico. The nearest neighbor lives about a mile away, and the nearest small town (where he lived for seven years until an increase in traffic caused his symptoms to worsen) is 35 miles over winding mountain roads. In the photo, Norris, 56, displays the sign he posts at the doors of his house and his driveway, describing his condition and warning away visitors who are smokers or who are wearing products that contain artificial fragrances. Courtesy of Rodger Norris.

A registered nurse, Carolyn Cooper, MPH, RN, wrote an article in 2007 about how to care for patients in hospital who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. (Roger Norris pictured above was a subject of Cooper’s report.)

Given that the article was written two years ago, it gives us some perspective about how far we’ve come with the current literature on toxic chemicals in our environment. You will see better what I mean if you read Cooper’s full article. For example, all the male reproductive studies have come out since this article was published, as have most of the BPA and melamine and FEMA formaldehyde reports - so the public and the medical profession knows a lot more now than it did then.

Here’s an excerpt:

Overview: Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a condition in which people experience a broad array of symptoms in reaction to exposure to trace amounts of common chemicals. Symptoms are most often triggered by odors, typically affect many systems, and can range from a runny nose to difficulty breathing and heart palpitations. The cause of this condition is unclear and there is no universal consensus on how to diagnose or treat it. MCS afflicts millions of Americans, although its prevalence is difficult to establish reliably. Theories of causation include both the physical and the psychogenic. This article begins with a case study, describes the current research on MCS, and offers recommendations to guide nurses when treating these patients in the hospital.

[...]

The definition of MCS has also changed over time and may continue to evolve. Its essential feature remains, however, the patient’s assertion of a link between a variety of symptoms and low-level chemical exposures that act as triggers.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t recognize a diagnosis of MCS, it does acknowledge the existence of “chronic multisystem illnesses,” including chronic fatigue syndrome, the symptoms of which often resemble those of MCS.

A 1999 consensus statement published in the Archives of Environmental Health offered the following six criteria for a diagnosis of MCS:

* Very low levels of exposure to chemicals and other irritants, well below toxicity thresholds, produce symptoms.

* Symptoms are reproducible with repeated exposure to the chemical or irritant.

* The condition is chronic.

* Symptoms lessen or resolve when the chemical triggers are removed.

* Similar symptoms may be caused by several chemically unrelated substances.

* Symptoms occur in multiple organ systems.

But clinicians may find these open-ended criteria difficult to apply, especially without laboratory analysis and other physical findings to link specific exposures to specific symptoms.

There’s also no accepted definition of what constitutes a “mild” or “severe” case of MCS, nor is there a consensus on whether the condition is always caused by a precipitating environmental exposure (as may be the case for certain industrial workers or for those exposed during an accident to a single high dose of a toxic chemical). And while research is ongoing, diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that many of the most common symptoms, such as fatigue, heart palpitations, sweating, and difficulty concentrating, are the same as those necessary for the diagnosis of various psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders, including depression, somatoform disorders, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

All staff members should at the very least take the following precautions when working with people who have MCS.

* Don’t use perfume, aftershave, or scented lotion.

* Keep free of the odor of cigarette smoke.

* Wear a long-sleeved cotton surgical gown (and cap if necessary) to mask odors if you know you smell of a potential irritant and no other caregiver is available.

* Knock first and wait to be admitted to the patient’s room.

Surgery. When a patient with MCS is scheduled for surgery, notify perioperative areas well in advance. It is particularly important that the anesthesiologist confer with the patient before a surgical procedure so that medication sensitivities can be considered. Perioperative clinicians must be prepared to carefully reassure patients that safety measures will be taken on their behalf. Other recommendations for surgery include the following:

* Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day to minimize exposure to environmental irritants that will be stirred up during the day.

* A ceramic or porcelain oxygen mask may be indicated to deliver anesthesia.

* Povidone iodine is generally a safe antiseptic solution, but isopropyl alcohol should be used sparingly.

* Use paper tape for surgical dressings (or assess the patient’s reactions to other adhesives 24 to 48 hours in advance by using patch tests).

* Use only latex-free gloves.

Link to full article

PDF of full article: mcs-in-a-clinical-setting

Carolyn Cooper’s blog

Thanks, Linda, for link and added insight!

One of our flock weathers the storm

Linda– yes, the Linda that has shared so much information and wisdom with us here on The Canary Report– has a snow storm going on in her neck of the woods. She sent me the photo at left, which she took in her neighborhood at about 2:30 Friday afternoon. She says some newscasters in Toronto are calling it “Snowmageddon” and that there’s more to come on Sunday.

So she’s hunkered down, bundled up, watching the snow pile up in the driveway. She generated some body heat with oatmeal in the morning and barley soup for dinner.

As we’ve talked about on previous posts, she’s still searching for safe warm clothing as well as non-toxic heaters and generators for power failures. And of course, wishing the air was cleaner in her city so she can catch a break with her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She’d love to go outside and shovel snow in her driveway, but will wait for some help. She emailed me, “Shoveling when weak and subject to breathing bad air doesn’t work.”

“Finding a safe community and support is very difficult,” she wrote, referring to the complications MCS brings to what should be simple everyday chores. “If one is housebound and perceived as negative when refusing all kinds of inappropriate advice and ideas, people think you are impossible and stay away.”

And that isolation is hard for a canary. But she also counts her blessings.

I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining about it now, because I am not. I am still living in a city with power and services, and not out in the bush thigh high in snow. I am very blessed that my father has been going or driving me to the market every week since I got too sick to do so myself last year, so as long as he is healthy, I don’t need to get my car out in any hurry.  (And I am very lucky to have a year round organic farmers market to get safe healthy food from which I have been able to prepare my own simple meals all this time.)

I know many people with no help for any of it, no-one to help shovel out, no one to pick up some groceries, no-one who will or can help in any way. People do not understand what it’s like to be a canary and have your body wipe out from underneath you just from a few breaths of bad air, air made bad from everyday “consumer” items. Not items that we need for survival, but items that have been altered to be more poisonous and marketable (who does this make sense to???).

I dream of a safe world for all of us, one where we can help each other, share our talents and gifts, take care of the sick and vulnerable, and look after this precious planet we all call home.

Thanks for allowing me to share your story, Linda. Take care of yourself and stay warm, cozy and safe!

Happy Birthday, Irene!

One of our flock, Irene, is having a birthday! For those of you who may not have followed the comments left by Irene on The Canary Report over the past few weeks, along with her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, she also is recovering from a stroke and experiencing myriad other health problems. On top of that, she feels alienated by the health care system and isolated in general. These are problems all too familiar to people suffering MCS, and my heart goes out to Irene in her struggles.

To Irene I say:

Happy Birthday, Irene! Hang in there, Canary, you’re a tough old bird.

Happy Birthday and godspeed to you!

Aloha,

Susie

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity today?

Peggy Munson, that’s who.

Peggy Munson at Peggy’s Blog writes about surviving the recent ice storm in New England, and how her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity limited her options at finding safety.

I know this ice storm in New England was potentially lethal for everyone, but the past few days were harrowing for me. I turned 40 on Wednesday, and on Thursday night the power went out – and stayed out for almost 48 hours. The temperature was around 15 degrees Fahrenheit or less at night and for much of the day, and my life turned into a Jon Krakauer novel very quickly. With multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) everything is inaccessible (so if you’re an EMT, firefighter, hospital worker, M.D., nurse, or shelter worker, think about this). Calling 911 is generally out of the question, emergency rooms are full of toxic cleaning chemicals and scented people, and the carbon monoxide from generators or the toxins from wood smoke can be particularly dangerous or lethal (and hotels: forget about it). Because I was weak and sick going into the outage, I was suddenly like that guy in Into the Wild – picture the end of the movie version of the book – who has eaten the poisonous seeds by accident and thus orbiting around this tiny space, trying to stay warm, totally screwed. Fortunately, the power is back on, and I made it out alive.

Munson is a writer by profession, a writer of erotica to be precise, but only posts on her blog once every couple of months. I wish she was posting more often because her writing on MCS is incredible, full of insight and loaded with smart, emotional prose. She’s blogged about Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes, the woman who was ordered to dismantle her safe house because it violated building codes, which Munson uses to then segue into a fantastic riff on housing for people with MCS. She’s also explored disability in a larger context as well as her experience with contracting Lyme disease on top of her chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and MCS.

Munson also has edited Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, about which reviewers have this to say:

“The single best book I’ve read that honestly and fully describes the CFIDS experience.”- Massachusetts CFIDS Update

“This is a book that leaves you changed after you’ve read it, it’s so powerful and compelling.” - A Hummingbird’s Guide to ME

“One of the very best books on the topic and a must-read for people with CFS, their friends and family, and the public. ” - National Fibromyalgia Association

And a bit more info:

Peggy Munson is the author of the poetry collection Pathogenesis and the novel Origami Striptease, and the editor of Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. More information can be found at www.peggymunson.com. Peggy also blogs about MCS issues at www.myspace.com/peggymunson.

Photo and last blurb from Planet Thrive.

Canary manners: Wedding invitations

Kerry from Lemon-Aide, who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and a host of other chronic health issues, wrote me and asked if The Canary Report flock has any ideas to help solve this problem:

My son’s getting married this summer and I’m starting to think about how we communicate via the invitations for guests to refrain from perfumes, clothes with dryer sheets etc. Would it be possible to put a question out there on your blog to get your MCS readers input?

Kerry is a wonderfully sweet woman with a blog to match. I know she wants to make this a very special day for her son and new daughter-in-law, but also wants to stay safe so she can enjoy the day, too. Any ideas for her?

Photo by Cherry

Who’s chirping about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity today?

Jeanne, who writes about her endometriosis at Jeanne’s Endo Blog, was inspired by The Canary Report to write a post about her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She gave me and my blog so many compliments in the post that now my head is too big to get out the door (thanks, Jeanne!), but I am very pleased to know that The Canary Report has motivated her to write about her MCS. She writes: “While you haven’t heard me talk about MCS very much, this does not mean it doesn’t severely impair me. In fact, it may well be the most challenging illness I have! It affects me every day. Every time I leave my house, I have to be on the defense against chemical reactions that can make me nauseous, dizzy, lightheaded, and even make me feel faint (or really faint)!”

Mokihana at VARDOFORTWO discovered a blog and a website each written by canaries building safe homes on trailer beds (as Mokihana is doing in Washington state). I am fascinated with this whole concept! One blog is called MCS Trailer Build, written by Tom Riddle who lives in Ontario, Canada. Tom’s blog is brand new, so go on over there and give him some encouragement. The other is a website called Leslie’s Website! written by Leslie Lawrence in Oregon. Leslie has lots of photos of the construction of her new home on wheels– you are going to love it!

The North Kitsap Herald has a story on “Chemical sensitivity: It’s a bizarre existance,” about Joan Walz, a woman in Washington state with a severe case of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Walz has an interesting survival “tool kit” that includes a bright purple gas mask and flaming red hair.

Walz suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), sometimes referred to as Environmental Illness, which renders those in its grasp susceptible to the most basic of household and societal chemicals. Darting through parking lots to avoid car exhaust, eschewing cigarette smoke and skirting past the aromas of perfumes, dryer sheets and building materials, to name a few, is a part of what Walz describes as a “bizarre existence” for those with MCS.

“I hear diesel,” she says during her interview for this article — and sure enough, a large, gritty truck rumbles near the bench in Poulsbo’s Waterfront Park where she sits, and for a few moments she covers her face with the mask.

Walz, who bears a catching smile, moved to North Kitsap four years ago after abandoning the insurmountable challenges of living in Seattle with MCS, which for her causes brain swelling and seizures if too exposed. Her case is an extreme one, she said, and the ways and degree to which some suffer MCS varies. According to the MCS Referral and Resources Web site, 15-30 percent of people in the United States complain of chemical sensitivity sufficient to induce illness, though only a small percentage of sufferers are severely disabled by their symptoms. Walz also wears filters in her ears to cut down her vulnerability.

Since moving here, Walz has started the Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Support Group, a gathering of about seven who each face MCS and can brainstorm with and support one another through an illness that is, Walz said, quite isolating.

Walz’s truck, for example, boasts not one but a handful of blue handicapped parking signs. She’s posted them on the vehicle’s side windows so those who see her driving masked don’t panic and act on terror-fueled assumptions.

“It was either that or be stopped every two to three blocks by the police,” Walz said.

Another example: Walz’s bright red hair, which she cuts and dyes herself because she can’t enter a salon. The dye, one of four colors available, is made of vegetable products. Walz also chooses her clothes carefully, airs them out after returning home and uses fragrance-free makeup, shampoo and soaps.

Dear President-Elect Obama: Health care is a right

Yesterday’s post on President-Elect Obama’s request for input on Health Care inspired many of you to write him about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Bravo! Like true canaries, you are out front sending your messages of warning and need.

I’d like to post the letters if you would like to share. If you’ve saved a copy, send to me via email to susie(at)thecanaryreport(dot)org.

Missy Gluckman (at left) wrote me this morning with a copy of her remarks. The Canary Report has been following Missy’s struggle with severe illness and MCS brought on by toxic mold exposure at her place of work. Here are Missy’s remarks to President-Elect Obama:

Dear President Elect Obama,

Thank you for asking for our input!

I would like to see ND (Natural Doctors - licensed by many states) included more regularly in health care plans. In addition, natural supplements that are prescribed by NDs are not covered by health insurance and I would like to see this change.

Why do I care about this? Well, let me clarify: I tried traditional medicine for 39 years of my 40 and switched recently to an ND after 3 years of treatment for a variety of illnesses caused by mold/toxic exposure that nearly killed me at 37.  My ND, thankfully, is covered by my insurance plan (Anthem - state of CT), but this is RARE. The ND has been the only person in 3 years who has given me ANY relief from toxic poisoning and the related illnesses (thyroid, liver and lung damage, multiple chemical sensitivity, etc). Without her unique approach to healing, I would likely be pushing for Full Disability which costs the govt a lot more than me being healthy and working (i’m categorized as Partially disabled by NY State worker’s compensation - but I choose to push through it and work bc I WANT to be productive and could not afford to live on $400 a week as granted by worker’s comp).

The natural approach would potentially improve the health and quality of life for thousands who suffer from toxic exposure, yet 99% of people will not go to this type of Dr bc of lack of insurance. An avg appt is $200 and supplements (which change each time I go  - can be as little as $12 or as much as $800).   The pharma companies are driving policy and are not always the best solution (in my case, the traditional pharma solutions resulted in a 30 pound weight gain which caused a whole new host of issues and simply did not work on any above stated conditions).

So, please help people who are suffering by giving them the option of licensed NDs and not allowing health insurance companies the right to deny a licensed dr into the network if they meet the criteria (i.e. licensed, etc - my ND was denied access into the Aetna network.)  Natural plant supplements have been used for CENTURIES in countries such as India, Brazil, etc with extremely positive effects - please fund the study and use of supplements so that they can be covered under insurance plans.

Secondly, I would like to ask for a law that requires manufacturers to state the contents of “fragrance” in their items sold (such as candles, lotions, Fabreze, etc). As a person who suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), fragrances (which are toxic and some are carcinogens) are like kryptonite to me - within minutes I’m forced to go to bed due to the crippling ear pain, respiratory struggles, etc), all so someone can “smell nice”. If people and the govt understood what was actually in “Fragrance” as a category and how it can cause brain fog and behavioral issues in certain children, they would craft some meaningful laws to protect them and people like me who suffer MCS.

PREVENTION of illness is a big part of the need to restructure our health system. If daily toxins weren’t permitted - and certainly not encouraged - less people would suffer from illness and less children from asthma.

I got ill working at SUNY Rockland Cmty College - at a desk (I was a college administrator.) I was exposed to mold mycotoxins such as stachybotris and penicillium. These cause short term memory loss (brain damage) and hemorrhaging in babies. The school knew about the mold for at least a decade and did nothing to rectify it …WHY? Because our govt (unlike most industrialized countries in the world) has ZERO laws about mold.

Did you know that African American children in urban areas suffer from the HIGHEST rate of asthma in the country - why? Reports indicate that mold in public housing is one major factor - again, no one dictates that you must be permitted to live in a place that is safe from health issues.  Mold is a major cause of permanent illness which drains the economy and feed the pharma system.  This needs to change.

THANK YOU President Elect Obama for asking and for giving us a voice in our lives.  Without my health, I am nothing. Simple as that. Thankfully I am employed by the State of CT and have options - MOST DO NOT and as you said, health care is a RIGHT, not a luxury.

Good health to you all.

Writer finds illness as path to the sacred

A writer with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is looking to publish her manuscript Writing the Prayer of Your Life, and says it’s her illness that’s made her realize the sacredness of life and our planet.

For [Debora] Seidman, the sacred is discovering the essence of why we are here, which can be different for every person, she said. Following her struggles with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she said she felt personally tuned into the devastation of the planet. Our lives, she said, have become so consumed by technology that many people forget that life is not about cell phones and emails, but that everything is sacred and valuable.

“Our world is in crisis in many ways, and like many people, I feel the way out of the crisis is the spiritual,” Seidman said. “Part of my mission is to reclaim prayer as our birthright. It’s not about religion, it’s about the basic human impulse to make a connection with the divine. It’s about being able to hear the truth that your own heart and your own soul wants to say to you.”

Listening to one’s soul is a matter of life and death, she said, adding that writing can be the first step in making changes. “People have gold mines of wisdom [inside],” she said. Combining her specialties in spirituality and teaching writing, her book presents a process of writing that can lead to accessing that wisdom.

Still, “My journey through writing was difficult,” she said.

Growing up in a family where much was left unspoken, Seidman said she felt the need to write what was not being said. After receiving praise for her writing as a teenager, she said she stopped writing after second-guessing her interest in it. She started again after losing a close friend to cancer and becoming ill herself. She said that through her personal tragedies she was able to come to terms with what she wanted by recognizing the sacred in her life, in the eyes of her loved ones and in the beauty of nature.

Link to full story at the Amherst Bulletin

Thanks, Linda!

Tell Obama about your health care needs

President-Elect Obama is asking for the public’s input on Health Care reform.

This is a great opportunity for those of us in America with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity to inform the incoming administration about our marginalization in the health care system. It’s an opportunity to tell Obama that MCS is a real disability, deeply affecting our health and well being, and that we need physicians and the health insurance industry to recognize and help us with our MCS-related ailments.

What else is on your mind about MCS and health care? What do you think the new administration should do to ensure that people with MCS receive proper health care?

Go here to read the full request for input, or go directly here to the page where you can write your comments.

Here’s the beginning of the intro to Obama’s request for input:

On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes — government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors, and plans. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.

More about Obama’s request for input

Or go straight to the page where you can tell Obama and his team your story, why health care is important to you, or what you’d like to see an Obama-Biden administration do and where you’d like the country to go.

Iraq veteran develops Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

A woman who served in current Iraq conflict has developed an array of disturbing illnesses similar to those suffered by Gulf War veterans, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. How many others from the Iraq conflict are suffering the same problems?

This is an interview by Mark Anderson at American Free Press with a veteran of the current Iraq conflict who suffers Gulf War Illness type symptoms including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The interview was done on the day after the congressionally mandated report on Gulf War Illness was released. The interviewer has an obvious agenda of including Depleted Uranium in the discussion, so he sort of skips over anything else the women have to say, but you’ll be very interested in hearing what the two women have to say: a young woman who served in the current conflict, and an Air Force nurse who served in the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Link

Judge says woman can sue over co-worker’s perfume

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Mike Adams at Natural News has an excellent critique of a recent court case where an employee is suing the City of Detroit over a perfume drenched co-worker whom the employee says caused her serious respiratory problems.

Adams has a theory that the chemicals in perfume do much more than damage lungs. He says synthetic perfume “literally affects brain function, causing the brain to recede from sensory reality by decoupling neurons, thus making those people cognitively impaired.” Sound familiar?

I’m not sure if I go along with his assertion that the “dumbest people” wear perfume; I guess you have to define your terms. But his feeling about “dumbed-down” consumers getting poisoned in their homes makes a lot of sense to me.

A Judge has ruled that a lawsuit over workplace perfume filed by a Detroit city planner can proceed. The lawsuit alleges that perfume from a co-worker made Susan McBride unable to properly breathe, creating a hazardous work environment and making it difficult for her to complete her work.

The city of Detroit sought to have the lawsuit dismissed in court, but the Judge agreed with McBride that her difficulty in breathing with the excessive perfume did, indeed, qualify for protection under federal laws that protect the disabled from workplace discrimination.

That may seem like an odd law to invoke in this case (is McBride really “disabled” due to her difficulty in breathing?) but at least it is recognizing the reality of perfume toxicity.

Let’s get straight to the real story here, folks: Perfume-wearing people are toxic to the world, and they create a toxic workplace filled with poisonous, cancer-promoting chemicals that cause healthy people to gasp for breath.

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Synthetic perfume chemicals cause cancer

These people also remain oblivious to the fact that perfumes contain cancer-causing chemicals that are absorbed right through the skin. These chemicals enter the blood where they poison the liver and other organs, causing cancer and cellular toxicity throughout the body.

I also have a theory that this onslaught of chemicals literally affects brain function, causing the brain to recede from sensory reality by decoupling neurons, thus making those people cognitively impaired. You can observe this in the real world, too: Have you ever noticed it’s the dumbest people who wear the most perfume or cologne? I do not believe that is by chance: It could very well be a cause-effect relationship between perfume chemicals and brain function.

Keep in mind, too, that dumbed-down mainstream consumers use a lot of perfume-laced products throughout their homes: Laundry detergent, dryer sheets, air fresheners, carpet cleaners, shampoo, shower soap and other products laced with the same toxic fragrance chemicals found in perfumes. This creates a toxic environment in which cancer is accelerated and brain development is retarded.

NaturalNews supports a nationwide ban on perfumes in the workplace.

Link

Canadian mechanic disabled from toxic paint fumes

A Canadian airplane mechanic develops Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and other environmental illnesses from exposure to paint fumes at his place of work, but when he becomes disabled from the toxic exposure, the government denies him benefits. This disabled worker claims that half his crew were affected, and that a total of 30 employees, who were disabled from toxic exposure in the hanger where they worked, have all been denied benefits.

Link

Every day is thanksgiving

Aloha my Beautiful Canaries!

Today is Thanksgiving in America, except I don’t do holidays so you are out of luck for a “Happy Thanksgiving” post.

This is going to sound corny but I think of every day as a day of thanksgiving. I don’t wait for one special day. Basically, if I’m not dead yet, it’s a day to give thanks. If I wake up and can assemble even the rudimentary of thoughts, it means I have options. And even if I’m in pain or brain fog or have any of the myriad Multiple Chemical Sensitivity symptoms, there is a part of me most grateful to have any feeling at all. If I hurt, I’m alive, and that’s a good thing.

I hope you don’t think this is too weird, but it’s rare that even an hour goes by in my life that I don’t remember that one day I will die. So even if I am having the very worst of days with my health issue, I am keenly aware that I’m alive, and besides, everybody has some sort of disability, and this is mine and I will make the best of it. Even though the planet is pretty messed up, it’s also pretty incredible and I am thankful for the opportunity to be here at all.

Be well, dear flock, today and every day. Be brave, be strong, be vocal. Sing your hearts out, make them listen. I love you guys and I’m truly thankful for each and every one of you.

Aloha,

Susie

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