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The myth of a “safe place”

Posted on Jun 16, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Healthy Living, Kimberly Shaw, MCS

I have come to a personal conclusion through research, interviewing others with MCS, and my own personal experience, that there is no such thing as a totally “safe place.”

By contributor Kimberly Shaw.

In this modern age, a "safe" area of the world has basically become an illusion.

Having lived and/or visited eighteen states and seven countries since I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I know quite a bit about searching for a safe place to live. I have come to a personal conclusion through research, interviewing others with MCS, and my own personal experience, that there is no such thing as a totally “safe place.”

Even when we have found a “safer” area to live, circumstances can change around us. These circumstances can be situations we have no control over like a wildfire, an oil spill, a new road being put in, a neighbor spraying pesticide or volcanic smog.

In this modern age, a “safe” area of the world has basically become an illusion. Not trying to burst anyone’s bubble, but it saddens me when I meet people who believe if they could just move to utopia they would finally heal. When they may find the tools for their healing process right where they currently live.

Several months after I was first diagnosed with MCS, I was able (through nothing short of a miracle) to move to a “safer” house. The house was just a city over from the previous home, but it had hardwood floors, no new construction or paint, a whole house water system and a detached garage. We had the ducts cleaned and bought some air purifiers and it became my healing place. It also became my “safe bubble” from which I was first unable and later afraid to leave.

About that time I read a quote from Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.” While the quote does not apply to those with MCS in the sense that we can (and should) avoid many exposures and dangers, it did show me that my feeling of security was just that, a feeling. I would eventually need to risk and leave the house. That there are no guarantees of safety. All I can do is make the wisest decisions I can make, have the safest house possible and try to plan for the unexpected. In the meantime, I also need to live! Which means sometimes I’ll be at risk when I leave my home. Then again, just staying at home could become risky. One summer in my “safer” house wildfire smoke came into the area and I had to leave my home for several weeks.

Since that first “safer” house, I have moved many times and traveled more than I ever dreamed possible. I have come to realize that the safest place for me is one I create. While I have found there is no “safe place” in terms of an area of the world, there are certainly areas that are far “safer” than others. I feel we need to pick the safest area possible for our situation (taking into account jobs, family, friends, finances, medical care, transportation, etc.) Then we need to find the “safest” place in that area. At that point we can create a “safe” haven in that place.

We can largely control what goes into our house and our bodies. I have found much of my healing has come from being able to control those areas. Most of us with MCS spend a lot of time in our homes, so our homes need to become the safest place possible.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet many with MCS during my travels and interviews to make a documentary film about MCS. One thing that has become very clear is that we are all so very different. What works well for one person may or may not work well for another. However, those with “safer” homes regardless of where they live seem to do better than those living in homes that have chemical or mold issues. It seems to better to have a safer home in a more polluted area than live in a less polluted area in a home with issues.

For me, the question has become, “How can I make where I live the safest place possible?” Rather than, “Where is the safest place to live?”

Disclaimer: I am not suggesting anyone ever stay in a bad situation or area. Some places cannot be made better. If you are in a high risk place, leave as soon as possible. I am only suggesting that there is no “utopia.” Some places do seem to work better for most than others though.

Learn more about my documentary film on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity at Adventurous Canary Productions. Come visit me at my blogs Adventurous Canary and Serendipity.

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Tags: Environment, Healthy Living, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

CNN investigative report Toxic America with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to rebroadcast tonight and tomorrow

Posted on Jun 05, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Media/Videos, Products, Susie Collins

The two-part CNN investigation “Toxic America” with Dr. Sanjay Gupta will rebroadcast tonight and tomorrow night, Sat & Sun, June 5 & 6, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Check listings in your area to confirm times. Don’t miss it!

I was hesitant to recommend the CNN special Toxic America with Dr. Sanjay Gupta until I saw the first airing. It’s pretty good actually, although if you look at it through the lens of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity you may feel that it falls short in many areas. Still, it’s heartening to see this topic and type of investigative reporting on mainstream media. Dr. Gupta does a good job of presenting the problems of toxic chemicals in our environment and our homes, and he shows genuine concern, repeating over and over the fact that out of the 80,000 chemicals put into consumer goods, only 200 have been tested for safety.

Click here for dates and times of ONLINE replays June 7, 8, & 9.

Also, for those of you so inclined, CNN is inviting you to “Share Your Story” through video or photos:

Put yourself on video and document conditions in your area, or take photos of what’s around you. Tell us what industrial or chemical pollution may be contributing to health problems for you and those you love, and be sure not to put yourself in a dangerous situation.

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Tags: Air, Asthma, Children's Health, Environment, EPA, Home, Indoor Pollution, Policy, Products, Research, Sick Building, Toxic, Video

Ask the Canary

Posted on May 29, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Products, Susie Collins

My items stored at a controlled storage unit have been contaminated with mothball fumes! What should I do?

The use of storage units can be difficult for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity because there is no control over the use of toxic chemical products in adjoining units and hallways.

We’ve had the following stored in a non-climate controlled storage unit for two years, anticipating moving to a safe house: two lazy boys, seven composite wood book shelves, a vinyl covered card table, hundreds of books and some stuff mostly stored in cardboard boxes, some older Rubbermaid bins.

When I stopped to retrieve something a few months ago, I smelled moth balls. After inquiring, the owner refused to check with the “neighbors,” but said she had placed moth balls in a unit two doors down and would remove them.

My question: Can our stuff be saved or should I be calling the insurance agent? I aired a vinyl throw pillow in the sun a few days and the odor dissipated. What do you think?

P.S. I know composite wood is BAD. I’m wondering if painting them with tested/tolerated sealer will let us use them.

Thank you!

Fuming at Mothballs

Aloha Fuming,

It’s not the odor, it’s the chemicals in the mothballs, notably the napthalene which is highly toxic. Personally, I wouldn’t even try to introduce into my house anything porous that’s been exposed to mothballs. Be very careful.

You may be able to seal the composite wood, but I’d chuck the book shelves and replace with a solid wood that I could tolerate, or a nonporous material like thick glass or metal. It’s the formaldehyde in composite wood that makes the trouble. I wouldn’t risk it.

Vinyl is problematic in and of itself, it’s a toxic material that continuously offgasses. Further, it’s often stabilized with lead.

You might be able to wash the Rubbermaid bins if they are contaminated, but that kind of plastic may not be safe either, mothball exposure or no. They may have protected whatever was inside the bin, but you’d need to risk exposure to the mothball fumes to check it out– a canary dilemma. Rubbermaid makes a lot of food grade BPA-free products now, but your products’ safety would depend on the age of your products. Canaries often need food grade safety even if we are not using it for food. Also, not all Rubbermaid products are food grade, such as their trash bins. Further, many people with chem sensitivity can’t tolerate any kind of plastics, food grade or no.

The books are a big dilemma, I know! I used to own a bookshop and had shelves and shelves of books, most of which I couldn’t read once I developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity because they were either offgassing or musty. I’ve culled my book collection down several times, giving books away to nonprofits and other groups who would appreciate them. You might want to do that and see what you have left as your core book collection. You’d still need to decide if the mothballs have ruined them.

Be very careful about what you introduce into your safe home. Don’t let cost issues or sentimentality rule over risks to your health!

Aloha,
Susie

PS Since you have that option, yes, I think you should seriously consider contacting your insurance agent about claiming the goods you can’t decontaminate a loss.

Photo credit

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Tags: Chemicals, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Products, Toxic

MCS and the search for a safe community

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Healthy Living, Keith Carlson, MCS

Based on our research and experience thus far, our conclusion is that intentional communities are not a safe bet for those with MCS and environmental illnesses, and the learning curve remains steep even for those who claim to be living a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.

By contributor Keith Carlson, RN, and Mary Rives.

Keith

In honor of MCS Awareness Month, my wife, Mary Rives, and I are posting this co-written article in order to share more deeply regarding one of the most significant reasons that we undertook our current journey around the country.

Because we both live with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), finding a safe place to call home is paramount to us, and those who have MCS understand what it’s like to live like a “canary in the coal mine” in a world saturated with substances that undermine our health and impair our ability to function effectively.

Mary

With recent reports showing that even ADHD may be linked to pesticide use, there is a crucial necessity for us to be more public about our MCS, our search for safe housing, and the need for greater awareness about the effects of chemicals, pesticides, and manufactured fragrances on the health of humans and the environment. That said, many hospitals and other health care facilities are now becoming fragrance-free in an effort to support the health of patients, thus awareness is indeed growing about this important public (and personal) health issue.

We offer this article as a missive of support and hope to other canaries, as well as a plea to those without MCS—especially intentional communities—to more deeply understand our plight.

~Keith Carlson and Mary Rives

~~~

When it comes to finding safe housing, everyone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) will agree that this is one of the most daunting challenges of living with this most highly inconvenient and disheartening medical condition.

After living in New England for 20 years and becoming chemically injured in the process (most likely due to hidden mold in our home), it was no longer safe for us to live in our beloved neighborhood or continue to work in our meaningful jobs.

Our lovely arboreal homeowners’ association provided what at first appeared to be a healthy sanctuary for our family of three, but our blissful existence was often impeded by the imposition of a variety of common household toxins, including the fumes of lighter fluid, charcoal, dryer sheets, and lawnmower and vehicle exhaust. Lying in hammocks or eating home-cooked meals on our custom-made screened-in porch, we were often driven indoors by clouds of the aforementioned toxins filtering through the forest and onto our property.

When exposed to various chemicals and environmental toxins, we each experience a similar yet somewhat different constellation of symptoms, including headache, confusion, sore throat, irritability, asthma, hives, joint pain, muscle pain, and burning eyes. When mold was discovered in our attic after our house was put on the market, the potential culprit of our mutual MCS only added to our intense desire and need for a safe refuge.

In our workplaces which had fragrance-free policies, we were both exposed to environmental insults that exacerbated our condition and underscored the need to radically change our lives. Policies are virtually ineffective without enforcement, often driving wedges between people of varying cultures and levels of acceptance, support and awareness. The commitment to educating others can be exhausting, and workplace exposures impair job performance and strain professional relationships. Thus, we canaries often find ourselves frequently leaving otherwise satisfying and meaningful jobs in order to preserve our health and sanity.

Having lived in an intentional community early in our relationship, we decided that ecologically-minded intentional communities with a focus and commitment to sustainability would offer the greatest potential for finding a safe home. We hoped that this form of community would use earth-friendly, biodegradable and non-toxic products in keeping with that vision of sustainable living, and provide for us a safe place to live our lives in peace and health.

Hitting the proverbial road in a 29-foot mobile home, we began to scour the country for an intentional community or eco-village that offered an opportunity for healthy living. Traversing the East Coast, Deep South, Gulf Coast and Southwestern United States, we visited over two-dozen intentional communities in more than twenty states over the course of seven months.

Many of these communities profess to live close to the earth by using sustainable building and permaculture techniques, renewable energy sources, organic gardening, and other well-meaning practices. In our naivete, we did indeed assume that “sustainable living” would include the use of earth-friendly and non-toxic products, but we’ve sadly found that many such communities simply reach for the cheapest common denominator, with Tide, Bounce, Palmolive, Cascade and other products being the easy mainstream fix.

Our disappointment and disillusionment were great when many visits to such communities revealed that people were often unwilling to “walk the talk” when it came to using safe and healthy products. As to the issue of being fragrance-free and MCS-friendly, most communities appeared oblivious at best, much to our dismay.

Earthaven Ecovillage in Asheville, North Carolina, Sunflower River Community in Albuquerque, New Mexico and The Commons on the Alameda Cohousing Community in Santa Fe, New Mexico are the three communities that we have found in our travels to best embody earth-friendliness and consideration for those living with MCS.

While people at Earthaven do indeed burn a great deal of wood for winter heat and state that they are not well-equipped to have people with severe MCS join them, many of the residents appear to embrace true sustainability. Sunflower River has no openings for new members at this time but they are a growing community that truly walks their talk. Twins Oaks and Acorn communities in Southern Virginia are runners up, but they use lavender scented natural detergent which neither of us can tolerate without becoming symptomatic.

Although the numbers are few (and we have only visited a fraction of the intentional communities in the United States), we are grateful to have found a few that seem to understand how important it is to use biodegradable products that are healthy and earth-friendly. And of these few, the Commons on the Alameda is the only one who uses all fragrance-free products!

We are planning to live at The Commons this summer in order to test the waters and see how their experiment in MCS-friendly community is going. The Commons is an established cohousing community with 28 homes and a common house located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Commons on the Alameda Cohousing Community in Santa Fe is an extremely MCS-friendly community that has adopted a strict fragrance-free policy in an effort to create a safe haven for residents with environmental illness. Championed by an medical doctor specializing in environmental medicine who lives at the community, the shared spaces at The Commons are for all intents and purposes fragrance-free, and guests and residents are urged to comply with the policies. We are actually planning to live at The Commons this summer in order to test the waters and see how their experiment in MCS-friendly community is going, bringing with us great hopes that we will find it to be a safe haven where we can, at long last, feel comfortable and at peace.

For canaries considering looking into intentional community as a possible source of safe housing, we would like to warn those with MCS that even eco-villages and communities that espouse sustainable living as a way of life so often overlook the very products that people put on their bodies, into the water, and onto the ground. As many of us already know, mainstream products are often cheap, readily accessible, and have brand recognition that even the most alternative individuals cannot resist. The tendency (can we even say addiction?) to purchase such products is rampant, and even those who live in intentional communities often choose to drive to Wal-Mart and buy whatever cleaning products are on sale. We understand that communitarians also have to make ends meet, but when one’s habits as a consumer fly in the face of one’s proclaimed ecological lifestyle, questions are raised as to whether that community or individual is truly thinking clearly about their choices as a consumer and their commitment to the earth (and their health).

Meanwhile, many of our fellow canaries live with severe MCS which prevents them from exploratory adventures like the one we’ve undertaken. They are unable to risk the dangers–and expenses–of the unknown, despite the fact that they have so much to contribute. Living with MCS sadly often necessitates social isolation in order to minimize symptoms which only worsen with subsequent exposures to the most basic of chemicals. Adding to the isolation are the common financial hardships caused by the medical need to let go of jobs in toxic work places. Employees with MCS are also frequently discriminated against by employers who are unwilling to make reasonable accommodations, despite the fact that MCS is recognized as a disability by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Having MCS inconveniently interrupted our careers and engendered enormous out-of-pocket medical expenses in order to prevent our illness from worsening. Even with good health insurance, access to treatment has been very expensive and limited, and the fact that the AMA refuses to recognize MCS as a physiological illness makes finding sympathetic medical providers an additional challenge. Avoidance is the best medicine, thus our radical lifestyle change and quest for safe community living.

Our hope for the future is that more and more intentional communities will realize the importance of the need for safe housing, including across-the-board use of fragrance-free, environmentally friendly products. May they become safe havens for canaries of the coal-mine while taking their commitment to the earth and her inhabitants even further. Meanwhile, perhaps a few MCS communities will even be born from our collective desire for a safe place to rest our weary heads!

We remain hopeful that we will find a place to call home for the long-term where we can live safely and in better health. We also remain realistic that uphill battles and further education will be needed for those with whom we share living and breathing space, perhaps for the rest of our lives. For now, the two of us will continue to explore whether intentional community will fit thebill when it comes to healthy living as we land in our temporary nest with great hopes for a healthy future for all.

~~~

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! ~Keith

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Tags: Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Healthy Living, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Analysis shows top-selling fragrance products contain secret chemicals never assessed for safety

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Products, Susie Collins

President’s Cancer Panel Report highlights threat from endocrine-disrupting chemicals; many found in new fragrance study.

A new analysis reveals that top-selling fragrance products contain a dozen or more secret chemicals not listed on labels, multiple chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions or disrupt hormones, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety by the beauty industry’s self-policing review panels.

Environmental Working Group reports secret chemicals are revealed in celebrity perfumes and teen body sprays.

I’m thrilled to see Anne C. Steinemann quoted in the press release. Steinemann is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington and has done analysis on fragranced consumer products and undisclosed ingredients in three air fresheners and three laundry products, where she discovered over 100 undisclosed volitale organics compounds (VOCs). She’s also complied a list of over 100 citations for peer-reviewed journal articles that support a physiological basis for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Here’s the release from EWG about the new fragrance analysis:

San Francisco – A new analysis reveals that top-selling fragrance products—from Britney Spears’ Curious and Hannah Montana Secret Celebrity to Calvin Klein Eternity and Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce — contain a dozen or more secret chemicals not listed on labels, multiple chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions or disrupt hormones, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety by the beauty industry’s self-policing review panels.

The study of hidden toxic chemicals in perfumes comes on the heels of last week’s report by the President’s Cancer Panel, which sounded the alarm over the understudied and largely unregulated toxic chemicals used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. The Cancer Panel report recommends that pregnant women and couples planning to become pregnant avoid exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals due to cancer concerns. Hormone disruptors that may play a role in cancer were found in many of the fragrances analyzed for this study.

“This monumental study reveals the hidden hazards of fragrances,” said Anne C. Steinemann, Ph.D, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor of Public Affairs, University of Washington. “Secondhand scents are also a big concern. One person using a fragranced product can cause health problems for many others.”

For this study, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national coalition of health and environmental groups, commissioned tests of 17 fragranced products at an independent laboratory. Campaign partner Environmental Working Group assessed data from the tests and the product labels. The analysis reveals that the 17 products contained, on average:

Fourteen secret chemicals not listed on labels due to a loophole in federal law that allows companies to claim fragrances as trade secrets. American Eagle Seventy Seven contained 24 hidden chemicals, the highest number of any product in the study.

Ten sensitizing chemicals associated with allergic reactions such as asthma, wheezing, headaches and contact dermatitis. Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio contained 19 different sensitizing chemicals, more than any other product in the study

Four hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to a range of health effects including sperm damage, thyroid disruption and cancer. Halle by Halle Berry, Quicksilver and Jennifer Lopez J. Lo Glow each contained seven different chemicals with the potential to disrupt the hormone system.

The majority of chemicals found in this report have never been assessed for safety by any publically accountable agency, or by the cosmetics industry’s self-policing review panels. Of the 91 ingredients identified in this study, only 19 have been reviewed by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), and 27 have been assessed by International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM), which develop voluntary standards for chemicals used in fragrance.

“Something doesn’t smell right—clearly the system is broken,” said Lisa Archer, national coordinator of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at the Breast Cancer Fund. “We urgently need updated laws that require full disclosure of cosmetic ingredients so consumers can make informed choices about what they are being exposed to.”

“Fragrance chemicals are inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and many of them end up inside people’s bodies, including pregnant women and newborn babies,” said Jane Houlihan, senior vice president for research at Environmental Working Group.

A recent EWG study found synthetic musk chemicals Galaxolide and Tonalide in the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. The musk chemicals were found in nearly every fragrance analyzed for this study. Twelve of the 17 products also contained diethyl phthalate (DEP), a chemical linked to sperm damage and behavioral problems that has been found in the bodies of nearly all Americans tested.

TAKE ACTION! Click here to sign the petition for safe celebrity fragrances!

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Tags: Chemicals, Cosmetics, Fragrance, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Personal Care, Products, Toxic

This is progress!

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, Healthy Living, MCS

I am about to talk about the most hotly debated and taboo topic in the MCS crowd– and that is about healing and possibly being cured. Since I am always on a steady upswing and will never give up, I thought I would just jot down the things I felt were helpful to me– no matter how controversial they may be.

By guestblogger Leslie Richard.

I am trying to learn to drive a car again after five years of being house bound!

People who have never experienced a chemical injury or some kind of health breakdown that causes a person to get Multiple Chemical Sensitivities may find this post a little weird… So be forewarned, let your judgments and confusion take a nap while ya keep on reading.

For those of you who have MCS, ya might have to let your judgments go, too, cause I am about to talk about the most hotly debated and taboo topic in the MCS crowd– and that is about healing & possibly being cured. Yeah, I said the “C” word, and now I am gonna tell you what I really think…

Some of us who developed MCS know exactly what happened, you might have been exposed to chemical in your workplace and then watched your health take a spiral into a housebound hell, you may have been renovating your home and didn’t recover, you may have been a Gulf War veteran who was lied to until recently about pills you were administered, or a 911 victim… or maybe an average person like me who was exposed to various things over time and happen to have an auto immune disease that caused enough damage to make the normal body functions take a dive six feet under.

However you got to the stage of MCS, no matter how hard you had to fight to be understood and never truly were by everyone… there is also this point of acceptance and letting go– letting the label of being “sensitive” be as big a deal as having brown hair.

Over the years, my symptoms of MCS kinda took up and down dives, with being only generally sick when going into K-mart (who isn’t sick in that place?), or when exposed directly to fresh paint, or loud amounts of perfume. These things bordered on normal, and didn’t stop me from at least hanging out at thrift stores. But nearly five years ago I got pregnant, and very sick– when I lost the baby my mild MCS turned into raging impossible to deal with every smell makes me wanna pass out and kill people so I must hide in the woods MCS. It was so intolerable that I could no longer drive without having seizures, I could not stand for my X-boyfriend to come home from the store and get near me with his smelly clothes, I could not hang out with or visit any other humans, or go anywhere in public. After nearly a year of this kind of hell-ish reclusive life, I ventured out…

I didn’t go sticking my head inside of paint cans or huff glue, but I decided if the world was going to kill me, then Fuck It! Let it kill me while I am living my life and doing what I want–

This is the healthier me AT A PARTY recently that included a lot of people, bonfire, some people smoking.

I started off slow and made small goals. Each time I reached a small goal (like buy a lottery ticket at a gas station two blocks away), I would set the bar higher and further ’til I was working on a more functional level. Four years later… look at the picture, that is me AT A PARTY that included a lot of people, bonfire, some people smoking, etc…

Two things I noticed over these years:

1. MCS is not in your head, people react to nasty shit in our environment as a natural part of our body’s function.

2. I (my body) was so used to reacting, there was some auto-anxiety involved… not “in my head” but anxiety that was learned and out of control. Anxiety bad enough to be confused – like was it a symptom or anxiety causes me discomfort?

The reason I bring this up is ’cause there are a few things I have done over the years that I believe have helped me improve. I am not cured, but since I am always on a steady upswing and will never give up, I thought I would just jot down the things I felt were helpful to me– no matter how controversial they may be (and knowing everyone’s body will need their own personal combo of things to heal!)

1. I got on the macrobiotic diet. I did not eat bad before that, in fact I have eaten all organic & whole foods long before health problems, but this diet has some really helpful ways to keep your foods appropriate for your ailments, the seasons, your body temperature, and healing in general. Over time I branched out and added back in some whole foods not strictly on this diet, but ones that help improve my energy and give me a greater variety of nutrients.

2. I got outta my head. This one will undoubtedly make some people with MCS upset ’cause it’s not a head disease, but with any health problems sometimes the best thing we can do is get the heck outta our own way and STOP for da’ love of gawd thinking about sickness, what causes sickness, how we got sick, being mad we got sick, blaming the world we got sick… etc. (you know the thoughts I am talking about!). I had to start thinking about life and my dreams, and not about “sickness” stopping my life.

3. Risks. I am not recommending anyone with MCS do anything to put themselves in harms way, but for me I had to take some risks to find out what my real limits were. With all the other helpful things I was doing for my health (clean house, clean diet, homeopathic detox, being nice to myself) there would come a time when new limits needed to be tested if I was to ever be able to branch out and do anything beyond my own backyard. Each time I took a successful risk (no matter how many were unsuccessful) I was able to do that much more and that did wonders for my mental health, too.

4. Homeopathic/Medicinal stuff. I tried about a billion things, but the only stuff I used that worked for helping detox my body in a gentle way were homeopathic pills for kids (Newton brand) and eating shiitake mushrooms (takes out heavy metal and junk real gentle, easy and tastes good, too!). I don’t like taking pills of any kind, and I did best when I stopped taking all the pills recommended to me and just took the one homeopathic or nothing at all.

5. I got a therapist! Hell yeah I did, because being sick is not easy to deal with and it turned out I learned amazing skills and coping methods that reduced tons of stress in my life and I only had to go for a short period of time before I learned to support myself emotionally and forgive and live again. What I learned in therapy about how to deal with being sick, rolled over into every relationship for the better.

6. Exercise!! No matter what, even if it’s hard and makes ya fatigued. I did this even when bed ridden and at my worst, getting the body moving and the blood circulating is your ticket to wellness.

7. Nice Home Environment. It never needed to be the Taj Mahal for MCSers, just had to not be freshly painted or super disgusting– I moved around more times than I can count on two hands and generally my house plants cleaned the air good enough each time. The really important part for me was not living right in a city (too much pollution), to have fresh air outside, to open my windows, to walk in the woods, to grow my own food, and have animals around me.

8. Brain re-training. I KNOW, this is the one people in the MCS community have been either seething with hate over, praising, arguing, or banning… but I tried it. Let me just tell ya’ll, I didn’t even watch all the CD’s for the Gupta Program but only up until the specific exercise to re-train your brain and I started doing the exercise immediately everyday. Did I do it like 20 times a day like he suggests? NO way maybe like once a day… nor did I do any of his meditations and all those suggestions on how to breathe ’cause I already had enough self help like that in my bag of tricks. But when I had a majorly bad thought about being sick, or bad symptoms, I did the exercise and then moved on. Brain re-training helped me, I can’t put my finger on it but once I started thinking in a positive direction and got my brain outta auto-sick mind, my bravery and ability to do things doubled up ten fold times 100!

This method has helped me tons with my newest challenge, and that is I am trying to learn to drive a car again after five years of being house bound! (See pic at top!)

I remember when I could not breathe in a small enclosed space with any other human unless they were totally decontaminated, chem free … but this picture below is me and my dad recently in my bathroom hanging a mirror together and the only reason my face looks like it does is cause he was calling the mirror a “f-en bastard” and scaring me with his perfectionism.

My Dad and me hanging a mirror together.

I am not in perfect health, I still have trouble breathing in certain places, I still feel ill to smell the fragrance detergents, I still know I am not reliable or well enough to go out and get a regular job… BUT I am much more functional. Functional enough to begin enjoying my life again and I wanted to put this out into the world– for those with MCS or any disease do not give up, ever! The body always is working towards healing itself, the body always wants to get better and so do you… do not give up on the miracle of healing– even if it’s slow and takes many years. Just know none of ya’ll are alone, I am over here at my little cabin in the woods believing everyday that we all can be healthy– no matter what anyone says!

Xoxoxo

~~~

This post was originally published at The Oko Box, where Leslie blogs an eco-friendly interactive commentary on organic clothing, DIY, environment, pollution, health, organic food, organic farming and wildlife adventures.

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Tags: Environmental Health, Health, Healthy Living, Home, Support

Celebrating new life and healthy choices

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Franny Armstrong, Healthy Living

I’m much too young to be a grandmother, so I am Nanny Franny. And with it comes responsibility to life and good health.

By contributor Franny Armstrong.

Me with my new grandson Brock William Daniel, born April 22.

For the first time since I became ill with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train barreling towards me. Keep up the faith and WILL yourself to be well. I, for one, envision myself celebrating good health and happiness. This has begun with the birth of my grandson. I’m now Nanny Franny (because of course I’m much too young to be a grandmother at 39).

My daugher Christina with Brock just moments after he was born.

Pepsi or Coke? I get asked that question a lot as an author. It’s just one of the interview questions people like to ask. I have been drinking Pepsi for decades and sometimes Coke when the other isn’t available. My hubby always says, “It’s bad for you.” Yet, he doesn’t think twice about eating chicken wings while drinking beer. Hmmm…high cholesterol and high blood pressure mixed with toxins?

We all make choices to better or harm our health. I believe it’s called “free will.” I’ve decided once again to give up pop and any alcohol then keep working one day at a time to continue on the road to wellness.

I’m happy to say that I’ve begun to react less harshly to fragrances and other contaminants after nearly ten years of “avoidance” and eating healthy. I live in the country next to a golf course but hubby doesn’t want to move. After calling the clubhouse to ask for a warning a day or two in advance of when they spray the FUNGICIDES to keep their lawns beautiful, I never received a reply.

Brock with his sister Alexis.

The first time I became ill, I dropped like a rock into poor health and could barely talk, shook like a leaf all the time, and slept nearly TWENTY HOURS A DAY! I was diagnosed as Bipolar II, yet my psychiatrist, who by the way says I’m NOT crazy (whew), agreed that moving away from pesticides that affect the brain neurologically, not to mention cause cancer, was a great idea in improving my health.

Alas, if you have an “alpha male” like I do, it’s like trying to move the Rock Of Gibraltar with a toothpick. Most of the time I stay indoors typing on my beloved laptop, pouring out the stories from my overactive imagination in the world of paranormal romantic suspense. I even write about environmental illness but those particular books are taking a long time to create. It’s difficult to write what you live, while at the same time also writing about what other people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity live, too.

Joy goes a long way in promoting good health. My daughter is thoughtful to make sure the baby and I are not exposed to toxic chemicals. No baby powder, no Ivory Snow, no other fragrances either. She’s a gem.

TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH!

NEVER SURRENDER! NEVER GIVE UP!

Hugs,
Franny Armstrong-ParaNovelGirl

Come visit me at ParaNovelGirls and my website.

~~~

Franny Armstrong is a writer of “paranormal romantic suspense” novels filled with private investigators, police, and even Royal Canadian Mounted Police who use their amazing psychic abilities to catch the villains. Franny also uses her technical and journalistic skills to create helpful, upbeat stories and articles to enlighten and motivate people.

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Tags: Children's Health, Healthy Living, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

MCS Awareness Month: Yellow colors our world

Posted on May 02, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Organic Gardening, Susie Collins

Many members of our canary community have adopted yellow as this year’s theme color for MCS Awareness Month!

Heralding MCS Awareness Month, profile photos radiating the warmth and vibrancy of yellow are popping up throughout our community on Facebook and on our network. Yellow, for those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, symbolizes the canary in the coal mine, with which we all identify. Our identity as a canary embraces and honors our bodies’ wisdom, and uses our song to alert the world of the menacing dangers of toxic consumer goods and a polluted planet.

“The color Yellow has stood for wisdom and intellect throughout the ages. It is full of creative and intellectual energy. A sun color, it makes us feel happy and optimistic. Expansive and free to do and be all that we can be. Cheerful, Joyful, Curious, Yellow promotes optimism. Helps you feel expressive, friendly and experimental.”

Jacki, who had to give up her career as a nurse due to developing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, turned her misfortune into a blessing, inspiring us all. She’s athletic, often kayaking, hiking, and working in her garden. She and her husband, John, live a completely nontoxic lifestyle, growing veggies and roots crops in an organic garden, and raising chickens for meat and eggs. John, who took Jacki’s photo above, hunts wild game, bringing home venison, rabbit, goose, turkey, beef, lamb and goat. They eat tons of fresh veggies, green smoothies, but not much bread and no sweets.

About the above photo, Jacki says, “Yellow is the color for MAY… learn, and educate others on MCS… we need your help. Thank you for caring and sharing… love ya, jj.”

~~~

Thanks to Lourdes Salvador for her contribution to this post about the color yellow.

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Tags: Food, Fresh Air Photos, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Photography, Support

Ask the Canary

Posted on Apr 21, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Products, Susie Collins

I don’t have access to a safe, nontoxic washing machine, what do I do?

The Wonderwash is a possible solution for people having a hard time finding a safe, nontoxic washer at an affordable price.

I live in an apartment building and the common laundry facilities are too toxic for me to use. I also don’t dare go to the neighborhood laundromat because it’s a toxic soup; the use of dryer sheets alone is enough to knock me out for a week. My landlord refuses to provide a safe nontoxic machine for me. Because I am disabled by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and other illnesses, it’s too exhausting for me to do my laundry in my tub or sink, especially the big items like sheets and towels. Do you have any ideas about how I can do my laundry safely?

Sincerely,
Wash Wishing

Aloha Wash,

This is a common problem for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity who don’t have the resources or the living situation to buy their own washing machine. And peeps living with inconsiderate roomies or family are always in the position of being the Laundry Police; all it takes is one toxic product used in the machine to render it off limits to a canary. Sometimes I think the idea of beating our laundry on rocks in a creek seems a better way to do our laundry.

For people with limited resources and no access to a safe washer, members of our community often recommend the Wonderwash, a countertop unit for under $50. You might like to read a review of the Wonderwash by Leslie at The Oko Box Blog.

Most people say their new Wonderwash needed some time to offgas, which can be expedited by running it through some cycles with lemon, alternating with your nontoxic clothes soap. And I have heard someone say that the unit did not work well at cleaning their clothes, but I’ve only heard that once out of many positive recommendations.

I don’t recommended that you buy a used washer as it can be a nightmare if it arrives contaminated with previously used products.

I hope this gives you a possible solution!

Aloha,
Susie

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Tags: Ask the Canary, Home, Products

KFC and Susan G. Komen launch huge pinkwashing campaign

Posted on Apr 17, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Food, Social Justice, Susie Collins

Kentucky Fried Chicken and Susan G. Komen for the Cure team up for the largest pinkwashing campaign in the history of breast cancer.

This commercial introduces the “Buckets for the Cure(tm)” campaign from KFC. KFC is joining the fight against breast cancer with this national campaign aimed at educating more women about breast health, generating support for the cause and attempting to make the single largest donation in the history of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I was disgusted to see the KFC commercial above announcing their alliance with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to raise funds for breast cancer “education.” Regular readers of The Canary Report know that I have a pet peeve about pinkwashing. As a breast cancer survivor, I am sickened when companies who produce products containing carcinogens jump on the pink bandwagon, suckering the public into buying unsafe products through the guise of caring about our breast health.

Christina Pirello reports at The Huffington Post on Susan G. and KFC: An Unholy Alliance. Pirello says that “according to Neal Barnard, MD, president and founder of Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine (http://www.pcrm.org), both the grilled and fried chicken served up in these pretty pink buckets contributes to the development of cancer, including breast and prostate cancers.”

Spend some time on the Susan G. Komen for the Cure website and you’ll see lots of resources for women to find information once diagnosed. You’ll also find sections advising women about living a healthy lifestyle by eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight. But how can they really talk about healthy eating when they partner with the very kinds of companies that destroy the health of all people, not just women? How can they accept one penny from companies like KFC whose products create the exact health problems this organization is sworn to defeat? Someone is tilting at the wrong windmill.

Further, as an animal lover and the owner of four precious hens, I hope you think twice about the source of the chicken you eat. KFC practices factory farming, a food production practice so cruel and inhumane that I am unable to even write about it or give you links to learn more. I hope you are being conscious about the sources of your food and thinking twice before eating any factory farmed animals.

Boycott this KFC-Komen campaign!

NOT!

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Tags: Cancer, Children's Health, Environment, Food, Products, Toxic

Leslie’s Land and Luck Cabin, a green dream come true

Posted on Apr 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Healthy Living, Susie Collins

Leslie Richard from The Oko Box bought a beautiful piece of wild land with a tiny Luck Cabin, where she’s found a little slice of heaven! Come take a walk with her and a friend.

It’s always wonderful to see a canary’s dreams come true. I met Leslie online two years ago, shortly after starting The Canary Report. We enjoyed each other’s blogs from the get go and she’s a founding member of our Canary Community. Her love of nature and knowledge about living a nontoxic life is inspirational, and she does it all with smarts, determination, creativity, and a wicked sense of humor. She’s an eco-warrior goddess who walks the walk.

Leslie checking up on tadpoles.

Leslie’s chemical sensitivities are acute, and I’ve watched her struggle to keep her good health in various environments. Well, I’m happy to report that she’s recently bought a beautiful piece of wild land with a tiny Luck Cabin, where she’s found a little slice of heaven! With the help of friends, she’s putting in new flooring, a claw foot tub, compost toilet, a kitchen and more.

A friend of hers came to visit and made the above video tape during their walk in the woods. It’s great fun to hear Leslie’s voice for the first time– and of course it’s great fun to see Leslie in action tracking rabbits, deer, and even birds soaring high above.

Leslie blogs all about life as an eco-girl, so be sure to visit The Oko Box Blog for details about the Luck Cabin and more. If you’re like me, you’ll get hooked in an instant and want to go fetch your Oko Box fix first thing every morning!