The Canary Report

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.

Continue Reading

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

Professor of chemical engineering urges students to go fragrance-free

Posted on Feb 03, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Susie Collins

Chemical engineering professor at the University of New Hampshire encourages students to “be considerate to human canaries and help them to enjoy life to the fullest.”

Ihab Farag, professor of chemical engineering at the University of New Hampshire and member of our Canary Report community, wrote a letter to the editor at his school’s student paper to raise awareness about chemical sensitivity. And they published it! I’m a huge supporter of letters to the editor. Bravo, Ihab!

Many of us are familiar with canaries, the beautiful, colorful birds that tend to sing most of the time. Canaries also saved many human lives in coalmines. This is because canaries are much more sensitive to toxic gases than humans. Miners would take canaries with them in the coalmine. If the canary stopped singing and fell (or died), the miners knew to leave the coal mine quickly to safety.

There are individuals who have developed a very strong sensitivity to many common chemicals. These people can be very negatively affected and irritated by fumes, chemical cleaners, disinfectants, cigarette/cigar smoke, engine exhaust, solvents, etc. These people are often called “Human Canaries” of the modern world, because of the chemical sensitivity similarity to that of Canaries. Human Canaries of the 21st century tend to be very strongly irritated by everyday chemicals like perfumes, hair products, shampoos, shower gels, after shave lotions, antiperspirants, deodorants, hand sanitizers, chap sticks, finger nail polish, etc. Human canaries look the same as other people, and when you see one you probably will not recognize he or she is a human canary until an offensive toxic chemical triggers his or her sensitivity.

Please be considerate to human canaries and help them to enjoy life to the fullest. One way you can help the human canary and at the same time lower your exposure to undesirable chemicals, is to go fragrance-free: avoiding perfumes, and fragranced personal care products.

Ihab Farag
Professor, Chemical Engineering Department

Link to Dr. Farag’s home page at the University of New Hampshire.

Canary photo credit

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Fragrance, Health, Healthy Living, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Products, Sick Building, Toxic, Work

Short film: The Story of Food

Posted on Jan 19, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Food, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

USC Canada’s new short, animated film will get you thinking about our broken food system.

It identifies what’s gone wrong with the modern food system, and what we can do to rebuild it.

Link to more info about the film.

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Food, Garden, Health, Healthy Living, Organic, Products, Video

Linda Sepp launches a blog about her urgent housing needs

Posted on Jan 17, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Linda Sepp, MCS, Susie Collins

The main purpose of Linda’s blog is to send out a clarion call for help in securing safe water, clothing and place to live. Are you able to help?

Canary Report contributor Linda Sepp launched her own blog today! I am doing the admin on the site but the writing is all Linda’s.

As many of you know, Linda suffers severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and is housebound. She faces eviction on April 4. She’s using the blog to explain her urgent housing needs in the hopes of finding people who can help her in securing safe water, clothing and place to live. Other than a limited amount of support given by Canada’s social services, Linda’s basically been abandoned by her country’s safety net, even though Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Environmental Sensitivities are fully recognized by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The urgency of Linda’s situation cannot be over emphasized given the looming eviction. Please visit her blog, read through the posts and pages, and if you are able to help her in any way, please do so! I’m especially interested in finding people in Toronto who can help Linda with everything from daily chores like shopping and shoveling snow, to the larger challenges such as installing a water filter and finding her a safe home.

Linda’s challenges are great but I’m convinced there are people out there who can help her. We just need to find them and enlist their help. Please do all you can to brainstorm about this, or more importantly, implement action!

From Linda’s “About” page:

I am disabled and housebound from severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities / Environmental Sensitivities (MCS/ES) and chemically induced Fibromyalgia (FM) as well as some ElectroHyperSensitivity (EHS). My symptoms and abilities are directly, and often severely impacted by exposure to petro-chemicals, moulds, wireless technologies and high electrical fields, yet most resolve when I am able to avoid exposures. There may be some residual and permanent brain damage, but we won’t know until I have safe housing and the therapeutic supports required to repair and heal the damage.

My critical and urgent needs list includes: 1) a whole house water filtration system and installation, 2) a washing machine, 3) clothing, 4) a housing search and preparation, and 5) an advocate to help me navigate the processes to secure it all. Are you able to help me in any way?

Bloggers, please add Linda’s blog to your blogroll and share her story with your readers. Please do all you can to find people who can help her secure safe water, clothing and a place to live. You can also donate funds by check or PayPal, or purchase some needed clothing for Linda.

Together, we can make this happen!

Continue Reading

Tags: Air, Environmental Health, Health, Healthy Living, Home, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Nontoxic, Support, Water

Film review: Chemerical

Posted on Dec 26, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Healthy Living, Linda Sepp, Media/Videos

Review by Linda Sepp.

I would give a copy of this film to everyone if I could afford it.

I received a copy of the new documentary film Chemerical and wanted to share a few thoughts with you about it. The film shows how a family detoxifies and survives to tell the tale, AND not only that, they save money by cooking up some of their own products.

This is a really good film for people who haven’t thought about how they are poisoning themselves and just buy chemicals off the shelf for their kitchen, bathroom, cleaning and personal care use, either because they don’t believe there is a problem or they think buying healthy products is too inconvenient.

The film isn’t heavy, even though the subject is, and encourages the viewer to make changes instead of just hitting you on the head.

I would have made a few more points, including some info on neuro-toxins and endocrine disruptors, as well as hammered in that air “fresheners” are poison instead of just not fresheners. The microbiologist made a comment about air fresheners, which showed he wasn’t a chemist. That should have been edited, but his other stuff was good. They didn’t mention that essential oils have to be USDA certified organic to be safe, and that EO need to be used carefully as they can be sensitizers even if organic. I might also have mentioned that not all soap is created equal, but that might be in the documentation that can be downloaded if you join the Chemerical Community from their website. (All the site’s pages might not be up and running quite yet.)

The film has a segment with a woman with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and Dr. Lynn Marshall from the Environmental Health Institute in Ontario. Stacy Malkan is also there for a bit, as is Dr. Rick Smith from Environmental Defence. They mention the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics safety database, too. And a few other experts, like one who tests their indoor air quality before and after they embark on detoxifying their lives from unnecessary chemical use.

I would give a copy of this film to everyone if I could afford it.

In Sweden a number of years ago, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish doctor and cancer scientist, wanted to create a consensus among governments, business people and environmentalists as to what must at least be agreed to safe guard prosperous life.

“With the support of His Majesty the King of Sweden, Karl XVI Gustaf, this ‘consensus document’ and accompanying audio tape was sent to every household and school in Sweden.”

This eventually went on to become The Natural Step.

If only we had a King Gustaf who would help deliver films like Chemerical, we would soon have a safer world for all living beings.

Link to purchase Chemerical.

Continue Reading

Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environmental Health, Health, Home, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Personal Care, Products, Sick Building, Video

Puzzles for cognitive health

Posted on Dec 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Doing puzzles can improve your cognitive skills and even stave off some diseases.

We all know how Multiple Chemical Sensitivity can interfere with our cognitive abilities, especially during an exposure to toxic chemicals or phytotoxins such as toxic mold. In this TED Talk, famed puzzle designer Scott Kim takes us inside the puzzle-maker’s frame of mind. Sampling his career’s work, he introduces us to a few of the most popular types, and shares the fascinations that inspired some of his best.

Kim says electronic and online games are moving away from violent themes and trending toward games for a healthy lifestyle. He sees three distinct trends emerging: casual games, mental fitness, and social media. Kim talks about his website Shuffle Brain, which includes a game called Photograb that reminds me of those games I played as I kid where you had to find things like ladders, cats, and irons hidden in the picture– I loved those games! Photograb mixes puzzles with social photo-sharing, where you play your friends’ photos to sharpen your visual skills. It’s a very clever blend of puzzles and social networking.

Puzzles like this are an excellent way for those with MCS to exercise our brains: Use it or lose it, peeps!

Here is Scott Kim’s TED talk:

Link

Continue Reading

Tags: Art, Health, Healthy Living, Leisure, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Products, Video

Happy Thanksgiving, Canaries xoxo

Posted on Nov 26, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

I wish you safe air, water, clothing and shelter today and every day.

Aloha,
Susie

Continue Reading

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

H1N1 vaccine by Pandemrix® poses risk to people with known hypersensitivity

Posted on Nov 04, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, News, Susie Collins

Environmental physicians in Germany say H1N1 vaccine by Pandemrix® is unsuitable for patients with chronic multi-system illnesses.

CSN: Chemical Sensitivity Network reports the German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine advises against the H1N1 vaccine by Pandemrix® for people with chronic multi-system illnesses.

Press release of the German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine (Deutscher Berufsverband der Umweltmediziner – DBU).

From 26. October 2009.

Swine flu [H1N1] vaccine is unsuitable for patients with chronic multi-system illnesses. Pandemrix® poses substantial health risk with respect to mass immunization programs due to the lack of proof of safety. Because of the producer’s release from liability by the German Federal Government (BRD), the risk of adverse reactions and/or permanent damage due to the vaccine rests with the patient.

The German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine (DBU) has, in spite of press releases from the BRD, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, as well as the vaccine producer’s assurances of safety, serious concerns relating to Pandemrix® (GlaxoSmithKline), the only vaccine which has been approved for mass vaccination by the BRD.

The DBU discusses at this point neither the medical use of immunization in general nor the necessity of such measures in the, up until now, mild course of the swine flu pandemic.

Our criticism is directed only against the pandemic vaccine Pandemrix®.

• There exists considerable doubt as to the effectiveness of the vaccine: during the licensing phase, the vaccine tested had a 40% higher portion of virus antigen (5. 25µg) than the vaccine (3.75µg) now being delivered. An unequivocal consensus has not been reached as to whether the vaccination should be given once or twice a season.
• There exists considerable doubt concerning the safety of the adjuvanted active amplifier since it is being used for the first time. The vaccine contains 27.4mg AS03, an emulsion of polysorbate, squalene and tocopherol. Sufficient studies are lacking, because in the test phase, only the development of antibody titers was determined as a surrogate criterion, and not any potential adverse reactions.
• The producer as well as government agencies have concealed the fact that squalene, if used subcutaneously or intramuscularly is an inflammatory immune activation immunogen, unlike when ingested. (Squalene is, among other things, for example, naturally contained in olive oil.)
• Autoimmune diseases can be provoked by squalene; already existing ones can be activated. Squalene has been connected with the emergence of Guillan-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and is now considered a trigger for Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). In animal studies squalene brought on rheumatoid arthritis.
• Squalene from food sources is mainly incorporated into membranes in the body. The production of squaline antibodies resulting from an immunization sets off chronic inflammation of the membranes, which explains diseases such as Gulf War Syndrome and also degenerative neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and Guillan-Barré Syndrome.
• The delivery of vaccine in multiple dose ampules is obsolete. In single dose ampules the mercury used for preservation, as in thimerosal – which is included in Pandemrix – would be unnecessary. Also, mercury has been proven to set off autoimmune diseases.
• Since the vaccine has not been tested on either young children or pregnant women (Ethics Commission objection), the call to give preference in the first phase of vaccination to precisely this particularly endangered segment of the population represents an improper and totally unjustifiable field test.
• The vaccine poses a higher risk than the swine flu itself for patients with environmental illness and for patients with compromised immune systems (e.g. AIDS).
• The vaccine producer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), according to the contract with the BRD, is largely exempt from liability. In case of damage from the vaccination, the affected vaccinee would have to sue the government and therefore the country of Germany, usually a futile exercise.
• To avoid the trap of liability, the doctor giving the vaccination must meticulously inform the patient of all risks concerning the vaccination and the vaccine. It is recommended to give this information in the presence of an assistant and to have it be confirmed by the patient’s signature. The explanation should also include the liability features. Also the indication that other, lower risk vaccines are available in Europe and that due to a faulty decision by the German government, they are currently not available to the German population. This information should definitely be included in the explanation.

For general and environmental health considerations the DBU urgently advises against carrying out a vaccination with Pandemrix®.

Dr.med. Hans-Peter Donate for the board of the German Professional Association of Environmental Medicine (DBU)

Translation by CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network.

For more information on Pandemrix®, here is the manufacturer’s summary of product characteristics. Here is a quick look at one section on possible side effects:

Caution is needed when administering this vaccine to persons with a known hypersensitivity (other than anaphylactic reaction) to the active substance, to any of the excipients, to thiomersal and to residues (egg and chicken protein, ovalbumin, formaldehyde, gentamicin sulphate and sodium deoxycholate).

Editor’s Note: Content on this blog is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use this information for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.

Continue Reading

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

New online radio station for people with Environmental Illness

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

DTOX Radio programming will include music, old time radio programs, radio plays, who-done-it mysteries and hilarious comedies.

A new online radio station for people with Environmental Illness and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity has just been launched. Creator of DTOX Radio is Canary Report member Rob Neis (at left). The Rob Network’s programming right now is easy listening music, but Rob plans on enriching the content with interviews, information about EI/MCS, and for those of us who can no longer read books due to outgassing issues, regular programming also will include old time radio plays and comedy sketches. Doesn’t that sound like fun? We can all listen together!

I’m very excited about the DETOX Radio project. It will enrich the overall online content available to people with Environmental Illness and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Rob has generously offered The Canary Report some air time, so I’ll be creating some five-minutes spots and possibly some hour-long programs for DTOX radio in the near future. Stay tuned!

Welcome to The Rob Network, the home of DTOX Radio

We are very pleased to bring you DTOX Radio, the worlds first 24/7 online radio dedicated to people suffering from Environmental Illnesses.

Now playing; The best non-toxic online music there is

We will soon be updating our program schedule and adding more shows dealing with the complex issues surrounding Environmental Illnesses.

For those who miss the pleasure of relaxing with a good book. We will soon be bringing back several old time radio programs featuring; radio plays, “who done it” mysteries and hilarious comedies.

Our regularly scheduled programs begin at 1pm EST and are repeated at 1am EST. We do this for our friends in different time zones and to give everyone the chance to join in and participate.

We’re always interested in hearing your feedback. Please feel free to drop us an email with your comments and suggestions. But remember, they may just be read on the radio.

Congratulations, Rob! Well done!

Continue Reading

Tags: Environmental Illness, Health, Humor, Leisure, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Support

Potter with chemical sensitivity goes through the fire

Posted on Jul 29, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Disability Rights, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins, Worker's Rights

Raku, a Japanese pottery technique, creates a thermal shock in the kiln that will either destroy the work or make it into something amazing.

Post by Susie Collins.

Amy Pratt was unable to throw pottery for close to a year due to injuries caused to her chest wall by coughing too hard and for too long from exposure to toxic chemicals. The chemical exposures she endured at work, coupled with myriad things they were doing to her body, stopped her from doing much of anything for a long time.

“My hiccups and vocal tics were getting worse with activity,” Amy says. “The hand and arm spasms make throwing very challenging.”

But it didn’t stop her completely. Like her pottery in the kiln, Amy burned through the worst of it and is back at her craft making balls and rattles.

“It started out as something to do to practice different texture, firing, and glaze techniques,” she says. “I wanted to try to do something repetitive, to see how I could improve my skills or see how long before I got really bored from it.

“I am now planning to make fountains or some kind of outdoor sculptures out of them.”

Amy is practicing her craft in the studio at the school where she used to work. She started throwing there last spring, before she was asked to leave her job of nine years.

Amy, in her early 40s, has been throwing since she was eight years old, during her first trip to summer camp. She says she didn’t have anyone show her how to do it, she just “went at it,” sometimes spinning art across the room.

“I was able to center, and make something close to a small bowl,” she says. “There is something magical, something primal about taking a lump of clay and creating something with it.”

Amy’s first clue she had Multiple Chemical Sensitivity came in 1997 when she had two isolated exposures from which she completely recovered.

But in 2001, she was leveled by an exposure to lacquer oil, and she almost lost her job because she was too down at work and too ill for close to a year. In 2005, she was again knocked out by paints, carpet and glues, and was out of work for five months. By late 2006, she was experiencing exposures almost daily, which, when coupled with a back injury, led to further complications. She filed a total of six worker compensation claims in three years. She’s now fighting for a disability claim.

“I am often asked, ‘Why do ceramics, why expose yourself to more chemicals and dust?’” Amy says. “Why? Because it keeps me sane.”

Amy says the studio where she throws is very proactive with keeping clay dust down to a minimum, and she avoids using the glaze room when the sprayer is being used.

“I wouldn’t be able to do anything there if I didn’t have the support of the people who run the place,” she says.

So far, the worst exposures at the studio have been fumes from glues, hand lotions and perfumes. There has only been a few times when she could not enter the kiln yard due to something bothering her.

“Throwing helps me cope by getting out and being with other people,” Amy says.

She describes Raku, the Japanese pottery technique she uses, as creating thermal shock that will either destroy the work or make it into something amazing. “You have to let go and see what happens, there is only a small amount of control,” she explains. “Clay can take a lot of abuse, as long as you don’t drop it.”

The analogy of Raku to life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is unmistakable.

“When I finish my self portrait, I plan on raku-ing it, using all of the boxes of paperwork generated from my claims to be burned in the process,” she says. “Fire, good.”

Photos by Amy Pratt.

You can view more of Amy’s pottery on her photo page at The Canary Report’s social network.

Continue Reading

Tags: Art, Chemicals, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Health, Leisure, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Perfume, Support, Work

Adventurous canary to make film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on Jul 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Kimberly Shaw, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Film will delve into the often overlooked and misunderstood condition of chemical sensitivity.

Adventurous Canary Productions announces the making of a film about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Filmmaker Kimberly Shaw was diagnosed with MCS in the mid-1990s. She has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Health and is currently earning a master of science degree.

This film project will produce both short and feature-length documentaries about real people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.  Our purpose is to create awareness with the hope of inspiring change.

No longer confined to laboratories, chemicals today make our food prettier, our perfumes and personal care products cheaper, and our lawns and golf courses pest and weed-free.  We are increasingly surrounded by authorized and unauthorized chemicals which not only impact our environment, but also directly impact us.  While most are unaware, there are some who are increasingly sensitive that live as canaries among us.

This film will delve into an often overlooked and misunderstood condition of chemical sensitivity, explaining what MCS is and how it originates, what its diverse symptoms are and how people deal with it in their everyday lives. The documentary will share recent discoveries from health care professionals and MCS experts while taking a personal and compassionate look at the modern day canaries in our chemical coalmine and the “safer” havens they have created to live in.

The film’s working title is Environmentally Not Safe. The filmmakers are looking for people with MCS and experts on the subject to interview. If you would be willing to donate your time for an interview, please contact Kimberly at info@adventurouscanary.com.

Kimberly is a member of The Canary Report’s social network, where she generously shares her knowledge about safe products, housing and other health issues.

Continue Reading

Tags: Film, Health, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Support