Why many people with MCS/EI may be sick all the time.
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Hi All,
I recently had a conversation with my E/I doctor that made me realize that many MCS/EI people are sick all the time for a very simple reason; they don't have a safe place to sleep. He was telling me that I was lucky because I did have periods of time where I did feel OK. I told him what I am going to tell you now.
I got sick in November of 1991. My primary concern over the years since then was to find and maintain a safe place to sleep. My day is about something like walking through a minefield (can you relate?); trying to avoid the perfumes, cells phones, fabric softeners, computers, TV's, etc. that are everywhere. This is not an easy task. My x-wife and I were married for nine years but lived together for only four. This is probably why we stayed together so long. For most of those years I woke up every morning and started my routine of trying to find a place where my whole family could live. During one of those periods, about a year, I lived alone in the Santa Fe Residence Inn sleeping in the fetal position on a small couch; I could not get near the bed. OK. This can turn into a very long story and I don't want that so my basic belief is, if you are sleeping in a place that makes you sick you will probably stay sick most of the time. When I have a reaction it usually lasts for the remainder of the day and into the night but, usually, by the next morning I am pretty much recovered. So, for those of you who think what I am saying might fit you need to do the work. There is a protocol that I use in identifying places but I can tell you that in Santa Fe it was really difficult to find housing. I have a condo there now but can only be in one of the two bedrooms and not the walk-in closet. My kitchen and one bathroom are partially taped up to cover some of the invisible mold that got in there for various reasons. If I lost the condo I don't think I would look for new housing there.
Best of Luck; we all need it, Harry
Comments
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Friday, 18 April 2008
Hi Harry,
Many thanks for being the first person to take advantage of the blogging system here on The Environmental Illness Resource. The last thing I want for this site is for my voice to be the only one visitors hear! Any registered member can write a blog like Harry has done here. Registration is free and instructions for writing a blog can be found in the 'Help' Menu at the top of each page. It's very straight forward!
In my own experience I guess I have been very lucky. The bedroom has always been a safe haven for me and has never triggered my MCS symptoms. The problem areas for me have always been the kitchen and the bathroom. However careful I have been in removing possible sources of VOCs these rooms still make me ill. Thankfully my MCS is much improved now but for years I had to wear a carbon filter mask when emptying my bladder....now that must have been a frightening sight!
Thanks again Harry, great post on a very important issue
I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Hi Harry,
Thank you very much for your post. You make an excellent point about how absolutely essential it is to find a safe place to sleep.
Initially I had to sleep in my garden shed (for 6 years) to avoid being poisoned to death by an offgassing new bungalow. Then the shed was chemically contaminated (maliciously I suspect) driving me back indoors. Fortunately, by then the worst of the offgassing was over - but the house itself (rented) still makes me ill.
Though my 'home' still makes me ill it is the bedtime/night-time part that really wipes me out. I haven't had a proper bed for years as everything I try makes me very ill - very quickly. For the past few years now I have had to sleep on a disintegrating 12 year old corner-unit sofa which poisons me so badly every night that I am reeling and staggering about like a drunk by the time I get up.
The bed part isn't the only problem though. Bedding is just as bad - sometimes worse. I can't find a pillow either. And everything else I try now to lay my head on to sleep (see: [url]http://www.mcs-international.org/vv_chemical_injury/mcs_wooden_pillow.html[/url]) makes me rapidly and quite violently ill.
So, between the bed and the bedding issues, I haven't had one single nights sleep in years that couldn't be described as "chemical torture". This is why I was so appreciative of your post because you hightlight what I consider to be the very worst aspect of MCS/Chemical injury; toxic bedding (other video here: [url]http://www.mcs-international.org/vv_chemical_injury/mcs_toxic_bedding.html[/url]).
The best of luck to you too Harry,
Gordon D McHendry
Founder & Campaign Coordinator
[url]www.mcs-international.org[/url]