MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) is a condition I have lived with for now, just over 12 years. And due to the nature of the condition, will live with, for the rest of my life.

Really sad part: It did not have to be this way.

MCS is a very serious health erosion problem for those who suffer daily from the loss of immune stabilization, due to synthetic chemical exposure; as well as myriad of other 'modern society' conditions.

What many are totally unaware of is this: MCS is already affecting each and every person: those who are reading this and those who are not. No one is immune from it's reach. It's a time bomb. Steadily ticking; with your number rolling up; whether you're aware or not.

Educate yourself about MCS.

• Know what it is;
• How it hits;
• Why it hits;
• Whom it hits.
• But most important - learn how you CAN AVOID getting hit.

I'm reminded to post this because I just read this article: http://www.photozz.com/fizz/24603903.aspx

Very well stated; with stats that will no doubt surprise many. And sadly, those stats aren't the half of the reality.

Got questions or comments: talk to me at http://YOSAKIME.wordpress.com/. Be proactive - your future will thank you.

YOSAKIME

I was just reminded to write about a situation that 'FRAGGED' me the other day.

First what reminded me: the EHP Online Journal (Twitter: @EHPonline) Research Triangle Park, NC USA, posted, this morning, a warning, on their Twitter account, that retailer Sears Canada, Inc., just announced a major recall of reusable shopping bags due to high levels of lead. "???"

OK, I'm going to assume this is due to some sort of printing 'on' the bag. As putting lead 'in' the bag, might be an interesting way to reduce the amount of 'stuff' people buy, but I the use of lead in anything used by people regularly is at best idiotic; at worst criminal!

What I'm going to write about, does not lead to or deal with LEAD, but it does concern shopping bags.

Last week my wife and I engaged in one of our regular shopping routine. I drive her to the store - providing a driving service and watchful guardian as she steps from car to front door and back again. Then as she is inside shopping, I remain in the car - out of the chemical soup that so many stores have become. It's the only way, and the extent to which our outings 'to the store' can go these days. To the choir I speak, I am sure. But it is none-the-less irritating and aggravating.

My wife, Deb, is careful to wear clothing that is not - or at least minimal - absorbent of fragrances. She doesn't wear wool into a store or FRAG ZONE. Instead she will opt for hard cotton in warmer weather. In cooler-to-cold weather, for a top coat, she wears a pile coat - made from synthetic materials - that less effective in absorbing the chemical odors. She does this to avoid bringing the odors back into my 'auto-environment'.

The store she went to was J.C. Penny. For those not familiar with this company - specifically those overseas - J.C. Penny began quite humbly in 1902, in a small town in Wyoming. It soon grew though, to being one of the most prominent catalog based stores in the USA. Though not as big as SEARS, they have outlasted many others, and they carry a very influential position in the retail world. We had not been to J.C. Penny for several months.

Lesson #1: Expect ALL Stores To Toss You the UNEXPECTED!

When Deb came out of the store - as we've adapted to for several months now - I drive up closer than where I'd been setting-and-watching, from the parking lot area - but far enough that she is able to 'air out' a bit before getting into the car. It has worked well for the past several months. Thus we continue it.

Lesson #2: Be Prepared To CHANGE!

This night was -partially- different. Different store. Different incident. Same reaction.

The fresh and falling snow, and the night darkness in a not-too-well-lit area, sped up Deb's normal entrance into the car. She tossed the 'bags' into the back seat, closed the door and entered the passenger door. I drove off. OK, all as normal.

YOW! Not so fast. Within 20 feet I expressed an all too typical... and for Deb, annoying, "OOOOO! You stink!" comment when she gets swathed in chemical soup and brings it unknowingly into the car.

Her reaction was one of, "What are you talking about? I don't smell a thing." I did remember seeing her doing her bird-flapping-it's-wings routine as she came out of the store .. to do what she could to air out in the short time she went from door to door. But still, she wreaked with the 'sickening sweet odor of some perfumminess' that just seemed to languish in the car!

Disgruntled and miffed (both of us!)... I drove on.

Lesson #3: Don't Take It Out On Friends!

By the time we got to the Post Office (last stop before heading home) - maybe 15 minutes of driving - I was feeling the effects of a 'mild FRAG'.

Shortness of breath, sniffle, headache, upset stomach and itchy eyes. She got out to pick up the mail. While she was gone, I still smelled the 'odor' (aka, fragrance!). It wasn't a lingering odor, either. It was really quite strong. So the first suspect was -the 'bags'.

I reached for one and was slammed back the moment I moved it. "Wheeewwwweeee! That thing stinks!", was my immediate outburst! I may have profaned the 'thing' a bit, too. Don't remember. But it 'could have happened'!

Immediately, I tossed them both outside the car and slammed to door. Backed up, rolling the windows down and pulled OVER 3 spaces. Yes, that was new 'stuff' my wife just purchased in those bags. But I didn't care! Much faster than anything of value, they had become pain-causing-items-to-avoid. And I did!

It's called, survival reaction.

Fortunately, my wife came out quickly .. before someone drove up and 'over' the bags and goods inside. She was not too happy to see the bag on the ground. She was less happy about not being allowed to put the bags back into the car.

I wasn't exactly sure how to deal with this situation. I knew what I wanted to do - but that wasn't going to happen. Plan B?

Few choices, remained and they weren't all that clear-cut.

• pull the goods from the bags and toss the bags; seems obvious right? Well, yes and no. The 'stuff' inside was likely wreaking as well. So what do we do with the 'stuff'?

• leave the 'stuff' in the bag and tie the bag to the roof rack or back wiper. We didn't have too far to go, but it was snowing pretty good and we couldn't (she couldn't!) tie the bag up tight enough to keep the snow out.

Solution was good.

I retrieved a length of cord from the tool bag, wrapped it around the bags tops, closing them, and tied them to the rear wiper. We got home with them all just fine.

Lesson #4: Best Solution is NOT Your First Reaction!

Now, you'd think that driving a mile in a cold (12° F) night, with heavy snow, would 'wash' the bag free of smell. 

Not a chance.

I was walking out of the garage when my wife came by with the 'offender' and it nearly knocked me off my feet!

WHEW! that was strong.

Donning rubber gloves, my wife pulled out the goods - hung the clothing in the garage and left the paper containers setting on the floor. She put the 'offending bag' into another plastic bag and tied it up tight, putting it into the garbage can.

The next day I left the garage door open for a while to air it out. Then when I drove to pick up my wife at work, I took the offending bag - tied to the roof rack - to a nearby dumpster and got rid of it.

Man! How much more of a PiTA (no that's not a mispelling - just think of 'new' translation for this acronym!) can a plastic bag become. Just one more reason for NOT using plastic bags.

Lesson #5: Plastic Bags Do Not Offer Solutions Worth Their Costs.

But a bigger question: How can a company consider themselves 'socially conscious' at all, when they intentionally put your products inside of a time bomb for anyone with MCS? !!! Oh, I forgot. That implies they would even care. Right?

There are more and more such incidences. I'll write more about another such incident that 'hit' me again: using fragrance in marketing. Really! No, really! You'll see what I'm talking about when you read my commentary.

I'd love to hear your stories of unexpected FRAG incidents. The stories need to get out and be told. So, please, help me tell the whole story. Send me your comments!

Until next time, take care and be aware.

YOSAKIME

Marketplace Product Placement: It's WRONG, HELP Fix It .. NOW!

One of the members on the Australian Forum, MCS News Australia #1, Katarina Holgersson, has begun writing a proposal for grocery stores in Australia to separate the scented/fragrance products from the foods, unscented and hypo-allergenic products.  Katarina's article will come out soon, it is currently being edit and review stage.  I will point to it as soon as it is released.

Meanwhile Katarina, at the suggestion of another member of MCS Australia (Judith Hombravella) has started a Petition to gain signatures, worldwide, to get changes in the product placement of fragrance/scented products away from food, unscented and hypoallergenic products, established in groceries around the world.  

To sign the Petition go here: GoPetition: Supermarket Food Contamination MUST Cease!

Even if you're not a sufferer of MCS you should sign this Petition for three (3) reasons:

• 1. Chances are you know someone - whether you know it or not - that is an MCS sufferer and you will be doing them a great service in supporting this change in marketing and point-of-purchase operations.
• 2. No one knows when or if they will become a member of the MCS community.  MCS is not genetic or communicative. MCS is not a disease or sickness. MCS is a condition and it CAN happen to anyone... even YOU.
• 3. Supporting the health and safety of your fellow human is of the First Order of the Social Responsibility Imperative: "Do unto others as YOU would have THEM do unto YOU."  It is the right thing to do.  You would appreciate it IF it were you in the sufferers position.

So, please support the MCS movement for products safety in the grocery and supermarket environment TODAY!

Again, the Petition is found and signable HERE >  GoPetition: Supermarket Food Contamination MUST Cease!

YOSAKIME

A Personal Nightmare Story - Fabreze: the new MCS danger toxin

I have known for at least 2 years that Fabreze was NOT a friendly substance for me.  I don't believe it's a friendly substance for anyone or thing.  It does a real number of bacteria; that's why it's so 'good' as a deodorizer.  It's not a cover-up fragrance - this stuff literally acts like a zebra-shell mussel as it filters bacteria out of the air.  Oh, it works wonderfully in the job it was intended to do: clear the air of smells.  But there is one tiny hitch... it is TOXIC to anyone who is, corn sensitive, corn allergic or MCS.  And frankly, I believe it's the same to many other people.  They just haven't identified it as the source of their multitude of problems: asthma, allergy, bronchial infections, palpitations, headaches ... and the list goes on.

My experience with Fabreze goes back to my very first use - the summer of 2008.

My second encounter with Fabreze - and one with a very different outcome - came in October 2008.

My wife and I were in the Wisconsin Dells, WI for a two week stay.  We had rented a condo for the two weeks.  When we got to the condo and opened the door, it was very musty smelling; dank and moldy.  Definitely closed up for a time and moldy smelling.

At the time I was just coming out of a serious bout with 'mold allergy' [which BTW, was cleared, in 2006,  using NAET treatments - and discovered that my allergy was NOT to mold, but to wheat gluton and CORN {a very important issue concerning Fabreze as a toxin!!} ] - so the 'moldy smell' of the condo was a concern.  If we were to be able to use it, we had to clear out the mold and the smell.   I was 'cleared' of reacting to mold ... but not necessarily in high spore counts.  No one is safe when the spore count exceeds 25K.  And that condo was pretty border-line.  I could tell, because I had developed quite a 'nose' for determining the spore count.  It was quite high in the condo.

Remembering just how good a job Fabreze had done on the Jimmy, I immediately thought, "Fabreze is what we need to clean this condo!".  So my wife and I drove to the nearby Wal-Mart and bought two bottles.  I walked into the condo with one bottle in each hand and proceeded to 'spray the condo down'.  We left - leaving a couple of windows open so the Fabreze could drift outside as well. 

When we returned, the smell was gone. In its place was a much cleaner and fresher smelling condo.  We could use it.  OR so I thought.

Two days later I began to develop a rash on my arms.  I erroneously thought it was due to the mold.  The rash spread, by the 5th day, to several 'familiar' (from the mold 'allergy' breakout days of 2002-2006) rashes.  To say I was both worried and puzzled would be an understatement!!  I itched. I began looking terrible.  My all-too-familiar butt rash - less-than-affectionately so named by me... as RABS (Red Arsed Baboon Syndrome) - was returning and I did NOT have my prescription of Fluocinonide ointment (the only thing that kept it at bay!) with me!! 

I was in trouble.  But it got a whole lot worse... very soon.

On the last day of our stay, we received a phone call that my wife's father had fallen and broken his hip.  Dad was 84, a 15 year stroke victim and in failing health.  Anyone who knows the stats on a person of his age and a broken hip, knows that in the best of scenarios, there is only a 20% chance of long-term survival; regardless of how successful the operation may be. Post operative complications carry a huge risk of death.  Most older people die shortly after breaking their hip.  Due to a whole range of problems - with MRSA infection being very high on the list.

My father-in-law's inability to communicate due to the stroke damage - and my mother-in-law being nearly wasted herself in caring for dad - and my wife not being able to remain viable without sleep for long periods - and I am - elected me to be dad's caretaker and interpreter while he was hospitalized.  This ended up being nearly 20 days straight of only 1-2 hours of sleep a night.  All of this on top of a growing rash problem, flu-like symptoms, and a full on-set of an MCS attack (unknown at this time that I was going MCS!)... pushed me to the brink of collapse.  I was a mess.

On day 19 I had to call it quits.  We had to go home so I could recoup.  We left on a Saturday.  I thought I'd be able to return on Tuesday and see dad through his hospital stay and into the newly cleaned and revamped room at their home.  But by Tuesday, I couldn't even get out of bed.  I was totally down.

On Wednesday, dad died.  He had contracted MRSA during his stay in the Veteran's Hospital and UK Med Center in Lexington, KY.  This was diagnosed when he was re-admitted to Lexington's St. Elizabeth-East, after he aspirated during a very brief stay in a nursing facility near their home. The doctors at St. E had put dad on a powerful pharmaceutical cocktail of antibiotics to fight the MRSA. It appeared to be very slowly showing improvement, but it wasn't doing dad's overall condition any good.  He eventually could not eat, keep food down or evacuate well enough to maintain his vitals. The MRSA took control and he died.

We had to return.  I was NOT well, but had to function as if well.  Our stay ended up being for 21 more days.  My in-laws house was a toxic cauldron for me. So staying there was making a bad situation all that much worse.

We left near the end of December.  We returned home and I got better for a short while,  then got bad all over again.  This became a bi-weekly yo-yo condition. 

My mother-in-law, down from all the stress and the loss of her husband - compounded by her age and depleted conditioned, called us in late March, saying she needed us to come down, she was not well.  We left the next day. Upon arriving at the house, we found mom near death.  She was admitted immediately to hospital and did not leave for nearly 20 days. A bleeding stomach ulcer had resulted in her loss of nearly 60% of her blood. She would have been dead in another day.

We again stayed in the toxic house for an additional 3 weeks before mom was strong enough to travel.  We brought her home to live with us in Indiana.

Once we got back I had was in such rough shape, I literally thought I had a very good chance of loosing a couple of fingers to whatever the 'ick' was that had developed on my hand. Fortunately I began NAET treatments soon after arriving back home and within days began to notice improvement.  But it would be several months before I was back to some semblance of my new 'MCS fueled normal'.

And 'normal' then, was being totally FRAG-FOILED. Translation, sensitive to any fragrance at all. All chemicals with a petroleum base rendered me in a body rash within 1 hour of exposure and lasted no less than a week; most often 3 or more.  Once again I became an isolated person.  This was during May 2009.  For the ensuing months I remained cloistered in my 'Safe Place  in Isolation'; our condo.

In October we went to Snowshoe Mtn, West Virginia where we were able to obtain through an understanding owner, a condo that was clean of chemical toxins; at least on a level I could tolerate without getting sick. Meaning they had to be pretty low.  The NAET treatments were working.  But I was still a long way from being, 'OK'.

Through the winter, spring and early summer I was to remain isolated.  Continuing working with my NAET practioner, I steadily improved in several areas, but fragrances and chemicals were still a real problem.  If I encountered them on the smallest level, I would have a negative reaction.  Proof that the treatments were working was obvious by the fact I was not getting as sick and no longer broke out in rashes post FRAG.

The nightmare had subsided, but it was definitely not over.  Would it ever end?  That's a question I still ask myself. No answer is yet available.

The saga continues ......

------
RESOURCES
[1] Fabreze - Wikipedia Online

Invisible shrimp in your water???

Today there is a report out that the water in New York City is laced with microscopic copepods (aka, shrimp), in every glass of water you drink.  I read this on my O’fieldstream Twitter feed this morning, posted by DoctorMom, who runs the FoodAllergySupport.DrMomsAllergyRx.com forum.  

This is a social issue with groups who do not eat – for religious reasons – shellfish.  But it’s a health risk as well: for all those who are anaphylactic reactive to chitin : the material that makes up the shells in shellfish and most insects.  Chitin is what the source of the allergy.  So this is a serious problem.

Below was my response to the alarmed reactions of several forum readers.  Preventative action is not only simply, but easy to implement. That’s why I’m repeating it here on YOSAKIME. 

Also .. take note of the RED BOLD section near the end… lest you believe this problem ONLY exists in big city water supplies. 

Think AGAIN !!

This is WHY I take a Brita Filtration System http://www.brita.com/intl/# with me and filter ALL water I drink. I’m allergic to shellfish. I’ve had over a dozen anaphylactic reactions; nearly cleared the ‘big hurdle’ on two of them. So drinking crustacean laced water is NOT an option.

But seriously, in all those cities mentioned .. and many, many more … crustacean laced water is the LEAST of your worries when you drink it. Bottled water is NOT the answer. Much of it is nothing more than bottled, w/out filtering, tap water. Plus, w/bottled water you have the untenable action of plastic bottle proliferation.

Just get yourself a good Brita or comparable water-filtration device and filter your -tap water- BEFORE you drink it. It’s a good idea NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE.

Oh, BTW – for those who live in close proximity to any USA freshwater source that is a ‘collection system’ (aka, lake or reservoir) .. you TOO will likely be drinking crustacean laced waters. They are called mysis shrimp (Mysidacea) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysidacea. So become knowledgeable and therefore, forewarned.

It may be a bit of an imposed inconvenience .. but so is getting sick and/or dying!

YOSAKIME