Category Archives: Health

MCS/ES and Mental Health

Living with MCS/ES creates challenges that seem unimaginable to most people. Despite some progress (more awareness), due in large part to so many more people being affected, the barriers and obstacles to living in the world as it currently is, can be never-ending when there is industry generated denial that everyday chemicals (or wireless) exposures are hurting and disabling people.

dinner time“Remember, don’t talk or breathe when you take your masks off to eat”

It is exhausting to have to constantly ask for accommodations just to be able to exist in a world where safe solutions are often hard to find, or when they do exist, they are not affordable. It can be like living in a world that wishes we’d just go away and leave them all alone, yet… there is no safe place to go away to…

Is it any wonder then, that people develop mental health problems?

When health problems (mental or otherwise) related to circumstances and experiences arise, one is (usually) only truly helped by people who have an understanding of the issues related to the circumstances that are connected to the problems. When that understanding doesn’t exist, appearances can create erroneous assumptions that perpetuate the kinds of harms that caused the problems in the first place.

For people with MCS/ES, exposures can  trigger temporary or long term brain and behavior issues that look like mental health problems to people who don’t know how toxic chemicals, molds, food sensitivities, or wireless exposures can affect our brains and bodies. And sometimes we are capable of doing some things, yet completely incapable of doing others, as exposures can affect different parts of our bodies and brains, and for varying amounts of time.

What people also don’t understand, is that when we are able to live free of those exposures, we can be free of the brain or behavior problems the exposures cause.

Finding ways to access goods and services without being subjected to disabling levels of exposures can take 10 to 100 times more effort than people normally have to extend for the same goods and services. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we cannot safely access the goods and services everyone else takes for granted. These challenges can mean we may need to turn to others for help with survival and coping , yet not only is it difficult to receive practical support,

new research  also proves that access to knowledgeable mental health care providers is rare for people with MCS/ES!

 

“When asked to evaluate their provider’s knowledge of MCS on a scale of “not knowledgeable”, “somewhat knowledgeable”, or “highly knowledgeable”,

Continue reading

My LOVE: Resist Toxic Chemicals

My LOVE!

Be fragrance-free!

valentine splatter RESIST 1

What’s love got to do with it?

Everything!

Who among us wants to harm another? Modern fragrances cause harm. Stop them!

Continue reading

Gifts of Love and Health

Guest post by T.M. Canary

Valentines Day has a different meaning for me. Three years ago in February 2013 my life changed forever. I was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease due to the use of air fresheners at the clinic where I worked. There is no way to describe how my life has been permanently changed in just a few words. My severe asthma is permanent and likely progressive. Those that care about me have the power do something about this though. You can make the effort to choose products that do not pollute the air we all breathe.

1. Avoid fragranced body products [perfume, body creams, sun screens, deodorant, shower gels, shampoo/conditioner, hair products, hand soaps lotions, and sanitizers]


2. Avoid fragranced laundry products [detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets]

Continue reading

‘Conceptual Breakthrough’ Regarding the Chemicals We’re Stewing In

This is BIG news in the everyday chemicals and human health research front!

This explains what many of us who have MCS/ES experience – we can feel these processes as they occur, we don’t have to wait for the cancer that will kill us if we don’t get away from the exposures and find tools to heal the already occurring damage.

chemical effects

‘Conceptual breakthrough’

“This is the first time scientists have figured out how widespread this is, and how many different layers of machinery within the cells themselves are being impacted by these chemicals.”

.

“We found definite evidence that chemicals that are unavoidable in the environment can produce a wide range of low-dose effects that are directly related to carcinogenesis. So the way we’ve been testing chemical safety is really quite out-of-date.”

“Every day we are exposed to an environmental ‘chemical soup’ and we need testing to evaluate the effects of our ongoing exposure to the mixtures in this soup.”

~ William Goodson III, a senior scientist at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

 

“This research backs up the idea that chemicals not considered harmful by themselves are combining and accumulating in our bodies to trigger cancer and might lie behind the global cancer epidemic we are witnessing.

~ Cancer Biologist Dr Hemad Yasaei from Brunel University London

.

This would be all kinds of everyday chemicals, such as those that trigger MCS – they included chemicals found in items such as mobile phones, detergents and cooking pans, and pesticides used on fruits and vegetables!

Read the research or check out some of the media reports:

Continue reading

My Niece Said It Was Easy!

Guest post by Sandra McPherson

I have a niece who moved back from out west just a year or so ago. I love her dearly. Her son that she had so much difficulty to have is named Owen. I lost a son named Owen and she contacted me to tell me she wanted to name him after my son unless it would upset me. She is so thoughtful!

I was sucking it up and inviting her here to my place, (safe place) for meals and visits now and then when I was strong enough. Her laundry fragrances and personal products were hard on me but it was only every few months, though I wished it could be more. We talked often about my MCS because she saw me go from a person that was at EVERY party and kid sport gathering and family get together, etc., etc., to a hermit.

inside outside

I had not seen her in several months and she inquired about getting together again. We set up a date for lunch at my place again.

Continue reading

2015 – A Retrospective

I was hoping to be able to share some good news with you all, and here it is. We ARE making progress! It is unfortunate that it has taken this long, but I believe we are almost at the point where we will see an “overnight” shift happen.
Here’s what Dr John Molot (the author of “12,000 Canaries Can’t Be Wrong”) has to say:

johnmolot's avatarJohn Molot

2015-summaryIt’s the end of 2015, a time to celebrate the promise of the coming year but also a time to reflect on the 12 months that have just passed. It was an incredibly exciting year for me professionally. As a physician who advocated for my patients for so many years, I no longer feel that I am paddling upstream against the hardline, medically conservative current that has discredited environmental medicine for decades. The patient groups that I work with have realistic hope for improved care in the near future.

My 2015 :: Science :: Media
Medical Profession :: Insurance Companies :: The Canaries
What’s to come?

My 2015

This year, I have had several opportunities to effectively represent the people with environmentally linked conditions. I have been actively involved with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in the development of the promised (2014) Task Force on Environmental…

View original post 1,577 more words

The Fragrance Industry’s Toxic Secrets

If you want to learn more about why so many people are suffering adverse health effects and making a stink about fragrance use, then the recent report from Women’s Voices for the Earth is a great place to get informed

Unpacking the Fragrance Industry: Policy Failures, the Trade Secret Myth and Public Health.

It’s must read material if you are at all unfamiliar with the issues surrounding fragrance.

Like this:

And that’s only the ones that have been tested. Many have not been tested for human health effects. Scientists also recently discovered that chemical cocktails can become carcinogenic even when individual chemicals themselves weren’t carcinogenic, but chemicals are tested individually (if at all), and not in the cocktails we get exposed to.

Please read the research and articles from WVE, and then take action.

Not surprisingly, the fragrance industry took issue with the report and shared some standard industry generated marketing responses. You can read about that here:

Continue reading

Industrial Engineering Students Learn That EHS is a Functional Impairment… and More About Wireless

This presentation by Professor Olle Johansson about the biological and health effects of  electromagnetic pollution was given to a group of Industrial Engineering students in Barcelona, Spain and was recorded in October 2015. We are fortunate to be able to have access to easy to understand scientific presentations of this caliber.

Pr Olle Johansson presentation

Professor  Johansson, from the Neuroscience department at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, starts by saying the first problem is that they have no women in the class and then discussed how EHS is recognized as a functional impairment in Sweden, and how the environment must be modified to accommodate and include people with a functional impairment. (His recently published paper on the subject is also available below). He went on to describe other issues with wireless radiation and encouraged the class to come up with solutions.

I think it’s worth taking the time to watch, but I like learning about the things that are affecting our lives, and what we can and have to do now and to protect future generations, so that they have a chance at more than mere survival.

Adverse health effects of modern electromagnetic fields from wireless telecommunication, such as mobile phones and WiFi

Continue reading

Scent Marketing or Scented Drugging?

The May June 2015 issue of Costco’s magazine had an article about scent marketing.

The Economist had an interesting article in 2007 regarding manipulative chemical use.

Women’s Voices For the Earth has several reports about fragrances and the fragrance industry.

Why should you be concerned? Read on:

Continue reading

We Shouldn’t Need a Gas Mask to Use A Computer or Blender!

Ever notice how when you buy a new appliance or electronic device, and take it out of the box, or plug it in, the smell makes you nauseous, dizzy, and gives you a headache? Or worse?

That smell is made up of some really toxic chemical fumes. Benzene, styrene, and toluene, among others… in everyday technology!

.

New research from the Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on how the pollutants in indoor environments affect people’s cognitive functioning (people who are still able to work in polluted offices, not the people who are already too disabled to work in polluted offices) discovered that

Green office environments linked with higher cognitive function scores

…”People who work in well-ventilated offices with below-average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) have significantly higher cognitive functioning scores–in crucial areas such as responding to a crisis or developing strategy–than those who work in offices with typical levels, according to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Syracuse University.

“We have been ignoring the 90%. We spend 90% of our time indoors and 90% of the cost of a building are the occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and productivity are often an afterthought,” said Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, and lead author of the study.

“These results suggest that even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision-making performance of workers.”

Researchers wanted to look at the impact of ventilation, chemicals, and carbon dioxide on workers’ cognitive function because, as buildings have become more energy efficient, they have also become more airtight, increasing the potential for poor indoor environmental quality.

Building-related illnesses and “sick building syndrome” were first reported in the 1980s as ventilation rates decreased. In response, there has been an emphasis on sustainable design–“green” buildings that are energy efficient and are also designed to enhance indoor environmental quality. The researchers designed this study to identify the specific attributes of green building design that influence cognitive function, an objective measure of productivity.

“The major significance of this finding lies in the fact that these are the critical decision making parameters that are linked to optimal and productive functioning. Losing components of these skills impacts how people handle their day to day lives.”

In other words, pollution prevents people from being smart!

appliance gas mask

Here are just some of the harmful emissions from computers:

Continue reading