Before we go further into how to prevent Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) reactions, a good question to start with would be…   What is a MCS reaction?

 

The answer is a little more complex then I think most would expect.  In fact, what triggers a MCS reaction and how that reaction manifests differs from person to person.  Symptoms can take the form of the mental, the emotional and the physical. 

 

Here is a partial list of symptoms:

• Mental confusion
• Temporary memory loss
• Sleepiness / Exhaustion
• Depression
• Irritability / Anger
• Headache
• Itchy eyes / Scratchy throat
• Ear ache / Ear ringing
• Palpitations of the heart
• Upset stomach / Nausea / Diarrhea
• Abdominal cramping
• Dizziness / Vertigo

 

What triggers a MCS reaction can be even more diverse then the symptoms.  It is exactly this varied set of causes and reactions that makes MCS so hard to diagnose.  However there are some guidelines we can use to find our own personal set of causes and symptoms.

 

If you think you are having a MCS reaction notice how it makes you feel and what may be causing it.  At your first possible convenience remove that toxic element from your environment (or remove yourself from it).  Notice if you feel better after a period of time.  If you do, and this is often the hard part for those of us that live with MCS, bring yourself back into contact with that thing or place.  If on a second exposure you feel the same as you did before, then you have a good indication of what is causing the reaction and what kind of symptoms that trigger is eliciting.  Repeatability is an important part of discovering your personal set of causes and symptoms.

 

Once we learn what our triggers are we can work to avoid them.  When we know what our symptoms are we can start to manage them.