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Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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Blog 33

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

A Short Aside

July 2010 

To get a little off track here I’ll talk about two things I should have mentioned a long way back in this blog.  The first one is that less than a year after Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome(MCS) started for me I got into a motorcycle accident. 

 

I had been riding two wheeled motorized vehicles for six years at this point and should have known what I was doing.  In high school I drove a Honda Spree scooter and when I graduated I took the Motorcycle Safety Course, passed the tests to get the endorsement on my driver’s license and have never looked back.  Motorcycles have been a part of my life ever since.

 

One of the important things they taught me a the class was that if it rains after a prolonged dry period the road can get very slick.  It takes a few hours of good solid rain to wash the built up oil and tire residue off the streets.  In a car this can be a little un-nerving but on a motorcycle it can be extremely dangerous.  I chose to ignore this warning on that day.

 

When I left the house it was sunny and dry.  It had not rained in almost three weeks, a rare event in Seattle.  After being out for only fifteen minutes it started to pour.  I was heading south on I-5 and was right at downtown when traffic came to a dead stop.  I hit the brakes but the back tire locked up on the slick road.  The bike went sideways and I hit the car in front of me.  My right lower leg was between the motorcycle engine and the back of the car as I impacted.  I instinctively rolled onto the trunk of the car but my leg stayed in place.  It was one of the worst pains I had ever felt in my life.  In time an ambulance came and I was taken to the hospital.  The bike was towed off the road and I had caused a traffic jam that backed up the freeway for miles.

 

In the emergency room they gave me a shot of morphine and they shuttled me around to different doctors and x-ray rooms.  Thankfully there were no broken bones.  After what seemed like and eternity they let me go and told me to keep an eye on my leg. 

 

A few days later, after the swelling had gone down, I began to notice that my knee was bending in ways it had never done before and decided to see a specialist.  He said that I had blown out three of the four ligaments in my right knee and would need to have surgery as soon as possible.   I had the surgery three days later.

 

What does all of this have to do with MCS?  Two of the ligaments were rebuilt with parts of other tendons from my own leg.  The last one they used a material that I was told is similar to Gortex.  At the time didn’t yet have any comprehension of MCS.  It was an idea that was more than a few years coming.   I didn’t know to argue against it or to ask more questions, I simply trusted the expert. 

 

I have always had a strong suspicion that this event has made my MCS worse but I don’t really know.   I felt terrible all the time at that point anyway and I don’t really know if I felt permanently worse after the operation.  What I do know is that I could walk, run, play sports and even ride motorcycles again in the months that followed.  Even if it did make my MCS worse it was a small trade for being able to engage in any chosen activity during the decades that have followed.  I have contemplated having the fake tendon removed some day but unfortunately insurance will not pay for this, I would have to pay out of pocket.  Anyway, these days when I feel good I feel really good and don’t think the small piece of material is holding me back.  It may make me more susceptible to next MCS trigger but does not appear to cause a reaction all on its own.

 

The second event I should mention here is that about twelve years ago I had four mercury amalgam fillings removed from my mouth and had porcelain fillings put in.  I had known another person I worked with who had this done.  She claimed her health had drastically improved from the procedure.  Knowing at this point that this could very well be an issue for me as well I made the decision and got it done.  I was a little disappointed that I did not see an overnight drop in MCS symptoms, but over time things did seem to improve. 

 

Years later I had a temporary piece of metal put into my mouth after a root canal.  Almost instantly I felt spacey, hopeless and occasionally suicidal.  Of course I knew what was causing it and didn’t take these experiences too seriously but it was a thoroughly miserable ten days.  When the next dentist took this piece of metal out it was as if a huge weight had been taken off my soul.  In seconds all the misery I had experienced for the last week evaporated.  I knew that metal in my body could not be tolerated.

 

The moral of the story… Be careful about what doctors and dentists want to leave in you.