Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

This post continues the story of recovery around my present Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) challenge. This story began in the post ‘A Prison Break in Progress”. By this time I was really hoping to deliver a lustrous report on how everything was going exceptionally well, and I was getting close to doing so. Several of the issues that I have talked about in past posts are going glowingly. Unfortunately others that for a short while got better have again gotten worse.

One item that has gotten almost completely better has been the motorcycle helmet. It got infected with metals when a friend of mine did some welding on my now ex-girlfriend’s motorcycle. I wiped down the outside extremely well but the inside still presented a problem. I tried something completely new on the inside of the helmet (I’ll give Amy credit for this idea). I thoroughly cleaned the brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner and then vacuumed out the inside of the helmet several times. This has almost completely removed the offending material. This has been a technique that was so easy and obvious that I am a little disappointed that I didn’t think of it years ago.*

The bedding also became infected with metals from the welding incident. The metals got into Amy’s hair and helmet. Each time she wore her helmet her hair became cross contaminated. Then those metals were transferred into the bedding. This caused me rather sever challenges each time I climbed into the bed. I have now washed the entire bedding twice. It got better both times and is now pretty good. It is not yet completely MCS trigger free. I will try washing it one more time next week (when I discuss washing the bedding I use the process described in the post ‘Clothing’). I hope this will make it completely ok but if not then it will be time to search for new sheets, blankets and comforters. A process I really hope to avoid at the moment.

The dental work that was done completely took care of one issue that was going on. I have not had any lingering issues with this.

About two months ago someone came by and did some modifications to my work space. These modifications released cheap metal into the environment. I had to work on this area multiple times. In the end it took four attempts over a six week period to get things back to mostly normal. The work environment was beginning to go rather well. Unfortunately two days after the first modifications were finally undone** a new set of modifications happened. This second round was considerably more extensive and has created challenges potentially worse than the first. This second round has had a couple of different aspects to it. Such as new electronic equipment, new sheet metal structure with an as of yet not fully cured powder coating on it, and a myriad of smaller plastic/cardboard parts added to my work space. The worst is again around metals being released into the area. I have not yet fully devised a plan of action to correct this second round of changes.

Since the majority of the challenges in this MCS setback have come in the form of being exposed to metals, I did a three week heavy metal cleanse. This seemed to be working extremely well. Each day I felt better. Not only did I follow the instructions on the box and take the pills as prescribed, the research I did on the subject led me to add the equivalent of two tablespoons of puréed fresh cilantro twice a day. This seemed to help.

A few days after the Heavy Metal Cleanse was over I started a digestive/liver cleanse program. I have had previous positive experience with the “365 Total Body Cleanse” purchased from my local Whole Foods. Not only do I get great results from this product but it also has the benefit of being the least expensive of the ‘whole body’ cleanse options on the shelf. I am consistently surprised at how well and quickly this seems to work each time I take it. I also chose to continue eating the fresh cilantro as a precaution. After a few days on the new cleanse I started to feel better than I had in months. I very much believed I was on the right path. I even started to feel one hundred percent for at least few hours each day. I was also starting to feel the urge to be social in a way I had almost forgotten.

To my dismay the changes in the worked environment seem to have put me more than a few steps back. The gains I made have been significantly eroded. Not only do I feel terrible during the hours I spend at work but I also feel pretty bad for a few hours afterward. A big chunk of my day has been given back over to fairly bad MCS symptoms.

Hopefully by the end of next week the work environment will ‘air out’ at least enough so that I can start finding out what portions of the modifications are causing the problems. I need to find out if there are items that can be sealed in or changed. I figure if worst comes to worst and in a month or so I can’t get things back to normal at work, it may just be time for a new job. This is an idea that I have been kicking around for some time now anyway.

I have been working a two pronged approach. One of cleaning the outside environment. And one of cleaning out the body. This plan seemed to be working until a few days ago when the outside drastically changed for the worse. I will continue to work toward cleaning the inside and outside environments. I will also start looking into how I can further strengthen my internal resistance to the inevitable buffeting that will take place as I move through the modern world.

I’ll let you know how this all goes in a week or so.

*As a precaution to remove any remaining residue I will take a shower when I am done with the motorcycle for the day.

**The process by which these modifications were ‘undone’ consisted of a few items. One was to take out the sheet metal screws that were put into the pot metal structure of the work space. After the screws were taken out I needed to seal in the exposed low quality metals. One of my favorite tools for accomplishing this is vinyl electrical tape. This tape comes in a range of colors, has some give to it compared to other tapes, can be easily cut into needed shapes and it quickly ‘out gasses’ and toxic aspects to that it may have when new. Yes it often gives me a small MCS reaction off the bat but that goes away quite quickly. I wiped everything down with a little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel then sealed in any exposed areas with the electrical tape. The good news is that what I did could not be seen unless specifically looked for. As an aside, there are often items that need ‘sealed in’ but electrical tape is not the best solution. In these cases I’ll use a little paint, then if possible I’ll seal in the paint with tape after it dries.

Blog 44