Thriving is Possible
If you or someone you love suffers from an intolerance to environmental chemicals, explore these pages for education and inspiration toward Thriving.
Thriving is about changing our focus and creating a vision of our lives that will drag us toward a greater good; about making our lives bigger today and even larger tomorrow. It is not about focusing how bad we have felt; it’s about focusing on how good we CAN feel; how good we can feel whether or not we are having a reaction in any particular moment.
We are dedicated to the idea of living life to the fullest with MCS, Chemical Injuries and other ‘Invisible’ disorders.
There is hope, you can get better, and you are not alone.
What is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity?
For anyone unfamiliar with this disorder, who is perhaps new to the diagnosis or is just looking for more information; asking the above question can be a great place to start. MCS is an intolerance to chemicals, often manmade, in an individual’s environment. Where a normal person may have a negative reaction to a certain chemical with a relatively large exposure, a person with MCS will react after a much lower exposure to the same chemical. A level well below what is often considered safe.
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A Journey from Lost to Alive
If you or someone you love suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, you understand the challenges presented in living with this diagnosis. Perhaps you can find some practical answers and inspiration in the Thriving with MCS Blog.
Knowledge is Power
The more education we gain when it comes to this disorder
the more control we will have over our lives. Take a look at our suggested reading list. These are all books that have assisted us on our journey towards Thriving with MCS.
Find Products You Can Use
One of the most challenging aspects of Thriving with MCS is finding items that each of us can use in our daily lives. Having recommendations of what others can make use of, may give inspiration on where to look.
You Are Not Alone
There are more People with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity then you might think. Connect with others in our Thriving with MCS community. Join us on Facebook by sending a friend request to our community Profile or Like our Page.
"What is MCS" continued...
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity reactions can be triggered by a wide variety of substances, including but not limited to: Petroleum Fumes, Formaldehyde, Paint Fumes, Print ink, Low quality Tap Water, Artificial Sweeteners, Food Preservatives, Artificial Scents, Cosmetics, Cleaning Products, Metals, Cigarette Smoke, Artificial Fabrics, Flame Retardants, Fabric Softeners, Cell Phones and Construction Dust. Each person with MCS seems to react to a unique set of triggers. Where one person with MCS may be fine wearing a polyester shirt another one may find the experience intolerable. One of the real challenges of living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is not being able to readily know what objects may contain an MCS trigger. Even if an MCS sufferer does everything they can to control their environment, a person wearing a certain perfume and talking on the wrong cell phone may sit down next to them at a coffee shop and trigger an MCS reaction.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity reactions can take many different forms such as: Dizziness, Nausea, Headache, Skin Irritation, Cognitive Dysfunction, Memory Loss, Slurred Speech, Asthma, Digestive Distress, Flu like Symptoms, Body Aches, and Emotional Distress to name only a few. Depending on the severity of the exposure and that individual’s intolerance to a certain chemical, the strength of the reaction can range from mild to incapacitating. Different people who suffer from MCS may react in very different ways. One chemical may cause mild memory loss in one person while the same chemical may cause debilitating fatigue in another.
At the present time there is no generally agreed upon medical cause for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. We have not found a exact dysfunction in a body system that creates the symptoms of MCS. One of the most intriguing possibilities is that Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a hyper reactivity along certain neural pathways in the brain’s amygdala. This is similar to the hyper reactivity to sensory input found in those who suffer from PTSD. Just as a soldier becomes over reactive to specific environmental stimuli due to a significant restructuring of his neural pathways caused by the traumas of war; a person with MCS may have had their neural pathways restructured due to traumas created from chemical exposure(s). This is not to say that such a possibility shows that Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is in the imagination of the sufferer but rather just as with those who live with PTSD, MCS is a real physiological reorganization in specific areas of the brain.
There is at present no consistent cure for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Many people have found significant relief from exploring different healing modalities such as Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Detoxification Treatments, Amygdala Retraining Programs, Meditation and other therapeutic regimens. The one tool that has proven useful for just about everyone with MCS is to do whatever possible to identify and avoid the specific set of offending chemicals that trigger reactions. These chemicals will be different for each person with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and some chemicals are harder to avoid then others. But one generally agreed upon aspect of MCS is that Avoidance Is the Key, at least the key in the short term while the individual sufferer discovers their own personal path to healing.
There is hope for those who suffer with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Thriving with MCS is possible.
