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Anybody with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Environmental Allergies)?

Samvega

Buddhist Misanthrope
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
1,073
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
Being an ENTP I feel alone enough in the world but adding MCS to the mix makes things all that much worse. There are times I think I'm going totally crazy, I smell everything, often times I put up with it for a short time because I have to and I spend the next hour or two... or three in a fog. Sometimes a headache, sometimes an upset stomach, sometimes all of the above. There are times I am forced out of my home (neighbors painting or something) and I start to think moving out into the woods in an option. I don't know how to live with it, to be around people but not impacted by what they use. To make things worse, I'm an otherwise active, fairly healthy guy, I can't tell anything is wrong with me when I'm out hiking or climbing, put me around people, fabric softener, a new car, freshly painted fingernails and so on and it's a different story. I have by and large ignored my issues for many, many years but they are getting harder to ignore.

Anyway, I figured I would put this out there for anybody else dealing with it that wants to compare notes or talk.
 

Fidelia

Iron Maiden
Staff member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
14,497
MBTI Type
INFJ
I have an acquaintance who nearly died from increasing sensitivities to chemicals in the environment around her. Over time, she became kind of like the Bubble Boy from Seinfeld and had to remain in a very controlled environment at all times. Finally her brothers intervened and sent her to a clinic in the States that specialized in that sort of thing. By that point, she couldn't wear any fabrics with mixed fibres in them and her sensitivities to everything around her kept on increasing. Some of the people at the clinic had to sleep in the bathtub without even blankets because the only substances they weren't sensitive to were porcelain and glass.

She explained it that these sensitivies often develop when your immune system gets out of whack due to extended sickness, emotional drain, chronic stress etc, in combination with an overload of chemicals in one's surroundings. It took time for her to get better, but over time she was able to reintroduce some of what had previously bothered her a little at a time, as she got stronger and her body could deal with it.

My brother in law has also had extreme and increasing allergies to everything in his environment. Doctors have told him that were he to move to a new sort of climate/environment that it would only be a matter of time before he started developing allergies to that. In his case, I would say there is a very strong correlation between that and the physical long term drain of undealt with emotional issues. He also has an alcohol problem - don't know if that has had any contributing effect or not. I wouldn't think it would normally, but perhaps on top of everything else, it puts further stress on a body that is already overstressed.

I'm sorry to hear that you have to deal with all of this! Have you had any useful medical advice? If you don't get too far with the conventional medical system, I know of some people who have been helped by seeing someone who practices naturopathy/homeopathic medicine.
 

Samvega

Buddhist Misanthrope
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
1,073
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
I have an amazing, understanding doctor, his practice is based on western medicine but personally he leans more towards eastern medicine. My issues aren't as bad as some and by avoidance I'm trying to keep things that way however I am far from "normal" and don't really know my baseline in an ideal environment, I guess in some aspect I'm fortunate. As an ENTP however my best skills are rendered useless in not being able to interact with people in a normal way and this makes making a living tough on good days. I live a simple life so this is okay for the moment but it can't stay this way that's for sure.

Thanks for the response Fidelia, I think I need to find more of a MCS support system.
 

Fidelia

Iron Maiden
Staff member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
14,497
MBTI Type
INFJ
Have you looked online for any info groups/boards?
 
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