How I got well from MCS was I decided to devote hours a day to my recovery. I sort of acted like I was in one of those Environmental Illness treatment centers where you spend all day and something like $1,000 day. I put all of the time and money I could into getting well. I read and googled and figured out all kinds of therapies and supplements and relaxations, etc.. For months I did not improve but was still getting worse. Then one day I noticed I was much better. I remember thinking “People are smartening up and not using the toxic detergents and perfumes so much”, but it was me-not smelling them.
I got sick again in the fall when they turned the heat on in my building. Last winter I discovered mold, burning paper and aluminum behind the inlaid radiators; I had it removed. That helped a lot. This year I also started feeling bad when they turned the heat on and I asked around and figured out how to disable the heater in my bedroom. That seems to have helped and that awful radiator was a major contributor to my MCS and lung issues.
I started detoxing within the first month of my MCS. I didn’t wait for the doctor to help me. This was a good thing because the seven doctors that I saw had no idea what MCS was. I finally asked them to google it, but they wouldn’t.
It’s 3 years later and I still detox and constantly improve my health. I do have some relapses when I try to be totally normal and not detox or try to avoid chemicals in places I go. It’s nothing like before, but my goal is to be 100%.
My point was that I decided to spend the time and money before I became so sick. I would need $10,000 to get well. The only paid therapy I have used is acupuncture which is great!!!! I did a few colonics but they had toxic aromatherapy in their office. I didn’t feel any difference from doing an hour’s worth of enemas. If I had the $1000 for a series of 10, I would try that. I do spend a lot of money on dance classes which are my relaxation and therapy, I do some yoga and some psycho therapy. (Stress causes toxic chemicals to flood your body, so I think the mind/body is essential).
I don’t dare say this because I know there are a lot of people out there who are much more ill than I ever was. I don’t think it’s a wise choice to spend all of your supplement and organic food money on the naturopath. [disclaimer: Some people get into trouble detoxing. You shouldn’t take detox supplements without drinking lots of water, doing coffee enema and sauna (or sweating). Some people are so ill that detoxing with garlic and onions is as strong as they can go. Some naturopaths don’t know any better, either. Listen to your body.] I did finally call the naturopath center here and talked to a doctor who treated MCS, but this was the same place that poisoned me with toxic aromatherapy. I had told five different people that their office was toxic, and I got the usual response-that “you crazy bitch” look. I had called their MCS doctor and she wanted to do some kind of desensitization without even asking me anything about me. That sounded like a lot of ongoing money and no real solution. I just didn’t feel right about that. I would have tried it had I not gotten better.
Really, I am grateful for that naturopath center because they removed my mercury amalgams, but they seem to be making money just like everyone else and really didn’t care about people as they probably had when they started the business. What I have gleaned over the years is that most naturopathic doctors will have their favorite protocols and few have an understanding of MCS. Lots of them focus (just like traditional MDs) on what they can give you and don’t know about or tell you about all of the things that you can do to get well. They don’t teach coffee enema, or make sure you have good water or tell you how to detox your home. Some sell very expensive supplements and treatments.
If a naturopath has greatly helped to get you well, please send me the name and I can put them on my website because they are a valuable resource. Getting you well is not the same as being really caring and seeming to know what they are talking about. I am a proof seeker. There are great naturopaths out there, it’s just hard to know who is good. My friend recovered from Lupus with one.
I think that even with the best doctors, getting well from MCS is at least 50% things you must do for yourself. I also think that only those of us who have suffered from this understand the urgency of getting better. If I hadn’t gotten well, I would have done phone consultations with Dr. Gilbere or Dr. Sherry Rogers, both of whom had MCS. I am not sure if Sherry Rogers recovered fully, but she was very very sick from a DDT exposure and later went on to tour and lecture.
So, with no great doctor or the money to spend finding one, I was my own doctor. With detoxing, you have to experiment and start slow and make sure you don’t get any big reactions. I never did. My MCS never got me to the hospital. I had an asthma attack twice, those were my worst reactions. I just felt really really sick.
Looking back that year I detoxed like crazy, I was tired and would often go to sleep at 6pm. I had all kinds of weird pains and twitches and anxiety. Now I am not sure if this was the MCS or the detox reaction (see Healing Crisis page). At any rate, I got well so being tired and stuck in the house for a while (which seemed like forever then) was worth it.
I let myself sleep and didn’t get much done that year. It pretty much was a terrible scary time and I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t crazy or just wasting my time. Happily it turned out to be the right thing, that’s why I started the Facebook and website.
I am very grateful that I decided to spend all of that time and money recovering and didn’t worry about my career or anything else that year. MCS is not something you want to let go or not deal with. It can get worse really quickly and the worse it gets, the more damage that is done to your body and the more time it takes to recover. I don’t believe any of us is permanently damaged and cannot recover. I think if we keep searching and trying new things that anyone can recover. There were moments, maybe 6 months or so after I was detoxing like crazy and still getting sicker, that I despaired; I kept trying and something worked, or the combination of everything worked. I am still sensitive to chemicals and now and then something will give me a headache, but it’s not the same. It’s not the same as the constant assault by every chemical everywhere!!!
Have courage!! I was afraid to do the coffee enema, I felt like a weirdo giving up plastic. You look in my fridge and it’s all random glass jars holding everything. Reading Sherry Rogers’ books is hard. Once you forge ahead and become your own doctor, it is satisfying how much we can know and improve our health. I am now so fascinated by the body and how it heals. I have learned so much. Anyone can learn and anyone can take control of their health. If you wait for a doctor, even the best doctor there is, you are losing valuable time. A doctor can help you, but they can’t transform your body into the high performing detox machine it needs to be.
I don’t write a lot about the causes for MCS. There are people who say it’s the toxic overload, others say it’s the liver’s inability to detox, others say it’s damage to nerves in the brain, leaky gut, immune system, molybdenum or glutathione deficiency, heavy metals, others say it’s PTSD limbic brain issue….etc.. I just work on all of those areas. They all seemed true for me. Bodies are all different. One poor health function leads to another! Happily, every good thing you do for your mind/body health also has a healing domino effect.
Prosper and be in good health!
Eve
Here is a video I made, talking about MCS and recovering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJtxFKtV6U
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