Recently, I found a web site for Share, Care and Prayer, Inc, a nonprofit Christian organization serving thousands of people suffering with Environmental Illness. Their web site has a wealth of information on Environmental Illnesses and has the most comprehensive list I have seen for all of the diseases/syndromes that can be classified as Environmental Illness:
- Chemical Sensitivity
- Food Sensitivity
- Electrical Sensitivity
- Electro Magnetic Field Sensitivity
- Pollen and Other Inhalant Sensitivities
- Dust, Dust Mite Sensitivity
- Fabric Sensitivity
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
- Candidiasis (imbalance of Candida yeast)
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome
- Restless Legs Syndrome
- General Anxiety Disorder
- Irritable bowel Syndrome
- Lupus
- Tinnitus/Menieres’ Syndrome
- Asthma
- Sick Building Syndrome
I suspect that there are still a couple of others to be added here. Among them would be ADHD, Gulf War Syndrome, MS and most any other auto-immune disease.
What does this have to do with Randolph’s Disease? Dr. William Meggs recently recommended that Environmental Illness/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity be renamed Randolph’s Syndrome, after Dr. Theron Grand Randolph. Who is this Dr. Randolph?
Theron Grant Randolph, M.D. is known in the chemical sensitivity network as the Father of Clinical Ecology or, as it is now known, Environmental Medicine.
Also from the web site:
Indeed, changing the name of MCS to Randolph’s would solve a lot of problems associated with all the other names in use. And, as his actual work would become more well-known, it might induce people diagnosed with CFS, Fibromyalgia, and Irritable Syndrome, Restless Legs Syndrome, General Anxiety Disorder, etc. to recognize that what they have is Randolph’s Disease. After all, he was treating all these named diseases long before they were treated as separate entities.
Which is saying what many of us have known all along - that this is one illness with a long list of variable symptoms. You can read more on this page about Randolph’s Disease.
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Recently, I found the Chemical Sentivity Foundation. This organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation whose primary goal is to raise public awareness about multiple chemical sensitivity.
There’s a lot of good information here. Especially the short documentary produced/directed by Alison Johnson that is titled Chemical Sensitivity: A 15-Minute Introduction. In the documentary are stories told by several workers that responded after the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. It’s not surprising, at least to many of us, to learn that many people that responded to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent clean up are now dealing with MCS. You can also read the transcript of the documentary, although it’s much more interesting to watch the video. It lets us all know that these are real people suffering from real problems.
I encourage you to visit this site and watch the short recording. Also, have the people in your life watch it too. It really helps you to see what a problem this is.
This has brought to mind a question for visitors to the site. Many people who have MCS can trace their health issues to a specific incident or exposure to chemicals. I’ve tried myself and am not really sure, since it goes back to when I was 16 and I didn’t know the full nature of the problem until over 30 years later. But, I do recall one incident that may have been the start of it all. I have a brother who is 6 years younger than I. When I was 16, we didn’t exactly get along (that’s putting it mildly). I can recall one time that he literally poured a bottle of my perfume out in my bedroom. While I can’t recall exactly when that happened, it was in the right time frame.
What about you? Is there a specific incident or exposure that you can trace you MCS back to?
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Since I had nothing in red, white and blue, I chose bluebonnets.
Happy Fourth!
My Time: 3:57
Click on the image or here to go to the puzzle.
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Anyone with MCS is painfully aware of the variety of symptoms that are MCS. And that is a major reason that so many people want to deny that it is real. But that isn’t really what I want to address today.
Instead, I thought it would be good for us all to share our particular symptoms. Perhaps then, those searching for answers may be better able to know what they are dealing with.
I’ll go first. Actually I would classify my symptoms into two categories - chronic and acute. The acute symptoms are the ones that are in direct response to a stimulus. For example, I have one primary symptom - the migraine. If I’m exposed to fragrances and a lot of other chemicals, I’ll develop a migraine. Sometimes, it is minor head pain. That’s usually from short exposures. But other times it can be a severely debilitating migraine. The kind where you just want to crawl into a dark room and then pray that the pain will stop.
At one point, several years ago, my head pain was more chronic. I would have head pain most of the time. Fortunately, by limiting exposure (read staying at home a lot) and diet I have been able to get rid of most of that pain. In fact, I’m probably down to about one bad migraine a month.
Now, the really chronic symptom for me has been vertigo. Beginning in October 2002, I started experiencing vertigo. It was much like the feeling of sea sickness, without the boat. There wasn’t a lot that would help it at first. Except being very, very still. After extensive testing, the cause was found to be excess inner ear fluid. The why of that is all wrapped up in the migraines and MCS issues. I don’t pretend to understand it. I do know that it is manageable. With a diuretic, another drug, and a low sodium diet. As in no more than 2,000 mg per day. (As in, forget bacon which weighs in at 1,000 mg per slice!) It’s tricky to follow that diet if you eat out much, but I mostly manage. And if I fail to follow the diet too much, I’m reminded of why I do it.
Now I would like to invite you to tell us about your symptoms. Leave us a comment to help everyone know about the various health issues caused by chemicals.
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