The news article was based on research by Anne Steinemann, a University of Washington professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs. She did a study of some top-selling laundry products and air fresheners after having many people tell how these products made them sick. Her study found nearly 100 volatile organic compounds were emitted from the six products studied. And, of course, none of them were listed on the labels.

I found this article from the University of Washington News that gave pretty much the facts of the study:
Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners

It references the following 3 articles. As I read through them, I saw certain biases. One article was quick to point out that 2 of the items found in the products were no longer considered carcinogens. It seemed they threw that in to downplay all of the findings. Other articles quote Fragrance Industry bigwigs saying that everything used is safe at the levels they are used. How do they know that? If something is a carcinogen, is there really a safe exposure level?

About That Clean, Fresh Scent . . .
Fresh scent may hide toxic secret
Some scented household products contain chemicals classified as toxic, UW study finds

To my way of thinking, they should be required to list ALL of the ingredients and let the public decide. Some of us already are. I know I only buy products that I can read the full ingredients on. Perhaps we all need to be more vocal about this to the companies that make these products?

one of a group of substances, usually acidic amino acids, that in high amounts react with specialized receptors in the brain, causing destruction of certain types of neurons.

These would include aspartame (aka Nutrasweet) and monosodium glutamate (aka MSG). Having a background in Biology, I knew from Biochemistry class (thanks, Dr. Phillips, wherever you are!) that aspartame and monosodium glutamate were amino acids. It puzzled me that something that is required for human life (amino acids are what proteins are made of) could also produce migraines in me.

Aspartame is widely used as an artificial sweetener. And MSG is ubiquitous in its use as a flavor enhancer – not just your Chinese food. Read your labels. It’s in nearly every commercial soup, salad dressing, sauce.

(Well except one well known commercial soup maker has a line of soups called “Healthy Request” which has no MSG, among other things. Which begs the question: If the ones without MSG are labeled healthy, what does that make the others? But, I digress.)

Glutamate (found in MSG) and aspartate (found in aspartame)

are two powerful amino acids that act as neurotransmitters in the brain in very small concentrations, … In higher concentrations as food additives, these chemicals constantly stimulate brain cells and can cause them to undergo a process of cell death known as excitotoxicity – the cells are excited to death.

That doesn’t sound like anything you want going on in your brain, right? And what about the developing brains of children? I admit I used to consume both of these, until the MCS got to the point that they caused migraines. If only I had known all of this long ago… I’ve now opted for less sugar, rather than sugar substitutes. As for MSG? Really the only reason it is used is b/c you can use less of the more expensive spices when you add MSG as a flavor enhancer.

Dr. Dean also says:

A growing number of neurosurgeons and neurologists are convinced that excitotoxins play a critical role in the development of several neurological disorders, including migraines, seizures, learning disorders in children, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

I bought Dr. Dean’s book for the information about Magnesium and why we need it. But she has good information on other topics as well. You can also check out Dr. Dean’s web site.

• 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.

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?

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.

I long for such a place. I have someone that cuts my hair. She does a wonderful job. But she works in a larger salon, so there are lots of smells to deal with. I used to have my hair shampooed there, bringing my own shampoo. But even the towels had a scent – from the laundry. I even carry my own spray bottle with water in it. The ones at the salon, being plastic, have absorbed all the odors in the salon, so even the water smells. The salon I go to is closed on Sunday and Monday. So I got on Tuesday morning, when there are just a few people there and very few chemicals have been sprayed.

I’m in and out in 20 minutes usually. I only get a hair cut though. Between MCS and allergies, I’m unable to even think about doing anything else. From South Texas, anywhere in Canada is too far for me to travel for a haircut. But still it’s tempting…

How do you cope with hair cuts and such? Do you know of other places like dtox?

If you had an allergy or other condition that was worsened in the presence of some substance, you would want to avoid it. And it should be reasonable to ask friends, family and co-workers to help by not using it in your presence. Yet it seems that when it comes to fragrance, the Golden Rule goes out the window. Honestly, I’ve had friends, family and co-workers that thought that I just didn’t *like* fragrance. So it was really OK to wear them in my presence. Which is baffling. People so often equate an allergy with dislike, which isn’t what it’s about. If it were something I just didn’t like, I would endure it. But there are serious health issues for those sensitive to perfume.

There have been a couple of comments here recently that could be resolved with the Golden Rule. Linda left this comment on the Join the Conversation post:

I work in the Disability Services for Students Office at a college in Buffalo, NY and a faculty member down the hall wears an excessive amount of patchouli oil (2 different kinds). I am very allergic and I get temporal artery headaches, my throat swells up, etc. I went to the Administration over a year ago and I was told in writing that I was not allowed to approach this person about her smell nor was I allowed to mention the horrible smell to students in our office.

During exam week May 2008, four students were nauseous and had headaches due to her patchouli oil perfume. Since I am not allowed to approach this person, my boss has asked this person several times to give me the name of the products she is wearing. It has been a year now, and I still do not know what she is wearing. I have gone to an ear, nose and throat doctor, seen an allergist, and a neurologist and still cannot give them the name of the products she is wearing. An air purification unit was installed inside our office in May 2007 but this does nothing to address the issue of the smell outside our office.

On June 12, 2008, I left a phone message for Ann Curry Thompson to contact me. I have contacted lawyers in the Buffalo region, but no one wants to deal with fragrance issues.

I’m not really a big fan of lawsuits. I think there are far too many in this country. But, that doesn’t mean they are all bad. If you’ve got a problem at work and can get no help through your employer, then perhaps a lawsuit is the last option. If you have other ideas to help Linda, why not leave her a comment?

And this one from Sally was left on a recent Susan McBride Update post:

I too am living this nightmare. It use to be that my throat would close up and I’d get a pain in my chest like someone was sitting on it. But after months of having to have I.V. treatments with other patients who had on lotions. laundry soap etc. Even tho I was using oxygen. I moved to a new level. Now my eyes swell shut. That blew my theory of holding my breath when I moved around in public when confronted with a strong fragrance. I now must leave as quickly as I can before I swell up and can’t breath. If I sit in a seat that someone with heavy fragrance has sat I must throw those clothes away. No manner of washing, vinegar,borax,will remove it.

And I don’t have to smell it first to react. People don’t realize it is the chemical not necessarily the odor that causes the reactions. I am now isolated in a room by myself because even the doctors were horrified by my face. Yet still I react because it gets in the air system. I have been told by the place I’ve lived for 10 years that the can’t handle people like me. and have refused to renew my lease. A clear disability violation. Yet I can get no lawyer to handle my case, even tho I have several doctors who will confirm this. I live in florida if anyone can help me.

Please post a comment. I am battling mycroplasma pneumonia which makes my reaction to fragrance and chemicals even more severe.

The added stress of trying to find a “New” place that has not been smoked in, had fragrance etc. Is tremendous. Please post comments. thank you.

It really saddens me to read about Sally’s issues. Perhaps a lawyer is her best option too. I’ve read that Ann Curry Thompson has taken cases all across the country.

Have you encountered similar problems? What tips do you have for Sally and Linda? Leave a comment here.

1. Use cast iron pans instead of nonstick. I have always hated the idea of Teflon. Even before knowing about the toxic, bird-killing gases. The fact is that the stuff comes off the pan. So you know you’re eating it. I recently bought some commercial grade muffin pans. They were all I could find that were not non-stick. Do you know that they actually clean up better than the non-stick variety?
2. To avoid chemicals leaching into food, go easy on processed, canned or fast foods and never microwave plastic. Follow this link to read up on Bisphenol-A.
3. Buy organic, or eat vegetables and fruit from the “Cleanest 12″ list. You can see a rating of 43 fruits and veggies at FoodNews.org. The 3 most commonly purchased in our house – apples, strawberries and spinach – are in the “worst 12″ grouping.
4. Use iodized salt to combat chemical interference from the thyroid. Read more about rocket fuel contamination.
5. Seal outdoor wooden structures.Is there arsenic in your backyard?
6. Leave your shoes at the door. This cuts down on dust-bound pollutants in the home.
7. Avoid perfume, cologne and products with added fragrance. What a great idea. Check the cosmetics database for safer products.
8. Buy products with natural fibers, like cotton and wool, that are naturally fire resistant. Find products that are PBDE free.
9. Eat low-mercury fish like tilapia & pollock, rather than high-mercury choices like tuna & swordfish. Check the Safe Fish List.
10. Filter your water for drinking and cooking. What’s in your water?