Good News

Hello, Friends,

Having received several herbal treatments for Lyme disease and a tick-borne co-infection, I'm much more alert and mobile than I was a month or two ago.  Just today, I took a long walk which felt "normal" to me again.  Although there are still rings of fluid around both ankles (yes, they look very strange), the fluid is slowly lessening.  There has been much improvement.  Friends -- and my herbal practitioner -- who saw me with my feet puffed up like pillows have noted the considerable improvements.  I'm very, very grateful for this real chance to get well without antibiotics.

But that is not all.

Aside from a chlorine exposure (breathing it in the air) which left my outer upper leg numb for a brief time (until I got away from the chlorine, at which point the nerves almost immediately began to return to life), I have not had to take a single ibuprofen, even after multiple chemical exposures which normally would have laid me low for hours or days:  multiple heavy fragrances on Sunday; chlorine and much cigarette smoke on Monday; between 10 and 20 minutes in a scented-product-using home on Tuesday; between 10 and 15 minutes in another home of liberal, multiple usage of scented candles on Thursday (many scented candles visible and detectable by scent, but not burning at the time) . . . plus sun glare and stress -- and, still, no migraine syndrome.

Even if I were to get a migraine tomorrow, this degree of improvement would still be off the charts, in my view.

I discussed this stunning development with my herbal practitioner tonight.  He confirmed that this tremendous lessening of the chemical sensitivity is a natural result of the herbal treatment, because with it he'd gotten rid of every infection he'd detected in me.  Now, he's helping me battle the residual fluid/inflammation in my legs/ankles. 

I do feel quite well "inside" my body.  This is just so phenomenal to me.

However, never would I therefore begin to "take up" the old chemical products I've long forsaken.  Nor would I remain in a room in which a scented candle is burning, or in a house in which a load of laundry is being done with scented products.  I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if I still developed horrendous migraines from these things later.  But the degree of improvement I've already enjoyed -- this is something I could only have dreamed of in prior years.

It's really something.  So I've experienced now, firsthand, that when the body is loaded down with infections and their accompanying inflammation, the body's ability to detoxify is brought almost to a standstill.  When the infections are cleared out, or even minimized, the chemical sensitivity can improve.

It makes sense to me.

Also, I must note, again, that this improvement in the chemical sensitivity began, to a lesser but still noticeable degree, when I began taking a liquid kelp (potassium iodide) supplement to boost the functioning of the thyroid.  Let me also mention, here, something I neglected to mention earlier:  Along with the liquid kelp must come a selenium supplement, which I've also been taking.  The selenium enables the liquid kelp to be activated in the body.

In summary:  The thyroid was checked out and assisted; then, infections (Lyme and at least one co-infection) were discovered and treated with various herbal mixtures.  And the chemical sensitivity lessened.

I report this in the hopes that, somewhere along the way, my own story will help someone else look into his or her own symptomatology and latch onto effective treatments.

Cheers!

~ Daisies

Scented "Organic": It Speaks for Itself

Hello, Friends,

The word "organic" is going to have to embrace some additional factors, such as how the organic product is handled -- by fragranced or unfragranced persons?  Transported/stored in a scented or unscented environment?

Although the answers are obvious, the regulations don't evidence knowledge of these factors.  If it's grown properly, then we needn't worry about scent -- and its embedded toxins -- at all?

I made a special trip to the supermarket yesterday to buy organic apples.

Organic apples that, as it turns out, smell of the detergent aisle -- or of an air freshener -- and taste like soap.

The scent is just so fake, so canned . . . so patently un-apple.  This is not the "live" smell of a fresh apple having fallen from the tree.  I rinsed it in apple cider vinegar and it's just not getting any better.  The apple scent has been suppressed, or driven out.  It's as if somebody actually sprayed it.

And they call this "organic."

I'm done with this apple.

Off to another supermarket -- hoping for better.  Sooner or later I'll chance upon something "organic" whose essential nature has survived.

Cheers -- not for the scented "organic" products we waste our money on -- but for a beautiful day, anyway!

~ Daisies

In the Millions: Wasted Litres, Wasted Euros

Hello, Friends,

Let's say a man owns a one-story house.

The basement has flooded several times since he's moved in, the base of the house is rotting and moldy around the periphery, and the foundation is beginning to crumble.

But this man wants his house to be able to hold more people, and to look good.  If he builds an addition -- a second story -- to his house, this will rapidly spruce up the appearance.  And he'll get a couple of years of really good use of that second floor.

In the meantime, the basement will continue to flood in heavy rains, the rot and mold will continue to creep around -- and up -- the periphery, and the foundation will crumble at an accelerated rate beneath the added weight of the second floor.

But the owner will be able to rent out the top floor, obtain some much-needed funds, and the tenants up above won't be any the wiser as to the full spectrum of disintegration underway on the lower level.

Granted, the man might take his quick cash and bolt within a year or two, before the house really begins to fall apart.

But let's say he couldn't "bolt."  Let's say circumstance kept him rooted in place, and he had to endure the resultant disintegration of his own abode.

He would then begin to wish that he'd spent his money much more wisely -- on repairs to the foundation and the rotting periphery.  The second floor will avail him nothing -- indeed, it could even become a financial liability -- if the foundation is unsustainable and mold overruns the house.

Furthermore, if any of the man's tenants had become ill from the presence of the mold in the house, he'd really be in trouble.

I compare this ruinous and dysfunctional "house-expansion" scenario to the potentially ruinous and dysfunctional "water-expansion" scenario which could be engendered by large-scale water abstraction from Ireland's River Shannon.

Dublin City, whose own water-supply system already has leaks up to 30%, would not be fixing these leaks before stretching a new pipeline into the Shannon.  This means that the Dublin water loss would continue during the new venture, but now also wasting water from the Shannon.

This is not a money-saving plan, to say the least.  If water is not conserved, then money, in the long run, will prove to have been poorly spent and the value of the venture will decrease exponentially, both in cash and in physical results.

Dublin will get water quickly from the River Shannon, and the Shannon's ecological base will have been irrevocably disturbed.  Her waters will become more and more depleted, not only due to "people usage" but now also due to wastage in a city system that no one could be bothered to fix.

In this way, the losses will multiply.  If algae blooms exert undue influence due to decreased water levels in the Shannon, people nearby could develop cancer.

At this point, I wish to insert a thought-provoking summation of the risks of large-scale water abstraction from the River Shannon, contrasted with the various means of water conservation which could alternatively supply Dublin City with additional water.  This summation was written in 2012 by Gerry Siney of the River Shannon Protection Alliance:

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT:

Should Dublin City Council be allowed to plunder the River Shannon?

by Gerry Siney

Dublin City Council (DCC) in anticipation of growing water requirements of the greater Dublin area (GDA) are proposing to source its future supply from the river Shannon for piping to Dublin for domestic, commercial, and industrial consumption.  The River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) www.shannonprotectionalliance.ie  with branches in Athlone, Tipperary (Dromineer), and Limerick is the lead organisation opposing this needless and high risk scheme.

The DCC plan proposes to abstract water at a rate of upwards of 500 million litres of water per day (MLD).  This of course is but the thin edge of the wedge, and the realist will be in no doubt that this level of extraction will increase exponentially year on year.  It will be a case of bit more next year and the year after, and the year after that again.  In the words of environmental scientist, Jack O’Sullivan, “International experience shows that large-scale abstraction from river systems worldwide has generally been followed by ecologically and socially destructive and irreversible consequences.” 

The current rate of leakage of the Dublin supply system is 30%, which means of course that fully one-third of Shannon water would be wasted, and there is no real program in place to fix these leaks.  We are told that there is no money available, but oddly they are able to find half a billion Euros to construct a pipeline.  Even if the proposal were to gain approval, they are content to waste some 160 million litres of supply and consumer side water per day.  The plan proposes at some undefined date in the future to reduce leakage to 20%, hence the 160 MLD leakage in perpetuity, yet a reduction to 15% would yield savings in excess of 100 MLD.  Some cities in Europe have leakage down to 5% and 6%, and cities in Japan have achieved a rate of 3%.

If these proposals are allowed to proceed, yes DCC will be able to continue to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) for Dublin, and continue its runaway expansion of satellite towns and commuter belts.  The RSPA does not wish to place limits on the promotion of the capital’s legitimate interests, however under Shannon abstraction proposals the regions will pay a high and unsustainable cost economically and socially, and the Shannon and its tributaries will suffer ecologically and environmentally.

 

Economically, the regions along the length of the river, from the Shannon Pot to the Shannon Estuary (18 local authorities), and indeed the hinterland communities, depend on a healthy water course for their very livelihoods and standard of living.  Historically, people and organisations have invested time, effort and financial resources developing tourism, hospitality facilities, shipping, social, recreational, and educational  enterprises, and any significant drop in the levels and flow of the river could put these businesses and industries at risk of non-viability.  No one has a right to take this away from those who worked hard to put it in place, merely at the stroke of a pen.

 

The ecosystem of the Shannon is fragile one, supporting countless aquatic and non-aquatic forms of life, and contains a significant number of vulnerable and important Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), and Special  Protection Areas (SPAs) for wildlife, and these designated areas and their unique flora and fauna would be at risk from excessive abstraction of water.  These considerations have been given scant regard in DCC’s proposal.

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) is not at risk of running short of water.  There is no shortage now, and there needn’t be in the future.  There is on the other hand a problem of profligate wastage, lack of conservation and demand reduction measures, and a lack of emphasis on recycling and use of grey water usage measures. These alone would be enough to result in an immediate savings in excess of 100-150 MLD on a permanent basis.  If a new source of supply were really needed, DCC should go back to the drawing board and re-examine (properly this time) the very ample availability of untapped water which exists closer to home. Potentially large groundwater resources in Counties Fingal, Meath and Kildare are estimated to sustainably yield over 100 MLD of high quality water.  Desalination (on Dublin’s doorstep) should also be re-visited. New technology e.g. Reverse Osmosis is making this process more and more economically affordable. 

A combination of these practical options if seriously implemented would provide the GDA with a surplus of water for many years to come.  Placing pipes into the Shannon is the soft option for the DCC; which would allow it to pump and leak and waste away in a continuance of grossly out-of-date water use practices.  DCC’s proposal in its current form represents Victorian Era Technology for a 21^st Century Problem.

**********************************************

May Mr. Siney's words be given widespread and careful consideration.

Thank you, friends, for giving your attention to the plight of the River Shannon.

Wishing you health --

Cheers!

~ Daisies [Carolyn]

Intersecting Circles

Hello, Friends,

In reflecting upon the sensory issues prevalent in MCS -- most notably, in my own experience, the amplification of both scent and sound -- I see many intersecting neurological elements in my mind's eye, elements common also, for instance, to sensory hyperacuity in autism and to the flashback experiences of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

I try to formulate interconnecting sentences about all of this.  These neurological elements seem to be orbiting each other, going around in circles -- and somewhere in there, it appears to me, are interrelationships.

Chemical exposures, it is now beginning to be believed in mainstream science, can help cause autism:

"New Study:  Autism Linked to Environment" - by Marla Cone, Scientific American Magazine (2009)

Then, autistic persons often have an extremely amplified sense of hearing and/or smell, in addition to other sensory amplifications.  The flashback experiences of PTSD, moreover, can have sensory elements in common with the "sensory overload" state of "meltdown" in autism.

Furthermore, PTSD, some research now postulates, can neurologically predispose persons to chemical sensitization.  Chemicals, themselves, of course bring on chemical sensitization and potentially assist in the development of autism.  Are autistic people, then, also chemically sensitive? 

Circles upon circles, meshing at certain points:

"Common etiology of posttraumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity via elevated nitric oxide/peroxynitrite" (Abstract: Pall, ML - 2001, NCBI Resources) 

What pathway can one person forge through all of this?

My pathway, I believe, is to note the existence of these neurological "intersections" between the various neurologically affected conditions, and to pose further questions.  This I can do through my writing here, directly, and through links I provide on the sidebar and in the tabs.  The "limbic sensitization" hypothesis (see labeled tab, above) can then be more widely appreciated in light of all the neurologically intersecting conditions I've touched upon.  At the same time, I will continue to disseminate information about the reality of chemical sensitization and its resultant effects.

The cosmos of neurobiological interconnectivity between the various conditions mentioned (and others) is a vast one.  I find it useful to remind myself of this vastness, keeping in mind that no one disorder is really an island unto itself, but is continually shaped and fed by incoming stimuli from many different directions . . . chemicals, of course, being one very pervasive source of such stimuli.

A factor which modern medicine cannot afford to ignore.

May minds remain open, always, to the potential for new and enlightening information.

Cheers!

~ Daisies