Embracing the Endangered River Shannon (video included)

Hello, Friends,

It's one thing to talk about "saving a river."  It's quite another thing to see it, to embrace its unique beauties, its pathways, the special places to which it leads.  For those who are new to this topic, please see the related links on the sidebar and the information tab above entitled, "Water (re:  General Info and River Shannon)."

My last discussion about the endangered River Shannon revolved around the topic of beauty.  I will follow up that piece with this nicely arranged video that I found on YouTube (with appreciation to those who recorded and uploaded it).  Together, we can become acquainted with a major river, another country's lifeblood, which is in danger of being largely dried up by man-made intervention.

If we are far away, why should we care?  Well, first of all, the River Shannon is an integral part of Ireland's cultural history and heritage, an ongoing source of fishing, boating, all-around tourist attraction, and native livelihood -- not to mention a living, fertile source of inspiration to poets, artists, and musicians everywhere.  When it comes my time to visit this lovely country of green, I, for one, want the River Shannon to be there in all her glory.

So, let's take a look!

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I already have.  :)

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

9/11: A Remembrance; and a Thanksgiving for First Responders

Dear Friends,

I post the following link in memory of all those who perished on 9/11/2001 -- and in gratitude to those who risked their lives to save others in the burning, heaving, crumbling Towers that day . . . some of whom can be seen on this video.

I urge you, please, to take 15 minutes to watch this, if you haven't already:

"Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Short Introduction" (features toxically injured 9/11 first responders, among others)

May God rest the souls of those who died in the 9/11 attacks.  May God protect and help those who mourn them -- and those first responders and all others now suffering toxic injury as a result of the toxic fumes.

Sincerely,

Carolyn

*P.S.  For those who are interested, see also my first post regarding this video:  A Favorite Film.

When It's Not Due to Chemical Sensitivity: Rest Time

Hello, Friends,

My posts have been spaced far apart in time lately.  I've just been exhausted.  In addition, some physical troubles have surfaced which don't seem directly related to chemical sensitivity.  They're simply made worse by it.

For this reason, I'm taking a two-week "vacation" from any expectation of my being able to post on this blog.  Maybe I'll surprise myself and post something, anyway.  But, then again, perhaps I'll just give my mind a rest from wrestling with the topic of toxic injury for two weeks.

I'm sure that both I and my posts on this blog will be all the better for this "rest."

In the meantime, please do check into the information tabs on the top and the featured links on the sidebar.

And know that I have not "given up"!

Cheers!

~ Carolyn 

After the Storm

Sometimes, one just has to wait for some fresh winds to blow through.  I waited.  The winds came tonight, with a forbidding sky and thunderous weather, graced afterwards by a rainbow.  I'm now ready to write.

I'm thinking about alcohol toxicity.  Alcohol toxicity is a dense and variable subject, as it can involve several forms of toxicity, some of which can occur sooner than others. 

Am I against the judicious imbibing of alcohol, on principle?  No.  In this post I simply hope to raise some questions that one can ask oneself along the way.  I claim no definitive answers on this extremely complex topic.  I do think, however, that it's a topic worthy of much serious consideration for those who are chemically sensitive and those who are at risk of becoming so.

There are those of us who already know that we're chemically sensitive.  We need to be fully aware of what can lurk in a typical social drink.  For those who have had noteworthy chemical exposures of one sort or another but who, as of yet, observe no distinct onset of chemical sensitivity in themselves:  It's still possible that, due to your chemical exposure(s), your reactions to alcoholic beverages may undergo some changes.  As the saying goes, "Forewarned is forearmed."       

Beer has been touted for its Vitamin B content.  Red wine has been touted for its antioxidant properties.

On the negative side, beer and wine can contain additives/allergens and outright toxins:

"Hidden Additives in Beer and Wine" by Drea Knufken - Living Without Magazine June/July 2008

These toxins are a distinct liability for those who are chemically sensitive and allergically reactive (this can accompany chemical sensitivity).

Then, there is another type of alcohol toxicity whereby a person simply imbibes far too much for his own body's tolerance on a given day and actually poisons himself by sheer quantity:

"Alcohol Poisoning Symptoms" (Alcoholism Information)

This is a medical emergency.  It's always possible that such a person might also have had a budding chemical sensitivity or previously unknown allergies.  These things would only add to the nightmarish toxicity of such an occasion.

I wonder, often, if chemical sensitivity, in its "masked" phase, actually draws some (self-defined) alcoholics to drink excessively in the same way that food sensitivities often cause a craving for the sensitivity-inducing food.  If one's chemical sensitivity is also accompanied by food sensitivities and allergies, the craving for alcoholic beverages might be all the more strong.

There are those who have "gone without" alcohol for decades and suddenly take up drinking again, with often disastrous results.  Perhaps this insidious "progression," this apparent worsening of the alcoholism even during long years of abstinence, is at least partly due to the pervasiveness of chemical exposures in our midst -- which, of course, accumulate steadily in our bodies the longer we live.  The increase in the body's absorption of daily "common" chemicals could easily account for the worsened effects of alcohol -- even after years of abstinence -- upon the body and mind.  These chemicals in our midst are stored in our tissues and organs.  This puts increasing burdens upon the liver and kidneys as they attempt to detoxify our bodies.  Add a little alcohol and the results can be increasingly devastating.

My own chemical sensitivity once caused a horrendous internal reaction to a simple glass of white wine within minutes of my finishing it -- as though an angry hand had taken hold of my thoughts and emotions and made them extra, extra strong.  No one could see the reaction on the outside, thankfully.  But on the inside, a nightmare was brewing from which no one could deliver me.  And I was stuck with it raging inside my head.  I was aware enough to know that I had to try to step above it, to manage it, somehow.  Obviously, something totally unforeseen and "alien" to me had occurred.  This I was not expecting.  It hit me like a freight train.  Such a thing had never happened to me before, in the "old" days before I was chemically sensitive. 

As the alcohol left my body over the next few hours, the reaction completely dissipated and I sobbed out the remainder of it through my tears.  From that point on, I only "sipped" tastes of such beverages.  I never want to go through such a frightful experience again.  Was this a reaction to sulfites?  Was there an unknown additive in the wine?  Had the grapes undergone pesticide treatment?  Or was it my body's nearly inept processing of the alcohol, itself?

I will never know.  My liver and kidneys, however, apparently know much more than I do.  I believe it could be a deadly mistake to let their knowledge get too far ahead of mine.  I must at least consider what factors might possibly have gone into such an unfavorable experience with alcohol.  In doing so, I hope to spare another person such an experience -- or worse.

"Forewarned is forearmed."

Wishing you healthy food and drink and safe socializing --

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

Thinking in Pieces

Hello, Friends,

Over the past several days, I've been reduced to processing my written words in short bursts of thoughts -- what I call "thinking in pieces."  Synthesizing details in a global fashion has been a great challenge.  I've found myself typing and retyping the simplest things due to my inability to process more than one detail at a time. This difficulty has encompassed even nonverbal, visual details.

All of this is due to my having had a heavier variety of chemical exposures on Sunday than usual.  Today is the first day that some of the physical fog is lifting. Ironically, it's also the first day that the impending migraine is finally coming through.  It's been a three-day event instead of a two-day event, this time around. Now the body begins to fight.  Its reaction time was extra slow and dreary due to its having been literally deluged with airborne toxins.  The effects were so "heavy" that, first, all reactivity was frankly suppressed while my body endured a growing sensation of "stupor."  As my body "awoke" to its exposures, I felt progressively worse and more and more useless.

Laundry toxins figured first on the list, then cigarette smoke.  Creepy effects, this time, as though I'd received a novocaine shot at the dentist which was slowly wearing off in parts of my face.  This has improved, but it's not gone yet.  Such heavy nerve involvement.  I so much hate this.

The B and C vitamins have helped, plus magnesium (with some calcium).  The "creepy" physical reactivity gets a bit muted each time I take another dose.  With the magnesium, I opt for the higher ratio of something like 2:1 or 4:1 magnesium to calcium.  The only calcium I "take" is included in my formulation of Buffered C powder.  I don't want to calcify my soft tissues.  Already had that problem and that required a biopsy.  Don't want to go back there again.  My ratio of magnesium to calcium may look radical to some -- so be it.  I personally found the biopsy -- and the logic behind mainstream medicine's requesting future checks and biopsies -- to be quite radical.  Insane, even.  I'm convinced that I'm severely deficient in magnesium and maybe even have a bona fide magnesium-absorption problem. So I'll mention here what a friend kindly lent to me -- and now I've purchased my own:

Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil (topical)

Perhaps unrelated but worth mentioning:  When my shoulder froze up with severe spasms of tendonitis and my arm was completely stuck, this oil began to free it up by degrees.  It begins to loosen up the joints almost right away.  Makes me feel better all-around, too.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have another post "on tap" which deals with a separate (and new) topic.  Please bear with me while I complete that one, and kindly accept this post as a sign that this blogger is "still present" with you!     

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

"Due" for Repairs

The giant hive on my leg was the clue.  That plus the crushing exhaustion which has kept me from completing the post I recently began to write -- since paragraphs of a more scientific bent must be linear, logical, and support themselves soundly.  This begs precision and endurance of a tired mind.

In short, I suspect I'm not feeling well.  I'm either very toxic with airborne and/or food chemicals; a small creature bit me; or, as I'm beginning to think, all of the above.  (I'm quite sure that the bologna, wheat bread, beef burritos, ice cream, and processed American cheese were not innocent bystanders in this debacle . . . nor were the scented dryer-vent emissions and cigarette smoke I walked through last night).  I fervently hope that, if a creature was also involved, it wasn't a tick or a poisonous spider.  I will hopefully be checking that angle by tomorrow.

I could imbibe several herbal teas and/or add some novel nutritional supplements, but during such times of "what is going on?," I prefer to stick with the most definitely non-inflammatory solutions possible.  Right now, that comes down to goat yogurt (hope I'm right about that), "buffered" Vitamin C which contains calcium and magnesium, and -- can't go too far wrong with this one -- glass after glass of pitcher-filtered water.

The "what is going on?" systemic overhaul, complete with new and weird physical symptoms to eradicate, has typically occurred once every few years since I became chemically sensitive.  Apparently, I must have been "due" for another round.  It's always an unsettling phenomenon flavored with the unexpected, and the key word for getting through it is "calm."

I will return to my half-completed post as soon as possible!  Please visit the information tabs, above, for newly added information.

In the meantime, cheers!

~ Carolyn

"A Person's a Person, No Matter How Small!" (Horton Hears a Who! - by Dr. Seuss)

Greetings, Friends!

Kindly excuse the dull black print.  This morning, it feels so much better on the eyes than a color.  It also brings some kind of systemic relief to me to see my post printed this way.  (Fascinating concept:  the effects of color on the human system and psyche -- and on tired eyes!  I'm going to try to remember that topic.)

So, if I switch colors now and then, you'll know why.  :)  

Today, I'm pondering books . . . borrowed.

I fare a whole lot better amongst new books in bookstores, because nobody has taken the books home yet.  Unless they contain glossy pages, bookstore books usually have that uniform "paper" scent.*

Libraries are another animal entirely.  I quickly learn which books the smokers like -- that's the easiest call.  Next down the line are perfumed books.  My physiology -- capable guide! -- dictates which of these I can take home with me and which I must return to the shelf immediately.  Due to the nose-numbing effect of some synthetic scent components, however, I'm occasionally surprised, at home, to find I've chosen a book with a much stronger scent than I'd originally detected.  This, then, becomes a book I cannot read.

Finally, we have the "laundry/chemical cleaner/air freshener" scented books, which smell as though they'd been filed between dryer sheets.  These are the most interesting breed of all.  They positively "radiate."

If I, myself, have not personally plucked the books off the shelves and carried them to the checkout desk, I miss the opportunity to weed out, in advance, the truly "nonnegotiable" books.  When little hands choose and carry the books to the library clerk and out the front door, I discover the "nonnegotiable" ones "on the way." 

The children's books seem to get the worst of it.  As we drove home from the library the other day, my daughter was proudly reading one of her chosen books in the back seat.  Suddenly, I became aware that a pungent smell with a caustic texture was relentlessly burning into my nose.  I asked my children if they'd used the strongly scented shampoo, or if they'd put on some clothing from a previous, highly scented outing.

My son said, "It's the book."  It definitely was.  I sighed.

"I'm sorry -- could you please put it way in the back?"  I had to request.  The scent had now surrounded us all.  It began to burn my daughter's eyes.

These are moments of enlightenment.  Lest readers think that it is just I, and others like me, who fare poorly amidst chemical scents . . .

Children also feel the burn.   In how many ways might their little bodies and minds be paying for this "everywhere" exposure to innumerable toxic fragrances?

This is a daunting question.  I happen to have two very pertinent links on hand for just such an occasion:

Missouri Kids Health Coalition:  Air fresheners and fragranced cleaning products - Letter written by Dr. Anne C. Steinemann, Ph.D.

Cleanerindoorair.org: "Toxic Chemicals in Fragranced Laundry Products and Health Effects" by Dr. Anne C. Steinemann - Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington

And one more, just from the heart:

"Bless the Beasts and the Children" - Carpenters

(Totally natural voice of gold, so kind, so healing -- beautiful Karen, rest in peace.)

May these links bear many good fruits to you and your loved ones.

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

*P.S.  I wish to extend my respectful recognition here to those whose chemical sensitivity causes new books -- and various inks -- to affect them adversely.   If you have any words to share regarding this experience, your thoughts would be most welcome!

Who Needs Beauty?

I recently wrote the following thoughts in a letter regarding the proposed large-scale abstraction of water from the River Shannon:

". . . To gut a picturesque river is to take something from the heart of the people, to demoralize them -- even if unintentionally.  That, in turn, can have a profound effect on family life and economics."

Is beauty a small thing?

I have found, through the rigors and deprivations imposed by chemical sensitivity, that the loss of beauty in one's surroundings can, itself, be debilitating.  Others have lost beauty in their surroundings as a result of poverty, natural disasters, war, and other illnesses and injuries.  Whichever way it occurs, the loss of beauty brings on visual gloom.  Life goes spare and bare.  You can tell yourself a million times a day that mere visuals shouldn't get under your skin this way, that this or that task must get done no matter what -- but how do you honestly feel while doing it?  Do you feel cast down, thoroughly engulfed by a sense of visual "greyness" or hopelessness, and drained?

Or consider, for example, an old section of your hometown that you used to love as a child, perhaps once filled with abundant grass, flowing river, and thriving trees.  Imagine that a slime-filled reservoir or dried-up riverbed now disfigures that lost haven of sweetness . . . . .

How would it feel to look at that, remembering the lushness of creation that once existed so peacefully there under the skies?

Speaking for myself, such a sight would make (and has made) me queasy in the depths.  Something would forever after feel very wrong, out of joint, and exceedingly dismal -- were that my hometown.  (And, in fact, my hometown has changed in some sad ways.)  If I were forced by circumstance to remain living there, something in my life would be irrevocably altered.  I would find myself battling a reflexive sinking of the spirit at every turn, plus a grim sensation of things slipping away in a more dramatic, global, and rapid fashion than they would have at the steadier pace of nature alone.

When we invade the peaceful workings of nature in extensive, sudden, and perhaps unnecessary ways, we disrupt time -- our own time.  We put ourselves on a new clock.  We then find ourselves racing against this man-driven clock, accelerating our own demise.  Man's clock is erratic and unpredictable, subject to whims and appetites, supply and demand, greed and need, and money.

The more spiritually aggressive drives of man often dispense with beauty and the purity of nature as though they were of no consequence beside the things that "really" matter.  They dispense with the purity of nature because they already do not mind infiltrating their fellow man with innumerable toxins and pollutants.  Humans have become acceptable reservoirs for mass-produced and mass-distributed toxins.

Beauty?  Who has time for beauty?  Only artists and dreamers?

Perhaps.  But if they didn't bother to preserve beauty, each in his own way, humanity would go mad.

It's very difficult to earn a living when one must white-knuckle one's way through a persistent sense of futility and decay.  It's very difficult to inspire one's family in spiritually uplifting and creative ways when one's physical surroundings appear increasingly devastated.

The destruction of beauty takes a more severe toll on us than we might imagine.

Far from being a frivolous concern, beauty is one of our basic human needs.  It helps kindle that fire deep down in our souls that will fuel us during long nights and tough times.  It hones our sensibilities in periods of desperation and need, reminding us of the human charity which must always come first.  It puts our minds on a higher plane of awareness and sensitivity; so that, when a practical solution is called for, our concerns will already be at that higher level and we will be much more likely to handle our resources with care.

Who needs beauty?

We all do.

Wishing you havens of loveliness --

Cheers!

~ Carolyn