A Different Kind of Migraine

Hello, Friends,

I've just returned from an extremely uplifting trip, in theme, purpose, and goals (of beauty) achieved . . .  This joyful outcome shall forever stand on its own, bright and shining no matter what.

In the background, however, completely unrelated to the beautiful performances we were able to see, were noxious chemicals in use -- as they are in many public places -- in the hotel.*  This indoor contradiction to artistic beauty (which had been performed outdoors in the presence of peaceful nature) turned out to be a jarring one.

I was increasingly breathless and weakened when traversing the hotel stairs, which were heavily scented with a carpet cleaner or air deodorizer.  I avoided the elevator because it was frequented by smokers; and a chemically sensitive person does well not to risk spending extra minutes in a small, closed space with proximate irritants of cigarette odors and synthetic scents.  The air in the hotel room was clingy.  I felt strange and increasingly bad in a way I could not define.

I found out on the way home, experiencing what I can only call a slow, prolonged seizure of the abdominal organs.  This has happened to me before, following chemical exposures.  Arrested by sickening, thick, intense pains that bored into me from the back and the front, in different places at the same time, I couldn't rest my back against the seat of the car because it hurt so badly in the soft-tissue area of the kidneys.  I could barely inhale because something was gripping tight and painful in the area of the liver, on the right, and in the upper digestive tract on the left.  So for about six hours straight, I held myself at left-angle, then right-angle, away from the seat back, frozen in position waiting for the pain to abate, which it did not do until about eight hours had passed.  The pain slowly, slowly moved lower and lower, easing in the kidneys as I was finally able to drink some sips of water.  But the pain on the right side stayed longer, gnawing into me.  Now the active ache has stopped in the liver area, but that place feels like a raw wound.

I've had this happen about 10 times since around 2005.  It's always a long bout and just immobilizing.  I would have to call it a "migraine of the internal organs."  It's severe, comparable to a gallstone attack.  Having had the privilege of experiencing two gallstone attacks (one was confirmed with ultrasound -- the next one I simply survived), I can tell the difference.  The "migraine of the internal organs" is more "spread out," more pervasive; and the boring pain hits in places removed from the gallbladder's reverberating "range," or periphery.

The tender and deep kidney pain -- both sides -- has always been a curious effect of this peculiar form of migraine.  It always feels as though the kidneys had been directly impacted by something caustic and were crying out for help.

I interpret the whole syndrome as the body being completely filled up with toxins and everything suddenly being frozen in place -- "seized up," if you will.  Recovery begins with coaxing fluids into the body (one feels as though one will be sick and, under the strain, tends to forget whatever remedies one had), and it's a slow process.

I would like to reiterate that, although tissue inflammation and congestion certainly can and do result from one's experiences of chemical sensitivity, the "source pathway" of reactivity to chemicals is markedly different from a strictly immunological model (as with food/plant allergens).  Yes, inflammation results from chemical sensitivity (often tingling and/or feeling like a "burn," as well) -- and this can sometimes be seen, or even measured.  But the full pathway of a chemical toxin into the nerves and tissues is a neurologically intricate event which is mediated -- to the best of my knowledge -- through the brain and, as suggested elsewhere (and through my own experiences of reactivity to chemicals), also involving the eyes; and new means of measurement must be developed to track all of this in a commonly available way.

As a matter of great interest to me -- and perhaps to others -- I've just today come across a website which mentions the use of a retinal/ocular test to help measure the ins and outs of chemicals from the body.  This is the kind of test I'm speaking of when I say that new methods of tracking must be developed.  It's called the Functional Acuity Contrast Test.  The existence of such a test is an uplifting thought.:

The Functional Acuity Contrast Test (healingpartnership.com)

Wishing you clean, clear air -- Happy Autumn!

Cheers!

~ Daisies

*An American hotel in Richmond, Virginia.

"How It Works"

Hello, Friends,

A very tough challenge in conversing about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) lies in identifying and dispelling hidden layers of confusion about "how MCS works."

The consequences of hidden confusion in a conversation range from "minor" to "vast."

For instance, even amongst those who are extremely accepting and amenable to making environmental alterations for their chemically sensitive friends, there can be great gaps of crucial knowledge still waiting to be filled in.

When these gaps are finally "filled in" with the necessary information, this is a good thing, indeed -- but also, then, what have we lost in terms of time?  What if a particular piece of delayed knowledge had been critical to a friend's physical well-being -- perhaps the very answer to a health puzzle needing desperately to be solved?  Time lost, in such a case, is a very unfortunate thing.

Here, for example, is one potential layer of confusion:

"You can do a standard medical test for chemical sensitivities, just as you can do a standard medical allergy test for an allergy."  This errant assumption on the part of one's listener can go undetected for an extraordinarily long time.  You can converse with people for years about your own chemical sensitivity before they begin to realize that no one ever came along with a battery of tests to diagnose you -- and that no one is likely to come along with a battery of tests with which to alert and diagnose them . . . if they needed it.  

This means that another person, theoretically, can conclude, "Well, I'm not 'like you' with chemicals.  My doctor would have brought that to my attention.  Surely it would have come up somehow."

Not usually the case.  An acquaintance of mine was recently very surprised to learn from me that, no, she couldn't just go "get tested" for a reactivity to this or that chemical. 

Well, then again, you can . . . if you've got the time and the money to go to Harvard for a few brain scans or time-patterned EKGs.  But, otherwise, you can't -- in any commonly available way -- trace a chemical's course through the nervous system.  Not yet, anyway.  The environmental scientists, doctors, and researchers are working on it . . .

MCS doesn't operate as pure histamine reactions do.  Instead, it runs more of a neurological route.  They're working on constructing diagnostic tests to measure this type of a reaction, as opposed to the usual "IgE" measurements and such.

This means that figuring out patterns of reactions to various chemical products is all going to depend upon the tracking efforts of the affected individual.  And, no, most mainstream MDs won't be backing up MCS sufferers with confirmation of their MCS.  Increasingly, however, doctors are beginning to "take one's word for it."  This kindness doesn't remove the chemicals from their offices, but it's a goodwill beginning.

Then, there are a million possible layers of confusion underlying the global topic of stress:  Is stress alone causing one's bouts of physical distress, or could a regular chemical exposure possibly be the immediate root cause?  Furthermore, are the repeat bouts of the physical distress, one bout on top of another, causing major systemic stress and diminishing one's otherwise robust coping skills -- thereby adding stress to stress?

I remember vividly the month I tried to be extra healthy and eat lots of apples.  I was in "rest mode" after systemic exhaustion and overwork -- and this was the time for me to feel better and get strong.  Every single day, I ate two or three red apples and got a ferocious migraine.  Even without stress, I was becoming disabled by migraines.  I seriously wondered how much a body could take.  I was in a chemical-free environment -- why were things spiralling out of control?

Every day, I would get to that hideous "peak" of the migraine where one turns weak and green and the blood pressure feels like it's suddenly plummeting to the floor -- and then I would vomit.  It was a terrifying moment, every time.  My nervous system was going into veritable cataclysms which felt as though they could turn into full-blown seizures, or cause me to pass out.  Something bad.

Lo and behold, I came across some literature that described the various strengths of pesticides used on various "conventional" produce.  The apples were among those items getting the worst of it.

I switched to "organic apples only."  The bout of daily migraines stopped.  I ran into the same thing with raw, unpeeled peppers -- heavily sprayed.

And so I learned.

When I'd suspected cigarette smoke as my first antagonist, years earlier, I forced myself to sit in a restaurant about 10 feet away from a small group of men who were smoking.  I could feel the effects immediately but sat there for the duration.  By the time I was a passenger for the ride home, I was trapped in that cataclysm of pain all over again.  The migraine was fierce and getting worse by the minute.  I had my answer.  Let the doubters doubt:  I wouldn't be putting myself through that again.

So, I can be talking with people about reactions to chemicals, and they've already assumed they needn't consider this possibility for themselves.  Of course, not everyone will turn up with patterns of reactions to this or that chemical!  But it's a very sad thing to fail to ask the question, to fail to look thoroughly for potential, distinct patterns of reactivity, and to rest content with vague, imprecise, and/or random reasons for the repeat bouts of the physical distress they've been experiencing.

This reluctance to consider sensitivity to chemicals can lie in another source of confusion:  Incomplete knowledge of the pervasiveness of the chemicals, their potential effects on the body, and the many places in which one can be exposed to them.

Let's say, for example, that you work in a factory.  Perhaps you're not immediately reacting to the production of a given metal in that factory, but it's possible that you could be reacting to a cleaner used throughout the building, or in the restrooms.

Another layer of confusion could be lurking within this assumption:  "I've never reacted to 'x' before, so I'm not reacting to it now."  But sensitization often happens gradually.  There can come a time when you begin to react to something that never bothered you before.

As a little girl and as a teenager, I'd go to hair salons -- sometimes for hours at a time -- with my mother.  I'd wait for her to get her hair done -- and sometimes I'd get mine done.  People "did this" in those days.  What did we know?  The hair stylists also smoked on the premises . . .  Talk about a chemical cocktail.  During one of my last times in a hair salon, I got a permanent (it turned out so badly I wore a cap for months that year).  I'm talking major chemicals here.  Me.  The up-and-coming chemically sensitive one.  I didn't get any headaches back then from visiting hair salons.  Nothing happened.  But within a year following that permanent, cigarette smoke began to become a problem.   

Now, granted, my chemical sensitivity is improving -- but if I were to sit in a hair salon for that length of time today (or any length of time at all),  I might end up in an ambulance.  Sensitization takes time, but when it happens, it really happens.

In conclusion, whenever I'm speaking to someone about chemical sensitivity, I've learned now that I'd best check for hidden premises, and hidden assumptions about sensitization to chemicals, on the part of the other person.  If I don't mentally check for these, our conversation could be very polite and thoughtful but invisibly sidetracked by layers of confusion underneath -- two different paradigms of understanding in unrecognized conflict.

Writing this piece has been a challenge, especially since I'm still recovering from a migraine which occurred yesterday.  I'm quite "foggy."  I hope this post makes enough sense for a few points to be gleaned.

Cheers!

~ Daisies 

"Environmental" to the Core

Dear Friends,

In the world, today:

"Fukushima open air fission? Radiation surge can't be blamed on just random leaks" - RT News, 9/2/13; Christopher Busby, Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk

- Daisies

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

Following the Hope

Hello, Friends,

While announcing a new direction that I hope to take with this blog, I also think it's important for me to mention that I'm presently battling Lyme disease.  This will help explain, in advance, any delays in my ability to post.  Moreover, Lyme disease can be an important factor in the subject of MCS.

Although there is pain right now, I believe I'm at a very good place in my treatment and I have real hope that things will soon be better.  My particular version of Lyme settled in my lower limbs, mostly my foot bones and soft tissues.  I've had bilateral calf, ankle, and foot swelling which has resembled that of kidney failure; but just today, my doubts as to the source of the swelling finally vanished.  As the swelling slowly recedes, I can now feel what is beneath it:  bone pain like that of many bruises in the big and little foot bones, soft-tissue pain -- all localized inflammation, which also imparts a continual burning sensation as the siege against the Lyme continues.

Having been in a bewildered, exhausted fog the past month of treatment, really stunned at how Lyme manifests itself and just hoping to get through it, I'm now feeling more real pain but I'm also more alert.  That's a very long sentence but I've also got hives right now so I'm just trying to make my way through this.

The hives, the pain, anything weird -- I'm told it's all to be expected, so I'm OK with it.  Guess I had the Lyme for a while before I knew I had it . . . so these posts have been slowed down, also, for a while.  I had even shut down this blog for several weeks, being sick and generally all out of sorts.  Now, I must effectively begin again.  I can't promise anything regarding increased frequency of writing, but I can surely try to post more often.

Through all of this, there's been a chorus echoing through my head:  "MCS and Lyme!  Lyme and MCS!  Connect the dots!  Connect the dots!"

I do not doubt that there are many dots in this equation to be connected.  From firsthand experience alone, I can simply state:  Each thing makes the other worse.  And when Lyme symptoms and MCS symptoms occur simultaneously, it's nothing to joke about.   In that event, there's just more of everything:  more overall toxicity, more swelling, heightened neurological symptoms and increased hormonal shifts, adrenal depletion, slower detoxing, more delayed or completely prevented immune response . . . just a mess.   It's impossible for me to tease apart all the details.  I just know they're all "in the mix."

Lyme disease, alone, can do crazy things neurologically.  It can amplify the senses.  So can Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  So can sensitization to chemicals.  So can a fever/virus/infection.  So can certain pharmaceutical drugs (which are synthetic and contain chemicals).  So can food allergies. 

Previously, I've usually been able to discern, in my own experience, what part of my (triggered) neurological distress was a chemical reaction (due to its characteristic pattern and reliability of response) and what part was due to other factors.  At present, however, the Lyme disease is a very big thing on my platter and I'm still getting acquainted with it -- although I also seemed to have had an active case of it 25 years ago which was never addressed.  From what I can tell, I've had very few chemical reactions lately.  Of course, I've barely been going anywhere due to the Lyme.  But the few times I've gone out, things haven't been really all that bad.  That's good news.

From here on in, I'm focusing on a new angle:  the concept of neuroplasticity as it relates to MCS.  This simply means the ability of the brain to change and adapt to new conditions -- both environmental and psychological.  Sometimes the brain changes for the worse.  But, sometimes, it also changes for the better.

Please see the new pieces featured on my sidebar and the new tab up top entitled, "'Limbic Sensitization' Hypothesis."

I hope to focus on the Limbic Sensitization hypothesis within the next few posts.  My intent is to combine this hypothesis with the concept of neuroplasticity and see where it leads.  I'm not making any conclusions in advance -- that would be impossible.  I am, however, intending to "explore" each concept as fully as this brain is able to.  This is my way of "following the hope" wherever it leads me.

When in doubt, I always "follow the hope."

Cheers!

~ Daisies