MCS, Toxic Mold, Sick Building Syndrome, and Chronic Fatigue SyndromeWritten by Thomas Leo Ogren
MCS, Toxic Mold, Sick Building Syndrome, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Thomas Ogren Often people who suffer from undiagnosed illnesses may be experiencing multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), unusual pollen or mold reactions, food allergies, fibromyalgia, or even combinations of one or more of these. Last spring I gave a talk to a group of allergists from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties (California). I mentioned that I liked to see allergists hire college horticulture students to map exact species of plants growing in a patient’s yard. Sometimes, as I explained, without knowledge of exactly what is growing closest to them, it is next to impossible to figure out problem. One of allergists then told me this true story: They had a patient, a woman in her 60’s, from Santa Barbara, who was extremely sick and getting sicker by day. She was having classic symptoms of both allergy and asthma, was not responding to any type of treatment, and they were afraid that she would die. And so they took unusual step of sending someone from their office out to her house to look it all over. The allergist’s assistant didn’t find any high allergy plants in her yards. He didn’t find any strange houseplants in her house, nor any unreported pets or anything of sort. He saw no walls, windows, bathrooms or anything that appeared to pose a mold problem. The house was an older one, and he doubted that it was off-gassing chemicals. He was about to give up when he noticed a door he hadn’t seen before. “Where does that go?” he asked her. “To my basement,” she told him. Now, because basements are rare in California, he was surprised to discover this. When he opened door, turned on lights and walked down steps he was even more surprised. There, growing all over cement floor of her basement were thousands of unusual looking mushrooms. When he asked her why they were there, she told him, “Well, they just started to grow there and I let them grow since they were so pretty.” I’m sure you can figure out rest of story. He took samples of mushrooms back to office and woman was tested for spores from these same fungi and it turned out that her entire system was swamped with these allergenic, poisonous mushroom spores. The mushrooms were of some rare species native to southeastern US and no one ever did figure out how their spores had arrived in that lady’s basement and started growing. The mushrooms were removed, basement was cleaned up and patient regained her health. Another interesting episode of trigger sleuthing: A woman from Lompoc, California asked me to look over yard of her apartment to see if I could figure out what was making her so sick. She was in her late 30’s, married, had always enjoyed excellent health, but was getting sicker and sicker. She was starting to forget things, had headaches, sore throats, was always tired, often had stuffed up sinuses, and now and then would slur her words while she was talking. More and more she would forget what she was saying right in mid-sentence. It was a nice enough apartment, neat and orderly, and she told me that their rent was very reasonable. Inside I discovered that one wall in her bedroom, next to her bed, looked moldy. I also found another wall, a wall in living room that also looked moldy. Outside in yard I discovered that rainbird sprinklers for lawn would hit wall directly every time they went around. There had also been a leak in roof, directly over bedroom wall. I suggested she hire someone to do an inside and outside mold count for her. This she did and it was found that mold spore count was high in yard, and even higher inside house. It was highest in her bedroom.
| | How much food is really enough?Written by Darryn Aldridge
Ok, so you think you’re doing all right things, eating low fat foods, exercising regularly, thinking slim, but at end of day, you’re still not breaking through those barriers and shedding weight like you’d like to. Well don’t fret people, stand in queue with all others who, like you, are struggling to come to grips with this one.Thankfully, there are some very simple steps we can take that will really help you to start making some gains in this area. Did you know for instance, that it takes approximately 20 minutes before your body realizes that it has had sufficient to eat? One of our biggest problems then is what do we do in that 20 minute period to stop us overeating. Some easy solutions could be; 1. Weigh Your Food: Sounds so simple, yet many of us still pile our food on plate until it looks “about right”. I can almost guarantee that about right is probably no where near amount you should be eating. I was hugely surprised at what a proper portion size really looked like. As time goes by you will find that you start to get a feel for what portions will look like, so you won’t need to weigh your food as often as you first needed to. It does however, pay to weigh your food from time to time, as it is very easy for portion sizes to creep up again without you noticing. 2. Eat Slower: Again, sounds very simplistic, but I’m sure we have all been guilty at some stage of rushing our food down. Simple things like putting your knife and fork down while you are chewing, and not putting more food into your mouth until you have swallowed what you’ve already got in your mouth, will help to slow down eating process. The real bonus to this is that you will actually start to really taste food you are eating and begin to feel and appreciate different textures that each mouthful gives you. We live in a world where we do everything at a fast pace. Learn to slow down and enjoy it, you will be doing your digestive system a favor.
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