Dear Loved One,
How happy I am that we are able to spend time together! Even as things have changed in our lives, we’ve made the effort to stay connected. A pair.
For me, things have changed more than I ever planned. As you may have realized when I asked you not to wear your cologne or perfume when we were together, I have begun having allergic reactions to some common products. These allergies have far more serious implications to my health than the sniffles.
I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, or MCS for short. An often misunderstood medical condition, it affects an estimated eleven million people in the United States with moderate to severe MCS, and more people are becoming ill every day.
I know that we don’t do much together lately because I haven’t felt well. What I haven’t shared, really, is how extensive this has affected my life, and consequently, yours along with mine.
Let me share a little of my condition with you, so that you might understand more of why I have changed so much. And why I am asking you to join me in some of those changes.
Have you ever had to clear your throat, or repeatedly cleared it throughout the day after putting on perfume or hairspray, or had your voice become slightly husky? Perhaps you have become very tired from shopping in the mall, and the next day you felt that perhaps you were coming down with the flu. Cleaned your home with that pine cleaner and then had the blues or the flu for a few days afterward? Did you connect those events? Have you considered that might be a reaction to the formaldehyde coating on permanent press clothing on the racks in the stores? Ever had a metallic taste in your mouth? Or forgotten what you were doing as you walked across a room? It could be you are reacting to your carpeting. Maybe you had a coughing jag when you went to a restaurant. Did you realize that perhaps you were reacting to the perfume your companion was wearing, or even their scented shampoo? Have you ever lain in bed, with every muscle twitching and painful? Been in a good mood and suddenly were horribly angry or sad? These are just a small sampling of the problems that I deal with every day. Daily, I am in pain.
Perhaps because our lives have become so easy with all of our modern advancements, we don’t want to even think that perhaps they are making us ill. But if you’ve ever heard of ‘sick building illness’ then you know that it is. If you’ve ever watched an oil spill cleanup, with all the dead wildlife around, you know our environment can kill us. Every day we put more chemicals into daily use. And it is making a lot of us seriously ill. This is happening to me right now. I pray it never happens to you.
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