Dig Deeper

I can remember when I was first dealing with symptoms of MCS/EI and started poking around on the internet for answers - it was horrifying.  You have to dig really deep (and I MEAN REALLY DEEP) to find any quality information about this illness online. It is almost embarrassing to be honest.  I questioned my own sanity a lot, because frankly all of it did seem really “crazy”.  Even my MD didn’t know anything about MCS/EI and told me I was “just depressed”.  The severity of this illness is minimized constantly and the relationship we have with the broader community (everyone from the government, to employers, educators, medical doctors) is antagonistic.  The media does a TERRIBLE job of discussing/reporting about MCS/EI.  Good research is really hard to find and what good research there is - is poorly disseminated - so nobody really knows what is going on.

The impact that this illness has on people’s lives is really intense because we must completely alter our way of living and interacting with our environment.  It is an extreme accommodation that runs completely counter to the dominate culture.  There is no test for this illness.  It is an emerging health issue that is the result of the introduction of tens of thousands of untested chemicals that have been dispersed into the environment since the 1950s.  Medical doctors are not required to learn about environmental illness or medicine as part of their education.  Environmental medicine is a speciality and an area that is bound to grow in coming years, but change is slow.  Meanwhile, these chemicals are mixing with other chemicals and contaminating our indoor and outdoor environments and increasing the toxic load within our bodies.  The pervasive use of chemicals in all areas of modern life is making all of us sick, but some of us are getting sick faster than others, which is how people with MCS/EI came to be known as “canaries in the coalmine”.

Chemical free living is the new normal.

Now that I am a student, I have access to journal articles from many different fields of study and this has really opened my eyes (and understanding) about my illness.  I really resent that about academia though, I mean what good is research if only other academics get to read it?  Ugh.  It is so elitist.  If I come across papers that are available on the public domain, I will share them here from time to time.  

I recently found this article by Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo on the public domain. Through poetry and strips of narrative, this paper discusses the embodied experience of chemical sensitivity and the anthropologist author's and other patients' journey through altered perception towards knowledge, community and transformation in the context of a medical clinic. 

CLICK ON CITATION BELOW FOR PDF.

Watson-Gegeo, K. (2005, July-August). Journey to the 'new normal' and beyond: reflections on learning in a community of practice. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 18(4), 399-424.