Are You allergic to the 21st Century?

Ever been overwhelmed by the gal with perfume pouring out her pores in the elevator and get an annoying head ache because of it? How about man-made sweeteners? You know, aspartame, Sweet and Low and so forth? Do they give you a headache that would stop a horse in its tracks? Here is a good one, the Dollar stores. Ever walk in one and feel like your eyes are being rubbed with sandpaper? Does the “New” smell of carpet, or cars, or furniture, or clothes bother you? Air fresheners make you catch your breath? Especially the sprays? The laundry soap isle in a store, does it make you kind of queasy?

That was me for years, actually for most of my adult life. It seemed to get a little worse each year and then a few years ago it got down right rude! In fact, I am currently living in my van because living in just about any of today's housing means I am participating in chemical warfare. With me as the target! If it has a chemical in it, you can be pretty sure I will have some kind of bad reaction to it. Don't forget, when I say bad, remember I have moved past annoying and entered the land of down right Rude!

Now here is the interesting part. Chemicals are everywhere today. In our buildings, clothes, cars, soaps, shampoos, cleaning and laundry products, even the food we eat and often the very air we breathe may be filled with all kinds of man made chemicals. In some cases even our forests have been sprayed with fire retardant, so don’t think a walk in the woods is safe and I mean seriously, who knew a fabric softener sheet could be considered dangerous! Did you know that one of the chemicals they use in those innocent looking sheets is the same chemical used in Anesthesia? No kidding, oh yeah, don’t forget, they put fiberglass in there too. I know, crazy isn’t it?

Did I mention my cell phone yet, or your cell phone? Or just about anybodies phone? Especially a Smart phone. Oh yes, even my phone is a problem, it is not just all of the chemicals that are used today but it is also the electromagnetic fields that are created by some of our new technology, like smart phones, computers, WiFi hotspots, cell towers and even electric lines on telephone poles. They have all declared war on this ole gal. So more questions. Have you ever freaked out your computer, or watch, or phone? You know made the computer screen jump and do strange things, or caused the LED lines to disappear on your watch? When you go into the grocery store do the doors seem to hesitate when you try to go inside? If you answered yes to any of these questions, well, you just might be allergic to the 21^st century!

According to the specialist I am now working with, the chemicals in our world today are harmful to everyone. Most people just don't get as sick or even very sick at all, and many times don't even know why they are sick. Just like those who are allergic to say, peanuts, some get a little sick and may not know why, then there are those who know, that for them, peanuts are deadly. Like me, there are many people, with a specific genome, that cannot release toxins the way the rest of the population can.

Because of that I became very ill, to the point where several of my doctors did not believe I would still be alive to make it to my next appointment. They did not share that little bit of, what I would think was important, information with me until after I started seeing Dr Michael Gray and my health started to improve. Trust me, there is no doubt in my mind, and theirs, that he has saved my life.

There is so much to this that it is hard to comprehend or even realize just how deep it goes. For instance, movies are my favorite entertainment at night. I was hoping to find a DVD player to take on the road with me, but when I checked with my friends on the Yahoo Group called the Green Canaries, a chemically challenged support group, (that is right, there are a bunch of us out here!) they all told me that every player would have to off gas for months before I could safely use one. (Off gas:essentially that means they have to release the toxins that are strongest when they are new)

Clothes are another issue. I can now only wear cotton and so much prefer organic cotton. But organic cotton is very expensive. I simply cannot afford that, so I wind up washing and rewashing used cotton clothes to try and get all of the chemicals out of them. I know one gal who washes new cotton 36 times with vinegar, baking soda, and peroxide, in an attempt to clear all of the toxins. Another lady prefers to use a pressure cooker to get all of the nastier chemicals out. The goo that gets poured off after she is done cooking the clothes is enough to scare me silly.

What toxins could be in clean, brand new clothes? I am glad you asked! There are all of the pesticides that they use to get the cotton ready to go to the market, then there are the silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde-just to name a few of the chemicals needed to get the cotton through the machinery in order to manufacture clothes. Then of course, there is the fire retardant required on some clothes and all motor homes, cars, bedding, and even your mattress. There are additional pesticides sprayed on each shipment to keep the critters out before and after they get to the store. Want to know more, read here to learn more about our childrens clothes or here for a list of the chemicals used on cotton and then there is this site, which tells you about the known cancer causing chemicals that are used on cotton in the USA. So, are you starting to get a picture? It is not pretty, is it.

I have been doing some empirical testing over the winter. You know, try this on the ole gal, or see how sick I get when I do that, and if I try this, Oh My! Wont do that again. The electromagnetic fields emanating from my phone are not only causing problems for my body, but neurologically as well. When I have been exposed to my phone for any length of time, especially when it is charging, my balance, my thought processes, all get affected. Even simply sentences become difficult to formulate or understand and I will start to stutter and cannot find simple words. Which makes sense if you think about it. The good Lord created our minds to run on very finely tuned electrical energy. If we introduce a second rate man made electronic device, then it is going to cause our own system to short circuit. The more exposure we have, it stands to reason that the effects would continue to increase as well. Some online sites walk a fine line about the dangers. Some try to present specific facts while others are clearly determined to find someone culpable. This has been around for awhile. It is not new news. Lawsuits of all kinds have been filed for a variety of reasons concerning the impact EMF has on the human body.

But it is certainly new to me. Well at least this side of it. For most of my adult life I have had an impact on electrical equipment, like I listed above. Technically speaking, I would freak them out, (Got to love those technical terms) I could erase the lines in a LED watch by wearing it for a few minutes. I could cause my computer to do things it should not be able to do. Things that made the IT techs say “Hmm it should not be able to do that!” Unfortunately, at this point, those same electronic devices are causing me to freak out! Okay, sometimes ya just gotta try to find the humor in this. Granted it is a little twisted at times, but hey, it is humor. :)

Quite seriously for a moment, there is increasing evidence that we should all be concerned. One experiment conducted by school children still makes me wonder why more people are not alarmed by this. I mean if our kids have figured it out? Hmm.

For me, I am learning the hard way, that there are some things I just should not do. Even when I try to avoid what I know will be an issue, I still can get in trouble it seems.  I wound up accidentally sleeping by some small electrical lines one night when I was in Quartzsite. I did not realize they were there until the next morning.  Don't ask me how I missed it, because I have no idea.  All I can tell you is that it was a mistake. I was fighting to make sense when emailing the next day. I would have to read the email over and over again and keep correcting mistakes before I could send it out. One I sent to a friend was a mess, but they knew the problem I was having, so I just let the mistakes ride and hoped they could figure out what I was saying.

Another aspect of this is that it also hurts my hands and face too much to keep using the phone after a while. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes for it to become very painful. Driving through town can be a challenge, then my whole body gets involved. Any town is bad for me these days, but some seem to be much worse. As to why? Beats me, I just know for me, certain places are harder than others. The fact that some of those towns I went to were heavy into farming and you could see the layers of pesticides in the air... Well I don't know for a fact, if that has anything to do with it or not, but my doctor has asked me to avoid any towns on the Colorado river since pesticides are high on my list of no no's.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I was trying to find ways to keep the computer from hurting me. It was actually the phone that was the real problem. The computer is an issue if I am on it too long or if I try to use it in my van, then the length of time I can use it gets much shorter. All of that metal in my van causes those electronic fields to bounce around and can even create hotspots within the van that can be very dangerous for anyone, but especially for me, since I am already so sensitive to it. I do not have the funds to have a separate WiFi hotspot and keep a phone too, so, with the help of a couple of great tech friends, we found a way to tether my computer to my phone and keep the phone as far away from me as possible.

My post called Bits and Pieces now takes on new meaning when you realize that I would not have been able to use almost any of those gifts if they were new. So cast-off items were a blessing to me in so many ways. I could not afford to buy most of that, and was simply doing without. Even if I had the money to buy them, the toxins they would release would have made me horribly ill or it would have taken months and months before I could use them.. That old saw 'One man's junk is another mans blessing” is certain true for me!

So what about you? Any of this ringing a bell? Are you mildly allergic or are you already heading down the path I am on? Something to think about for sure! I try to buy all organic food, I filter all my water with my Big Berkey and I am boondocking in the boonies, with as few trips to town as possible, so I can continue to regain my health. I don't know about you, but I think I can safely say, that I am definitely allergic to the 21^st century.