This article is for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
Four years ago I did an oxygen protocol that gave me great relief and improvement from MCS.
I would like to share that what I did and how it helped me. I will also give some background about my MCS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so you can relate it to yours.
I have been disabled by MCS/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia for forty years. In 2010 I did the oxygen protocol designed by Albert Donnay and explained on the MCSRR.org website under MUSES. I had great improvement from that treatment, and have continued to improve since.
The treatment uses oxygen from a regular oxygen concentrator. It takes 6-8 weeks at 2 hours per day on the hightest concentration. That is it.
This protocol is for low-level carbon monoxide poisoning. Donnay has questionaires on the web page to determine if you have the symptoms of low level carbon monoxide poisoning (or MUSES). He is very clear that not all people with MCS have MUSES. Those who have heightened sensitivity to sounds, temperature changes, touch, etc are likely candidates. It is all explained very well on the web site.
Here is the best part! There is a medical test to determine if you have this condition!
I love that. After so many years of non-specific tests and deducing what was wrong with me, it was wonderful to have a test that was positive. After the treament I repeated the test, and it was negative😂
Prior to seeing this treatement, did not know I had had a lot of carbon monoxide exposure. But, when I sat down and made a list of my exposures, there were a lot. Then, I read about things that also increase carbon monoxide in your body - like working with paints and strippers. Also carbon monoxide is created by the body when you are under stress. So, don't write this off until you at least look at the questionaires on the web site. (please see my blog page "Cheryl's Carbon Monoxide Exposures")
The medical test is for blood gases. There is a blood draw of arterial and veinous blood at the same sitting, the blood is analyzed, and then the numbers are put into a worksheet to determine if you are hypoxic in this way. Again specific instructions and the worksheet are all on the web site. (Please see my blog page "My Blood Gas Results".)
The improvements I initially experienced were: 1) The Blood gases became normal - I was no longer hypoxic. 2) My body temperature went from 96.5 to 98.6 (it had been in the 96 range for 40 years). It has remained solidly at 98.6 for four years. 3) I became much less sensitive to sounds, temperature changes, light and dark, barometric changes (and, not at all sensitive to some things). 4) Much less reactive to foods and chemicals 5)There were other changes that were not a big deal, but were indicative of something having changed in my body. One of these was that I started yawning. I hadn't yawned for 40 years. I now yawn every evening. yeah! Another example - I now get the flue and colds. I have not had the flu or colds for 40 years - but now, my body knows how to get normally sick.
Unlike some other treatments the results of this treatement have endured. I have many other symptoms that did not immediately respond. I think thus: I have been oxygen deficient for 40 years, so it is not surprising that my body would not entirely recover. I felt that if this was the actual crux of my illness that I should slowly get better in other ways. That has happened. I also find that now I can see a difference when I try something - change my supplements or diet for example. I can now tell when I am having a reaction to something.
It is my hope that others who see this will judge whether they fit the profile for long term low level carbon monoxide poisoning: That they will have doctors who will order the blood gas tests: And that they will do the therapy and recover to the extent that I have recovered. I hope they do this sooner and younger than I did. For those with MUSES there is life after MCS.
Personal Health History
We who have tried so many therapies without long term improvement tend to be unbelieving and dismissive of anyone claiming to be better. I am providing this summary of my MCS/fibro/CFIDS history so that those with these conditions can compare their experiences; and to show that I was very ill for a very long time.
When I was about 25 years old, after a not very healthy childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, I made an effort to improve my health with diet and exercise. By the time I was 28, I was active in several sports, and was seldom sick. I really enjoyed being healthy and participating in active sports. My two sons were also healthy and hardy. I had a degree in computer science and worked hard as an analyst programmer.
In 1978 I moved to Fairbanks, AK, to take a good job at the University of Alaska. Soon after arrival I developed a sore throat that continued until I left Fairbanks. After about three months I started to have pains in my arms and legs, feeling weak, depressed and tired. I was having trouble thinking clearly. These symptoms were episodic.
This "disease" continued to progress over the years, and trips to doctors were of no help at all. In 1982 I was tentatively diagnosed with MS. A year later the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle came up with the name Fibromyalgia. Several years later I read of the "type two allergy" and went to a clinical ecologist who tested for, and diagnosed, chemical sensitivity, food allergies and many air-born allergies. At this point the pains in my arms and legs were so intense that I would close my office door, lie down on the floor in a ball, and cry. New symptoms were: ongoing bladder and urinary problems, gigantic long and painful periods, rage, weeping and a catatonic state. When I tried to keep a symptom log the number of issues didn't fall below 20 ongoing symptoms.
At 40 years of age I moved out of Alaska, but did not recover my health. I went on disability and started a series of efforts to overcome the illness that I was then calling MCS/CFIDS. The only relief of my symptoms was avoidance of the indoor and outdoor air pollution that is endemic in our world. I was also told that I needed rest, rest and more rest. And so, I withdrew from all activities involving other people and places outside of my home. For 20 years I was in bed about 18 hours per day.
Over those twenty years my husband and I moved about ten times - trying to find an environment in which I could function and be out of pain. We modified several homes for my needs, and stripped down and rebuilt five travel trailers for me to live in while I changed to various locations. The culmination was our buying land in a remote part of New Mexico where there was very little air pollution. We built a house there using all less toxic materials.
In NM I discovered that even in an almost perfectly toxin free environment I was still ill. I had many fewer symptoms: The reactions to petrol fumes, air conditioning, laundry products, scents, cleaning products, pesticides, and molds - such as various headaches, sudden weakness, sore throats, swollen glands, muscle pain, incontinence, crying jags, irritability, stomach cramping and nausea - were in abatement as long as I stayed in my special environment. I was still ill however. I found once the masking "reactions" stopped, that I was left with a very low energy level, brain fog, sleepiness, dizziness, depression and a low body temperature. There were also the symptoms of being chemically sensitive (but away from chemicals), noise sensitive, temperature sensitive, air pressure sensitive, food sensitive, emf sensitive and allergies. As time went by, despite trying to maintain a level of exercise and good diet, I was becoming weaker and weaker.
During these years I tried many treatments, some with temporary improvement, all with huge bills. (Plese see "Other Treaments I have Tried")
As I became less able to do anything my situational type of depression grew. At sixty I was giving away my heirlooms and planning homes for my pets.
Fortunately, I discovered the article "Good News for MCS People" on MCSRR.org website and the MUSES phenomena.
As I write this it has been about four years since the last oxygen therapy. I have done more in those three years than in the twenty-five previous years. Initially I moved back to the NW and lived near my children and family members. Then I returned to Tucson. (That involved sellin three houses adn three long idistance moves.) Best of all I was able to step up and help where I was needed.
I still use air cleaners, and do my best to avoid chemical exposures. I still have reactions to severe chemical exposures, but recover completely after removing myself from them. I have continued to get stronger and increase my stamina, which was at zero. I can walk a mile or two, walk upstairs, stay up and out of bed for twelve hours and go to selected events and stores and restaurants. My diet is including more and more foods.
