Are You Sensitive to Smells? The Challenges of Living with MCS

Are you someone who is sensitive to smells? This post is for you and my fellow MCS canaries, or as I prefer to be referred – guinea pigs. However, MCS is more than just a sensitivity to smells. If you are extremely sensitive to smells and experience strange symptoms, be sure to take the time to learn more about MCS.

Sensitive to Smells Leading to MCS

As I continue the process of getting well, I thought I would write about some of the challenges that I have faced while living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

It is a reminder that I never want to get back to the point I was. Believe me, there are more challenges than what I list here. My husband has told me I need to write a book about all of the symptoms and reactions I’ve had. He said, he couldn’t make this stuff up!

• • Buying new “natural” mattresses, only to have to return them because laying on them would cause my heart to race out of control. It was a reaction that was more than a sensitivity to smells of the new mattress. Maybe it was caused by the formaldehyde or the other chemicals used in the bed. Maybe it was the fire retardant used on the bed because of a law enacted a few years prior.

• • Having our bedroom window open in the evening and having the smoke from our neighbors’ bonfires stream in. Again, causing my heart to race and my ears to swell.

• • Walking into a grocery store, only to have symptoms that stem from walking by the laundry detergent aisle. Heaven forbid I actually walk down the detergent aisle!

• • Walking past someone who I call “toxic”. Usually, because of their laundry detergent, dryer sheets, or fabric softener.

• • Having to take a shower after walking into certain stores, or restaurants because of their toxic cleaning chemicals, furniture, or air fresheners. My Multiple Chemical Sensitivity symptoms wouldn’t go away until after I showered.

• • Searching for office space for our business – not only did we have to consider the location and price, but I also had to visit the potential office to see if I could “handle it” without experiencing symptoms.

• • “Airing out” newspapers and magazines in the garage before looking through them.

• • Receiving a Christmas gift, only to not be able to wear it because it caused symptoms. I remember starting to feel bad, having my heart race and getting a headache after putting on a new pair of slippers. At first, I didn’t know what was causing the symptoms until I realized it was the slippers (MCSers get good at being detectives:)). Once I took them off, my symptoms began to decrease.

• • Walking into the office at my old job and feeling like I walked into a brick wall after smelling their cleaning chemicals. I had become desensitized to them when I worked there.

• • Having difficulty using my laptop because of the EMFs.

• • Knowing that the EMFs from my laptop were affecting me, I bought an external keyboard. I aired it outside for a few days; however, I still had issues from it. I covered it with food grade plastic so I could still use it while it off-gased.

• • Having to cancel trips because I couldn’t handle hotels, or stay at people’s houses over night.

• • Not being able to go in swimming pools without having a reaction from the chlorine.

• • Being at church, a restaurant, or an auditorium and having someone with perfume or cologne sit near me. I was very sensitive to smells of fragrance. My heart would begin to race and my ears would begin to swell.

• • Having to figure out if I could “handle” the new fillings my dentist was going to put in after I had my mercury fillings removed. Also, having the fillings replaced without a getting a shot of novocaine in fear that I would have a reaction of my throat swelling up.

• • Going over to a friends house and having issues with the candles they had in their house. They didn’t even have to be burning – I could tell they were somewhere in the room because my heart would race, or my throat would hurt.

• • Having to shop for organic food and food without chemicals and preservatives. This has been a great thing in the long run!

• • Developing food allergies.

• • Reacting to the soap and shampoo my husband had been using for years, only to have to keep my distance from him until he re-showered with new soap.

• • Having our window open at home only to have my throat start hurting from the smell of a lawn being fertilized – somewhere down the street!

• • Sitting in traffic, experiencing symptoms from the car’s exhaust in front of me.

• • Sitting near a swimming pool, or laying out at the beach trying to take in fresh air and sunshine, only to have someone sit down next to me and spray their toxic sunscreen, causing me to have reactions.

• • Going out to enjoy an evening of fireworks, or an outdoor concert, when someone next to me sprays toxic bug repellent (a fellow canary reminded me of this one).
    

At times, I have felt that I wasn’t safe anywhere on this earth. Everything was causing me to have reactions. As much as having MCS has been a nightmare to live with, I have seen some blessings with having it. Being extremely sensitive to smells and having MCS, I have become very aware of everything around me and in my environment. I have been able to make many changes that I know would have affected me differently down the road. I have also been able to advise family and friends of things that might be harmful to them.

Read Next: Have You Become Desensitized? A Weekend of Chemicals

Additional Resources for Your Reading Pleasure:

• MCS: The Canary in the Coal Mine
• Multiple Chemical Sensitivity:  Modern Day Canaries in the Mineshaft
• Jacki’s Story
• One Canary Sings

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