Environmental Illness – Not for the Faint of Heart

Environmental Illness (multiple chemical sensitivity) is not for the Faint of Heart.  It is such a misunderstood illness and it is a costly illness.  My mold exposure brought about my chemical sensitivity, my severe allergies to medications, my allergies to food, and an increase in my hay fever symptoms.

Environmental Illness cost me so many things.  It cost the loss of of all my things.

My empty closet.

Bags of Clothes, Shoes, Purses

My mother came over and began the difficult task of taking all my clothes, shoes, and purses out of my closet and placing them in the large black plastic garbage bags.  As she was working on this the idea hit that I should take pictures.  I wish I had taken a picture of my closet full of clothes before we started removing everything.  There wasn’t a spare inch in the closet rod.

Environmental Illness cost me my car (I had cross contaminated my car with the mold and mycotoxins from my workplace).  It cost me my home (I had cross contaminated my home as well).

Some of the most precious things I lost were my old stuffed animals, my dolls, and many of my treasured toys from my childhood.  My photos are stored in boxes awaiting the time someone could scan them for me.

Your health is worth all the money in the world.  Environmental Illness, however, takes all the money in the world to just get through it.  There is the money for treatment that is most likely not covered by insurance, the cost of replacing all belongings (clothing, furniture, a car, a home), the cost for special foods, and the supplements that your body needs to keep working.  This is a lifetime commitment.

These costs are beyond what I could have ever imagined.  We had always had good health insurance.  My treatments were not in the mainstream and many things were rejected.

A future post will break down the expenses of Environmental Illness in greater detail.  It is a post that is going to take some time to write.

Critical Day 3: The aftermath

Hello everyone.  Critical Day 3 ended yesterday.  No more lamb required.  I can go back to eating normally with the exception of the foods that I have gained through the LDA (low dose antigen) process.  I still can’t have my almonds, lettuce, tomatoes, oats, etc.).

I got up this morning to the thought of NO MORE LAMB!  However, there was still some ground lamb left.  At $9.00 a pound I wasn’t going to throw it out so I had a patty with an egg.  The egg was delicious – the lamb just didn’t do it for me today.  Unfortunately there is still a good amount of lamb stew left over.  It doesn’t freeze well and I can’t throw food out.  My husband and I will both have stew for lunch.  Tonight will be beef, chicken, pork, or anything but lamb!

I am still dealing with a headache and being discombobulated.  I also still have itchy arms.  More information about my LDA this go around can be found here, here, and  here.

I hope you are all having a good day.  Me, I need to go and rest and let my head calm down.  I came into the office to do a little bit and have been in front of the computer far longer than I thought I would be or needed to be.

Critical Day 2: Shot Day

Food & Chemical Shots

The welt closest to my elbow is food and the second is my chemical shot.

This is from my inhalant injection.

I am not feeling well so will post more tomorrow.

Critical Day 1: LDA

Yesterday I posted about preparing and cooking my food in anticipation of the 3 Critical Days for my LDA treatment.  Today is Day 1 of the 3-day critical period.  This morning for breakfast I had my ground lamb patty and grated potatoes cooked in the famous rendered lamb fat I made yesterday.

Breakfast of Champions.

I don’t miss many of my foods just yet.  After all, it is only Day 1 and I haven’t had much of a chance to miss anything except for my cup of hot green tea.  I love drinking something warm in the mornings and in the evenings when the house is cool.  I had to settle for this today. A wonderful, delicious cup of hot water.

A Delicious Cup of Hot Water

I was going to post a cup of my lamb stew from dinner but I ate it before I remembered I wanted to take the picture.  I will share a cup of it with you tomorrow.

In the morning I am off on the 2 1/2 hour each way drive to get my shots.  If I am up to it, I will report back when I get home.

On a totally unrelated issues:  I still haven’t managed to go in and get my bridge for the tooth I had pulled in September.  I was told I needed to wait 6 weeks, then it was Thanksgiving, then it was Christmas, and now I am preparing for my treatment.  My upper front two teeth are achy.  I think they are starting to spread apart.  I am going to call tomorrow before we leave and get an appointment scheduled for 3 weeks from tomorrow to go in and get this taken care of.  Just one more darn thing.

Back home (LDA Day 2 continued)

Bless my dear husband.  Once again, he drove me to San Francisco for my LDA treatments.  We left at 8:00 a.m. for an 11:00 a.m. appt.  The drive usually takes 2 1/2 hours giving him a little leeway with traffic.  Traffic was great and we got into the city an hour early.   Since we were early he decided to make a quick stop at the SF Giants’ store to look for some t-shirts.  He made it back to the car in plenty of time to get back on the highway and head to my doctor appointment.  Then we got lost.  Somehow we went the wrong direction and the highway was nowhere in sight.  We asked a taxi cab driver who was a jerk.  Then we got directions from city workers but I think we missed the last part of the directions because we still didn’t make it to the highway.  Finally my husband asked a security guard getting into his car how to get to the highway.  He started to give us directions and then said to my husband to just turn around and follow him and he would take us there.  I have no idea how much further out of his way he went for us but it was much appreciated.  With all the getting lost and asking for directions we made it to my appointment right on time.

I met with the new doctor and had to give him some background on me and talk a little about some questions I had regarding my protocol and if things had changed any.  He felt that because I had been on the therapy for five years that I could start adding foods back in at 7-10 days instead of 15.  PERFECT!  My daughter gets here about that time and I will not have to miss out on many foods because of dietary restrictions.  I really enjoyed this new doctor and look forward to working with him more.

The downside to my treatment, as it is every time, is the headache.  Oh the headache.  And the welts where the injections are given and the itchiness.  There is only one that actually gives me a lot of trouble.

My poor arm!

I am home and yes my headache is with me (nothing unusual about that).  I got it about 3o minutes after I left the office.  My brain is also a little fuzzy and my concentration is not so great.  On the positive side is that I am not itching nearly as much with the inhalant component of the treatment as I usually do.  Maybe this is a good sign that I won’t be flailing my arm around tonight to distract myself.  I am not allowed to scratch the wheals, put anything on them or ice them.

I ate my lamb stew on the way home as my dear husband munched on his Jack in the Box burger and fries.

I received three injections today.  In my left arm I received the Inhalants (pollens, dust, molds).

On my way (Day 2 of LDA)

Hello Everyone.

I just finished eating day two of ground lamb and hash browns for breakfast.  My lunch time meal of lamb stew is heating on the stove in preparation for the thermos that I have finally purchased.   My water is in the car, my ipod has been charged, and my Kindle is charged and loaded with a new book.   I am preparing for the 2 1/2 hour trip each way to get my LDA.  I am anxious to get it done and to be one day closer to finishing the critical 3 days and to getting all those yummy foods back into my diet.

Today I am meeting with a new doctor because my doctor left the practice.  I am looking forward to meeting the new doctor (a naturopath) and getting and having him sign off to continue with the protocol there.

I am not looking forward to the headache that usually follows for a day and the itching arms that usually last for 2-3 days.  In the end it is all worth it.  If I am not feeling too uncomfortable later today I will post more.  I will also try to respond to all comments as well.

What’s for breakfast?

Breakfast for LDA

Today is day 1 of the 3 critical day period for my LDA treatment.  I made myself a lamb patty and some hash browns.  My beverage of choice (or the only one allowed me) was a glass of water (Mountain Valley Spring Water in a glass bottle).   You can read more about Day 1 of the critical day diet and LDA on a previous blog post  here.

Let the lamb extravaganza begin!

NOTHING SAYS LDA LIKE THE SMELL OF LAMB COOKING IN THE KITCHEN!

My lamb stew ingredients.

Yes, it is that time again!  My housework is done and I am prepping for my three-day critical LDA (low dose antigen therapy) period.  The lamb fat is rendered into lard for my breakfast hash browns, the ground lamb is thawing for breakfast starting tomorrow, and my lamb stew is on the stove in anticipation of tomorrow’s lunch and dinner and lunch and dinner (or snacks)

Lamb Meat in the Dutch Oven.

for the next three days.  You can read more about prepping for LDA here.

Dinner is ready!

Here we go again!

Well I am back to square one with my tooth. The oral surgeon that I had an appointment with later this month has decided after reviewing my history, allergies, and sensitivities that I would be better off somewhere else. I am now being referred to an oral surgeon’s office an hour from me in the other direction from the first one who refused me. It is a satellite office of the University of California San Francisco. He thinks it is a better setting for me and they will be more equipped to work with me.    ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  They won’t do anything any different.  He is just covering his behind.   The office person said I can understand your frustration.  I told her she had no idea my frustration and I hung up.  Tomorrow I will call the other office and see what is going on.

What infuriates me even more is that I moved my LDA treatment back a month to get this tooth done.  I may or may not be able to get my old appointment time back.  If not, then I have to keep my August appointment because I cannot go longer than six months without my treatment.  This means that I won’t be able to get my tooth pulled until at least late September.  Keep a good thought for me as I try to sort this all out.

List of my allergies/sensitivities

Awhile back in a post titled, Identification Please, I talked about my medic alert bracelet and what my inscription says. This is a list of what medic alert has on file for me “in case of an emergency”.  A few months back, my doctor’s PA asked if a certain medication was okay for me.  I couldn’t remember if it had been a problem before because my list is long.  Years ago, when I was constantly being given something for all my maladies, I knew all that I was allergic/sensitive to without blinking my eyes.  Time has passed and the list is less easily remembered.  So, I just had him call medic alert and they immediately faxed him  this list.

MEDICATIONS (CANNOT USE PLASTIC CATHETER NEEDLES)

Allegra

Armour Thyroid

Augmentin

Amphotericin B

Ampicillin

Atavan

Avelox

Azactam

Benadryl (all antihistamines)

Benzalkonium Chloride

Biaxin

Chloramphenical

Cipro

Citanest

Clindamycin

Cytomel

Dextrose (corn allergy)

Diflucan

Erythromycin

Flagyl

Fortaz

Gentamycin

Ibuprofen

Isopropyl Alcohol

Keflex

Lamisil

Levaquin

Levoxyl

Lortab

Naproxen

Nizoral

Penicillin

Primaxin (this caused the episode that almost killed me)

Remeron

Rocefin

Sporanox

Sulfites & Sulfa

Synthroid (lost due to an overdose – the pharmacy gave me the wrong dose and I took it for over a week – over time, I have been able to take this again)

Tequin

Thyrolar

Vfend

Valium

Vancomycin

Zephiran

Zithromax

Zyvox

Lidocaine

Versed

Fentanyl

Gapabentin (Comp only) – can’t even take that any more

Nature-throid

Estradiol (Compounded only)

Progesterone (Comp only)

Acetaminophen

Nature-throid

CHEMICALS

Benzalkonium

Chloride

Chlorine

Cigarette Smoke

Ethanol

Formaldehyde

Glycerine

Ladies/Men’s Cologne

Orris Root

Phenol (Plastics, etc)

Unleaded Gas/Diesel

Fireplace Smoke

Zephiran (benzalkonium name brand)

Methylmercaptan (in rubber & gas)

Latex

FOODS NOT ALLERGIC TO – After looking at this list and then the  list of foods I was allergic to in the beginning you can see what I gave up and how hard it was to eat.  It took about two to three months on the provocation/neutralization treatments to slowly get some foods back as long as I took the shots every four days.  Slowly with this treatment and then later LDA, I gained foods that I never thought I would eat again.

Rabbit

Dove

Acorn Squash

Venison

Elk

Quail

Buffalo

Orange Roughy

Crab (sulfite free)

Milk

Canola Oil

Safflower Oil

Sea Salt

FOODS ALLERGIC TO – after taking injections from the Environmental Health Center and now my LDA treatments – I have gained many foods back.  I was so sick and my body was fighting so hard that it literally thought everything was the enemy.  I lived in a hyper-reactive state for so long.  My body still lives in this state but it reacts less violently to some things than in the beginning. Foods that I can now eat  as long as I don’t abuse them or foods that I can eat after the two weeks following my LDA are  shown in red below.  

Allspice (ANAPHYLACTIC)

Almonds

Amaranth

Apples – organic only

Asparagus

Aspartame

Baker’s Yeast

Banana (ANAPHYLACTIC)

Beef

Beets/Beet Sugar

Black Beans

Blackberries

Black Eyed Peas

Blueberries

Brewer’s Yeast

Broccoli

Brussel Sprouts

Buckwheat

Cabbage

Carob

Carrot

Cashew

Catfish

Celery

Cheese (molds)

Cherries

Chicken

Chocolate (can have mold)

Clove

Coconut (no sulfites)

Concentrated Juices (mold)

CORN (ANAPHYLACTIC) – this was an amazing recovery.

Cumin

Dates

Egg

Eggplant

Flaxseed

Garbanzo Bean

Ginger

Grapefruit

Green Bean

Green Bell Pepper

Green Peas

Kamut

Kiwi

Kidney Bean

Lemon

Lentils

Lettuce

Lotus Flour

Maple Sugar/Syrup

Melon (all)

Millet

Milo Flour

Molasses
Navy Bean

Nectarine

Nutmeg

Oat – steel-cut only

Ocean Perch

Onion

Orange

Oregano

Peach

Peanut

Pear

Pecan

Pineapple

Pinto Bean

Pistachio

Plum

Potato

Pumpkin

Pumpernickel

Quinoa

Red Snapper

Rice

Salmon

Sesame Seed

Shrimp

Sole

Soy

Spaghetti Squash

Spelt

Spinach

Strawberries

Sugar (cane)

Sunflower

Sweet Potato

Swiss Chard

Tangerine

Tangelo

Tapioca

Tea (Black – mold)

Tea (Green)

Teff

Tomato

Tuna

Turkey

Walnut

Wheat

Yam

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Lamb

Olive/Olive Oil

Cranberry

Grape/Grapeseed Oil Cod

ENVIRONMENTAL ALLERGIES/SENSITIVITIES

Pollens

All Molds

All Chemicals

Dust

Dust Mites

Fabrics (Cotton, etc)