Shelter: A Quest for Non-Toxic Housing 507
Crocuta writes "Many of the geeks on /. voluntarily confine themselves to their homes for vast
stretches of time, but what happens when your home becomes your prison? Eric Hunting
suffers from Environmental Illness which perpetually confines him to his home, which even
as carefully furnished as it is, is still slowly killing him. His website, Shelter, is both a plea for help and a guide
documenting one man's quest for non-toxic housing."
Arconsanti is the answer (Score:3, Informative)
Erm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Having looked at the site, I can't help thinking that there might be a psychological element to "Environmental illness".
Re:Erm... (Score:5, Interesting)
What wood? Plywood (flooring substrate) and press board are all made with really nasty glues.. that give off formaldehyde, among other things, for years and years. Bricks are made of god knows what in some cases, bonding and strengthening agents are used in the formula, and these too can give off gasses or dusts that are toxic to people with allergies. Mortar has really nasty things in it.. which again people can be allergic too, and to seal it you need to use paint.. which also can cause reactions in people who cant deal with certain fumes.
The fact that the guy is leaning towards adobe makes me think he is allergic to something that is pretty commonly used as a "safe" bonding or strenghtening agent.
Maeryk
Re:Erm... (Score:5, Funny)
Well don't use fricking plywood or press board then!
Bricks are made of god knows what in some cases
Bricks are made of clay, baked at very high temperatues. There really isn't much more to it than that.
Mortar has really nasty things in it
Really, like, erm, lime, silica and sand?
Where do you buy your building supplies, for flips sake, Dr. Evil?
Re:Erm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, like, erm, lime, silica and sand?
Where do you buy your building supplies, for flips sake, Dr. Evil?
I don't know where you get your building supplies, but the stuff my contractor showed up with had a long list of US patent numbers for additives that improved the strength, reduced the set time, and cut down on the dust. Anything else those chemicals might do is beyond me, but I can tell you there is more in there than lime, silica, and sand.
Re:Erm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Wood, bricks, and mortar. If he simply used real natural wood, basic clay bricks, and a standard simple mortar he would get the desired effects I think. I don't know if those are even available today without an additive here or a treatment there but that would be an answer I think.
having said that it seems like the hardest part of all of this would be making sure the contractor was in fact only using the materials you specified. I mean, who's going to check it? You? In this scenario you're the guy who gets sick around the stuff so that's not going to be any fun. On top of that would you know what you were looking at and if you did could you be there during the entire construction to make sure?
Tough nut to crack here.
Re:Erm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Then he was looking at ceramic-coated steel buildings. Some older ceramics contain lead pigments, sufficient to be toxic. Has he checked that? evidently not.
If discarded UFOs were available as housing, THAT is what he'd be trying to finance.
Re:Simple Solution (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, BTW, "toxic" here is a relative term. Toxicity is the level at which a certain potentially harmful thing begins to have negative effects. Every person has a different tolerance to a given substance based on a host of factors (genetics, prior exposure to that and related substances, current/prior disease states, current/prior injuries, etc); what is toxic to you may have no effect on me.
This guy (and people like him) have a decreased tolerance to a large number of substances for some unknown reason. So, although you may have lived in your house for decades with no ill effects, the case will likely be different for him.
This condition really intrigues me...it makes me wonder what could happen to make someone sensitive like this. There has to be a phsyiological/biochemical reason for it.
Re:Erm... (Score:5, Informative)
Modern wood floors are coated with polyurethane and aluminum oxide. I've done more furniture finishing than I care to think about and poly isn't the nicest thing on earth.
There are various chemicals used in the tinting of bricks and mortar, which I can imagine would be problematic. Modern concrete is also nasty - there's a reason they warn you not to handle with bare hands, since you can get chemical burns in short order.
Glass would seem to be relatively inert, but who knows.
Paints and wallpaper all have fun and interesting chemical compounds.
There probably are some psychosomatic symptoms in this illness, as there are in many, but I doubt that covers all of it. There's a high likelyhood that he actually does have severe negative reactions to a vast amount of chemicals -- although why this is is an interesting question. Genetic defect? Too many antibiotic sprays and cleaners as a kid (yes -- overuse of these is bad and reduces the overall effectiveness of your immune system)? Exposure to some high doses of chemicals that caused a trigger effect?
And while he claims the need for EI-friendly housing is "extreme", it's extreme only in a very, very, very small community. I won't question his need for it, but I do question the number of people in need. And the fact is, it's going to be expensive. Hideously so. Removal of modern building methods and resources means a lot of human intensive labor along with some very specialized resource requirements. An adobe home for $125/sq ft may be one of the cheaper alternatives.
Re:Erm... (Score:2)
Go see Safe [imdb.com], by Todd Haynes. Forget about interpretations and allegories, and just try to empathize with Julianne Moore (a terrific performance, BTW).
Bullshit (Score:4, Flamebait)
It's a psychosomatic condition. [fumento.com] Get a subscription for paxil and go the fuck outside.
Re:Bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)
MCS has been rejected as an organic disease by the American Medical Association, the American Medical Council on Scientific Affairs, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and (my favourite) the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
It really just sounds like a nice new way of blaming someone (or something in this case) else for agoraphobia.
Re:Bullshit (Score:2)
Re:Bullshit (Score:2)
With wicked glee, we sneaked onions into every meal they could be hidden in (soups, casaroles, etc). Funny thing -- so long as she didn't *know* there were any onions in the food, she had ZERO symptoms.
Now, I do know someone who is genuinely allergic to onions -- they come back on him rather explosively. As an onion lover who used to eat 'em li
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Informative)
Of course not. But Environmental Illness is.
In your case, you had a placebo control: you didn't know there was milk in the hot dogs and you still got sick. That's a good indication of a legitimate illness.
If, on the other hand, you claim to be allergic to a certain chemical but don't develop symptoms when you're exposed to it unless you are told that it's there, that's psychosomatic. And general EI has been shown to fit that category in numerous studies (there are some other allergies that sometimes get grouped in with EI that _are_ legitimate, but that's another story).
Sumner
For those of you.... (Score:4, Informative)
What Is Environmental Illness?
In 1990 the CBS television series Northern Exposure introduced America to a little known community of disabled people through the character of Mike Monroe, a lawyer afflicted by an illness known as MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) who sought refuge in a peculiar geodesic dome home on the outskirts of the eclectic Alaskan community featured in the series. Mike was 'allergic to the 20th Century' and suffered a variety of symptoms in response to the most minor exposures to chemicals. Though writers of this series took much liberty with the facts of this ailment, the essential social condition of people with this illness was well portrayed, in particular the alienation and social anxiety associated with having an illness that no one really comprehended, least of all those in the medical community who would normally be relied on for understanding and compassion.
It is unclear precisely when MCS first emerged because misdiagnosis and politically motivated denial have consistently accompanied it to the present day. But over the 1980s physicians throughout the industrialized nations of the world began reporting a steadily growing number of cases of people developing a host of chronic symptoms, sometimes vague, sometimes plain, and sometimes dramatically life-threatening, which seemed to have no obvious pathology other than an association with the presence of common household industrial products or pollution. Symptoms ranged from things one might normally associate with conventional flu or allergy -such as asthmatic, skin, and gastrointestinal reactions- to neurological effects both subtle and dramatic -such as cognitive difficulty, numbness, trembling, twitching and spasms, and partial to total paralysis. Some patients claimed sensitivity to things well beyond the conventional clinical sphere, such as electromagnetic fields produced by appliances and electrical wiring. And there were few symptoms any patients had consistently in common other than a general progressive malaise dubbed 'chronic fatigue' and a vague chronic muscle or joint pain labeled Fibromyalgia. Many could trace the onset of their illness to a trigger exposure to some specific chemical product which resulted in a sudden flu-like illness and rapid break-down, though therafter their reactions would come in response to exposures to a vast assortment of things, including foods and sometimes natural contaminants like pollen, fungal spores, dusts, and natural fragrances.
Most MCS suffers tended to succumb to the condition in mid adult-hood and are often female with middle-class backgrounds. In the US there is a preponderance of them from northern and eastern urban/suburban regions, suggesting an association with general environmental pollution levels. Male cases were rarer and more often associated with specific industrial chemical contamination or industy-related pre-cursor illnesses such as the Systemic Candidiasis which is common among brewery workers. (GWS suffers, as noted below, are veterans and mostly male, their trigger exposure related to whatever they were subjected to in the Gulf War) Children were the rarest group but also a rapidly growing one, due perhaps to an increasingly sedentary and sequestered lifestyle that keeps children exposed to more indoor air pollution coupled to a steadily decreasing quality of diet for children in industrialized countries.
These cases proved immediately politically controversial because of the implication that they could be related to ubiquitous consumer products. These 'human canaries', as some physicians had dubbed them, were a potential threat to corporate interests and the government agencies charged with establishing safety and health standards. Thus there was a tendency by the medical establishment to at first dismiss the growing number of reports and then to promote a psychosomatic explanation that effectively blamed the patient -or the
Re:For those of you.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything from a peer-reviewed medical journal? Or is "the Man" keeping them down?
Re:For those of you.... (Score:2)
Re:For those of you.... (Score:2)
Um.. MOVE! (Score:5, Funny)
1. MOVE OUT OF NEW JERSEY
The rest will be much easier once step 1 is complete.
Re:Um.. MOVE! (Score:2)
Exactly
If I was that sick, I'd be out in the middle of the desert building my own shelter out of wood and rock.
Re:Um.. MOVE! (Score:2)
impossible quest (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything chemically processed is a potential source of 'toxins', not to mention possible natural toxins that may get trapped in your house instead of floating around in nature.
This quest, like the quest for a bacteria free home (lead by those lysol nuts), are not realistic.
What you can do is get outside and exercise/experience the real world more often, and this exposure to a wide variety of things should help one's body recover from being sheltered inside a closed system that contains toxins.
Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:2)
What is "Environmental Illness"? I've never heard it before in my life.
What does "toxic home" mean in this context? I've never thought of lampshades as dangerous. I'm left guessing here.
Obviously I can look these all up (and I will). But any other reporting source would've explained these concepts in some detail.
Re:Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:5, Informative)
Basically, from what I have read, it is one step below bubble-boy on the allergen list. Instead of being suceptible to germs, these people are susceptible to gasses and chomicals that most of us tolerate fine.
What does "toxic home" mean in this context? I've never thought of lampshades as dangerous. I'm left guessing here.
It means that every piece of anything chemically processed that you have in your home slowly breaks down over time, and gives off noxious chemicals. Everything from formaldehyde to radon.
Most of us dont notice, but it apparently makes some people _very_ sick. Couple this with todays "need" to make homes virtually air tight, and you have a place that makes reactive people really, really sick.
Obviously I can look these all up (and I will). But any other reporting source would've explained these concepts in some detail.
He kinda does on a another page.. but you have to dig a bit to find it. It apparently involves moose, alaska, and nOrthern Exposure.
Maeryk
Re:Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:3, Informative)
Nitpicking note--germs are not allergens, and bubble-boy syndrome (severe combined immune deficiency--SCID, IIRC) is a result of a person's inability to produce and maintain a healthy population of immune cells. Allergic reactions typically look and feel like a severe overreaction by the immune syst
Re:Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean like every object you can buy? Last time I checked, everything was a chemical. Better not wash those Oranges off, after all, water is a chemical!!
Re:Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:2)
I know a guy with this in Wisconsin - he grew up near a chemical plant that spilled toxic chems into the water table. That company basically pays for everything he (and his less probematic brother) need, as well as everyone else who grew up in that neighborhood before the cleanup (they s
Re:Uhm, I think some things need explaining... (Score:2)
Obviously someone missed When Lampshades Attack on fox.
Wrong problem (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wrong problem (Score:5, Informative)
BZZT:! Wrong answer. Gypsum is bad for anyone who has respiratory issues, because it is such a fine dust, and anyone with any kind of silica allergy has serioius problems with it.
There are several woods that are downright toxic.
Line a room with Cedar and make the house airtight and see how long you survive. The gas given off by it is not only toxic to Moths, it is toxic to people also. But the little blocks you keep in your closet dont release enough to sicken you, unless you are highly reactive to it.
Bricks are also not inert all the time. The JIRR
had an article on a brick in Boston that was carrying syphillus. (yes, that was meant to be humorous, but its true).
Yeah.. I know i'm feeding a troll.. but your misinformation is staggering.
Maeryk
Re:Wrong problem (Score:2)
Re:Wrong problem (Score:2)
Gypsum dust is produced when you are cutting plasterboard or mixing plaster. When it's up on your wall, it isn't releasing dust.
Nobody lines an interior wall with cedar - it's too hard to cut properly to use inside. Some people choose to use cedar for their outside siding.
Bricks are inert baked clay. Other than background radiation from the clay, it releases nothing.
Environmental Illness (Score:2)
Fortunately I moved out, however I did at one point find something resembling a truffle growing in a dark closet corner... Needless to say, I'm sure _that_ environment wasn't doing me any good.
N.
Re:Environmental Illness (Score:2)
That was no truffle, but a Fungi from Yuggoth! H.P. Lovecraft was right!
it's psychosomatic... (Score:4, Insightful)
Studies of such "syndromes" as sensitivity to EMF have revealed that the people in question are utterly able to distinguish the presense of radio waves or whatnot. It's bogus -- they're scaring themselves to death.
I quote from The American Academy of Family Physicians website [aafp.org]:Sorry to be insensitive, but until I see some better evidence for this being a real disorder, I'm going to assume that he's just another crackpot hypochondriac.
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Insightful)
MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
MCS/EI folks need good shrinks, not safe houses.
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:2, Interesting)
In 1967 I was advised by an MD to start smoking because it would help my asthma. Studies since then have shown the hazards of smoke and secondhand smoke. I smoked for 17 years after that, have been quit for more than 20, but still have asthma.
Asthma is quite often triggered by the very chemical pollution your AAFP article would seem to deny. No, I don't have clinical trials, just my own experience. When the pollution is low, my asthma is tolerable, when the pollution is h
How sorry? (Score:3, Insightful)
Okay. I agree. The author, in all likelihood, has a kind of psychosomatic disorder.
So, how does this translate to 'crackpot hypochondriac'?
Let me be more specific. I believe that there are a great many common illnesses that are psychosomatic in nature. However, the pain is real. This guy is in pain, its clear to see. He's pursued this untenable solution to his pain for most of his adult life, according to the site. He's endured a fair amount of ridicule for thinking he's 'aller
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:5, Informative)
As far as "Formaldehyde and Methanol" being such a problem, let me remind you that an eating an apple releases much more methanol into your system than the equal in your tea.
And actually for the most part I think ADD and ADHD are just names for normal kids who want to sedate for our instutitional learning facilities (I do believe there are some true cases, but the vast majority).
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope, I'm afraid. Any foodstuff containing aspartame has to be labelled "Contains a source of phenylalanine", which it does. This is because sufferers of phenylketonuria are likely to die if they continually ingest it. More info here [nih.gov]
Co-incidentally, my wife gets severe migraine if she takes anything containing aspartame. This works regardless of whether she's awa
phenylalanine (Score:2)
Re:phenylalanine (Score:2)
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Informative)
Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid.
People who cannot metabolize it are rare, born with the condition, and must adhere to a very strict diet because it's present in just about everything. Phenylketonurics are "likely to die" if they continually ingest meat, nuts, or beans - let along aspartame (and t
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Interesting)
Major difference being they release it into your stomach.. the bond in nutrasweet is specifically designed to go to the brain before it does that.
I work with a chemist, who is pretty high up here in chemistry. That was his take on it. I'll believe him over a PR study by a company that is trying to make money from me. Saccharin was "s
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Insightful)
I just wish nutrasweet was more shelf-stable and high temperature stable so I could substitute it for sugar in recipes and not have the diet coke in the back of the fridge go south.
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Informative)
But with regards to baking, I haven't actually heard any time frame but I would imagine within a year they will have a product you can bake with. The main issue with baking is actually finding a filling agent that has a caking property similar to sugar, not the heat.
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:2)
>;)
Kintanon
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:4, Interesting)
yeah you shouldn't make assumptions on what comes off from google straight away.
however, there are studies that DO show aspartame as harmful, it tastes like crap, and has no real reason to be used instead of sugar(yeah sugar has energy but drink water then it's not like your going to get rid of fatty ass by drinking alternatives, eh, and they're just as bad to teeth as well, dissolving them).
the biggest gist is that it got through the check system by weaseling a bit.
hmm... i wonder why the more caring types of my family stopped drinking sweetened stuff(educated in medical, reading studies occasionally).
7000 as a number is just absurd too.
"Of the 90 non-industry-sponsored studies, 83 (92%) identified one or more problems with aspartame. Of the 7 studies which did not find a problems, 6 of those studies were conducted by the FDA. Given that a number of FDA officials went to work for the aspartame industry immediately following approval (including the former FDA Commissioner), many consider these studies to be equivalent to industry-sponsored research."
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Informative)
When you take in sugar (or any "ready" carbohydrate, basically anything refined) the body wants to convert it to glucose so y
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:3, Insightful)
Can you really not understand the difference between caution and dismissal? The AMA said at one point "we don't know that ADD exists. We have no evidence for it." That's very different from saying "we don't believe Environmental Illness exists--we have evidence that it doesn't".
The former calls for more
Re:it's psychosomatic... (Score:2)
To use my wife as an example...
She would come down with these incapacitating migraines almost biweekly. They were awful, she'd be bedridden for almost the entire day, except for hourly trips to the bathroom to dryheave.
She adjusted a few factors in her life and now they're practically gone.
Firstly, she switched birth control pills. Supposedly this is a common side effect of Ortho-Tri-Cyclen. This cut them down to about once a month, with a little less intensity.
(Yes, she did have these ailments befo
Judge Dredd, anyone? (Score:2)
A suggestion (Score:2, Insightful)
There will only be more of this to come (Score:3, Interesting)
You may dismiss this as "tree-hugging BS", that's your perogative, but illnesses such as childhood asthma, leukemia, allergies, etc are all on the rise. And, as much as they try to hide it, pollution does maim and kill thousands, if not millions, every year.
Arguably, modern medicine is to blame as well. By curing the sick and the weak, modern medicine has prolonged the lives of people who would have otherwise died (including me). Don't get me wrong, I'm not against treating sick people but it's an inescapable fact that by allowing the weak to live you're weakening the gene pool.
Harsh facts but the facts all the same.
Re:There will only be more of this to come (Score:2)
Does that mean you don't have the right to live? If so, perhaps you can deal with the situation directly.
the above statement is sarcasm...don't freak, yo.
Re:There will only be more of this to come (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:There will only be more of this to come (Score:2)
Re:There will only be more of this to come (Score:2)
Follow me here. In Africa, they have a disease called malaria, which has lead to the sickle cell trait being passed down and becoming common [nih.gov] among populations in Africa. Sickle-cell blood i
Wow! (Score:2)
i would love to read the article, (slashdotted) but if this is anything like the other 900,000,000 crackpots out there making claims that X,Y and Z are slowly killing him/her yet no scientific evidence or other tests show this to be a fact, I'd simply write it off as another crackpot looking for attention.
I know thereare some rare diseases out there that are really freaky, but this smells way too much like "Just Another Nut" or
See also, "Safe", a movie about EI (Score:5, Interesting)
In film class I saw a terrific movie called "Safe" which depicts the slow descent of a woman into Environmental Illness, starting as a mild allergy and ending as a nearly life threatening condition which mandated housing inside a 100% clean room geodesic dome (like on Northern Exposure).
The ending is a bit ambiguous (but only a bit) coming down slightly on the side of the condition being purely psychological. A reasonable assumption due to the complete lack of scientific evidence that EI exists beyond the patient's reactions, but it's hard to say one way or another when many people exhibit the same symptoms.
Your obligatory IMDB link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114323 [imdb.com]
Re:See also, "Safe", a movie about EI (Score:3, Insightful)
I actually HAVE heard of this... (Score:2)
It was the strangest thing, after about one week in the building, she was hospitalized for a week with a respiratory condition. Her manager wasn't thrilled with the idea of telecommuting for anyone, so she constantly got flak. However, she worked overnights, I could never understand what the big deal was.
I think it's possible for people to have some pretty se
Environmental Illness? (Score:2, Interesting)
is one of the psychosomatic illnesses that
the more you think you might have it, and
the more you worry about having it, the
more it starts to feel like you have it.
In Australia, when the courts dismissed
RSI as a bogus illness, thousands of employees
coincedentally became well and went back
to work.
I do believe this guy really is sick, but
he made it that way through pure mind-power.
He could unmake it if everyone would just
stop feeding him sympathy.
-paul psheer@icon.
Re:Environmental Illness? (Score:2)
There ARE useful lists that may help... (Score:5, Informative)
These lists often provide a reason for allowance/disallowance of the specific chemicals. Some dangerous chemicals (paints for instance) may still be approved because they simply don't leak into the environment. If this is so, the lists state these reason. This info may be very valuable for these people.
I am not at liberty to provide these lists here, but you might be able to convince some of these industries to help. I work in a company producing color picture tubes, but I can also imagine that you might find help in the chip-industry.
Hope this helps a bit, cause things like this send shivers down my spine...
Quit whining... (Score:2)
The guy could always live in a bubble but nooooo.. he has to play the victim card and make a web page. Heck, he could even web enable his bubble with the RJ45 server mentioned in the previous slashdot story. [slashdot.org]
Dangerously close to quackery (Score:5, Interesting)
A few years ago, I got really sick. While I was trying to figure out what was wrong, I read about "systemic candidiasis" (one of the things this guy has been diagnosed with). So I talked to my doctor about it.
Turns out, "candidiasis" is one of the most misdiagnosed diseases, because most of the time, people diagnose themselves with it. My doctor told me that yes, occasionally, people with very suppressed immune systems can get yeast overgrowths, which is an extremely serious, potentially fatal condition, usually treated by antifungals. It is also possible for some people to get an oral candidiasis infection. This is cured with a simple mouthwash.
Apparently, though, many people convince themselves they've got candidiasis -- blame all their various health problems on it -- and then become obsessed with this idea that yeast is taking over their body. It's a mass delusion, like the idea that microwaves leave radiation behind in your food.
Go ahead -- Google for it [google.com]. Read through, for example, the A Better Way [a-better-way.com] website. Or try the CandidaFree.net [candidafree.net] website. If the stuff in these pages doesn't set off your "quack" alarm bells, you're not reading it carefully enough. They talk about candida overgrowth, but also vague, medically questionable talk about "acid/alkaline body imbalances" and the like.
You should also be aware that most of these websites are selling something. See that as a red flag? You should.
Here's the symptoms they list:
OK, with a symptom list this long and vague, a lot of people could reasonably assume they've got candidiasis. Many of these symptoms could be caused by so many other problems, though.
My doctor compared this to the old craze, in the early 1900's, where people started getting really obsessed with their colons. They were convinced that the waste in their colons was somehow putrefying and poisoning their bloodstream. People were pumping laxatives, even having their colons removed unnecessarily. Turns out, we discovered that a properly functioning colon doesn't poison your body at all.
I'm not saying this guy is crazy. I'm sure he's really sick. I'm just concerned that his "diagnosis" may have sucked him into a world of quackery and scientifically questionable treatments.
I'm alergic to my cube at work (Score:5, Funny)
A given cause (Score:2, Informative)
Unlike many cases of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity that I've read about, he actually gives a possible cause in his autobiography page [weblogs.com].
Systemic Candidiasis is a recognized disease [merck.com], and is associated with people whose immune systems are out of wha
MCS from a skeptical viewpoint (Score:4, Interesting)
Um...there IS a door there you know. (Score:2)
But I've never considered my house a 'prison'.
I have in the past and probally in the future will work like a dog in my house getting something urgent done as fast as I can, but when the job is done (or when I really need a break) There is this nice big
MCS/EI probably psychosomatic (Score:3, Interesting)
My mother-in-law had something similar, although nowhere near as severe as this case. She was allergic to most everything, including things that were supposedly hypoallergenic.
It turns out that her illness was caused in large part by stress and anxiety, much of which was subconscious. She only found relief after going to this guy in Georgia, Pastor Henry Wright, who teaches about the spiritual nature of disease. No, he's not a "faith healer". However, what he does do is treat the underlying spiritual and psycological problems that tend to cause chronic illness.
Yes, some of his theology may be a little off the wall, but medically he seems to know what he's talking about. I know several people who have been down there with chronic illness and improved greatly after going.
Annoyed (Score:2, Informative)
However, this guy mooches off the state and does nothing but bitch and moan about how he doesn't get enough money out of my pocket.
He seems very annoyed that he can't live well off of our money, and is shocked that he'd have to try and find a job.
Maybe I'm callous, but he sure seems ingrateful.
Admittedly, I scanned through the article pretty quickly, but - why can't he find an outdoor job??
If every environment makes him
Healthy housing is simple really. (Score:5, Insightful)
The simple fact of the matter is that buildings are made of stuff, and some of this stuff gets on our skin and into our lungs. If the stuff is bad for you, why use it. This problem is worse in energy efficient houses.
Just the same as we know now that smoking is bad for you so:
It makes sense to avoid building materials that produce toxic dust (silicone, asbestos, fiberglass)
It makes sense to avoid materials that offgas formadehyde gas or other noxious organic compounds. Materials such as particle board, cheap carpet, urea formaldehyde foam insulation offgas significant amounts of formaldehyde, formaldehyde is good for some things, but not increasing your lifespan.
It makes sense to minimize the potential growth of toxic or allergic natural pests such as mold, dust mites, spiders, ants and wasps.
Chemical Allergies (Score:2)
The air itself is carcinogenic. Try to relax. (Score:3, Insightful)
The people who created the original microbial test for cancer later became its loudest critics when it was found that almost anything in excess can cause cancer. The air itself is toxic without any form of man made pollution.
I'm all for prolonging life through stem cell reasarch, cloning, genetic repairs, whatever. But trying to avoid, rather than repair, cellular damage is ridiculous. You can't do it.
Playing the blame game just keeps money in lawyers pockets. Don't participate in that crap.
I can speak to this personally... (Score:5, Interesting)
We lived out in the middle of the country, in a house made with a purposeful absence of traditional building materials. Non-treated wood, cedar shakes, etc. In spite of this, my mother seemed to grow constantly more sensitive to her environment, and put more and more safeguards in place to attempt to purify it. Ionic air filters were everywhere, including one in the car to attempt to reduce the effects of hydrocarbon emissions. She pursued a macrobiotic diet in order to attempt to balance her body and eliminate toxins taken in through food. Nothing seemed to improve the situation. Strangely(?) enough, as the years went by, both my sister and I both started exhibiting similar sets of symptoms.
12 years later, I have a very strong feeling about what actually happened during that time of our lives. After I moved out, I started presenting a plethora of external insults to my body in the form of poor environmental conditions, a [comparably speaking] junk food diet, and ingestion of various chemical substances. I called it "college."
As an addendum, my mother is still attempting to isolate herself from the known universe. In spite of this, she is still having the same difficulties. Given my experience over the past decade, I really have to wonder if the cure is a substantial portion of the disease.
Re:I can speak to this personally... (Score:4, Interesting)
Its a self-reinforcing downward spiral. At some point person-A becomes convinced that their recient sickness/ailment is due to something in their environment/diet/etc. So they alter that environment. Use more anti-bacterial soaps, and strangely enough
I had a pal who ate only alge cultures and tofu, hardly ever went outside, wore sunblock constantly, never used deodorents, and took showers at least 4 times a day.
After 5 years of this he was admitted to the ER with a severe case of pnuemoneia (in August) and when he tried to tell the Dr. that was treating him that he had severe allergic reactions to any 'toxins' the doctor took a culture.
The doctor then brought in the test results (along with some kind of a picture of the cuture from his mouth) and showed them to him. He carefully explained that he had accute pnuemoneia which he believed was caused by his body loosing its tollerance to the
Apparantly my friend Paul isolated himself so well from germs, that his immune system no longer felt it needed/could produce antibodys to the germs that are part of our everyday life.
Paul resumed normal life, and started eating acutal food again etc. And what do you know - he gets sick a lot less.
of course
Re:I can speak to this personally... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.reason.com/rb/rb031203.shtml
Looks like the body may well adapt to toxins in a way that is comparable to other desease causing agents.
Chemical Sensitivity is in the Medical Journals (Score:2, Interesting)
We're not doing this guy any favors.... (Score:3, Insightful)
1. He's had trouble getting a job because he keeps on bringing up his fantasy 'handicap' (though he surely believes it's real), and he finds no employer wants to deal with a handicapped IT person.... I think it would be more accurate to say no company wants to deal with a crazy employee in any proffession.
2. His entire autobiography, he paints himself a victim of this 'syndrome.' (and peer abuse, and being overweight) Never anything more than that. True, his weblog is about 'non-toxic' housing, so he may want to keep it on topic, but it really seems to be more of an entire 'pity me' diatribe than a tale of his life thus far. Certainly he takes no responsibility for the over-eating and inactivity that made him fat, and is responsible for his low stamina. (News flash: Fat people can't move fast, or far. Remember, KE=M*V^2!)
3. I bet his doting, single mom raised him to think he was always sick- ever heard of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy [mhsource.com]? Tell a kid something long enough, and he's likely to believe it. Drag him around to all sorts of doctors starting in infancy, and you might start to think you can never be healthy.
MCS, as many other posters have pointed out, is a fantasy illness. Michael Fumento, a respected health writer, has written a number of articles on the subject that can be found here. [fumento.com] Incidentally, I reccomend browsing through his articles for any other topics that might be of interest to you.
So here's my (albeit non-proffessional) advice to this gentleman:
A. Stop eating.
B. Start Exercising. Cardio-Vascular and weight training. Do it till you drop. Guess what? You'll find that every week you keep it up, you'll last just a little bit longer. I'm not slim (6'1", 255lbs so not grossly obese either) but I've started exercising regularly- trust me, it won't be long before you start noticing the improvements. Maybe weeks. The fatter you are, the more you need to start right now.
C. STFU. really. No one cares about your problems, except fellow hypochondriacs who are looking for reciprical support on their bullshit illnesses. Any given ailment can be exploited for a very limited amount of sympathy. Coming up with new ailments all the time will just piss off the people around you, and turn sympathy into mild disgust.
Buddy, it seems to me your mom screwed you up from the start, before you even had a chance to know better. Blame the doctors for prescribing too many anti-biotics? Blame your mom for bringing you to so many doctors and insisting on medication. Up until the mid 90's, anti-biotics, especially weak ones, were the classic 'go-away' prescription, since doctors can't exactly prescribe sugar pills to crazy patients, or patients with crazy moms.
Oh yeah, the bad thing about over prescribing anti-biotics is that it makes the pathogens more resistant- they don't do much to you except a little diarehhia, because they kill helpful intestinal bacteria. But you must of missed that news report.
Your mom screwed you up. It's high time you got over it.
Some more (perhaps unnecessary ) perspective (Score:2, Informative)
House pollution (Score:3, Interesting)
There are quite a few factors that can cause illness to those living in such a place. Many older paints contain lead, older carpeting and padding can give off fumes of organic solvents, a lot of older linoleum and drywall contains asbestos, mold can grow in moist areas and squirt bits of mold particles all over, basements contain radon in many areas, oh and it clings to smoke/dust particles which lets it lodge in your lungs and sit there emitting harmful ionizing radiation directly into lung tissue. Granted, much of this stuff is just allergens, but constant allergies can lower your immune capability. And some of this stuff is downright toxic or carcinogenic.
Get your house tested. It really doesn't cost that much. Do it sooner rather than later, especially if you have children...this isn't a plug to drum up business for my lab, you really will be amazed at what kind of crap is in your home.
Not to be a troll, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Another poster in this thread recommended the movie safe [imdb.com], and I couldn't agree more. ES syndrome is a complex, daunting problem that is often equal parts biology and psychology; you can't treat the psychological factors without giving some relief for the physical symptoms, but the problems will never truly go away until you address the mental component of the disorder. A patient often has some kind of severe sociopathology (extremely needy and demanding of attention, or fearful of social interaction), and attendant phobias or OC fixations. It's pretty amazing to see somebody break out in hives when you just *tell* them that there are painters in the other half of the building; this is a disorder of mind and body that Western medicine's reductionist approach is more or less powerless to address.
Stop trying to diagnose yourself... (Score:3, Insightful)
One important thing was said to me during my psychopathology class and it has stuck with me ever since. (Roughly):
"You are going to learn about many different psychological diseases, their symptoms and causes. Just because you learn about it though, doesn't mean you are qualified to diagnose yourself. Your problems always seem amplified to yourself, so you never really get to see the actual picture of what you are doing and what's happening to you. So, right now I am going to tell you all, you very likely aren't bipolar, don't have any personality disorders, aren't schizophrenic, and don't have any of the diseases the book talks about. If you feel you do have any of them, go and see a professional and don't diagnose/treat yourself. It's that simple. You will avoid a lot of hardship that way."
Well, I think that applies to all of these people who think their bodies are hosts for bug larvae, or people who are determined that every big evil corporation is actively trying to kill them, or that their small problems in their life are so huge that the world must be collapsing and the sky must be falling...
You likely aren't sick, but if you honestly feel you are, go see a qualified professional and get it checked out properly. At least that way you can try to find the root of the real problem, and not live your life in fear and horror of these imaginary deamons that are haunting you. Stop attacking these windmills blindly.
Also, I would like to point out that there isn't a giant conspiracy orchestrated by the doctors and psychologists to steal your money and keep you sick/kill you.
Re:toxic housing: (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, MANY things can release som nasty gasses. but your wild ass remark about tyvek sealing it in is proof of a crackpot logic. Does your house have doors and windows? how about a properly installed heating system with the correct fresh air intake and heat exchanger? if the house was correctly designed you change over the air in the home at least 2-3 times and hour.
The new home can have trace amounts of nasties in it's atmosphere, but by the time you move into it, a gas chromatagraph cannot even detect it. and it is alot more sensitive than anything you can gain access to "measure" how dangerous a home is.
My father was a contractor, In college chemistry classes I wrote a thesis on such crackpot theories, and using standard science proved that it's all a bunch of hooey in a properly built home.
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
There is, however, one key phrase in that: 'properly built.' Based on the lowest bidder model, properly built is often traded off for lower cost and
Re:toxic housing: (Score:5, Informative)
Your assumption that there is a "huge jump in lung cancer in the last 20 years" is wrong, or at best misleading.
Age-adjusted lung cancer rates have declined significantly from 1990-1999--age-adjusted rates are the only ones that are really worth looking at, they're what for instance the CDC and other bodies use since they account for increases in lifespan. Preliminary data for 2000-2002 seems to indicate this trend is continuing. If there is an increase over the last 20 years it's because an earlier increase (1983-1989) hasn't been wiped out yet.
Remember that cancer rates lag smoking rates, too, so if smoking was halved today that would show up more and more over the next decade(s) rather than showing up immediately.
http://seer.cancer.gov is one good resource for this data.
Sumner
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
That house she built sounds interesting. Any web site with details?
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
Yup. You're right. And at what levels? Measurable? Didn't think so.
Tyvek or some other non-permeable barrier means you are breathing deadly gasses the entire time you are home
Hell, I breathe carbon dioxide all the time and it's a deadly gas too. So is oxygen. So is nitrogen. I'm freaking amazed I'm not dead yet!
Of course it might all have something to do with concentrations, but lets not let scien
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
The fact is the notion that everything "leeches" into the soil is pure bunk. Tyvek doesn't eliminate ventilation -- it eliminates leaks. If you want to vent the air -- try opening a window!
Cedar and redwood are great woods, but they are not exactly in great supply. The traits that give these
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
Tell me about it! Here is a list of stuff that people actually eat, every day, without realising it!:
Carbohydrate derivatives -pectic compounds - galacturonic acid, pectin methyl esterase. Gums, mucilage - complex branched chains - gum arabic, gum tragacanth. Sugar alcohols - sorbital-hexahydric glucose mannitol, inositol. glucosides - anthocyan
Re:toxic housing: (Score:3, Funny)
Don't forget about Dihydrogen Monoxide [dhmo.org]! This is one of the most dangerous chemicals in existence, yet it's used in just about every processed food there is. Stop the madness!
Re:toxic housing: (Score:4, Informative)
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
Re:toxic housing: (Score:2)
Actually, lung cancer rates have been declining in Canada and the United States for the last twenty years or so, and the result is largely attributed to declines in cigarette smoking. The reason why lung cancers increased through
Re:Non Toxic Housing (Score:3, Insightful)
If you are capable of managing a construction project and being a landlord, you are not disabled an unable to work.
Why don't you post your name so someone can turn you in for defrauding the social welfare system.
Fucking cheat.
Re:Why pound on this guy? (Score:3, Insightful)