The Weirdness Awards: MCS Symptoms That Will Make Your Skin Crawl

The weirdest MCS side effects I've experienced I'm sure have everything to do with the neurological component of multiple body systems.  Is my brain swelling? Or inflamed? Or fighting back? It never fails when I start discussing strange symptoms with other chemically sensitive people they always exclaim, " I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!?" We always think we are alone in this, but in fact, we share the disease so we share the weirdness.

Skin Crawl - This is feeling like there are thousands of nasty little bugs crawling under your skin. It usually happens at night after a severe exposure during the day. I'm reduced to tears with no way to alleviate the discomfort. It's torture. One day I had a meeting with a real estate agent, and of course, I gave him the MCS "rules" so he was well aware of my chemical sensitivity issues and his need to be fragrance-free. During a house visit, out of the blue, he asked, "So, do you like the kitchen...Oh, hey, do you experience the 'skin crawl'?" WHOA! WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT? It seems his friend's wife is also chemically sensitive. Oddly enough, we named it the same thing!

Brain Bubbles - It feels like large, thick bubbles are popping in slow motion in your brain. I remember wondering, "Are my brain cells dying from these poisons?" Again, after a severe exposure.

Hearing Sensitivity - Loud noises drive me nuts. Fourth of July fireworks are my personal hell. Also, repetitive noises: telephone ringing, dog barking, honking car horns, beeps, vocals. Again, I thought I was just a weirdo until a doctor asked me point blank, "Do you have any kind of hearing sensitivity,  for instance, repetitive noises?" My mouth dropped open in shock. Wow! Really? I also read people with higher IQs are more sensitive to repetitive noise. This is comforting...in an odd way.

Equilibrium Issues - If I turn my head slighting to the left or right, my whole world spins.  If walking while this happens, I'm sure I'd be danger to others or accused of being extremely inebriated, but it is most often experienced while I'm sitting. Again, only after a severe exposure.

Rembrandt Peale was a famous painter in the 1700s along with his brothers Raphael, Rubens, Titian, and James, and his father Charles Willson Peale, who started one of the first natural museums in the country. Many art critics believe Rembrandt was the best artist of the Peale family in terms of technical expertise and would have been more productive and popular if he wasn't drunk and sick all the time as noted in journals, letters, and newspaper articles of the time.  He was an embarrassment to his family. Now art historians believe he was chemically sensitive as there are no accounts of anyone ever seeing him drink, only what they thought was drunken behavior. How could anyone in the 1700s know paints and preservatives could affect a person's brain function and equilibrium? Back then paint was often lead-based and formaldehyde, mercury, arsenic and ether were commonly used in natural museums without any kind of respiratory or skin protection.  It makes me feel sad he was so misunderstood and misrepresented. (I always wonder if James felt slighted for not being named after a famous painter???)

Height Sensitivity - This isn't a fear of heights, but I do wonder if it's related. I have climbed mountains, hiked cliffs, worked on the top floors of skyscrapers, and walked across scanty, little rope bridges 300 feet off the ground.  In fact, I can still climb a ladder and dance on top of my house roof without flinching.  When I was really sick with chemical exposure, driving over tall bridges or along roads with drop offs sent me into a panic. I'd start sweating, gripping the wheel, and hyperventilating. The first time this happened I was dumb-founded.  I'm assuming it is related to the equilibrium issue and the movement of the car with the visual of height accentuates the side effect . I've talked to other people who are chemically sensitive and/or have fibromyalgia and they have experienced the same thing, also with no past fear of heights.

Ultradian Cycling - I used to call this "rage cycles" until I read a book on Bipolar Illness.  I've only had this happen twice so far in ten years: once, although slightly, after a bad exposure and a second time as a reaction to invasive allergy testing. I was being tested for perfumes and phenols and in the middle of it, for no discernable reason, I started crying.  Then all hell broke loose. By the time I got in my car I was crying for five minutes, screaming for five minutes, in utter despair for five minutes, rage for five minutes ....  This continued for four days with more time between the cycles with each passing day.  I couldn't control it and my only solution was to seclude myself in my home until it wore off. I have the utmost sympathy for anyone with Bipolar Illness who experiences this regularly. Scary.

Years ago in a MCS newsletter I came across a plea from an attorney who was trying to defend her chemically sensitive client who went into a rage at a post office. They wanted anyone who had experienced rage as a symptom to come forward as a witness. I wrote a letter, and unfortunately, it didn't help her case. The woman went to prison for twenty years as her rage was interpreted as a threat on a government institution.

Since my lifestyle reinvention and self-seclusion, I am rarely severely exposed to poisons. It's been a long time since I've experienced these kinds of weirdnesses.  For that I am truly grateful.

So who can beat that? What symptoms make you feel like you are the only weirdo on earth?