Cologne Induced Migraine

No, not me, lol. My co-worker who persists in wearing cologne every day even though he knows it make me sick actually gave himself a migraine Friday and had to ask me if he could leave early. I was happy to tell him YES! 'Cause then maybe I could avoid a headache for the entire weekend. Selfish of me but I think canaries (people with MCS) quickly learn self-preservation techniques and use them instinctively.

Death by Cologne?

One of my co-workers continues to wear strong cologne to work every day and so today I asked him to just wear a bit more tomorrow and maybe my reaction to it will be so strong that it'll finally kill me and put me out of my misery. I'm just really tired of having to work every day with a pounding heart, splitting headache, and nausea. He was rather allarmed by my request. Guess I'll find out tomorrow whether I die or maybe, just maybe, he'll think twice before reaching for that bottle of cologne.

Another Work Day

Had to work today, Saturday, with most of my team. We're swamped with work now and even working long hours during the week didn't solve the problem so it was just another work day. One thing I enjoyed about working today (did I actually say enjoyed?) is that with only a few scattered people, there were no toxins from scent so no headache, nausea, erratic heartbeat, or fatigue from MCS to deal with. First work day since Christmas that I was MCS symptom free and therefore I got a ton of work done in a short period. Just think how much more productive I could be at work if my company would just put a little effort into convincing people to leave there scent for non-work occasions. The toxins affect me severely but others must be affected also and just don't realize it. So making the work-place scent-free would probably increase productivity in general and thus would improve the bottom line.

So what's keeping companies from doing this? Offices have been rendered smoke-free so why not scent-free? Is the scent industry influence so strong (no pun intended) that the government can't do anything about this problem let alone individual companies. I've been reading some of the blogs and web-sites listed on the right and with no regulation on the scent industry's use of known toxins you'd think people would be a lot more careful about using highly scented products. Canaries (people with MCS) aren't the only ones affected, just the ones who get dangerously ill from it.

Funny how people think about this. I have a friend who's knows I have MCS and wouldn't dream of wearing scent when going somewhere with me but thinks nothing of wearing an outfit she laundered that day that reeks of highly scented fabric softener (one of the biggest culprits in my opinion). There's been a lot of discussion about the effects of these toxins on our health and the alarming increase in recent years of people with severe health problems that have to be connected to the toxins. Here's a really frightening stat for you, one in every 150 children is autistic. The odds are even worse in Georgia where I live. WHY? Has to have something to do with our increased exposure to toxins.

Well I need to get off my soapbox 'cause my daughter is bringing over my severely autistic granddaughter and she's faster than lightning and into everything but still doesn't know her own name at two years old. So sad. She's so cute that you just want to pick her up for a hug but can't since she doesn't like to be held and won't look at you. She sees what you're doing though and the other night her hand snaked out as she was walking by and grabbed a muffin off my plate of food. She just kept walking and made the rounds (den, hall, living room, dining room, kitchen, then back to the den) and grabbed another handful of food off my plate. At this point I told my daughter to get off the phone and computer and come FEED HER DAUGHTER! Grayson had just been fed about an hour before so really wasn't hungry. She just helps herself to whatever is handy and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth, even the pebbles from the gas fireplace (which my husband had to disconnect for this reason). Gotta go! Grandmother duty calls, lol.

Symphony Night and No Headache, YAY!

Came home last night from the Symphony with only a minor headache and this is a first for me since we frequently have to change seats and I still get really sick from all the scent (toxins). Wouldn't you know that on the one evening I could have enjoyed the music, the program was BORING! Had a hard time keeping awake. The musicians were really good but the music choices weren't.

Anyway I just purchased/downloaded La Tua Simplicita , a duet by Placido Domingo and Josh Groban from Placido Domingo's new album Amore Infinito. It's beautiful beyond words. Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is singing but they both have such fantastic voices that there's no way a duet couldn't be wonderful.

MCS and Meetings - Not a Good Mix

Had an early meeting in a relatively small room today and spent the entire time with my eyes tearing and my head feeling like it was going to explode. Add to that my pounding heart and the mixture is fairly lethal. Trying to get my point across when I could barely see let alone think coherently was not easy. The day didn't get much better since the exposure to so many toxins gave me a really pounding headache and everyone on my team seemed to need my expertise in some form or another all day. Fortunately the further I got from the toxins the better I felt so by the time I arrived home, poof - no headache.

Humorous Medley on Emmys

Last night on the Emmy Awards Josh Groban did a wonderful humorous medley of snippets from 26 old TV show themes including the voice of Animal from Sesame Street (hope he didn't hurt his vocal cords). He was so cute and did an amazing job of imitating a dozen different voices and singing that many or more different singing styles. Don't know how he did it, especially since he was in Boston three days earlier appearing with the Boston Pops for the taping of Chris Botti's PBS special and singing with Sting. Josh's voice is way too powerful for an effective duet with Sting even tho Josh wasn't singing full voice so the engineers will need to make adjustments on the CD/DVD.

Josh has been really busy this year which is not surprising since he was the top selling artist of 2007 and had the top selling album of 2007. In addition to the events already mentioned he also played the Russian in the musical Chess at the Royal Albert Hall in London (hear Anthem and Where I Want to Be), sang La Boheme on Charles Aznavour's new CD, and recorded a duet on Placido Domingo's new CD as well. But that's Josh for you, he's multi-talented and also very funny and fun-loving.

Well enough of rapsodizing about Josh, it's late and I need to get to bed. It's been a good day...no one wore overpowering scent to the office and I was able to get a ton of work done. It's amazing how much more you can get accomplished when you don't have to battle the fatigue and headache caused by the toxins from scent. Guess only someone else with MCS would understand what I mean but trust me, it does make a difference. Even tho we're like the canaries in the mine and are affected more than others, the toxins have to be affecting everyone to some extent, they just don't realize it.

Can't believe I was seduced by a TV ad

Family and friends know I don't watch much TV so it's a wonder I even saw the ad in the first place let alone fell victim to it....but I did. On a whim I bought Spray 'n Wash with Resolve Power and boy was I sorry. If you have MCS like me, DON'T BUY SPRAY 'N WASH 'cause it's loaded with scent and will make you sick. Oh, it works...but so does Shout and without all the scent. What possessed the manufacturers to go to the extra expense of adding a ton of scent to a stain remover? Obviously you're going to wash the item and use detergent and fabric softener (both usually scented) so why would you need scent in stain remover. It boggles the mind. Anyway it took five washings to get the scent out of the item my husband used it on and then he just thru the whole bottle away so no one would use it again and give me another three-day migraine.