Many MCS patients are concerned with ‘ letting go’ of their knowledge that chemicals are ‘bad’ for us when they retrain their emotional response to their hypersensitive reaction to chemicals. I used to remind myself that intellectually I was knowledgeable enough to know that the average amount of chemical out in the world is generally not harmful. Yes, large amounts of chemical from autos in the shop being lacquered or airplanes spraying pesticides… are not reasonable levels of chemicals to choose to be around HOWEVER, the average floor cleaner, air freshener in the bathroom, the perfume on the person nearby…all are reasonable levels of chemicals to be around. I had to intellectually override my MCS reactions using the techniques but also to satisfy my former learned behaviour that ALL chemicals needed to be avoided and I was not betraying my body to abandon my old beliefs as well as to retrain out of my body’s reactions.
I retrained around sensitivities to electro-magnetic things. I reminded myself from my training as a REIKI practitioner that electrical fields move through our bodies in order to ground out into the earth. The reason I was feeling so ill around lectrics was due NOT to any inherent danger from computers or electric trains, but from my own body’s electrical field which was in a state of disarray from my ‘electrical’ brain connections being hyperactive and stuck in excess mode. I reminded myself that retraining would bring order to my own body’s electrics which would allow for external electrical frequencies to move smoothly through my body and ground out efficiently. Also, knowing that a non-peaceful emotional brain would cause extremes in emotions…and hypersensitive emotions can represent stuck energy.
I also encouraged myself to NOT make significant changes to my ‘world’ whilst retraining. So for an MCS patient…I think it is important to maintain a simplistic environment from which explorations into the outside world can be accomplished and confidence in the retraining, in the beginning, is easier if you know that you have your clean space to go home to. As the retraining takes hold and wellness comes, more and more outer experiences bring confidence that the clean space can now be modified to include electronics, things with odors, etc. I believe the confidence whilst retraining is a gradual growth and I believe for the MCS patient, trust in that growth is best accompanied by a steady relinquish of the ‘clean’ bubble space…I believe the immediate introduction of the ‘normal’ world is too jarring for the recovery/retraining process. I believe I heard you mention not to change much in the beginning of the retraining process. I think this is very wise, especially for the MCS patient.
I also think that unlike the ME and CFIDS patient who looks at their body for signs of distress from activity…the MCS patient looks at the world as a potential source for severe detriment to be manifested by bodily reactions. I constantly used the Soften and Flow to loosen up my body out in the world and used my knowledge that my liver enzymes have almost always shown to be normal, so I chose to trust my detox capabilities were indeed NOT compromised, despite how my body felt and that my reactions were due to my brain…I had to really rethink how I had learned to perceive the outside world as the danger and to trust that my body was manifesting faulty wiring was the true source of my reactions. I think the key to the MCS patient doing well with retraining is to learn, retrain and to do the Accelerator technique around one’s learned perceptions, which have been reinforced by one’s bodily symptoms, that the world is indeed a safe place to thrive. The trending mindset supported by the media can at times echo that chemicals are not safe and electronics cause brain tumors, etc…This seems to be the factor that works against the MCS patient in retraining since there are so many voices supporting the perception that the above mentioned are truly ‘bad’ for your health.
The MCS patient has to really overcome what the media enforces that the chemical world is dangerous and unsafe. The platform from which wellness can be created with the MCS patient is to rely on their own discernment that extremities of almost anything are not necessarily good HOWEVER, in moderation…most things in the world are truly safe and our bodies can handle them…So the MCS patient finds wellness in trusting that their knowledge in staying out of extremes and dwelling in moderation is a trustworthy concept from which to incorporate successful brain retraining.
On a personal note: as I was recovering, I had an occasion to have my new understanding reinforced. I was setting up an air conditioner and the old patterns in my brain were telling me I might have a problem with the plastic off-gassing from the warmed wires in the unit’s motor. As I ran the air conditioner I began to smell something and I ‘knew’ it was the warm plastic and that I would eventually not be able to use the unit. I went into my kitchen to retrieve a phone directory to call the local hardware store for tools with which I would take the bloody thing apart and try to make accommodations to it… I noticed when I entered the kitchen that there was a glass sauce pot in the stove that I forgot about and all the water had boiled off… The hot electrical stove burner was creating an over-heat smell from the GLASS pot… Not a bit of plastic involved… BUT my body went into the very same reaction that I used to experience when I was severely sensitive to any PLASTIC! It was SO POWERFUL for me to witness my body having a clear, recognizable reaction to specifically plastic when in fact it was a generic “smell” and my FOCUS on the new air conditioner that had convinced my body to have a full-blown plastic reaction… And immediately when I realised my perceptional error… and with a bit of self-laughter… My reaction immediately resolved!
What a powerful story I now tell about my focus, my perception and my body’s compliance with what I feared was true, despite it all not being reality! – BF, Connecticut USA