Chemical Sensitivity is Like Being a Vampire

Have you ever considered that being chemically sensitive (MCS) is kind of like being a vampire? Okay, not the part where you are young and gorgeous (though you might be!) or that you will live forever, quite the contrary there. But the other side of being a vampire – if there were vampires, I’m not confirming or denying – the down-side. Being shunned, misunderstood, having to be very careful to what you’re exposed.

Think about it, does everyone believe in vampires? Does everyone believe you are chemically intolerant? Vampires can’t go out in the sun and we can’t go to the mall, or our friend’s house that is full of scented candles, or even an outdoor cafe downwind of someone wearing perfume.

If a vampire is exposed to holy water, fire or a brief encounter with the sun it drives him or her in-doors or in hiding, weak and susceptible, forced to recuperate. If we’re exposed to bleach, or new carpets, we too must run home, rapidly jettison all contaminated clothing and scents, only to collapse exhaustedly until we mend.

Or maybe, some people do believe in vampires, ergo they do believe we are chemically sensitive. And like hanging garlic around your Romanian cottage, some people keep the incense and candles to ward us off!

They’re afraid the vampire might suck the life out of them. Conversely, they’re afraid we might convince them that there really are toxins in the scented candles, plug-ins, scented dryer sheets, which would force them to change their own lives.

Perhaps we’ll never understand the mind of the humans… I mean people WITHOUT chemical sensitivity. All we can do is wait for the time when, like vampires, we will be trendy and fashionable.

Laura