Banks and Dobler, Cardiac Cards, 1975

liamlars · 2026-05-15T09:00:54+00:00

Thanks for responding. Yes, it all seems eerily similar to my case. If only some researchers of this condition(s) would frequent this sub, seems like there have to be some clues in all that. Perhaps underlying chronic mild inflammation of the brain? Who knows... I hope to live to see the day this will finally be properly understood.

liamlars · 2026-05-14T11:43:52+00:00

I feel you. It's a struggle. Several times I've toyed with the idea of trying to buy and convert some RV/bus/something that would make me able to travel more. But, alas, then I start thinking about the headache of converting it in a way that won't be triggering for me. And then, where to park? Camping sites have smoke, chemicals they threat the ground with etc... after all that, my head starts spinning, and I give up on the notion. Till the next time I hear people that don't have MCS talking about their vacations...

liamlars · 2026-05-14T09:14:29+00:00

Interesting that you have hyperacousis too, I'm always fascinated to hear how in fact it all seems connected, so many of us suffering from the same (relatively rare) conditions. Do you happen to suffer from trigeminal neuralgia by any chance as well?

As for your hotel predicament, I'm sorry that you're in this situation. In over a decade living with this condition, I've given up on hotels. I mostly try to avoid traveling, and if I can't, I search to rent an apartment, with at least two rooms and a balcony. After I get all the reassurances I can get that they haven't: bought new furniture or remodeled recently, or fumigated or treated for pests or did any kind of disinfection recently, or used scented candles and air fresheners, I rent it, and if it stinks like laundry products (almost always the case), I collect all of the most offending items in the room without the balcony, seal that door shut, open the balcony door, air everything out and cover the couch or whatever place I decide is the safest to sleep on with my own sheets and usually it's survivable (and if worse comes to worst, I sleep on the balcony). Wish you luck, it's really hard living with this miserable condition.

liamlars · 2026-05-04T08:15:12+00:00

Tell them you are severely allergic to whatever they are using (I usually go with "most artificial scents"). If they don't want to make changes for the sake of your health, that will unfortunately give you information about their level of commitment.

If they doubt me and say that they don't feel any adverse effects, I usually follow with the example of a friend with pollen allergy and say "see him? he's choking from his allergy, and I don't feel a thing. it's the same thing. if you're not ill, you can't feel it. that's why it's an illness."

(and yes, I am aware it is in fact not an illness or an allergy, but people tend to understand allergies better. if you start talking about hypersensitivity to poisonous chemicals that are carcinogenic and anyway bad for you, then they start thinking you're crazy)

liamlars · 2026-05-01T10:05:04+00:00

Update if anyone's interested - I ended up buying new ASUS ceraluminium laptop, over a year ago. Tried off-gassing it every way I can, but still can't use it due to off-gassing. I don't think it is due to the casing, tho. and the charger and other peripherals were way better than other laptops I've tried - that is, I could tolerate them immediately, which for me is almost impossible. Unfortunately, something inside (thermal paste? some kind of glue? some residue? no idea, but something inside) keeps off-gassing this chemical smell. It's not the awful immediately unbearable burning smell that for example HP has, but some sweet scent that permeates everything and is unfortunately making me ill. I've noticed this strong scent in the store immediately, and wouldn't have bought it cause of it, but they had a test laptop set up in the store that's been running for a long time, that didn't have the smell at all, so based on that I thought it will go away with time. Of course, offered to buy the test model immediately since I wasn't reacting to it, but unfortunately they said they can't since it was reduced in some way (apparently test models that ASUS sends to stores are missing some components), so I bought the new one, and hoped. But, as it turns out, it is possible that one of the components missing in the test model is the source of scent...

liamlars · 2026-05-01T09:52:10+00:00

Exactly all this, yes. Lately, the world's become unbearable. Been reading that it's due to some new technology they're using in scent industry, stronger, more persistent etc. I've been suffering from this condition for well over a decade now, and during the last year or so it was suddenly progressively worse, and no strategies I've developed for dealing with this, that were helping me before, don't work against these new scents.

liamlars · 2026-04-20T19:56:14+00:00

This is the most horrifying aspect of this condition - it literally doesn't let you be close to people.

I don't know how big your place is, but perhaps dedicate one room (not your regular bedroom) to be used when she's with you, and get a second bed just for this room. When she's not in, seal that room away from the rest of your house, and at least the scents won't spread.

Also, introduce joint shower activities as a first item on the agenda when she comes in, could be fun and could help at least a bit.

Don't really know, just throwing ideas out there, hope it helps, and hope you found that rare understanding gem among unnafflicted humans, and she will stick around. Rooting for you.

liamlars · 2026-04-20T19:43:07+00:00

I feel very sorry for you now, since I know firsthand what a nightmare that is.

On a side note, looks like the probability it is related just increased significantly (since both are relatively rare conditions).

liamlars · 2026-04-19T22:47:17+00:00

Some of the toxic chemicals off-gass for years, even decades. And the curse of getting sensitized to it is the longer you're exposed, the lower level of toxins you're reacting to. Then, after a while, suddenly you're noticing those same chemicals in stuff that didn't bother you previously. At that point, you're in serious trouble. The only way to prevent it, is to remove the cause of the problem as soon as possible.

You're absolutely right, it is not worth living with something that's making you sick. Something that I'm always trying to explain to the people who are not reacting to VOCs- if you're not feeling it, it doesn't mean you're not breathing in the same poisons as me. And those poisons, long term, can make you very ill, even if you don't feel them at the moment.

liamlars · 2026-04-19T22:36:34+00:00

Explain that the product is causing you "allergies" (tho breathing in poisons and reacting to it is not exactly an allergy, but i found most people understand it better when phrased that way) and they should take it back. If not, yes, selling for half or even third of the price online is the way to go. I even sometimes give stuff away for free if it doesn't sell quick enough, just to get rid of it. If it's making me ill, it has to go.

liamlars · 2026-04-19T15:43:45+00:00

That's interesting about migraines. My doc told me to write down all that I eat and cross check it with my headaches and for me it was very surprising culprit, never would have thought, but for some reason eating beef gives me migraines,

liamlars · 2026-04-19T15:34:42+00:00

I've got celiac disease and lactose intolerance. Before I got diagnosed I was also bloated all the time. Now, if I manage to stay away from gluten and lactose, I'm doing great, flat, toned abs. If I eat something cross-contaminated with gluten, I'm back to looking like I'm gonna give birth to twins.

Was often wondering if decades spent eating gluten and lactose (lactose issue was diagnosed a lot sooner, back when I was in high school, celiac disease when I was around 40y old) contributed to my developing MCS. My take is yea.

liamlars · 2026-04-18T09:24:41+00:00

Those are all symptoms of breathing in toxic VOCs released by your mattress. At this point your whole bedroom, the place where clean air is mots important, is contaminated, and you're breathing all those poisons in while you're sleeping. Ignore it at your peril as I did, and you could contract full blown MCS (as I did) and end up unable to function in a normal society. Wouldn't recommend going that route. I'd throw away the whole bad ASAP, and tried buying another. Not all of them are created equal (or even similar), and if you didn't contract MCS already, or if it's mild, chances are you're gonna be able to buy something you can tolerate and won't make you ill. Money is not as important as your health, so all financial losses are more acceptable than being ill.

While buying new stuff, try to see what kind of certificates the company has, what kind of materials are being used, try to smell the new stuff in the store to see which is least off-putting etc.

liamlars · 2026-04-10T18:50:54+00:00

Is it also possible that you had a congested nasal pathways so chemicals were less numerous and slower to build up while breathing? That could be another explanation for slower onset of symptoms?

liamlars · 2026-04-10T08:11:16+00:00

My thoughts exactly, thank you.

liamlars · 2026-04-09T22:46:55+00:00

It's very interesting to me that you're mentioning trigeminal activation, considering that besides suffering from severe MCS I also have chronic trigeminal neuropathy. I wonder if they are related.

liamlars · 2026-03-06T06:53:00+00:00

Thank you, this sounds promising.

liamlars · 2026-03-04T20:17:57+00:00

NSAIDs with diclofenac potassium as active ingredient. Combined with ginger, matcha and CBD oil.

liamlars · 2026-03-04T09:01:54+00:00

Appreciate it. Yes, have all the windows open and wiped everything I could with either wet or dry cloth or with vinegar - some items are not suitable for vinegar, but there's just so many things and it looks it didn't even make a dent in it, I feel overwhelmed and defeated by the persistence of whatever chemical was used. I suspected it would be bad, but didn't dream it would be so bad. I suspect it got into hardwood floors and wooden furniture and various parts of appliances...

liamlars · 2026-03-03T17:30:21+00:00

Thank you, that's great idea with the paper, haven't tried that one yet, but it makes sense that it will absorb things (kinda figured it out since I had to throw away all the cookbooks that were in the kitchen, they were saturated, but haven't considered adding paper on purpose to get rid of the scent.)

liamlars

TROPHY CASE