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So much has been happening these last few weeks, I’m not even sure where to start. Let’s begin on October 13th, at my second appointment with my new doctor.

My doctor was incredibly accommodating about the air quality in the office. At my first appointment, I became sick for days because of toxic pollution caused by personal care products, the carpets, paint, and cleaners that permeated the building. My doctor brought in a special air purifier which really made things tolerable. We went over some test results, and my doctor talked for about an hour and a half. He is incredibly intelligent and I really appreciate that he explains everything in great detail, talking to me as if I’m a med student.

The phrase that changed my life forever

My doctor was explaining his understanding of multiple chemical sensitivity.  During his very thorough description of how body processes work and are affected by MCS, he mentioned the phrase “fight or flight.” At this point you must be thinking, “ok. I’ve heard of the fight or flight response…nothing new here.” While this phrase is definitely common knowledge, it was his mentioning of it that lead me on to much bigger and greater things. My doctor said that during the fight or flight response the body equates the danger of chemicals and food to that of a saber toothed tiger. The part of the brain that controls the fight or flight response is unable to recognize and distinguish between the severities of any kind of threat, and so, sees all perceived threats as life-endangering.  This was a very brief portion of our conversation, and at the time I didn’t give it much thought.

I was researching MCS on the internet—a favorite pastime—when I came across the fight or flight response again. Since my doctor had mentioned it, I decided to click on the blurb I was now seeing. This new information lead me to the website planetthrive.com, where I was directed to Annie Hopper’s Dynamic Neural Retraining System. I was completely blown away by what I was reading on Annie’s website. It claimed that MCS is treatable, and many people go on to live perfectly normal, healthy lives. I watched every testimonial on the Dynamic Neural Retraining System I could find. Per her reading recommendation I downloaded the book, The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge. I was on an information binge like I’d never known.

The cause of MCS

Ok so, before I get too ahead of myself, let me explain a bit. The reason that people have MCS is because of an impairment in the limbic system in the brain. An occurrence of a toxic brain injury—such as being exposed to high levels of toxic chemicals from working in a new building—cause the brain to relate chemicals with pain, injury, and symptoms. Every time you are exposed to a substance your brain has been trained to believe is harmful and dangerous, it reinforces the incorrect association that this substance causes pain and symptoms, even if it is a totally inert substance, or too small a quantity to cause a toxic brain injury. Every time your body responds in this way, the neural pathways in the brain become stronger, causing even greater pain, symptoms, and suffering. Once your brain learns this pathway, it wants to continue traveling there.

I can’t recommend enough The Brain That Changes Itself. The book really explains brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to rewire and change itself) in great depth, with tons of scientific research and testing, as well as personal stories to draw you in. I started reading the book and couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t stop telling people about it either! It is hands down the best book I have ever read. It explains how it’s possible for stoke victims who are paralyzed or can’t speak to retrain their brains to gain back lost functions. Or how someone who is born with only one brain hemisphere can learn to use both sides of their body. The brain is plastic, and there are no set sections of the brain that necessarily do any one function. It can all be rewired. Reading Dr Doidge’s book made me incredibly excited and optimistic about recovering from my MCS.

I ordered Annie’s DNRSystem, but I had to wait about two weeks to get it. The company had some initial trouble with shipping, which has since been rectified. I received the DVD system in the mail on a Thursday night, and over the next four days I was an active participant in the all-day DVD seminars.

The DVD instructions explicitly state to not start the program when anything stressful is happening in your life, such as moving. Of course I wanted to follow all instructions….but I wouldn’t have been able to consider moving right away if this system didn’t offer at least some improvement. I decided to ignore the warning and started the program anyways.

My recovery so far

Let me share with you the changes I have experienced in only a few short weeks.

• I feel alive
• I’m not dead-tired all the time
• I’m happy, upbeat, and talkative
• I don’t get irrationally irritated at everything
• I can go into public, on the bus, on an airplane, into stores
• I can walk next to a laundromat, nail salon, and people who are smoking
• I can go rock climbing
• I can put on lotion
• I can wash the dishes with a perfumed Dawn dish soap
• My sense of smell is normalizing. No more hypervigilant-super-human-strength-nose
• I can wear deodorant and mascara
• I can eat hot dogs, honey, corn, potatoes, chocolate, hazelnuts, agave syrup, vinegar, spices, rice, preservatives and the added vitamins and minerals in orange juice and milk substitutes
• I can drink juice and eat as much fruit as I want
• I ate in a restaurant
• I ate coconut bliss ice cream
• I ate garlic olives
• I ate food items that weren’t organic
• I can be in our smelly temporary apartment in downtown San Francisco
• I washed my clothes in a shared washing machine
• My husband can wear deodorant and be in the house with me, right next to me, with me smelling his armpit

I started noticing improvements within two days of starting the program. That’s how plastic the brain is. And this system is for more than just MCS. It helps people with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain. I’m sure way more. People who have crazy food allergies—who go into anaphylactic shock—have been completely cured by this system. I honestly think that is where I was headed. In the past, my throat had been constricting more and more whenever I left the house.

Although I am doing fantastic, I still have a ways to go before I am completely healed. The program is really based on the individual, and can take some time. I am committed to practicing until I am completely well. The company recommends you practice for 6 months before deciding if the program works for you. Clearly it is already working wonders for me!

Read the book The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr Norman Doidge. You will not be disappointed.