DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

“It's difficult getting people to understand,” said 57-year-old Vickie Shanklin of North Pekin, Illinois, who reads this column in the Pekin Daily Times.

Shanklin was referring to her symptoms. Her allergist hasn't diagnosed her, but he does believe that multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome (MCSS) could be responsible. The National Institute of Environmental Health Science website defines MCSS as a "chronic, recurring disease caused by a person's inability to tolerate an environmental chemical or class of foreign chemicals."

MCSS or not, what Shanklin does know is that her body first began reacting to certain chemicals about twelve years ago. “I had to leave my job in 2006 because of (the reactions),” said Shanklin in a telephone interview. At work, she had severe reactions when exposed to scented candles, plug-in air fresheners, cleaning chemicals, and carpet deodorizers. Her boss tried accommodating her, including buying air purifiers, but it just wasn't enough.

“My last three years working there I had days when I took Benedryl all day just to get through, and then I'd go home to recuperate so I could be ready the next day,” she said. “Then I was recuperating on weekends so I could start fresh Monday mornings. I had coughing spells, and coughed and coughed, until my body was rid of it. I tried not missing work.”

While working, she once overheard a coworker say her occasional complaints about scented candles were “ridiculous.”

Her symptoms have worsened. “Now I can't enter a grocery, department store, or doctor's office, for example, without experiencing symptoms,” she added. “I get a chemical taste in my mouth, my throat and mouth get dry, and my eyelids turn red like a sunburn. If exposed long enough the skin all over my body stings, sometimes within a few minutes.”

She has been to three allergists, and each time has tested negative for allergies to chocolate, citric acid, and mold, for instance. So it's not an allergy. She has tried acupuncture. Three years ago her symptoms began including rosacea, which involves enlarged blood vessels giving her face a rosy color. Later, she discovered her body could tolerate only all-cotton clothing, and that on vacations her body reacted to chemicals used to clean hotel rooms.

Not long ago, Shanklin began a new job, one in which an employer will once again try accommodating her. Let's hope she does well.

For more, see danieljvance.com. [This column made possible by a grant from Blue Valley Sod, www.bluevalleysod.com]