About Me

My Story!

I think I always have had MCS/MCAS because there were times in my life when I would react to something and never could identify what that was. I know one time it was a bonfire. I went to bed with a spot on my face and several hours later I had splotches all over my body. I had headaches for a while in college. The kind where you just lay there with the lights off and hope you make it to the next day. I ended up in the hospital for vertigo one time and I believe that was after my apartment managers sprayed my place for bugs. 

Two other times, I ended up in the hospital for PTSD and along with it I had severe leg spasms, a fever and itching. No one was concerned about the itching, but I found even wearing my clothes was uncomfortable. Both times when I went to the hospital, I lost some of my long-term and short-term memory. I know that is from the PTSD but just wonder if some of that was from neuroinflammation. It does eventually come back but it takes a while. 

I first was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1983 when I was a freshman in college. I can remember I got a really bad case of pneumonia probably because my roommate from "He$$" smoked like a smokestack. There was no escape from it. After my bout with pneumonia, it took months to recover to a point that I could function and live a regular life. I had bouts of CFS every time I was exposed to someone that was sick. I could almost bet on it. It made college life really hard, and it took me twice as long to finally finish my education.

Since, 1983 I have been in and out of remission for my chronic fatigue syndrome depending on what stressor I am exposed too. I have traced the causes most of the times of I relapsed mold, sick buildings, tainted well water, surgery, toxic exposures and severe stress. I now know what I have to do to stay healthy but sometimes life gets in the way. There is no way to avoid every environmental stressor a person will encounter. You can't live life that way. In 2006, I was put in a dangerous situation that triggered my PTSD and MCS and finally found a doctor who would help. This doctor had worked for the military and worked with Gulf War Illness patients. I was lucky to have found him because he was only the second doctor I ever found that really understood CFS and MCS. I appreciated his advice and his skill. Interestingly, he had a strong belief that nutrition could heal. He put me on some kind of food smoothie stuff for a while. It really seemed to improve my symptoms. At that point in time, they really did not understand about polyphenols and their mode of action. Today, we understand a lot more about how nutrition really can heal. 

My education and work experience are in biology, public health and health education.  After I met Dr. Anderson, I took it upon myself to learn from a scientific perspective about these diseases. Yes, I think they are diseases, and I believe that I have some genes that do not work right together. It may be a variants or an epigenetic change because I also believe my mother had it too. I watched her suffer for years with weird ailments and mental health issues. I believe both were connected. Through my research, I learned about NRF2 and its impact on the antioxidant system and neurology. One thing I have not mentioned is that I have neuropathy and the doctor I mentioned above put me on B12 shots for my legs. (At this point, neuropathy was not in the case definition of CFS) It was when I made the connection between NRF2 and neurology that I started to learn about the biological pathway it regulates in earnest. Now, I think every researcher knows about NRF2, but I think I must have been one of the first that realized that the foods that activate it might help my MECFS and MCAS/MCS. I never did read the label of the food that doctor gave me, but I would guess it had a lot of NRF2 activators in it. It tasted really good, so I never questioned what was in it. 

Today, I am out of remission for both my MCS and my MECFS. The stress from when my house was flooded from hurricane Ian two years ago and being relocated for several months finally took its toll. I am also back to learning more about these diseases and brushing-up on the science that I forgot. I am back to my diet again and it is helping but repairing your gut and psyche takes a while. I consider myself lucky that I only had mold growth on the cabinets because it could have been a lot worse. Now, what I have to do is get over the PTSD from Ian because I was trapped in the house for over two days after it flooded. Oh yes, with all my research I believe all these conditions are closely related. Experts in this field are also starting to believe it too!

Just a side note, the activities I do online are a way to stay busy and keep my mind active. If I don't do something I suffer from anxiety and then over time, I get depressed. Then all of it takes me to a dark place of self-loathing. It also provides a biological mechanism for the brain to produce its own "health food" called BDNF that increases cognitive function and increasing neuron plasticity. In general, it serves several functions to keep the central nervous system healthy.