I have never been formally diagnosed with anything related to my issues, aside from seasonal allergies and asthma. Interestingly, these things don’t tend to bother me anymore, it’s the man-made stuff that can ruin my day! I have read many names for it, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), total allergy syndrome, environmental illness, Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance, and Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance (EI). They are defined as “chronic conditions that cause a negative reaction to chemicals in the environment.”
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) was first proposed by allergist, Theron Randolph in the 1950s, who thought that many physical and psychological diseases were allergic reactions to environmental chemicals, pollutants, and foods. Surprisingly, many doctors still do not recognize it as a real condition today, and there are no definite diagnostic criteria to say whether someone has it. Despite it not being a formal medical diagnosis, there are some doctors willing to entertain the notion that some people are sensitive to a wider array of chemicals than others. For these lucky individuals, the tentative appraisal is given after all other conditions ruled out. Even for them, since MCS is not a formal diagnosis, treatments are limited. Some people report improvement with antidepressants or allergy medications, whereas, the majority, me included, resort to keeping their immediate environment free of triggers.