More about Sensitivities

Last week I wrote about sensitivities.

This week where I work there was a crew of workers using some sort of solvent to remove paint. I understand that they were wearing body suits and respirators while spraying some chemical at the object from which they hoped to remove the paint.

I didn’t go back to see this for myself. I was removed from their activity by at least 40 feet and several walls, but I was acutely aware of their activity and did not want to experience it any more directly.

When the first whiff of their chemical hit my nose and shot tightness through the muscles in the back of my neck, I closed doors that are usually open. As other employees went through those doors and left them open, I returned to the doors and closed them again. From the vantage point of my cubicle, I was able to see all three doors that let air in from the rest of the building. As a result of my door closing, the air stayed better than it was in the adjoining hallway.

I didn’t complain. I didn’t ask anyone to keep doors closed. In fact, in the beginning I didn’t say anything to anyone. I just keep closing the doors. More often than not, when I am suffering because of some airborne chemical, everyone else is just fine. People generally can’t understand why I would get all excited about some “odor.”

But this time was different. Later, I found out several other people were also concerned about this situation. And if they weren’t experiencing chemical sensitivity, they were at least experiencing revulsion to the foreign substance in their air. At this point I did voice my distress at the request of another employee, telling those in charge that I was the “canary in the mine” and was "falling off of my perch." After several employees complained, the project was shut down and ordered to resume after-hours when the building was empty.

Several weeks ago I wrote about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and a gentleman from Australia furnished me with a link www.thecanaryreport.org/ which bases its name on the practice of coal mining’s early warning system for the presence of methane gas.

It seems there were problems with ventilation in the early coal mines, and gas was an ever-present problem in the mines. If there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air, the miners would die. The solution was to take canaries into the mine. The bird’s have a highly sensitive metabolism which caused them to die before the men would feel the effects. If the canary died, the men had to get out of the mine shaft.

In the past, I’ve thought of my chemical sensitivity as being unique to me, and not as alerting me to something that would harm other. I’ve tried to either leave or just endure situations where chemicals are present because I didn’t want to be viewed as a fussbudget.

The recent episode at work has changed my perspective. As I labeled myself “the canary in the mine” I realized that those birds were brought into the mine for an important reason. I realized that if I am truly the canary, I have a responsibility to speak my mind in order to spare others from harm that they might not be able to detect.

I am still working this out in my own mind. Previously, my policy has always been to keep quiet in order to prevent offending or disrupting anyone. Going forward, I will decide on a case by case basis. But chances are good that I will speak up more often. I realize I need to be careful about this. I don’t want to become like another bird, Henny Penny, who ran everywhere shouting “The sky is falling.” So when I do speak up, I will choose my words carefully.

I now see that in a certain way, my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a strange blessing. It has given me the ability and the opportunity to protect the health of those around me.