Environmental Illness - The Invisible Epidemic

"Environmental Illness" (E.I.) is a term my mom and I started to hear almost 2 years ago. Before that, we had a lot of different diagnoses of what was wrong with me, but not one umbrella term. Then we found out about E.I.

E.I. includes things like Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, severe allergies, Multiple Chemical Sensivitiy (MCS), Electromagnetic Sensivity, Asthma, etc.

Environmental Illness basically means what it sounds like. If you have E.I. you're sick because of problems/causes in your environment. Some of those causes are normal allergens such as molds, pollens, dust, etc. Other causes are "common" toxins like pesticides, formaldahyde (which is in practically everything these days), petroleum products (including plastics, gasoline, natural gas, etc.), fragrance products (shampoo, fabric softener, perfume, etc.), preservatives in foods, electricity, and much more.

Because toxins are flooding our environment everywhere now, more people are being affected by them and ending up with E.I. (even if they don't know there's a name for what's wrong with them). That's why I call E.I. the "invisible epidemic." According to some studies hundreds of thousands (perhaps as many as 700,000) people are living with E.I. right now in our country. It is incredible to me that so many could be suffering from this disease and yet the majority of people have never heard of it, have no idea what it is or what to do about it.

I can tell you that living with E.I. is the hardest thing I've ever experienced. Praise God that He has recently led me to some answers that seem to be helping. But there are so many people out there suffering, with no help, no hope of getting better, and little or no support from family and friends. I hope through this blog to raise awareness and possibly make a difference for those people.

Thank you to everyone who has been my support! I hope you'll continue to learn about E.I. and be a blessing to those who are suffering.

I'm also open to questions or suggestions about what I should post. Let me know your thoughts. =)

Until next time, take care.
-Joanna