Released on = May 11, 2007, 10:59 pm

Press Release Author = Kathy Houghton / MCS America

Industry = Healthcare

Press Release Summary =
Eventually I will bring the government, health care workers, and society to its
knees in search of unraveling my complexities, which are crippling humanity.

Press Release Body = I am constantly on the prowl in search of new victims. I do not
discriminate---health care workers, teachers, students, airline personnel, teens,
moms, dads, and innocent children are my prey. If you are dynamic and have a lust
for life, I will seek you out, and I will find you.

Just when you are at the peak of your endeavors, climbing that career ladder or
building your family and home, I will find you. There is nothing that you have in
your life today that I am not capable of destroying tomorrow, your career, your
education, your goals, your dreams, your family, and your life. I will have it all.
I will strip you of your ability to function at any level above minimal, and from
this day on you will refer to that minimal as a \"good day.\"

I have the ability to create an invalid out of you overnight, and I will. It will
take a marathon effort for you just to get out of bed.
At a cellular level your immune system will be in a constant war battling itself and
unnamed viruses, which will painfully be replicating in your brain. I promise you, I
will bring you despair along with pain, isolation and losses far beyond what you can
ever imagine. Your mind will be in a constant \"fogged\" state, your expression will
be unable to express, and youreyes will have a noticeable \"glazed over/drugged out\"
look.

You will find it most difficult to pay attention, concentrate, or even process the
simplest of thoughts. Making change from a dollar may well be beyond your ability
now. Your mouth may feel like it is full of marbles when you try to speak, as your
tongue twists and nothing you try to say comes out right. Who would believe your
level of education when you can\'t even string enough words together to make a
complete sentence ... or one that makes any sense for that matter.

I promise, I will bring you at any unsuspecting time, severe abdominal pain, nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea along with a host of gastro-intestinal disorders. I will make
you weak and lifeless as one could be without being confirmed dead. You will be
housebound or in bed for several years if not the rest of your life. As part of
incapacitating you, I will make your heart race and your head pound; your throat
will constantly be sore and your lymph glands will
swell. That will all seem trivial after I inflame and spasm muscles throughout your
body. Crushing a grape between your fingers may take
too much energy or be too painful now.

On those nights that I allow you to sleep, you will awaken drenched with sweat or
throbbing with pain. Perhaps I might even throw in a
little seizure activity. On those nights that I do not allow sleep to occur; I will
torture you with thoughts of death.... Not suicide, but death. Simply because you
have not come to realize that this is your new life, and that you are not living.
You will need to re-
create your being every day, as every day I will bring you unpredicted symptoms and
suffering.

I have also done a few things that you may not be aware of yet. I placed some
lesions on your brain, have you noticed how you have difficulty with balance and
memory yet? I have permanently altered your immune system. I have shorted out your
nervous system so that you have intermittent numbness and tingling, which might
resemble an electrical current zapping you from time to time. This is called
neuropathy. Nope, it\'s not curable either!

Now I have you. I have taken over your body and mind. I have stolen your life but
left you alive, not very functional, but by clinical
definition you are still alive.

Your family will not be able to give you all the constant care that you need on a
daily basis. As for your friends, well, they\'re still
on that ladder climbing up. Rest assured, I am looking for them too. By now, chances
are good that most of your family and friends have
abandoned you, so you must have learned the definition of isolation. This newfound
isolation will save you from having to explain how
sick you really are to others, they won\'t understand anyway. Isolation will save you
all that energy.

Your health insurance has already been or will shortly be discontinued as you lost
your job from not being able to \"keep up.\" Perhaps you got caught dozing off or
called in sick one too many times. Now that you are no longer employable or
insurable, when you seek medical care, any medical professional that figures me out
will diagnose you and say that what you have is presently not curable.

Now it is time for you to seek out medical care, nation if not worldwide. However,
most so called medical professionals will not even have the ability to recognize me
when they see me, as they have not learned about me in medical school. So, chances
are good that you will be misdiagnosed. You will give more blood samples and have
more examinations than you ever imagined existed. Then you can take
the results to dozens of doctors in search of a diagnosis. One that is valid as well
as socially and medically acceptable. One that does
not label you as depressed or say that \"it is all in your head!!!\" Most doctors will
suggest a vacation, weight loss diet, new or increased love life, help with the
children, or change of scenery as the \"cure,\" mainly because you may look like the
picture of health. This is my mask of deception.

You will pray for a positive word from current research. Research, which you will
soon learn, is quite limited due to lack of funding
and government support. You will learn new vocabulary which contains words like:
T-Cells, Cytokines, Nuclear Antigens, Natural Killer
Cells, Immunoglobulins, Cytomegalovirus, Seratonin, Cerebral lesions, and Immune
Dysfunction are among a few. However the most
important words that you will need to know and fight for are Social Security
Disability and Medicare.

At one point I may give you a false sense of recovery or remission. Let me assure
you, I will be back, as you are my prisoner and that
makes me your keeper. I have placed the lives of millions of people nationwide in
limbo, I continue to do the same world wide. I would
consider this an epidemic, wouldn\'t you?

Eventually I will bring the government, health care workers, and society to its
knees in search of unraveling my complexities, which are crippling humanity. I leave
it up to you, my victims, and your caretakers, to educate the public and let them
know that I am very real and that you are very sick. Unfortunately, I have been
given a totally ridiculous name, which will make your job even more difficult. Until
that name is changed, I am... CHRONIC FATIGUE AND IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION SYNDROME

Kathleen Houghton, author of The Thief of Many Lives was a professional healthcare
worker dedicating many years to Pediatric Special Care nursing before CFS put her
life on hold at the age of 36. She continues to be ill and is mostly housebound with
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) as well as CFS. When able, she promotes
CFS and MCS Awareness through accurate community information and education.

© Kathleen Houghton
Alaska CFS-MCS Association
MCS Alaksa
MCS America


Web Site = http://www.mcs-america.org

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Phone: 213-985-3096
Email: admin@mcs-america.org
Website: www.mcs-america.org