shameless self promotion

Julie Genser is a former world traveler with a nomadic soul who backpacked solo through parts of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Morocco on several trips from ’98-’00. Her travel adventures include falling in love with a Bedouin and living in the desert with him for five weeks—where she learned to bake bread under the fire coals, play the Arabic hand drum, and say I love you in Arabic—getting electrocuted by a shoddy electric blanket in the dustiest of Turkish towns, and surviving both a cyclone in the outback of Cambodia and torrential floods on the coast of Vietnam that killed 600 people.

Who knew that all those survival skills would be put to good use back home in her daily battle with a handful of environmental illnesses—Lyme Disease, Mercury Poisoning, Mold Illness, and Toxic Injury—which all contributed to extensive food intolerances, Chemical Sensitivity and most recently, EMF-Sensitivity. Determined to help others find shortcuts to getting needed information, care and support, Julie created Planet Thrive, a grassroots community for personal wellness with a focus on environmental and other chronic illnesses.

It’s hard to pick a favorite, because each place had its unique worth and special character. I absolutely loved the geography of the Greek islands. I was blown away by the hospitality of the people of Egypt and had a blast while I was there. I had a magical fairytale experience in a stunning desert in the south of Jordan. The people of Cambodia stole my heart. And Morocco felt like home and is in my blood. I could go on and on.

When did you first begin to realize something was not right with your health?

Well, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 19 but probably had it since early adolescence. But at that point, it was just ‘a bad thing that happened to me’ and I had no awareness of the connection of nutrition and environment to health.

In the mid-90s I broke a mercury thermometer in my apartment and developed all the classic signs of mercury poisoning but didn’t know it. I thought all my new symptoms were stress related from a new job. In ’98 I was exposed to toxic fumes in a garbage dump fire in Mexico during a photography workshop and a month later my life changed forever. I developed extensive and severe food sensitivities almost overnight. Doctors told me it had nothing to do with the fire, that I had Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), and sent me on my way with an Rx for Prilosec, a stomach acid blocker that I, unfortunately, took for 4 years. The whole time I knew there was more to it and that my problem must be systemic—thus began my own personal online search for answers. The Internet saved my life.

One of my biggest health challenges is ongoing active digestive disease that I have not been able to get under control in over two years now. Another is the fact that I cannot tolerate the natural gas heating system in my apartment and had to go through the winter without heat. And lastly, I have developed EMF sensitivity in the last few months and found that my apartment has very high magnetic radiation and so I have to find new housing. Housing is my number one issue, as it is for many with MCS.

After years of frantically trying one new natural treatment after another to no avail, I decided about 6 months ago to relax a bit and focus my limited resources on nutrient-dense foods. I stopped all supplements, nutritional IVs and other treatments and focused on daily wheatgrass juice (a potent detoxifier), stinging nettle herbal infusions, raw honey, and healing root vegetable and seaweed soups. I definitely saw improvements in my reactivity levels from the chlorophyll-rich drinks.

I have been working with a classical homeopathist for the past 4 months and my MCS improved slightly from this as well. More recently, I started the Buhner Healing Lyme herb protocol and also added in the daily supplement recommended by MCS researcher Martin Pall that addresses deficiencies resulting from the elevated nitric oxide cycle commonly found in those with MCS and other environmental illnesses.

I plan to continue with the nutrient-dense foods and homeopath, and to also start working with an herbalist of the “heart perception” tradition. My goal is to support my body with nourishment so it can regain its lost equilibrium on its own.

I am a very private person, in general, and actually appreciate a lot of the alone time. I also busy myself with personal projects to distract me from the reality of my day-to-day life. I spend a lot of time on my website trying to create a space for “community” to thrive. And I nurture a few close friendships with fellow MCS'ers who provide support and friendship by phone and e-mail. I would love to have a local support group or friends unrelated to MCS to get that in-person interaction and I am always looking for ways to create that in my life.

My website Planet Thrive is a very bright spot in my life. It allows me the opportunity to express myself in many ways—creatively, intellectually, spiritually—and to connect with others in a similar position. My niece and nephews are bright spots. Living near the beach is a bright spot!

I experienced a lot of obstacles in finding answers to my health issues. I also experienced a lot of scary health symptoms and was basically alone to deal with them and manage my health. I saw a lot of inefficiencies in the way information was catalogued on the Internet and saw ways to improve that. My anger and frustration from these needs that were not being met fueled my desire and commitment to create this website. I tried to create a space that I would’ve wanted for myself during this healing process.

Plenty. I basically developed my idea in a vacuum for the first 2 years, when I was very isolated due to MCS. When I started to talk about my idea, everyone around me was either indifferent / wary or unsupportive / discouraging—saying that it was too big in scope, too expensive, too difficult, too much to do. I was so committed to the idea and believed in it too much to let others sway me.

There was also a huge amount of resistance—even anger and hostility—from some of the various yahoo groups communities I belonged to in posting anything promoting my site once it was ready to go online. I was very disillusioned by this experience. These were the target audiences for my site and I was not allowed to mention anything—and even got banned from one site because of it. So I have just let the site grow organically, mostly through word-of-mouth, and trust that the right people will make their way there in time.

Planet Thrive attracts positive people who want to heal. Our members are interested in natural healing, herbs and nutrition, organic gardening and composting, do-it-yourself projects, and non-toxic living. We have herbalists, health counselors, activists, astrologers, energy workers and other healers in our membership. We also have many regular folks who are just interested in learning more about how to eat healthier and live healthier, and to connect with others on the same path. You don’t have to be an eco-expert—or challenged by illness—to join Planet Thrive! Planet Thrive is about taking responsibility for our health and our lives, and working to create a better planet for all.

MCS has opened my eyes to the amount of toxins and pollutants in everyday products in our world. MCS has illuminated how critical the housing issue is in America. MCS has brought me awareness of my own level of sensitivity to the energy in my world and helped me to appreciate this for its beneficial aspects. MCS has educated me in a way that my schooling should have—I have a much clearer view of how the world works. (And it’s not a pretty picture!)

Go to Planet Thrive and click the “join us” button—it’s free! We’d love to have you. There is something for everyone on Planet Thrive!

This space is available to anyone in the MCS Community who would like to send us a link to be posted here. Links will be posted alphabetically. The link can be to your personal website, blog, favorite support group, non-profit organization, etc.

Chemical Injury is created as a forum for chemically injured people and their supporters, caregivers, physicians to discuss the impacts of chemical injury. At times this is a high volume list, with ongoing open forum chat among members. If you are looking for a low volume, moderated list, the Chemical Injury list may not be appropriate for your needs.

EI/MCS SUPPORT GROUP OF LOUISVILLE, KY Homepage of Melva Smith The EI/MCS Support Group of Louisville first formed in the 1990's, and then met at the office of Dr. Jack Teeple. Members keep in contact by phone and try to reach out to those who are suffering with the disability, offering educational information on where to buy needed products, books, etc.

Florida MCS Support Group This group is intended to provide online support to members of all ages of the Multiple Chemical Sensitivity community who reside in Florida, whether part-time as "snowbirds" or full-time. As Floridians, we have some special circumstances to deal with like extra pesticide exposures, hurricanes, floods, etc. which may strike us with times of strife, anxiety, temporary or permanent homelessness or intolerance to our homes, workplaces or other environments and justify a need for immediate support, guidance or change.

MCS-International.Org was founded in August 2005 by long-term severe MCS sufferer Gordon D McHendy in response to a great need for an international organisation dedicated both to the needs of MCS sufferers and to raising public awareness of the dangers of modern synthetic chemicals and their often devastating effect, especially synergistically, on human health and the environment.

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Have something to say? Art work? Poetry? We are accepting submissions for the summer solstice issue of, Pariah, An MCS Journal. Please submit by May 21st.