Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Environmental Illness. Electromagnetic Sensitivity. Paranoid Schizophrenia. Depression. Agoraphobia. All of these words are being thrown about regarding the new show “Better Call Saul”. We can look at this show from a number of sociological perspectives. One, we can see the show as sad that a person who is very obviously suffering and ill is being held up for us to watch writhe and suffer- for our collective entertainment. Two, we can see that this show is a good thing that MCS, Environmental Illness, Electromagnetic Sensitivity, Paranoid Schizophrenia, Depression, and Agoraphobia are being brought up in the public eye, no matter how perverse the context using Better Call Saul and Environmental Illness. Why? Because at least it is being brought up to the public eye and not being buried under the proverbial rug.
Better Call Saul and Environmental Illness
Some doctors think Environmental Illness is a kind of delusion. If that is the case, then it must
be some kind of mass delusion that happens all over the world, see mapping project of people with MCS . Thank God for doctors who hold that EI is a physical illness. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) are board certified doctors of physical medicine who hold that mental illness can predispose people to MCS, EI, and ES. However, as opposed to the MDs of the American Medical Association, doctors of Environmental Medicine strongly state that these are physical illnesses. Not everyone who has depression or schizophrenia chokes on the perfume of their loved ones. Conversely, not everyone who has Environmental Illness has a mental illness. This is a new subset of people that are injured in a way we don’t yet fully understand.
Better Call Saul and Electromagnetic Illness
The position of the The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) could not be clearer:
“For over 50 years, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has been studying and treating the effects of the environment on human health. In the last 20 years, our physicians began seeing patients who reported that electric power lines, televisions and other electrical devices caused a wide variety of symptoms. By the mid 1990’s, it became clear that patients were adversely affected by electromagnetic fields and becoming more electrically sensitive. In the last five years with the advent of wireless devices, there has been a massive increase in radiofrequency (RF) exposure from wireless devices as well as reports of hypersensitivity and diseases related to electromagnetic field and RF exposure. Multiple studies correlate RF exposure with diseases such as cancer, neurological disease, reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity.”
Environmental Illness and Wikipedia
Some well-meaning but wrong Wikipedia editors seem to be strongly biased against these very real diseases, see: Edited Strongly Biased Wikipedia Page on MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity . I hope this blog post can help educate the public about these very real and difficult to live with Environmental Illnesses and even motivate action on a local, state, national, and even global level. It is so hard to live with this disorder. People who do suffer from these illnesses need to treated with dignity because their lives are already a living nightmare.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha
Thanks to the character of Charles aka Chuck for bringing up this talking point to the largest television audience in the history of TV.
Discussion From Reddit.com: http://www.reddit.com/r/betterCallSaul/comments/301s00/better_call_saul_and_environmental_illness_its/
[–]Yeknomeca 3 points 2 hours ago
There’s quite a few issues coming together in this thread.
First off I haven’t seen BCS at all, so I have not seen firsthand how Chuck is portrayed but I can glean quite a bit from googling it.
I personally do not believe in the existence of EMF sensitivity. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is to say that I haven’t ruled out the possibility, but I have seen no compelling evidence.
But I do believe in the existence of Environmental Illness, especially Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Because I live it and I have lived it for 25 years.
There are a lot of cases where people with MCS also have a mental illness. There are also cases where people will have MCS but no associated mental illness. As far as over 10 separate mental health professionals are concerned, I have a clean bill of mental health minus my PTSD, and occassional depression.
A lot of the things being said today to discredit EMF sensitivity were said in the past about Fibromyalgia(Which now has a TON of medical evidence, showing it’s clearly a real physical illness). The same things were also said about my illness, MCS. To a lesser extent than fibromyalgia, MCS is also gaining medical acceptance.
This gives me pause. Even if I don’t personally believe that it’s a real thing, I can say with certainty that the arguments being used to categorically say it cannot exist are flimsy arguments.
I’d like to remind everyone of a few things.
First off just because OP has a mental illness, doesn’t mean he’s also not talking about a real issue that has some truth to it.
Second off just because an illness has the potential to affect both the body and the mind, this does not categorically mean that it is “in your head” or something that you can control through force of will. There is a disturbing tendency to say that just because an illness causes a mental symptom, it must be within that person’s power to choose to be well, or it must be their own fault that they are sick. Would you say the same to someone suffering from Alzheimers?
[–]ian80 1 point 23 hours ago*
I’m surprised by the comments in this thread. It is far too soon in the study of this phenomenon to rule out any possibilities. If there is one thing Western society suffers from, it is discomfort with the unresolved. I’m sure there are many instances where the syndrome is psychosomatic, but I can accept the possibility that there is more to learn.
Putting that aside, I’m more surprised by the amount of people (in this sub, youtubers, professional reviewers/journalists) who will describe Chuck as ‘crazy’ or ‘bananas’. It strikes me as completely insensitive – to the character and to the real-life sufferers. It’s made very clear that Chuck is suffering, regardless of the cause of his symptoms. The illness is outside of his control either way; every time someone uses ‘crazy’ to describe his situation, they are further stigmatizing mental health conditions.
I realize for many it is just a clumsy choice of speech, but it grates me every time. Whether a disease is physical or mental doesn’t determine its ‘legitimacy’.
[–]kd3qc[S] 2 points 22 hours ago
Thank you for taking your position. People like you make my Chemical Sensitivity a bit easier to bear. Too often, I’ve heard, it’s all in your head, even from well-meaning doctors. There is research to support that the brain’s limbic system is heavily involved in MCS. For example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25294782 So, in a sense, it is in the head. Kind of like, clinical depression. Environmental Illness is taken seriously enough by some doctors that it got into MEDLINE, and there happen to be hundreds of papers describing the phenomenon. That’s a good sign. One thing that has helped me personally is DHEA: http://www.mentalhealthbooks.net/2015/03/dhea-and-mcs/ Basically, I choke LESS when I take the nutraceutical DHEA in a small amount. So, to summarize, I’d say much of Environmental Illness is part brain, part body. Again, thanks for not attacking people like me who have Environmental Illness and keeping an open mind.
[–]tha_real_stabulous 1 point 23 hours ago
It’s true that it’s wrong to write off someone who is in pain for whatever reason, but it’s unreasonable to expect research funding for medication of diseases that can’t be shown to exist outside of the placebo effect. The issue is obviously the underlying illness, not MCS/EMH.
[–]von_braun 3 points 23 hours ago
I agree it’s insensitive to call Chuck crazy, my partner and I always feel for his pain the worst. Because he doesn’t have to endure it. He’s creating it. Acknowledging that fact does not diminish the multitude of things science has yet to understand. Denial of one thing is not denial of all things.
[–]ian80 2 points 23 hours ago
Because he doesn’t have to endure it. He’s creating it.
For me, this doesn’t seem to be the case either. Mind you, it may just be a matter of semantics – but I don’t think it’s accurate to say he’s creating it. The implies volition. In many cases, mental illness – like any illness – is beyond the sufferer’s control.
We have a funny way of separating mind from body. It is all part of the same system – yet if something is occurring at the level of mind, we seem to assume there should be a level of control over the matter. It may be a subtle distinction, but it’s one worth considering.
In the case of Chuck, he does have to endure it, because it is happening to him. He’s not creating it. It may be a creation of his mind at a subconscious level – but, by definition, that would still be out of his control.
[–]Young_Neil_Postman 2 points 21 hours ago
Yeah. Bottom line is, Chuck is suffering from something, either physical or mental, it’s still suffering. But to best help him (or others with the same disease), it would be important to realize and accept that it is a mental illness, which most legitimate scientific research has shown, rather than it being physical. Certainly evidence could eventually say otherwise, but for now it very much seems to be a mental illness/disease
[–]von_braun 1 point 23 hours ago
Agree on the semantics.
[–]TheCheshireCody 5 points 1 day ago
And by “it’s real” the author means “it’s really something people claim to have, but there’s precisely zero evidence to back it up as a legitimate syndrome and tons of evidence indicating it’s completely psychosomatic.” Right? That is what he means, right? ‘Cuz that is the reality of it.
[–]Yeknomeca 1 point an hour ago
Environmental illness has become a bit of a large label that includes a few illnesses now.
EMF, I haven’t seen any compelling evidence to say that’s a real thing, but I also haven’t fully ruled it out.
MCS however is very real. I have a lot of sources for this if you’d like.
[–]TheCheshireCody 2 points an hour ago
MCS I know about as a real condition. Discover magazine did a very good article on it about a year ago . I think the author is artificially conflating it with a number of other syndromes, real and likely imagined.
[–]kd3qc[S] 1 point an hour ago
TheCheshireCody, I’m glad you say MCS is a real condition. There are many who would disagree. I think Electrosensitivity and Gulf War Syndrome fall under the same umbrella of Environmental Illness as Chemical Sensitivity. The Doctors who treat all of the above conditions are represented by the AAEM. See The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) position on Electrosensitivity: http://www.mentalhealthbooks.net/2015/03/electromagnetic-sensitivity-better-call-saul and See the nearly 1,000 people who have banded together on Facebook because they suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity https://www.facebook.com/groups/electromagneticsensitivity/ This ES is as real as MCS. And, all Environmental Illnesses need more funding for research as well as help for their disabilities, in the US and beyond. Actually, the US is really, really behind countries like Australia in this regard. In Australia, they have special housing and laws for those who have MCS. I can’t say the same for my beloved USA, patriot I still am.
[–]TheCheshireCody 1 point an hour ago
The AAEM is not a legitimately-recognized group, though. They are considered to be “woo” and of questionable legitimacy by the established medical community, and have been called out on Quackwatch , which is considered a legitimate source of information.
[–]kd3qc[S] 1 point 55 minutes ago
That being said, the AAEM is not legitimate according to whom? The American Medical Association does not accept Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as a real diagnosis. Yet, you do. The AAEM does also. So do about 10 other countries, mostly European. Anyway, as someone with MCS, I feel the AAEM is more of an advocate than the American Medical Association is for people like me and others with Environmental Illnesses. BTW, although I am very much like Chuck in terms of the psychosis, I have been in remission for over 20 years, and I was a medical library chief for almost a decade, so everything I write can be backed up by MEDLINE, which is the scientific medical database that the best MDs and other researchers can use. You can search it for free yourself at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed . There is a wealth of medical knowledge that has been peer-reviewed in there.
[–]Yeknomeca 2 points an hour ago
It’s hard to know what to think. The OP admits he’s schizophrenic, and I don’t hold that against him all but it does paint him as an unreliable narrator to many, I would assume.
The issue is I can’t really comfortably say that it’s completely false, EMF sensitivity. A lot of the arguments used to discredit EMF sensitivity today were the arguments used against Fibromyalgia and MCS in the years prior.
Not to mention the AAEM, who I hold as part of my cited proof that MCS is real with their position paper here: http://www.aaemonline.org/chemicalsensitivitypost.html
Well they also have something to say about EMF sensitivity. http://aaemonline.org/emf_rf_position.html
So. I’m really not sure what to think.
[–]TheCheshireCody 1 point an hour ago
I’m still not convinced that Fibromyalgia is a solid single condition, but I’m not in the medical field so my opinion on that is not really important in the larger world. it is recognized by the AMA, if I’m not mistaken, but it still has no recognizable cause or common triggers, and the set of symptoms surrounding it is vague at best. The big difference between that and EM Sensitivity is the large number of positive, provable examples of people with Fibromyalgia, vs. the large number of cases where EM Sensitivity has been shown to be psychological in nature rather than physical and the small number (it’s a nice round number, as I recall, the roundest number there is) of cases where a physical cause is a provable explanation.
[–]Yeknomeca 3 points an hour ago
Fair enough. As for Fibro, actually my most recent knowledge on it is that it’s at least 2 conditions. I owe my most recent knowledge on the topic of Fibromyalgia to this youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/OFFERUtah
specifically this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL4pMWa351M
As far as EMF goes. It’s only been talked about as an issue VERY recently. My position errs towards “I don’t think this is really what’s happening with EMF sensitivity patients. I don’t know conclusively that it’s not part of it. I do know that people talking about it under the label of Environmental Illness, which used to be the name for MCS and nothing but MCS, is concerning. Just what people with MCS need, more controversy.”
[–]TheCheshireCody 1 point an hour ago
I think it’s dangerous to lump syndromes together unless they are clearly related. Cancers are related, Multiple Sclerosis and Down’s Syndrome are both genetic disorders, etc., but EMF is not the same as MCS except that both are considered “symptoms of the modern age”. With regard to EMF, the people who think they have a sensitivity to EM radiation, electricity, etc. are legitimately impaired, and that itself does not depend on whether it’s a physical condition or a psychological one. Either way, they are impaired. Recognizing that it is a psychological condition will, however, help in finding treatment for them that will work.
[–]Yeknomeca 1 point an hour ago
I agree mostly.
From what I’m gathering, most cases of “EMF Sensitivity” do include a compontent of mental illness that needs to be treated.
However.
This exact same logic was used by all the doctors I went to when I was a kid. The doctors told me it was in my head, the psychologists told me I was sane. Back and forth and back and forth.
If we take this evidence we have today, and we use that to say “Okay everyone with this illness just has a mental problem”,
what if there is a real physical ailment underneath it? Like there was with MCS?
My caution is just this ; please don’t take the obvious signs that something is mentally wrong.
and use them as a reason to say that the mental component is certainly the only issue at hand.
I am living proof that everyone can be wrong.
[–]secondspassed 3 points 1 day ago
That’s not what he means.
[–]Young_Neil_Postman 4 points 1 day ago
“Not everyone who has depression or schizophrenia chokes on the perfume of their loved ones. Conversely, not everyone who has Environmental Illness has a mental illness”
These are not related statements. Proper logic would say, not everyone who chokes on their loved one’s perfume has depression or schizophrenia (two very different things btw). Conversely, not everyone who has environmental illness has a mental illness.
However, I would hazard a guess that Chuck has a mental illness, possibly paranoid schizophrenia. It would be interesting to see if there was a stressful event that triggered it in chuck, which is most likely.
[–]kd3qc[S] -2 points 1 day ago
I’d agree with the paranoid schizophrenia comment. Yes, the writing contained a Non sequitur. Mea culpa. It’s still true.
[–]Young_Neil_Postman 1 point 1 day ago
But all people that genuinely and consistently choke on their loved one’s perfume do have something wrong with them. And for most it’s just a symptom of some other mental illness. Just like all people with an environmental illness like Chuck have something wrong with them, and it’s probably a symptom of something greater. Sooo he isn’t actually being killed by the radiation or whatever…it’s a mental illness, illusory. Still a problem, yes. But it isn’t real
[–]von_braun 7 points 1 day ago
Someone trying to use BCS to bolster their lies for profit. Nothing to see here, for anyone.
[–]kd3qc[S] -1 points 1 day ago
What would make me upset is if Chuck is out there on Better Call Saul, and everybody just thought…. “What a wack job”. Sure, he suffers from a mental illness, but he also suffers from a physical illness. Don’t take it from me. Take it from the board certified doctors of Environmental Medicine. If their work were bullshit, then the American Medical Association would see that they would lose their licenses really fast. Open your mind. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
[–]von_braun 2 points 1 day ago
My mind is very open, I read EVERYTHING I can on a subject before I comment on it. So much so that when Saul first grounded himself, I deduced he was visiting someone with a delusion. Yes, they “feel” the symptoms.
[–]kd3qc[S] -1 points 1 day ago
I apologise. I commend you for reading up on the topic. However, not all answers are in the books. In my case, were I not living with the severe MCS, I wouldn’t believe I have it. So, I can put myself in your shoes. It seems that sometimes science needs to catch up to the multiplex realities that advancing technology creates, and the more realities that are created by medical technologies, the more diseases, and, yes, cures are possible.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -Hamlet
[–]Young_Neil_Postman 1 point 1 day ago
Wasn’t Hamlet crazy?
[–]kd3qc[S] 1 point 23 hours ago
To your literary point- scholars have debated whether or not Hamlet was mentally ill. It seemed so to the world, but Shakespeare left evidence to the contrary in what was arguably his greatest eponymously titled tragedy. But, back to the topic being discussed, ever since we mastered fire, we could use it to cook food and heat our homes. Or, we could fire destructively, accidentally burning down our residences, or even use it to wage war. Too much pollution in the air from too many fires is causing asthma in many these days. My point is that technology is a Pandora’s Box. Yes, the technologies are useful and great, but also can have a destructive side. Regarding Electromagnetic Sensitivity in Better Call Saul: the modern day world in industrialized countries has electromagnetic waves everywhere from cell phones, cell towers, radio and television towers, satellite signals, and many more sources. It is generally accepted that people who live near power lines and cell phone towers have a greater risk of developing cancer than those who do not live near such strong EMF fields. Might the weaker electromagnetic waves of cell phones, radio and tv signals, as well as from other sources affect the central nervous system of some people more profoundly than others? I do believe so. I’ve heard of stranger things.
[–]secondspassed 4 points 1 day ago
He is definitely not being portrayed as having a “real” physical illness. They really seem to be suggesting that his symptoms are psychosomatic.
[–]poktanju 5 points 1 day ago
Open your mind
Ugh.
[–]tha_real_stabulous 12 points 1 day ago
He can think what he likes but the fact of the matter is that every double-blind study on so-called sufferers of electromagnetic hypersensitivity shows that they have no clue when they are actually being exposed to an electromagnetic signal and when it’s a placebo.
[–]Yeknomeca 2 points an hour ago
I agree with your logic but this same line of reasoning was used to discredit MCS for years, and now the evidence is coming out that it is indeed real. In the case of MCS, the old studies had methodological issues. The same could be true here. Relying on people to accurately tell you when they are sick is not as compelling as measuring physical differences in the patients before and after exposure.
Such experiments have been successfully done with MCS. Have any been tried with EMF?
[–]tha_real_stabulous [score hidden] 2 minutes ago
Relying on people to accurately tell you when they are sick is not as compelling as measuring physical differences in the patients before and after exposure.
No studies “rely on people to tell you when they are sick”. They test for rashes, heart rate increase, fever, and the like.
Here’s a study from 2008- can you point out the methological issues? Alternatively, can you give a study that shows that MCS symptoms appear more often when sufferers are exposed to chemicals than to a placebo?
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15563650701742438
[–]kd3qc[S] -2 points 1 day ago
Many say the same about MCS or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, but as you can see on the Facebook map in the article, although rare, there are a handful of self-professed MCS sufferers in every metropolitan area. I, myself suffer from MCS, and so you could say I’m the real “Better Call Saul” Chuck. I just hope this show can shed some light on a very real illness that is not well understood. I also hope vets who have Gulf War Syndrome get more help and understanding. Many with Gulf War Syndrome have symptoms similar to MCS and GWS is also not a well understood illness.
[–]tha_real_stabulous 2 points 23 hours ago
What would you say to the authors of those studies? Don’t you think that at least part of the symptoms can be attributed to the placebo effect?
[–]kd3qc[S] 1 point 23 hours ago
Regarding the controlled experiments, in my experience I would say that stress can aggravate any Environmental Illness. Environmental Illness is very stressful to live with because one is in a state of constantly trying to avoid these environmental triggers. Let me give you an analogy. Say an exposure to whatever is your environmental trigger is like being shocked by electricity. If you know you are going to be shocked by a random voltage of electricity, small to large, many times over many years, then you could theoretically overreact to a weak jolt, because of the conditioning.
[–]secondspassed 1 point an hour ago
False positives can be explained that way fairly easily. However, the more damning evidence is the opposite: being exposed without realizing it and showing no symptoms, like they show happening to Chuck numerous times on the show.
[–]Yeknomeca 2 points an hour ago
I’ll have false negatives with my illness, MCS. This was enough for people to totally doubt the existence of MCS until more proof started coming out in the recent years.
To clarify what I mean. This causes tons of issues with friends or relatives believing people with MCS.
There is no guarantee that someone with MCS will notice the very moment that something is making them sick. MCS patients rely on a complex bunch of vague hints to know when they are getting sick. Some of those are from smelling things, but we can also get sick from odorless things. We can also get conditioned to negatively react to a smell that is similar to what makes us sick, even if it isn’t the actual chemical.
permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply