Farmer George's MCS

They called him 'Farmer George'. I think he must have been quite a nice bloke. Certainly he was a good husband and father. He was blamed for losing the American colonies.

How one man can be blamed for the results of rebellion against unfair taxation, schism between those of the same race and the consequential war, I am not sure. But people are people and they always have to blame someone. Usually one who cannot talk/fight back is the scapegoat.

King George probably wasn't blessed by Jesus for being a 'peacemaker', though. He did, after all, use his Royal prerogative to summon his sailors, marines and foreign mercenaries to bully the Americans into submission - even though the 'Americans' were actually, in the Maine, English emigres. (ouch! sorry).

Still, I wouldn't have wished porphyria on anyone - no matter how many mistakes he might have made during his lifetime. He suffered excruciatingly, both physically and mentally, with no effective medical help at all. His doctor, who was convinced that he was suffering a mental, not a physical, illness, was extremely cruel in the 'therapy' he used on his king. Probably, King George 111 suffered just as much from the 'medical treatment' he received than from the illness itself. Maybe more.

Some doctors today have the same attitude as King George's doctor. Usually, a G.P. will never, ever, admit 'I just don't know' when faced with a puzzle presentation patient.

What was King George's illness? Doctors today believe that it was porphyria, Their belief is based on the known fact that his urine turned a blue colouir in his chamber pot.

Porphyria is caused by a lack of cytochrome P.450. This enzyme metabolizes natural poisons that we ingest, such as that contained in bitter green vegetables. If there is not much of this enzyme in one's system, any poisons ingested will stay for much longer in the body and therefore have a drastically toxic effect on the person.

One can acquire porphyria when some kind of poison (usually an organophosphate pesticide, or an organochlorine pesticide, or a dioxin or one of many varieties of neuroleptic drugs) has knocked out, or disabled, the gene responsible for producing P.450.

Here is a paragraph from a website called "MCS Chemical injury and disorders of porphyrin metabolism" that everyone with MCS should look up:

"The term porphyria refers specifically to a group of diseases in which cells in the liver and/or bone marrow (primarily) are unable to properly carry out all the steps involved in make heme, due to an inherited defect (or inborn error) in one or more of the eight enzymes involved. The symptoms that result may involve ANY PART OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM (central, peripheral and autonomic) or just the skin or both. Symptoms are triggered by exposure to sunlight (in photosensitivity cases) or by exposure to "porphyrogenic" drugs or chemicals, infections and other stressors. When the heme-making pathway is disrupted in this way, the excess porphyrins which are no longer metabolized start to accumulate in certain body organs, where they can have toxic effects."

"...The broader term "porphyrinopathy" is used here to refer to any disorder of porphyrin metabolism, inherited or acquired. The porphyrinopathies being seen in chemical-sensitive patients do not fit the patterns of any known type of inherited porphyria. This suggests that they may be the result of an acquired abnormality due to either the direct effects of a chemically-induced porphyrinopathy or the secondary effects of some other disease."

I have had this printout for ages and should have directed readers of my blog to it long before now. It was buried in a mass of papers waiting to be filed. (Well, there are only so many hours in a day - especially when one is ill)

It is true that every single person who now suffers from MCS - especially those who also have acquired a neurological condition - can do with some help. Trouble is, we often cannot get it. Reason? Mainly because of Simon Wessely's quite wicked propaganda against the characters of those who are suffering from a proven physical illness, together with his unreasonable determination, without any scientific proof, to continue to try to place them in the psychiatric pigeon hole.

You know who I might wish, for just one day and no longer, to suffer from chemically acquired porphyria/MCS? Himself. Just one day. That'd teach him!

(Now, Bettine, don't be naughty)

Good health to you! Bettineolive@AOL.com