Re: PIR by Carl Grimes

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Rosie.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

> Thank you Carl for taking time to send this to us again. It's very

> valuable and I hope all will save it for reference. Not only save it,

> but read, digest and apply. I'll be doing the same.

>

> Since you have given me approval to share your posts with other

> groups, I will take the liberty of forwarding this to the Canadian MCS

> group and perhaps one other.

>

> Much respect,

> Rosie

>

> On Behalf Of Carl E. Grimes

>

> and group,

>

> I'm not sure of the " esteemed " part, but as the author of Personal

> Impact Rating I will repeat below that part of my post from Feb 24.

> First, however, I'm just now getting caught up on my e-mail including

> this discussion. (I've been out of town since Thursday and my e-mail

> wouldn't download for some reason.)

>

> Sharon, included is my opinion to your question about why reactivity

> changes. Dynamic combination of susceptibility and exposure. Same as

> why did someone catch the flu last week and not the week before? The

> same flu " bugs " were present.

>

> First, good news. I presented Friday at the national conference in

> Savannah of the Association of Specialists in Cleaning & Restoration

> (ASCR) http://www.ascr.org/

>

> Dr Eugene Cole spoke on cleaning for the immuno-compromised. I

> followed him with the topic of " Susceptible Occupants " with an

> emphasis on the need for contractors and consultants to identify them

> and then how to change the standard operating procedure to meet the

> individual needs. There was excellent attendance, good questions

> showing legitimate interest that kept me past my ending time.

>

> As I've previously posted (the same Feb 24 post), the history of

> understanding and acceptance is very slow but it is increasing.

> Private conversations were extremely encouraging. However, it takes

> time to " trickle down " to some in the field.

>

> As for a " cure " I don't claim that there is one. Those of us that get

> ill from exposure will continue to do so - WHEN exposed. How quickly

> the impact stops depends on many factors. BUT that doesn't mean we are

> helpless and should sit idlely by doing nothing while waiting for a

> cure. You need to act NOW.

>

> Nobody is going to - or can - " fix " us, so we must improve our

> awareness and diligence - just like we want the contractors and

> consultants I spoke to - to IMPROVE our situation. Some of us won't

> improve much and we won't know until you try. Others will improve a

> lot and they won't know until they try. Stopping exposure and

> improving your susceptibility (health) are BOTH necessary.

>

> Finally, the fundamental purpose of avoiding and/or reducing exposure

> as much as possible is so the body can " clear " or at least be less

> impacted. It's took me over 12 years to reach a point where I'm not so

> reactive to exposures. In other words, it takes a bigger exposure over

> a longer period of time to affect me. The impact is less and I recover

> more quickly. Net result is my " clear " time is far greater than my

> " impacted " time. It used to be that my " impacted " time was almost all

> the time. That is how I " measure " where I am in the process. CSM,

> anti-fungals, etc help a lot now but if I don't minimize or stop my

> exposures with avoidance then no medicine works.

>

> Now for the Personal Impact Rating (PIR).

>

> PIR is a 6 point scale based on the overall impact exposures have on

> your life, irrespective of what causes the problems, what type of

> problems or by how much exposure.

>

> PIR 1 - No impact. There are no absolutes but some people insist

> nothing affects them. The only time that is true is when you are dead.

>

> PIR 2 - They recognize impact and a need to do something but they are

> easily distracted. Besides, they can ignore it and it will go away.

> And that what all of us should do, they insist, just ignore it. An

> example for me was tooth after a filling was replaced. The gum was

> sore and the tooth reacted to cold. I'd start to call the dentist but

> the phone would ring or I had an appointment or I had to go out of

> town. I just didn't get around to it.

>

> PIR 3 - It can't wait, you must do something now. But it is easily

> remedied and you can (fairly) quickly get back to a routine. The

> routine may have changed - get rid of the mold - but you have a

> routine. For my tooth, it came and went for two weeks before it got

> bad enough to stop my life and I had take care of it. All it needed

> was a bite adjustment and I'm back to my routine. Slight interruption.

>

> PIR 4 - You have no routine because you react to so many exposure

> sources so strongly that you are almost always sick, recovering from

> exposures or avoiding locations that have made you ill in the past.

> You experience many complaints, many doctors, many diagnosis and many

> treatment failures. The impact is disruptive and life altering. The

> remedy is life altering. Many in this group are at this level.

>

> PIR 5 - Disability. You are too sick to work or take care of family

> let alone yourself. Financial ruin is the rule. A number on this group

> are a 5.

>

> PIR 6 - The dispossessed. They are the individuals - three or four

> hundred estimated - who can get slight relief only by isolating

> themselves from as many exposures as possible. They live outside in

> tents or porcelan trailors, sometimes moving to high desert regions.

> I've had 9 clients reach this point in the past 19 years. Some of you

> have experienced this level.

>

> I will now add that once a 3 then always at least a 3 but it could

> advance to a 4, 5 or even 6 if you don't reduce exposures and your

> body weakens sufficiently. Not everyone will but there is that

> potential. But a 3 can live as a 2, at least most of the time. Also,

> once a 6 always a 6. But through self awareness, learning a few

> management practices and with increased diligence you don't have to

> LIVE as a 6. Even without a cure you might be able to reduce the

> " impact " to a 5 or 4 or 3 with management. Yes, CSM and other

> treatments can help tremendously. But they aren't a cure for exposure

> anymore than there is a cure for preventing broken bones in a car

> crash.

>

> Carl Grimes

> Healthy Habitats LLC

>

>

>

>

>

>

> FAIR USE NOTICE:

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Carl,

Thank you too for your posting that info. I think I classify as a five.

Janet

[Guest guest]

I can walk on the sidewalkk at the beach ans smell al the mold coming out the

storefronts. Terrible.

Janet

[Guest guest]

yes, thank you carl, Im bullhead and want to think Im a 5, but I am a

6, and it was depressing to read that, but its also something I have to

face. I manage my illness by being a hermit in my mold free apartment

that took 4 other trys to find. sometimes I fell pretty good and try to

venture out, sometimes the minute I open my door Im assaulted with the

neighbor dryer running, someone mowing grass, someone BBQing. even in

my apartment, sometime some one stops by, maybe thinking that because

it was hours ago that they put on perfume, and they cant smell it, that

I wont, wrong. maybe Im somewhere between 5 and 6. you know, after

many years of this crap, if I could be a 1-3, I'd be on top of the

world, liveing life to the fullest every day. I want my life back, and

it is criminal that any one suffers from this when it could have been

avoided.

--- In , Gingersnap1964@...

wrote:

>

> Carl,

> Thank you too for your posting that info. I think I classify as a

five.

> Janet

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Janet and who,

Just based on what I know about each of you from your activity here,

I think you have accurately described yourself as a PIR of 5. A 6 is

the highest extreme of not being able to be in buildings, a city or

even around most people. ISOLATION from as much as humanly possible

is required for even slight relief, thus the desert areas of AZ and

NM. Even then, becoming clear of reactivity still takes time.

The reason I developed a scale like this is because everyone sees

their life from their own perspective. One person I asked how this

condition affected her said, " Oh, it's horrible! I used to be able to

climb 6-8 fourteen thousand foot mountains a year, but now I can only

climb 2 or 3. " Later that same week another said, " I'm doing great,

best I've been in years. " I responded with, " Are you working again? "

She said, " No, I'll never be able to work, not after 15 years on

disability. But this is the best I've felt and I'm beginning to enjoy

parts of my life again. "

Ot was the extreme of these two perceptions that was the catalyst for

what I eventually call Personal Impact Rating (PIR).

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

[Guest guest]

thanks carl, I see what your saying, it has help me a lot to get

in this apartment with its own seperate entrance, although I still

have problems with some smell seeping up through the floor from the

apartment below and know I could do even better with my own air

controlled home. but after reading about the toxic molds ibn the

sand , in the southren states, Im not so convienced that AZ. would be

where I want to

live.

>

> Janet and who,

>

> Just based on what I know about each of you from your activity

here,

> I think you have accurately described yourself as a PIR of 5. A 6

is

> the highest extreme of not being able to be in buildings, a city or

> even around most people. ISOLATION from as much as humanly possible

> is required for even slight relief, thus the desert areas of AZ and

> NM. Even then, becoming clear of reactivity still takes time.

>

> The reason I developed a scale like this is because everyone sees

> their life from their own perspective. One person I asked how this

> condition affected her said, " Oh, it's horrible! I used to be able

to

> climb 6-8 fourteen thousand foot mountains a year, but now I can

only

> climb 2 or 3. " Later that same week another said, " I'm doing great,

> best I've been in years. " I responded with, " Are you working

again? "

> She said, " No, I'll never be able to work, not after 15 years on

> disability. But this is the best I've felt and I'm beginning to

enjoy

> parts of my life again. "

>

> Ot was the extreme of these two perceptions that was the catalyst

for

> what I eventually call Personal Impact Rating (PIR).

>

> Carl Grimes

> Healthy Habitats LLC

>