Mark Halls Story of CFIDS and MCS

[Guest guest]

November 4, 1999

Chronic fatigue syndrome sufferer, shares experiences with Brown U.

By Helen Willard, Brown Daily Herald

Brown University

Providence, R.I.

Imagine waking up one morning and not being able to walk across the room.

Imagine doctors and friends saying to just get over it. Imagine being that

sick for four years.

That's what happened to Mark Hall his senior year at the University of

California at Berkeley.

" I was a normal 21-year-old college student, " he said. " It was all of a

sudden. I had drank a bit the night before. I partied a lot, not like all

day, every day, but ... I also spent a lot of time studying and working

out. "

Hall has since been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). He has been healthy now for four years

and spends his time as an author, poet, public relations associate, and

speaker.

Last night, he gave a talk in 102 about his experiences with CFS and

MCS, as well as the environmental health movement.

He described his symptoms as " a severe case of the flu. At first, I was

exhausted -- I couldn't get out of bed. Then I got better, then I relapsed.

I had dizziness. I became highly sensitive to perfume, scents and

detergents. I also had foggy thinking. Something was very wrong with my

energy. It never went away like a cold or the flu. "

Hall also read excerpts from his book, " Dazed and Fatigued in the Toxic 21st

Century. "

The book is a memoir of his life, and the sections Hall read sounded like a

hybrid of beat poetry and confessional stream of consciousness.

" I quickly lost everything I had -- sports, school, and friends, " he said.

" I was fighting the illness to get these things tomorrow, the things I lost

yesterday. "

He also spoke about the environmental health movement and CFS and MCS in

general.

" We're in the dawning of the age of asparagus, " he said. " Everything green

is cropped at the root. "

Hall said that " we're constantly being bombarded by stress and toxic agents

from our environment. "

He listed different ways these toxins can affect a person's immediate

environment.

A primary source of toxic agents, according to Hall, is water, which can be

polluted with parasites or bacteria at the source. It is often treated with

harsh chemicals like chlorine during processing, and the eroded lining from

pipes can seep into water supplies.

Air, too, can be dangerous, according to Hall. Over 3,000 chemicals are

released into the air every year, and only 30 cities nationwide monitor air

pollution on a day-to-day basis. He also noted that only 24 chemicals are

measured, which leaves out approximately 2,976 other chemicals and doesn't

take into account the chemical " cocktail " effect that occurs when various

chemicals combine.

Hall also mentions how common food treatments -- pesticides in produce, as

well as hormones and steroids in meat -- can be a source of ill health.

" All of you were taught to eat the basic American diet, " he said. " And if

you follow it for your entire life, you will absolutely get sick from it. "

Hall, a vegan, said that " dairy is the worst thing you can eat. It is hard

to digest, and dairy cows are injected with steroids and hormones.

" That food pyramid you all were taught in school is a hoax made by the meat

and dairy industry, " he added.

The final cause of environmental illness is " emotional toxicity, " according

to Hall. " Stress is a $ 400 billion industry. We pay for worker's

compensation, therapy, Prozac. "

Hall urged people to work on their immediate environment first --

eliminating petroleum-based detergents, eating organic foods, and drinking

purified water.

" Currently, the environmental health movement is very niche-based, " he said.

" There are small non-profits fighting specific issues. There is no Sierra

Club for this sort of thing. "

He discussed the difficulties in the environmental movement as a whole.

" You have to fight at a very specific level -- this stream has this much

lead in it, and company X is doing it, " he said. " That's just how

legislation works. The key is that these companies tend to scapegoat things

like the spotted owl. We're not just trying to save the spotted owl -- we're

trying to save ourselves. "

Hall said he did everything he could to fight his illness. After a while, " I

had forgotten what it's like to be healthy, " he said.

The medical industry was not capable of curing him.

" There [were] no established healing procedures, " he said. " I was on the

fringes of medicine, and there are all these crazy cures out there. I became

a guinea pig for them. "

Hall, who became a vegan at this point, also began to practice yoga and use

Chinese herbs.

" Chinese herbs were not a miracle cure, but it was the first thing that

didn't make me feel worse, " he said.

Eventually, he began to feel better.

" I focused on living life again, " he said. " We're always thinking about

yesterday or what we're doing tomorrow. How many of us really live our life

for that day? "

Hall said that he has changed because of his experience with CFS.

" Your whole perspective on time changes, " he said. " Time starts to expand --

you hope that you recuperate in years. Time also contracts as you chase

after years that slip away. "

He also said that long illnesses can " make you realize that you've been

hanging out with the wrong crowd. Your good friends, the ones you thought

you could count on, are the first out the door. Other people, like that

friend of your friend -- people come out of the woods. "

The " environmental health movement is just starting to gain a toehold in the

American consciousness, " Hall said.

Hall speaks around the country about his experiences and maintains a Web

page, www.toxicworld.com, to increase awareness of the issue.

" I was a very different person then, " he said of his life before his

illness. " I played rugby, I was kind of a frat guy, an athlete, more

affiliated with the Republican Party. Now I'm more of a socialist -- I do

yoga, play guitar, write poetry, and do other interesting things. "

© 1999 Brown Daily Herald via U-WIRE