Imagine the start of your day, it is just like any other day.

Alongside your backpack is an oxygen tank to aid in breathing during calculus, because the fumes from the white board pen can cause a migraine that lasts for weeks.

For Western freshman Kelsey Moreno, every day is like this. She suffers from a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity—a reaction to common substances. She wears a painter's mask over her nose and mouth for most of the day.

Moreno said she uses an oxygen tank in areas that are more toxic for her, specifically her calculus class, which involves heavy use of a white board.

“It would be nice if it's in a room with a chalk board, but it's not,” Moreno said. “But I can work around that.”

The symptoms of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity vary on a case-by-case basis. The specific substances that cause symptoms also vary, but it is petrochemicals in Moreno’s case.
Petrochemicals are products such as plastics and synthetic fragrances derived from petroleum.

Medically there is no agreement on the cause or how to diagnose Multiple Chemical Sensitivity due to a lack of objective standards to test for it, said Dr. Kevin Dooms, allergist at the Bellingham Asthma, Allergy and Immunology clinic.

Moreno said the specific condition with which she is diagnosed is migraines from exposure to petrochemicals, but her doctor and her family recognize it as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

“[Multiple Chemical Sensitivity] is pretty rare, but not unheard of,” said Anna Talvi, Western's disAbility management and accommodation counselor.

DisAbility Resources for Students, which provides equal access for students with disabilities, accommodates students with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity if it has been documented by a medical professional and it affects the student to a degree that it interferes with major life activities, Talvi said.

A major life activity, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, includes learning. If the ability to learn is impaired, disAbility resources provides accommodations designed to reduce the impairment, Talvi said.

“We try to make learning accessible to all students,” Talvi said.

There are no statistics available for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity because no medical organization is tracking it, Dooms said.

Western's Environmental Health and Safety department, which ensures the safety of people on campus, helps with accommodations for someone with sensitivity, but what they do depends on the individual situation, department Director Gayle Shipley said.

“We try to respect everyone's bodies and needs,” Shipley said.

Moreno said she first developed her chemical sensitivity when she was 15, when a boy in one of her classes sprayed cologne in the classroom, resulting in a three-week migraine, Moreno said.

“Guy sprays cologne in my class; I end up with a three-week migraine,” Moreno said. “I think it's pretty obvious what the trigger is.”

After a semester at Juanita High School, Moreno said she made the choice to leave the school due to being out sick one-third of the semester because of her migraines.

After leaving her high school, Moreno said she took online Running Start classes through Seattle Central Community College to finish her high school education.

When she started at Western, DisAbility helped Moreno find a dorm room on campus that was chemical-free. She was placed in a suite in Higginson Hall, Moreno said.

“The outdoor walkways are nice,” Moreno said. “I don't have to worry about smells lingering in the hallways.”

All of her suitemates had to agree to be chemical-free in order to live in the same suite as her, Moreno said. All the other residents living on Moreno’s floor are aware of her sensitivity.

DisAbility also placed a washer and dryer in her suite, Moreno said. She is sensitive to fragrances in most laundry detergents, so her clothing must be kept clear of them.
She uses fragrance and dye-free detergents to do her laundry, and for other cleaning products she shops online, Moreno said.

“There are artisan shops downtown [that sell fragrance-free soaps],” Moreno said. “But I prefer the larger selection online.”
One of those shops is Otion at the corner of West Holly and Bay Streets in downtown Bellingham.

The store sells the ingredients for a person to manufacture their own soaps, which allows control of what goes into the soap, Otion store manager Erik Faiola said.
“People shop here to avoid the extra stuff in their soap,” Faiola said.

He said there are approximately 3,500 different chemical fragrances used in soaps.

Western's janitors actively try not to use cleaning products that contain chemicals, such as fragrances, that can cause reactions in people who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Shipley said.
 

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