Post by Lisa Petrison on Sept 12, 2011 8:20:49 GMT -5
The Locations Effect in Seattle and nearby Bainbridge Island is the subject of this blog.
agirlandherisland.blogspot.com/
She reported doing much better on the island than in the city. Here are some quotes:
"I came back home on Wednesday, from Seattle, and the island felt like as much of a miraculous change as before. My first stop going into the drugstore, in a polluted parking lot, I breathed a sigh of relief. When you've trained yourself to notice changes in the air and pressure and what's hitting you, it feels like a miracle.....Coming back to Seattle today was more rough after being home. I suspect as I go further down this path and have more of a sense of what a good place is, the converse will be true. Bad places will feel worse. I have found places in Seattle that feel better though -- and I've already found places on the island that don't feel good.
"I thought I would miss the city, but I really only miss the concept of it. I have been living in cities, cultural centers, places people regard as the best places to live, for four years while getting more and more ill with ME. I've been picking up alternative weeklies and marveling over all the things that were happening that I could not do, getting facebook invitations to things I could not do. I think I have the better deal now."
Another Locations Effect savvy person I know who moved to the Seattle area chose to live on Bainbridge Island too, and reported doing pretty well there. Maybe she will report her experiences on this board, eventually.
Best, Lisa
*
Here are some more comments from the author of that blog:
I took the ferry from Port Angeles (it was the shortest drive from Portland) too when I didn't even know I had ME -- I was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue at the time, though the virus had never been located (my doctor was in a state of perpetual disbelief that I had not had mono, and I'd had to give up an overseas faculty position because my health was no longer good enough to keep my visa). My experience was the same. It was like I was a whole new person on the ferry. I wrote my boyfriend a letter from the ferry and the words are immortalized in gmail: "I suddenly feel like a new person and I'm not sure why." Like coming out of a sea of blackness, for sure. I still have the same experience whenever I need to spend a long time on the Seattle side. The main land just isn't kind to me.
Staying in Victoria for a month gave me a remission for 5 months back in Portland (and in Victoria I was able to do my work and wrap up projects enough to eat/pay rent for some time back in Portland). Sadly, perhaps, it allowed me to push myself to keep working rather than pursue an ME diagnosis. In January I started to flag again and my aunt-in-law (well, she was just my boyfriend's aunt at a the time -- but we got married) suggested I see a rheumatologist about possible fibomyalgia, because my symptoms sounded like her daughter's. I am so lucky that I saw the Rheumatologist I saw was only ME specialist in town, who told me I didn't have fibromyalgia, but ME and possible mold illness. A great man. He got me to have my basement tested for black mold.
I think Bainbridge Island is notable for the fact that there is this island is TINY (5 miles by 8 miles) and there is no agriculture here (aside from a few organic farmers who do sharing). Official density (aside from a couple apartment buildings and grandfathered patches of development) is only one house every 2 acres and much of the island is natural forest. All those fir trees (and it is notable that they're evergreens, big thick Douglas Firs as are only found in the Pacific Northwest -- I was drawn out here by them by watching Twin Peaks, of all things, as a Midwest Native) really do make a huge difference in creating a microclimate. Plus the island's ability to be progressive ecologically (re: pesticides, EMF's, etc) because of the high income and very liberal base. I believe the average income is over $100,000 and the average house sale is still around $1m. A lot of residents are VERY in tune with issues of environmental health and eager to spend it on island infrastructure -- the motto is "Our Green Isle." That's why they can be so progressive with chemicals, rainwater (which we have a lot of), and density. For me renting here is being amid a wealthier community than I could live in as a homeowner (though we're keeping our eye out now).
For me, proximity to open water and forests seems to be helping. My house is internal (not water front) and down a dirt path in the middle of the forest. We're still camping on Orcas Island at the Doe Bay resort sometimes. It's absolutely fantastic -- has yurts!
When I heard of the locations effect, as I said, it was like a bell going off. I'd done the full on Erik Johnson method of ditching all my possessions and vacationing on Vancouver Island and had a full remission when I didn't even know what I was sick with, just that I needed to get away. Went from bedbound to a 5 month remission. If I'd only known and continued, maybe it would have lasted.
agirlandherisland.blogspot.com/
She reported doing much better on the island than in the city. Here are some quotes:
"I came back home on Wednesday, from Seattle, and the island felt like as much of a miraculous change as before. My first stop going into the drugstore, in a polluted parking lot, I breathed a sigh of relief. When you've trained yourself to notice changes in the air and pressure and what's hitting you, it feels like a miracle.....Coming back to Seattle today was more rough after being home. I suspect as I go further down this path and have more of a sense of what a good place is, the converse will be true. Bad places will feel worse. I have found places in Seattle that feel better though -- and I've already found places on the island that don't feel good.
"I thought I would miss the city, but I really only miss the concept of it. I have been living in cities, cultural centers, places people regard as the best places to live, for four years while getting more and more ill with ME. I've been picking up alternative weeklies and marveling over all the things that were happening that I could not do, getting facebook invitations to things I could not do. I think I have the better deal now."
Another Locations Effect savvy person I know who moved to the Seattle area chose to live on Bainbridge Island too, and reported doing pretty well there. Maybe she will report her experiences on this board, eventually.
Best, Lisa
*
Here are some more comments from the author of that blog:
I took the ferry from Port Angeles (it was the shortest drive from Portland) too when I didn't even know I had ME -- I was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue at the time, though the virus had never been located (my doctor was in a state of perpetual disbelief that I had not had mono, and I'd had to give up an overseas faculty position because my health was no longer good enough to keep my visa). My experience was the same. It was like I was a whole new person on the ferry. I wrote my boyfriend a letter from the ferry and the words are immortalized in gmail: "I suddenly feel like a new person and I'm not sure why." Like coming out of a sea of blackness, for sure. I still have the same experience whenever I need to spend a long time on the Seattle side. The main land just isn't kind to me.
Staying in Victoria for a month gave me a remission for 5 months back in Portland (and in Victoria I was able to do my work and wrap up projects enough to eat/pay rent for some time back in Portland). Sadly, perhaps, it allowed me to push myself to keep working rather than pursue an ME diagnosis. In January I started to flag again and my aunt-in-law (well, she was just my boyfriend's aunt at a the time -- but we got married) suggested I see a rheumatologist about possible fibomyalgia, because my symptoms sounded like her daughter's. I am so lucky that I saw the Rheumatologist I saw was only ME specialist in town, who told me I didn't have fibromyalgia, but ME and possible mold illness. A great man. He got me to have my basement tested for black mold.
I think Bainbridge Island is notable for the fact that there is this island is TINY (5 miles by 8 miles) and there is no agriculture here (aside from a few organic farmers who do sharing). Official density (aside from a couple apartment buildings and grandfathered patches of development) is only one house every 2 acres and much of the island is natural forest. All those fir trees (and it is notable that they're evergreens, big thick Douglas Firs as are only found in the Pacific Northwest -- I was drawn out here by them by watching Twin Peaks, of all things, as a Midwest Native) really do make a huge difference in creating a microclimate. Plus the island's ability to be progressive ecologically (re: pesticides, EMF's, etc) because of the high income and very liberal base. I believe the average income is over $100,000 and the average house sale is still around $1m. A lot of residents are VERY in tune with issues of environmental health and eager to spend it on island infrastructure -- the motto is "Our Green Isle." That's why they can be so progressive with chemicals, rainwater (which we have a lot of), and density. For me renting here is being amid a wealthier community than I could live in as a homeowner (though we're keeping our eye out now).
For me, proximity to open water and forests seems to be helping. My house is internal (not water front) and down a dirt path in the middle of the forest. We're still camping on Orcas Island at the Doe Bay resort sometimes. It's absolutely fantastic -- has yurts!
When I heard of the locations effect, as I said, it was like a bell going off. I'd done the full on Erik Johnson method of ditching all my possessions and vacationing on Vancouver Island and had a full remission when I didn't even know what I was sick with, just that I needed to get away. Went from bedbound to a 5 month remission. If I'd only known and continued, maybe it would have lasted.