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Texas
Jul 24, 2011 9:16:06 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Jul 24, 2011 9:16:06 GMT -5
AWFUL (1)
I drove through part of Texas in November 2008. It was not a good experience.
I started out driving south on I-75 from Oklahoma through Dallas. I spent three nights in a hotel in Rice, which is about an hour south of Dallas. Then I drove back through Dallas and headed west, through Abilene, Midland and Odessa; I then turned around and went on Hwy 84 and Hwy 180 through Snyder, Lemesa and Seminole.
(I had been living in Chicago prior to this trip.)
Dallas was intolerable just driving through, as a result of what I identified as the worst toxin for me. Rice was somewhat better, but still quite bad. I was quite sick by the time I left that city.
I drove all the way through Texas in one night, feeling quite ill. Odessa and Midland were particularly problematic with oil refineries, but there were plenty of others as well.
Whether every square mile of land that I drove through in Texas was problematic, I don’t know. I do know that I felt very bad during my whole time in that state and am not eager to go back.
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khaly
New Member
Posts: 9
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Texas
Jul 24, 2011 22:03:28 GMT -5
Post by khaly on Jul 24, 2011 22:03:28 GMT -5
Ah, Texas. It tries to kill me every time I have to go there.
My own experience with Texas is that it is intolerable from approximately Waco all the way north to the Oklahoma border and beyond. The DFW area in particular is horrendous. The house that did me in was about an hour or two north of the DFW area. It had it's own badness, a constant toxin problem. But from time to time a layer of something else entirely would coat that, something that blew up from the south.
The DFW airport is extremely toxic, both inside and out. The last time I was there, I had a four hour layover, during which I kept riding the bus around and around the airport. I couldn't find a safe spot. It really seemed to require a hazmat suit.
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polbe
New Member
Posts: 26
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Texas
Sept 8, 2011 20:11:15 GMT -5
Post by polbe on Sept 8, 2011 20:11:15 GMT -5
I was in east Texas from Texarkana and Dallas, south to Houston, several times during the 1990s, at various times of year. Mainly I was in Houston. I was a bit better than in Ontario/north eastern US. I was a "2".
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Texas
Nov 6, 2011 23:13:38 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 6, 2011 23:13:38 GMT -5
I went back to Texas and had a better experience there. I drove across the Texas panhandle on I-40 on a sunny afternoon in early November 2011, stopping for dinner in Amarillo. It all felt okay to me. (4-GOOD) Conceivably, there might be particularly good spots in this part of Texas. I was just driving through and didn't stop frequently to gauge the air quality. Here's a report that I got from a Moldie who also has MCS: "If it's not too windy, Palo Duro canyon and camping is worth the 3- mi detour from Rt. 40 just before you get to Amarillo. Don't stay at Red Rock Canyon in OK as air there is not good."
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Texas
Nov 11, 2011 8:34:24 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 11, 2011 8:34:24 GMT -5
Here are some comments from Janis about Texas. cfsmethylation.blogspot.com/2011/10/mold-hit.htmlOn Tuesday I had e-mailed Dr. Rea’s office thinking I might get some answers if I went down to Dallas and tried to stay in one of the environmentally-safe MCS rooms he rents. I want to be able to live indoors again, with clean feat, plumbing, and electric lights. But I still hadn’t heard back. So on Thursday, I called Dr. Johnson’s office (Dr. Johnson advertizes in the chemical injury network newsletter, Our Toxic Times. He worked with Dr. Rea for many years before going out on his own. I asked about MCS rooms, and they sent me to the Marriiot’s Residence Inn. The room didn’t have all of the environmentally safe precautions Dr. Rea’s assistant had described to me, but I thought I had remembered incorrectly. And in the state of a moldie turned country bumpkin, it never occurred to me that there was more than one Residence Inn in Dallas (I think there are 8 of them!). And so I booked myself a ‘green’ room for a week and then telephoned Dr. Rea’s office to make an appointment there. I had two Dr.’s appointments in Dallas and a room. I was set to go. I would leave my tent at the campsite, take only the essentials, and if I couldn’t tolerate the room, I’d return the next day. That was my wonderful plan. My last night at the nature preserve was wonderful. I slept under the stars in my sleeping bag and a Walrus Bug Hut (mesh netting to keep the mosquitos from biting around sleeping bag and head). I woke with an almost clear nose and started on my journey. By the time I arrived in Dallas at the hotel, my nose was clear. Enter more complications. The Residence Inn had my confirmation number but no ‘green’ room booked for me. The only good thing was that the desk clerk didn’t blink an eye when I walked in wearing my respirator! They are used to chemically-sensitive people because their 4 green rooms are often occupied by Dr. Johnson’s patients. Dr. Rea’s patients tend to go to a difference Residence Inn in a different section of Dallas. This I learned from voicemail messages from Dr. Rea’s office that I’d forgotten to check both Friday and Saturday. Another memory lapse. Of course there were no vacancies at the other place. But there were environmentally safe condos about 5 miles from Rea’s office. So I called there. And although there were still no vacancies (I had checked back on Tuesday or Thursday, I no longer remember,) the owner graciously offered to let me crash in the sauna room or storeroom. That’s where I am now. I knew the moment I walked into the space that I wouldn’t tolerate it. I spent a few hours outside in the garden enjoying the use of free wifi and talking to patients of Rea and Johnson. I met many people who have made great progress under these Dr’s care. Some are still sick, but no longer incapacitated and close to death. Others have flown the coup and gone on to live productive lives. I learned that Johnson is perennially late and that Rea fits everyone into the same program. But the most important thing I learned is this: I can’t tolerate the air in Dallas, nor the indoor air at these Regina Caeli Environmental condos. I slept fitfully for a few hours, got congested again (none of my own bedding!) and at 4:30, tried to sleep in the car. But I wasn’t tired! That’s a sign my system in on high alert doing what it does to reduce inflammation by raising cortisol. So I’ll be moving on. Where to? Camping in a remote area. I’m going online now to look for places to camp in West Texas. I’d like to visit Guadalupe Mountain. Or I’ll go up towards Amarillo and spend a night or two at the beautiful Palo Duro Canyon. I probably won’t have wifi or cell signal. Right now, sleep sounds like a much better alternative. * cfsmethylation.blogspot.com/2011/10/eye-candy.htmlMy Dallas visit was aborted after the Marriott Residence Inn, which had promised me a green room, failed again to deliver close to the 3pm check-in time on Monday. Angry and desperate for a place to sleep, I headed north on I-75 because it was the closest highway without construction near the hotel. And construction-caused traffic jams in Dallas are ‘big’, like everything else in Texas, as I learned in the 25 minutes spent on a single exit ramp from I-635 in the misplaced hope that a personal visit to the Residence Inn would catapult action. About 45 minutes after running from Dallas, vistas of shopping malls turned to vistas of open pasture and undulating hills. And they were hills, steep rounded hills, covered with green and yellow grasses and a few bushy trees. When I paralleled the highway on a local road as I searched for my turn, the road hugged the hills like a roller coaster, climbing at grades of 9 -10% and dropping at the same steep rate. The interstate running alongside smoothed out all the bumps, creating that seamless look of American uniformity which makes Walmart and Home Depot look the same in across the nation. A half hour later, I turned onto I-35. My plan was to go to Chickasaw National Recreation Area, just off I-35. where I would spend a day or two recovering and making plans to head west. Divine had something else in mind, however, for as I crossed the border from Texas in Oklahoma, I jammed on the brakes and joined a long line of stopped cars. On the right, was a long line of idling trucks. Every now and then we inched forward, often because a pickup with 4WD had the good sense to cross the grassy divider and turn back into Texas. My 2 WD sedan was not cut out for off-road travel, so I stayed in line while 5 miles ahead, police took their reports and ambulances rescued the bodies (survivors?) of an overturned semi blocking both lanes. Unable to enjoy the delightful breezes on the prairie without the stench of diesel and gasoline, I rolled up my windows and took a car sauna..... I chose the back roads, taking OK 62 straight across the state of Oklahoma, where I enjoyed beautiful views of the mountains, golden pastures and green farmed fields. Then I hit Texas. The landscape turned flat. I saw brown fields, yellow fields, and a few spots of green. Cattle and horses. More vast fields. But soon I arrived at the foot of Palo Duro Canyon, the 2nd largest canyon in the US. It runs 125 miles in length, NW to SE. As I approached the SE corner, I enjoyed spectacular cliffs of red clay, and then finally, at a high point, a scenic view deep into the canyon. The air was clean and fresh, but still very windy and cool. Someday I will take the road up alongside the canyon and enjoy one spectacular view after another. This time, I needed to cover some miles and make it into New Mexico so that I could find a warmer, less windy place to sleep.
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Texas
Nov 14, 2011 11:56:18 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 14, 2011 11:56:18 GMT -5
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Texas
Nov 14, 2011 15:13:54 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 14, 2011 15:13:54 GMT -5
A report from someone who lives in Ft. Worth, Texas (and got to the point of almost full remission in the Bahamas):
So, since being ill, I've all been a few places. Tahoe, Reno, Dallas, and the Bay Area (San Jose and San Francisco), and once we drove from the Bay Area to Portland, Oregon.
To me, Dallas is much better than the places I mentioned above. I am actually in the suburbs near the airport, and there is natural gas drilling in our city now, and even on the golf course we live on. However, the city halted drilling for the next 6 months and developed stricter rules in order to address potential air and water quality issues. I live in new construction, so there are no mold issues. I can't say I have had much experience with being around mold (besides the mold that naturally occurs in the environment), because every house that I lived in was a mold-free as they could possibly be.
I usually feel horrid in downtown Dallas. If I am there I am often at bars, club environments, or events, which doesn't help either. But yes, I feel sick when I am in Dallas pretty much every time. It's really not nearly as bad here (near the DFW Airport), but I know I feel better other places.
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Texas
Nov 15, 2011 10:58:57 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 15, 2011 10:58:57 GMT -5
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Texas
Nov 15, 2011 11:18:52 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 15, 2011 11:18:52 GMT -5
Alice wrote: I believe in the location effect as I feel better in the Rocky Mtns. I am better at high altitude (8,000 feet). We recently went to Denver and I got real sick. I do have to be on oxygen at night. I feel better up here overall as the air is cleaner but that is just me. I got deathly sick in Texas. I went from TX to NM and felt way better. In TX it was mostly pesticides, molds, petroleum and of course pollens. I lived south of the San Antonio area and in San Antonio (deadly there). There was a reference here to electromagnetic pollution around Atlanta. I feel better at higher altitude as I feel the air is cleaner. Thanks so much for explaining this to me. I was only in ABQ for a month as we searched for a house in the East Mountain area. My husband cannot bear cities at all. I got severe asthma the first few nights due to the wind sweeping in under the motel room door as it had funneled thru Tijeras Canyon. I get asthma from winds and migraine from large pressure cells. My migraine has really cleared up this year. I use germanium for it when they come on. I lived in the East Mountain area on the edge of the National Forest for about 4 years where I experienced lots of healing. I also found an EI doctor which amazed me as at that time I didn't even know there was a treatment or name for this illness! My asthma improved radically in that area. I only went into ABQ to buy at Wild Oats. I have been mega dosing on vitamin C and some other stuff for years now. The big problem with ABQ is in winter they burn too much firewood. Otherwise I would love to live there! I am no longer in East Mountain but moved to CO (hubby's job). I am in the middle of about a hundred Ponderosa pines now in Ute Pass. In the East Mountains there were a few but more pinons, scrub oak and rabbit bush unless you got on Raven Road but we weren't that far south. The ABQ area you describe is the area we plan to move to if we ever move back there again. I need to be at lower elevation. Edgewood had too much pesticides. Did you know 14 south? I am trying to remember the name of the road that we turned on. It was a winding goat track that went for miles. The house there was fantastic, best one I ever lived in and reasonable as so hard to get to it. It was windy but I don't recall it being too bad. My pain was worse when the snow would drip off the roof for 2 or 3 days. I also worried about fire danger there. Since I got online I know quite a few people who live in that area. (EI people) They chat on Green Canary chat quite often. ps- my fibro pain is mostly gone and it used to be bad. I still have some arthritis. In San Antonio, TX they thought I had lupus. I was also told I had ms! health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/7433?l=1health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/5479health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/5510health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/7434?l=1
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Texas
Nov 16, 2011 16:45:51 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 16, 2011 16:45:51 GMT -5
A report: I did just get back from a trip to Northern Arizona and I felt pretty great the whole time I was there. I used to live in No. AZ a few years back and I currently live in SE TX, where I feel crappy every darn day. I think I have problems with mold, heat and humidity here. I would love to make a change to a better climate, but unfortunately there don't seem to be any jobs available right now in those places Here's to hoping I win the PowerBall so that I can get out of this Swamp! forums.phoenixrising.me/showthread.php?13799-Mold-or-Oxygen-Feel-better-in-Hawaii/page2
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Texas
Nov 18, 2011 10:03:20 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 18, 2011 10:03:20 GMT -5
A report from 2005: As far as the location issue goes, we just moved from the middle of Chicago to a much more laid back, toxic free small town in Texas. I tend to think just overall the environment is less stressful here, which I feel is a direct link to CFS (at least intensity of). Out of the 4 years, I definatly felt the worst by far when living in Chicago. We've lived in Texas for about 8 or 9 months and other factors have also seriously reduced stress, and I've begun having a lot more energy. I'm doing things now that a year ago would have put in bed for a week. My husband is Romanian and we hope to move to Romania to live there in about 5 years, and I worry the transition is going to set me back into this even if I get to feeling better now. Probably silly to worry about the future, but I do love to worry. I've had a big setback every time we even travel to visit there. -Heather health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/1776?l=1
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Texas
Nov 18, 2011 12:57:32 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 18, 2011 12:57:32 GMT -5
A report from 2004: I live near Dallas and have been diagnosed for FMS, CFS, and Epstein-Barr. I also have Restless Leg Syndrome, and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, which I control well with the drug Mirapex. The FMS and CFS are the culprits. I feel better in Maui, but not great. In fact in Aug. 2002, I really felt almost great, but again in Aug. 2003, I only felt OK. I found that I have a flare-up of FM on the plane both going and coming and I won't be flying that many hours again this year. The trip is too hard for me, especially only staying one week. I don't ever have any "feel great days," but I occasionally have a "feel OK day." I do better in the summer than winter, that's for sure. But when I left Dallas the end of August, I didn't feel well here.....barely was able to get to the airport 2 hours drive. When I got to Maui, I had energy. I was hurting quite a bit from Fibro, but my energy level was decidedly better. Both years I was in Maui it was rather hot and humid. I was staying right on the ocean and sitting out by the ocean a lot, where it was breezy. I remember getting up at 6:00 am and running down to the beach to swim first thing. I NEVER wake up ready to do anything at home. In fact, mornings are my worst time of day. Just getting started in the morning is the hardest thing. Perhaps the 6 hour time zone change had something to calculate into the equation, don't know. I think that FM is now my primary illness, with fatigue being secondary. Oh, I spent a year in bed with fatigue and FM last year, and my brain doesn't work normally I am sure. When I am in Maui, I have energy, but my FM isn't any better. I'm in North Texas, north of Dallas, and I feel rotten. -Carolyn health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/769?l=1health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFS_CFIDS_ME/message/748?l=1
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Texas
Dec 13, 2011 2:06:04 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Dec 13, 2011 2:06:04 GMT -5
Grampus wrote: I just spent my 7 days on O'ahu and felt [mostly] good while I was there. I don't know if it was just the "vacation effect" or what, but I felt like I could actually go out and do things every day. Of course, at the end of the day I would be overly tired and barely able to put one foot in front of the other! My sleep was still poor, despite all of the exercise. Believe me, we exercised while we were there. Walking in the sand, snorkeling, going for little hikes up hills and whatnot, and even just the daily walking around the main Waikiki shopping area was way more than I could accomplish on a "normal" day at home. I think being out in the fresh air and sunshine all day really helps, plus getting to swim in the ocean water. These are not things I do at home because it's too nasty/hot/muggy/etc. in Houston. Now that I'm back I can feel my head "fogging up" again Grrrr. forums.phoenixrising.me/showthread.php?13799-Mold-or-Oxygen-Feel-better-in-Hawaii/page12
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Texas
Jan 1, 2012 18:55:22 GMT -5
Post by jenbooks on Jan 1, 2012 18:55:22 GMT -5
Abilene: Very Good Southeast of Abilene, in ranchland (Rising Star): Excellent San Angelo: Bad when there are pesticides Austin: So polluted it's hard to tell Kerrville: Good but nonetheless can feel a distinct downturn if coming back from Abilene, then adjust to it Ingram/Hunt: Slightly better than Kerrville Houston: Horrific Dallas: Rotten Piney Woods until you get closer to the border and closer to Shreveport: Really good Wimberley, especially on higher wooded bluffs: Very very good (but a friend who camps in the Gila says it's not that great) San Antonio: Not bad but the pollution is horrible
Areas I haven't been to that are reputed to be good: Marfa, and Alpine. The latter has an observatory so you know it has to be pretty clear. Both are higher altitudes.
Parts of Big Bend are supposed to be good. North Texas, near Amarillo, supposedly good
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Texas
Mar 15, 2012 16:52:02 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Mar 15, 2012 16:52:02 GMT -5
A CFS and Lyme patient from outside of Dallas wrote to me about his visit to San Antonio in March 2012:
I felt really good in San Antonio. Walked for miles. So for a test, I decided to have a drink. Felt fine after, but it kept me up all night which is typical and gave me a hangover feeling in the morning (yes, from one drink).
Stayed on the riverwalk in a brand new hotel -- Hotel Contessa. Not cheap, but if I went back I'd stay there again. Personally, I think the hotel was great. Brand new, no weird musty smells. No signs of any mold even when examining the grout in the bathroom. I really think I developed the mold 6th sense. I moved from inside to outside at the Irish pub I went to because the building felt bad - and it was nicer outside anyway.
I would say it felt better than Austin for sure, but it may have been the hotel in Austin. I was also on 6th street (party street) and there were 200,000 there for a music festival, and the second hand smoke seemed to really bother me.
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Texas
May 10, 2013 11:09:50 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on May 10, 2013 11:09:50 GMT -5
"Plant," a member of this board, asked me to add this report.
Diagnosis: Chronic Lyme disease and Large Biotoxin Exposure to Water-damaged building, and since then unable to tolerate around 50% of buildings.
*
DFW: 1 May 2013
Wish I had never gone there. Extremely traumatic and lost most of my belongings again.
Thought it would be fine since I had stayed there prior to getting mold illness/large exposure, but it was awful.
Makes me reconsider my entire life story given that I lived there from age 2-18 and the area might have had a biotoxin problem for a while.
Starting about 30 minutes before landing, I started to feel extremely sick and have muscle problems. I was crying on the plane because I felt so bad. Mild muscle paralysis, feeling very wired, having collagen problems. The mold symptoms I had gotten over started to come back quickly.
The problem was particularly bad while driving south from the airport.
I went to south Fort Worth and the air quality was still bad there. In the past when I'd lived there, I'd commented that it felt like there was a haze of what felt like a hive mind over the area, and I attributed it to other things, but it could have been the biotoxins.
I was doing so poorly and realized if I stayed there too long I might lose my ability to make decisions or travel or might get stuck in a hospital somewhere there, so I booked another flight that evening and went back to Albuquerque.
Once again, something felt terrible for 30 minutes after take-off, but within the next hour or two after that my mold symptoms slowly went away, with the same sensations of immune balancing etc. I had experienced the first time they went away.
I don't plan to go near DFW again, not for an airplane connection - nothing.
*
El, Paso/Juarez: 4 (but only there briefly) May 2013
Stopped in here briefly on the way to the airport.
I didn't find anything wrong with the air quality - felt similar to Las Cruces - but the wind was coming from the east, not the south, where Juarez is.
The airport initially bothered me some but I got used to it and had no problem waiting there.
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Texas
Aug 8, 2014 2:46:05 GMT -5
Post by Lisa Petrison on Aug 8, 2014 2:46:05 GMT -5
I drove across the panhandle of Texas on I-40 in August 2014. It felt great to me this time. I camped at Lake McClelland, and it was a nice place with decent free showers. Amarillo of course is a little polluted, but not too bad. For Amarillo, 3.5 = Fair/Good. For everything else, 5 = excellent.
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Post by aerose on Dec 21, 2015 11:54:59 GMT -5
I drove across texas from w to e from el paso through rt 20. El Paso is a total shithole. All of texas smells awful and is a 1 through to Fort Worth. I stopped for a bit near Cowboys stadium and felt pretty good there. Across rt 20, fort worth and arlington were the only decent places.
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