This is Scary (to me)

DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT DISGUSTING BODILY FUNCTIONSI I haven't been writing about the chemical spill here in Charleston because basically all that can be said has been said. The issues are the same. They are still dismissing random schools on an intermittant basis because the MCHM fumes keep coming back. Of course the "rapid response teams" always declare the water safe. Don't worry I'm getting to the disgusting part...first I want to say that the Governor is in a catch 22 situation. He declared the water safe within a week of the spill so FEMA left with all it's aid. Now, because people are so obviously still having problems he is trying to get FEMA to come back and help pay for the expense of the water distribution and testing that is still going on. FEMA says, everything is OK. We don't need to come back. Now for the disgusting part. The whole time this chemical spill thing was going on I was declaring that I was fine. I was having lots of symptoms those first 2 weeks but all of them are not out of the ordinary for me and I have ways to treat them all. But usually they don't all happen at once. For the first 2 weeks after the spill I was having the following symptoms even though I wasn't drinking the water. I started to shower one week after the spill after flushing my plumbing as instructed by our governor and the water company. 1. burning eyes - taken care of with eyedrops - could have been allergies for all I know 2. nose bleeds - not runny nose bleeds but I was having excess mucous production so I was having to blow my nose constantly so I could breathe. The mucous was full of blood. - could be a side effect of drying out from oxygen 3. headache - I don't normally get headaches but it's not unheard of. I had one for days, if not weeks. 4. My breathing got so bad that I was back on my bi-pap almost 24 hours a day again, after making good progress in December. Again. This is not unheard of for me. 5. low grade stomach ache - all in my head, I told myself 6. dry red patches on my skin...not unheard of in dry winter weather. 7. The top couple of layers of skin peeled off one of my fingers. I thought it was weird at the time but I didn't associate it with anything....until I saw a woman speak at a town meeting. She showed everyone her finger. She said the top couple of layers of skin kept peeling off. It looked just like my finger. (kind of like the skin that is left after you drain a blister) But I didn't have a blister. The skin just kind of fell off. 8. When I took a shower I noticed that even once I was feeling better that if I took a shower I had to IMMEDIATELY get on my bi-pap machine. I would get so tired and weak I would have to sit in the shower for a few minutes after I was finished. I attributed this weakness to the fact that I was only taking 2 showers a week (still am) and the hot water was soooo relaxing and refreshing. The showers don't effect me that way now and I am still only taking 2 a week. 9. On 3 separate occasions in the shower I had to stop the shower and open the shower curtain because I COULD NOT BREATHE. It would hit me all of a sudden and it was like I had swallowed a huge gulp of water and it went down the wrong way if you know what I mean. I can't say that has ever happened to me before. The first time I thought I was being a klutz. The second time I wondered...The third time pretty much tells me that something in the water was keeping me from breathing. 10.Bleeding from my anal cavity. I have an internal hemorroid so that happens on occasion but it went on for a couple of weeks. Again I dismissed all symptoms as stuff that can and does happen to me but I don't know that they have all happened at once. I have not used my water since January except to clean and bathe....until yesterday. I decided that I wanted a big, cold glass of ice water and I forgot to put any water in the fridge. I know plenty of people who are using the water already but they don't have my health issues. Anyway, what can one glass of water hurt? Yesterday I had a mild stomach upset all day. I dismissed it as being in my head. Today I have bleeding from my anal cavity again.