by BonaFide 53 Replies latest jw friends
i used to get really dizzy and sick when i smelled the porta pottys at the quickbuilds, so i guess i was allergic to crap huh!
oh and how about at the conventions at lunch time! tuna fish, chicken salad a hundred different food containers oppening at once......gross, somebody spray some perfume
there was this bethellite sister who cleaned bethel apartments. she approached managment about this problem.... they re-assigned her to clean the offices
there was also this other bethellite couple. can't remember their name. they were blonde and light skinned
I always hear (on this forum) that people's panic attacks and other similar maladies go away completely after they stop going to the meetings, and more importantly stop being under the control of what they thought to be "the truth".
Kudra, while this might be true in a few isolated cases, it is more likely that they never had true panic attacks and "similar" maladies. I work with people who have a variety of mental illnesses and not a one is a jw or ever was and not having been has not improved their situation. I would say that your sample here is limited and too unscientific to be able to make any reasonable conclusion.
I leave the diagnoses to the professionals, doctors, and the cures. I know just as many jws who have not left the WTS (having never been in) who still struggle with depression, bipolar, anxiety, etc. These are physical illnesses. It would not be reasonable to suggest either that cancer or diabetes would disappear if the individual left the WTS. I would say that the policies/doctrines of the WTS can aggravate certain conditions but are not the cause.
I knew of several JWs who claimed this, all women, at 3 different KH's. I know that there are real allergies of this type, but I can't help but feel most of these are not real. Many JWs seem to be hypochondriacs. They need some kind of illness/disability/"thorn in the flesh" to make them unique and make thier "service to Jehovah" more of a challenge.
Yeah, there were many sistsers in one of my congregations that had "severe chemical sensitivity." I remember once they wouldn't use my car for field service because they swore I must have had an air freshener in my car. I didn't. Never have used them. My cars don't stink because maybe I like to keep them clean and not throw garbage all over the place?
Hi Blondie--
Not making any kind of "scientific" statement- I'm just saying that is what I hear on this forum a lot.
And Kudra, this is no really a place to make conclusions on the few experiences we hear that are mostly secondhand. As to others actions, I know of people who have diabetes, but their menu choices belie that...am I to conclude from their bad food choices, that they must not have diabetes?
Like I said up above, I am on a health & safety committee for a large department (1,000 people) and it is hard for supervisors and co-workers to accept that people have these allergies. We have learned to let the doctors make the diagnoses and we try to make the accommodations necessary to help them stay in the workplace. People with sensitivities learn that they have some adjustments to make too to make this work.
I have a sensitivity to some perfumes myself and cigarette smoke, but make my own adjustments. I now sit back in an area with not as much people traffic. It has made a big difference. To try and have all 200 people in my division adjustment their grooming habits would not be realistic or necessary.
Love, Blondie
Blondie, I appreciate what you're saying and your work. However, from a policy standpoint, I prefer to think of these issues in terms of "indoor air pollution," rather than that of being aware of people who have "chemical sensitivites." The reason being that everyone can agree on the need for a healthy indoor environment, especially since most of our lives are spent indoors, and a significant portion of that is at the workplace. It re-focuses the issue on the fact that there are all sorts of environmental health factors and everyone is susceptable to an unhealthy work space. This is in contrast to making it into a purely personnel compatibility problem, where certian people can be stigmatized for a health condition which may or may not be related to a somataform disorder.
Not making conclusions! Not making conclusions!
All I ever said was:
I always hear (on this forum)
Just what I heard here...
And that I trust the opinion of these medical folks: http://www.aafp.org/afp/980901ap/edit.html
:)
kudra
p.s. I think we ALL have allergies to cigarette smoke... and for the benefit of any work place folks should not wear strong perfume or cologne. And AXE bodyspray should be banned... :P
I have found that over the last two or three years, I have become much more sensitive to the smell of bovine excretia wafting down the aisles of my local KH.
om
