Disability leave, however, did not resolve the situation. One day a strident former machine operator came to the clinic wearing, much to everyone's amazement, a respirator. We discovered shortly that we were not alone. Thus we became aware of how widespread the problem is and how incredibly expensive the costs are for medical care and disability in each case. The key problem is that there are many symptoms and probably several causes that interact with each other.
Physicians are most at ease when one kind of germ causes one kind of disease.
Multiple chemical sensitivity lies at the other end of the spectrum-many unknowns, many causes, many symptoms. The majority of physicians simply will not try to treat people with multiple chemical sensitivity-they say they don't know anything about it and can't help. The victim feels betrayed, alienated, desperately alone, and helpless. The victim is feeling real symptoms-they are not psychological or imagined, yet has no one to turn to. Now there is a small but expanding group of physicians who are willing to treat patients with multiple chemical sensitivity.