The biggest bummer for me when it comes to DNRS is what they recommend you watch during the first 6 months + of your limbic retraining journey. So much of it is so cringey it's actually triggering for me. So I've spent the last year trying to figure out what kind of entertainment I can actually consume that will both, entertain me and soothe my limbic system while not triggering my gag reflex. 

I've stumbled across 6 main areas that work for me. They're derived from my interests and they are:

1. Food
2. History & Everyday Life
3. Cute Animals
4. Making Stuff & Home Flipping
5. Learning
6. Internet Stories & Funny Videos

Below are a bunch of videos in each category to get you started!

With a mountain of food sensitivities, you'd thing it would be triggering for me to watch delicious food videos but I find them to be hypnotizing. I enjoy thinking about how everything tastes and I love seeing how it's all prepared. 

I've been saying this in my head for the last 11 months. Before I get into my first 3 months of DNRS, I want to let you know that this is not my first attempt at DNRS. I bought the DVDs off ebay for $100 in February of last year (2020). I was SO EXCITED to dive in. After the first day I noticed HUGE CHANGES for the better. My husband and I took his grandma for a walk around the neighborhood, it was a chilly night and one of our neighbors always has their wood burning fireplace going, that night was no exception. My body usually reacts hard to smoke, I'm just used to it at this point. But, that night on the walk, I could smell the smokey air and my body had no reaction! It was incredible! The next day we went shopping and a women near us was wearing very strong perfume, I could smell it and, again... no reaction! I hadn't smelled perfume in years without a full on breakdown happening within my body where I would have to fight to keep a train of thought and not puke among many other symptoms. I felt hope for the first time.

COVID-19 hit and it was an election year full of chaos. You'd think being on the other side of the world would insulate me from the election year drama in the US but with social media, there's no escaping. I took a social media break. But, when I returned, nothing had changed. I thought about deleting social media but I like to see what my friends and family far away are up to as well as find inspiration through creative design accounts, etc. I thought about unfriending people but that felt petty. So, I sank. I sank into a pit and did my rounds less and less. And, eventually stopped full rounds altogether.

August of 2020, a woman named Robyn posted in an MCS group I was in on Facebook asking people why they weren't doing DNRS, didn't they want to get better instead of sitting around complaining? I read the backlash of pissed off people. "How dare she!" But, I knew she was right. Staying in that group and avoiding my rounds was only harming myself more. But, I had a mountain of resistance toward doing my rounds. I felt my limbs frozen in mud when I thought of going to my meditation space to do a full round. I was fine with the tiny partial rounds that I would do in my head whenever exposed. I actually never stopped doing those but, when it came to the full rounds, where the magic really happens, I was dead in the water.

This is my quick overview. Be sure to check out the full DNRS program here. Also, I'm not a doctor. I'm just someone living through this. None of this is medical advice. 

How many jerks have told you that one? I know I've heard it too many times. Thankfully, they're only partly right. Most of us with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) had an exposure event that kicked off our symptoms. That could be anything from exposure to pesticides, drinking contaminated water, over exposure to a chemical, etc. Additionally, some of us have the MTHFR mutations (Me! Compound heterozygous) that make it more challenging for our bodies to physically detox. The symptoms we experience from our initial exposure events and detoxing challenges (if we have them), create troubling symptoms that trigger our fight or flight response. We add to this response by trying to avoid situations that have triggered symptoms in the past and/or worrying about future exposures, as well as stressing out when being exposed (because it's stressful!) which only feeds the negative feedback loop that traps us in fight or flight making our symptoms even worse. And, the cycle continues like that, a painful downward spiral that leads to the loss of family, friends, food, jobs, joy, and any hope of leading a normal life ever again, unless disrupted.