Multiple chemical sensitivity is real – people who have it aren’t making it up | Letter

For decades, patients with complex illnesses - especially those that affect women more - have been told that it's in their heads, says Beth Pollack

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), discussed in your article, is a common symptom of several illnesses that I research (Allergic to the world: can medicine help people with severe intolerance to chemicals?, 20 September).

The article suggests that MCS should be treated, at least in part, as a mental illness. For decades, patients with complex illnesses have been told that it's in their heads, and this is especially true for illnesses that predominantly affect females. Multiple sclerosis patients weren't widely believed until MRI machines were invented. Until long Covid, ME/CFS patients often weren't taken seriously, despite 25% of them being housebound from severe illness. Fibromyalgia patients were commonly dismissed until researchers discovered half of them have small fibre neuropathy.