Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (Mcs) no longer is an enigma in our society. Unfortunately, more and more citizen have it in some form or someone else as many in the health care commerce are accepting it as a concrete diagnosis. What is it? Mcs is defined as a multi-system disorder ordinarily brought on by toxic exposure to a chemical or chemicals. The exposure can be acute, i.e. A large whole of a toxin over a short duration (hours to days) or it can be long-term, a low-level exposure over a duration of weeks, months or years.
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An example of an acute exposure is a chemical spill and an example of a long-term exposure is a someone living in a house that has been tented to kill termites and gets progressively sick.
Mcs over the long haul depletes an individual's nutritional stores and causes problems in many dissimilar systems and organs in the body. Hence the term multi-system disorder. The someone becomes sensitized to the particular chemical. With repeated exposure, the sensitivity increases.
Also, there is what is called a spreading corollary where the personel is bothered by many more dissimilar chemicals. As this happens, more body systems become involved. Mcs practically always effects the Central Nervous System.
According to the American College of Occupational and Environmental medicine (Acoem) the diagnosis, treatment, and etiologic estimation of Mcs had remained a troublesome medical and public concern for individuals, physicians, government and organizations. Also, agreeing to the Acoem, the health was first described in 1952 and has since amassed over 20 dissimilar names, along with "environmental illness", "total allergy syndrome", "20th Century disease" and "Chemical Aids". My personal beloved is 20th Century disease.
In my mind, this name is totally proper since our society's quest to sustain everything from food to building materials has created this mess.
Aceom recognizes that there is a lack of scientific research about Mcs. However, they sustain tentative conclusions about Mcs. These conclusions are: 1) that there is no immunologic basis for Mcs. 2) that there is an overlap between Mcs, continuing Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and other historic non-specific condition.
An description by Japanese physicians from the University of Tokyo School of medicine is pretty much in bargain with the statement of the Acoem. Baisky Aj,Borus from the agency of Psychiatry at Birgham and Womens Hospital in Boston Massachusetts in an description titled Functional Somatic Syndrome which is someone else way of saying Mcs states that even though corporal causes may ultimately be found in patients with Mcs, the suffering of these patients is exacerbated by a self perpetuating, self-validating cycle in which coarse endemic, somatic symptoms are incorrectly attributed to serious abnormality reinforcing the persons reliance that he/she has a serious illness. In other words, although there may be just medical cause for this condition, much of the symptoms are psychological. I am in total inequity with this statement as I believe and will try to prove to all that Mcs is a toxic reaction to chemicals that creates abnormal physiological function in the body.
In 1999, consensus criteria for the definition of Mcs were formulated because even though there continues to be a lack of objective corporal evidence that sustain the diagnosis of Mcs, government studies in the U.S., U.K. And Canada revealed 2-4 times as many cases of chemical sensitivity among Gulf War Veterans than soldiers who weren't deployed to the region.
Also, state health agency surveys of civilians in New Mexico and California showed that 2-6% respectively, have been diagnosed with Mcs and that 16% of civilians reported and "unusual sensitivity to coarse everyday chemicals. Those criteria are as follows: 1) continuing condition. 2) symptoms that occur reproducibly. 3) symptoms that sass to low levels of exposure. 4) symptoms to multiple unrelated chemicals. 5) symptoms that disappear or are reduced when the chemical is removed. 6) symptoms that occur in multiple organs.
In my opinion, the best thing that is happening with regards to Mcs is awareness. Today, there are more governmental agencies and health care providers who sass Mcs.
Bbc News Online did an description March 15th,00, called Household Chemicals health Warning by Alex Kirby. In the article, it talks about Drs. Keith Eaton and Honor Anthony who are the authors of the description multiple Chemical Sensitivity Recognition and administration that was published in the British society for Allergy, Environmental and Nutritional Medicine. " Drs. Eaton and Anthony urge the British government to tighten the regulation of chemical use, along with stricter controls on the authorization of new chemicals and the removal of persistent chemicals from food." Interestingly, only 14% of the most heavily used chemicals used in Europe have a full set of basic protection data publicly available. I find that incredible.
One of the television news magazine's here in the Us did an hour show on Sick building Syndrome. It featured the total disruption of families because of fungus growing rampant in their house. The other story that they did was the family disrupted and forced to move out of their house because they had their house sprayed for termites. These are real phenomenon, no one would ever imagine this. Because of all the chemicals in the products that are put in our buildings, the Us Environmental protection agency calls indoor air ability one of the top five environmental health risks of our time.
Benzene and formaldehyde both, both carcinogens are only protected by Osha which is the Occupational health & protection administration in a white collar setting. Elissa Feldman, Epa's join together director of Indoor Environments Div. States "There is no federally guaranteed protection from exposure to unhealthy air indoors." Feldman also calls the air going straight through the buildings "chemical soup. Of course, there are many other ways and many other chemicals that can cause Sick building Syndrome. I'm limiting it simply because of space.
Let us talk for a small about formaldehyde. someone else name for it is embalming fluid. It's a preservative. I tell you, it is everywhere, from foods to drinks to walls, just everywhere. Remember, I said in the former paragraph that it is carcinogenic. That means cancer causing. Amazingly, there are only two beers that I have found that does not have formaldehyde in it.
What about pesticides that are known cancer causing agents? Sure, the Us government bans them from being used on produce in the Us, but we still import produce from other countries that use those harmful pesticides. I ask why?
People who are affected by Mcs ordinarily have experienced toxic amounts of substances straight through repeated exposure to synthetic chemicals. Remember, I stated that you can have either a repeated exposure to small amounts or a one time exposure to a large amount. Notice I said synthetic chemicals. Man- made products are causing this to happen to us. We are doing this to ourselves. It's the odor of the chemical for the most part that causes the damage. This includes many of the coarse household products that are in our cabinets now.
From what I can gather, Mcs affects about 16% of the population. Now that is a huge percentage of the population. Why though only those 16%. No one can say for certain. Obviously, the 16% have some sort of vulnerability, maybe some genetic predisposition. That is the windup that I come to.
When Mcs occurs straight through the odor of the chemical, it effects the oldfactory (nasal) system. Now remember from above that Mcs is a multi-system condition. This being because it affects the Central Nervous System, the brain if you will. The odor then goes from the nose to the dissimilar parts of the brain. That is how it reaches the multiple systems. Not a good thing! Again, we are doing this to ourselves. When Mcs occurs straight through the ingestion of the chemical for an example in our food, it is treated like any other chemical that enters our body and causes a reaction.
What about food? Much of our food is chemically treated so that it is more profitable to the companies. Ingesting these foods and chemicals can cause a myriad of health concerns. Most of these pesticides are neurotoxic which means that they adversely corollary the Central Nervous law of the insects that are targeted to kill. An personel who is vulnerable will have an adverse reaction. Also, just as a side bar, simply because a fruit or vegetable is classified as organic doesn't mean it doesn't have pesticides. Some organic growers spray the soil not the plant itself and call it organic. You have to be an investigator.
There is much discussion about Phorphyrin Metabolism problems as they relate to Mcs. From the Porphyria Educational Services Bulletin, Vol. 1 No. 39, Sept 22, 1999. To paraphrase, it states" that chemicals do undoubtedly play a large part in triggering acute attacks of porphyria in today's contemporary environmentally unsafe world. However, porphyria as a disease on it's own was colse to long before chemicals played a roll in the growth of the disease. The well known Mcs writer, Cynthia Wilson who spent her life in research and writing on our toxic world, found by her research that there are 3,700 toxins that are directly connected to porphyria. As you can see, the chemical toxicity causes the porpyria, the porpyria doesn't cause the chemical toxicity.
Researchers at the University of Washington and The University of California at Los Angeles in August of 1998 as reported in the Journal Nature, began mapping out how differently citizen react to the same pesticides and chemicals. They found straight through their research that one someone can be 100 times as sensitive to a particular chemical than someone else person. "A small bit of inequity in metabolism can make a lot of inequity in response," says Clem Furlone, a professor in the Uw's agency of Environmental Health. They accomplished that the inequity in citizen stem from an enzyme in the body. This enzyme apparently is a contributing factor for vascular disease and also regulates resistance to some pesticides. "Someone with low levels of this enzyme would be very susceptible to those pesticides," says Furlong.
This is an explanation of why individuals are sensitive only to some pesticides. Logical deduction would lead on to believe that Mcs sufferers have deficiencies in dissimilar kinds of enzymes that make them susceptible to a particular one or group of chemicals.
In 1998, a research group lead by Diane M Shih found that mice lacking an enzyme called serum paraoxonase are susceptible to organophosphate toxicity. I believe we are getting there people. Only accomplished minds will preclude us from comprehension more and more about this disease as time goes on
My husband who was a chiropractic, homeopathic and acupuncture doctor prior to his disability keeps pointing out to me while writing this description is that in his opinion, the Mcs outpatient is hypersensitized. What does he mean by that? In this case, hypersensitized means that you can and or will react to practically anything. Does that mean that your toxicity is to everything? No! My husband says that because of the toxicity to the one or 2 chemicals, your law is now sensitive to any and every chemical. In my husband's opinion, the multiple Chemical Sensitivity comes from being hypersensitive to multiple chemicals because of the toxic overload by one or two chemicals to your system. My husband goes on to relate two types of unfavorable reactions in the body. A histamine reaction which we all know as allergies that are treated for the most part by antihistamines, and a kinin reaction. Histamine reactions are caused by pollens, dust, mites, etc. Kinin reactions are cause by chemicals and such. It is the kinin release that caused the hypersensitivity. Because of this, my husband believes that looking the chemical that cause the initial kinin release is imperative.
Evaluation
Ok so you think or are inevitable that you have Mcs. What next? Do you simply go to any doctor that is available? The sass to that is a resounding No! First off, you need to make sure that the doctor you pick believes that Mcs is a physical, not psychological condition. The doctor needs to believe that synthetic chemicals toxically overload your body. Don't even let him/her make the implication that your health is psychological.
So what do you do if you have or think you have Mcs? The first thing that you need to do is to seek medical help. What kind of doctor do you go to? I think that the best sass to that is one who understands what Mcs is. That could be a Md, Do, Dc, Acupuncturist or a Homeopath. To find the right someone nearest you, you need to do some investigating. Check with Mcs organizations to try and find the nearest one to you. Personally, my preferences are the homeopathic practitioner and the Acupuncturist, because in my thought you need natural approach.
There are acupuncture points that will drive toxins out of the body. The homeopath is qualified with remedies that will counteract most chemicals. My husband a retired Chiropractor, Homeopath/Acupuncturist treated many citizen with Mcs and agreeing to him with good results. He states that he used a mixture of acupuncture, homeopathic remedies and nourishment to help combat this condition. The one thing that he stressed to his patients was that it was mandatory that they get out of the environment that is causing them to be sick. Without that, nothing will work.
Without taking an active role in helping yourself, you will become a prisoner to the chemical environment. Some of you are too damaged already for many things to help. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Keep on trying.
In order for you to have a chance of getting best with a inevitable physician, in my thought he/she needs to make a notification to you that they recognizes the intensity and the reality of your symptoms and that they are undoubtedly connected to a chemical toxicity. Without that declaration, in my thought you will not have any reliance that he/she can help you and consequently, you will not receive any help.
Remember you doctor can not give you all of the answers on the first visit. It should take time to gather all of the facts needed to properly suggest you. When your doctor is taking your initial history, you should make sure that you relate each symptom that you have. You need to tell him/her when the symptom started and probably more importantly how did it start? Was it after a exact exposure to a exact chemical? How long was the exposure? What have you done to try to heal yourself?
The doctor's gawk should focus on the body parts in query with exact blood work for the exact organ system. Just as leading as doing the permissible tests for the exact organ in question, don't allow the doctor to order tests that are not principal and therefore will cost you more money. The following tests are not recommended for routine estimation of Mcs because either they can precipitate a violent reaction or because they are worthless for the diagnosis. Notice I say routine. There could be a exact think for anyone of these tests. Let your doctor account for to you why you need the test. 1) Environmental challenge test. 2) Quantitative encephalography. 3) Brain electrical operation mapping. 4) Neuropsychogenic testing. 5) Brainstem evolked potentials. 6) Position emission tomography. 7) Immunologic testing and measurement of blood levels of trace evaporative organic compounds or pesticides. These tests sound leading but don't help in the diagnosis of Mcs.
Your physician's customary objective is to help you uncover which chemical/chemicals are causing your condition. You need to work as a team with your doctor to uncover this mystery. Note nothing is trivial in this investigation.
Treatment
While a whole of dissimilar types of treatments may help improve you farranging health, only perfect and exact avoidance for the exact chemical/chemicals will stop the progression and if not to much damage has occurred, improve the health of a Mcs patient. The most principal part in treating a outpatient with Mcs is identifying and then avoiding the chemical/chemicals that triggered your body's reaction. Even with exact avoidance of the trigger chemical/chemicals, improved health may take up to a year.
The web site http://www.ourlittleplace.com has a astonishing page named guidelines for Non-toxic Living. I'm going to highlight them for you but feel free to go to the site and read them thoroughly. 1) Avoid all scented products. 2) Avoid all fabric softeners, dryer sheets, Clorox scented detergents, etc. 3) Avoid all pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and fertilizers. 4) Use only non-toxic cleaning products and someone care products. 5) Drink and bathe in filtered water. 6) Eat organic food. 7 Wear only natural-fiber clothing, 100% cotton, linen, wool or silk. 8) Use only 100% cotton, wool or pure silk bed linens and blankets. 9) As much as inherent avoid plastics. 10) Open your windows as often as possible. 11) inevitable houseplants are beneficial to remove toxins from the air. The best are philodendrons, spider plants, aloe Vera etc. Go to the site to get the rest.
The second thing that the Mcs outpatient needs to do to improve their health is to profess optimal nutrition. What is optimal nutrition? You need to make sure that you are eating enough calories. My research has lead me to the thought that your food intake should be 40% protein, 30% fats, and 30% carbohydrates, very similar to the Zone diet. In the next combine of paragraphs, I'm going to figure some natural therapies. Prior to outlining them, I did research into their efficacy and spoke to a whole of physicians along with my husband. I am not giving out medical advice; I am simply trying to strengthen your knowledge. I suggest that you do your own research, speak to your own doctor and come to a windup if you want to try any of these natural therapies.
Nutritional supplementation in my thought is very important. A general multivitamin is fine to take as a baseline. Make sure that your multivitamin is entirely natural. Do not take any synthetic vitamin! synthetic vitamins are man make chemicals. That is what got you feeling sick right! Along with your multivitamin, agreeing to my husband, you should take a B complex 75 mg., and practically 2 grams of Vitamin C. Also, very leading are proteolytic enzymes. These should be taken immediately upon awakening in the morning and then wait an hour before you have something to eat. With all supplementation, you need to corollary the directions on the bottle. Most importantly, you need to research and find these vitamins in an all-natural source. Again, do not use synthetic vitamins or one with fillers.
Acupuncture therapy can be very beneficial to the Mcs patient. There are exact acupuncture points that release toxins from the body. There are also points that can strengthen exact organs. I would be very cautious taking Oriental Herbs though. If you are being treated by an acupuncturist who wants you to take pre- packaged Oriental Herbs, make sure that there are no synthetic chemicals or fillers in the herbs. Also, make sure that any bulk herbs that you take have not been sprayed with anything. This can be dangerous to you. Ask a lot of questions and be a good investigator. A good acupuncturist is worth their weight in gold to a Mcs outpatient in my opinion.
Homeopathy in my thought can be very helpful to the Mcs patient. A good Homeopathic doctor is priceless. The Homeopath needs to take an exhaustive history to match your symptoms to the permissible remedy. There are many dissimilar kinds of remedies that can be prescribed. My husband tells me that each case is dissimilar to the homeopath. However, he used three remedies a lot with Mcs patients. They were Nitric Acid, Ddt, and Formaldehyde.
When it is all said and done, I believe that combining all three of the natural remedies along with exact avoidance of the offending chemical/chemicals will give you the best chance of regaining some of your life.
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complicated Chemical Sensitivity
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