Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Posted on 5th April, 2016

Thanks for reading my blog posts. Its been sometime since posting.

Life has dictated that my energy has been elsewhere but I will always come back to posting in order to raise awareness and to offer any help or support I can of those suffering auto immune illnesses.

I had largely overcome my initial diagnosis of Lupus and Antiphospholipid syndrome but after a series of stressful events in my life the symptoms reappeared and have been difficult to deal with. Gladly, although symptoms are there, I have avoided another diagnosis of Lupus or Sticky blood syndrome so far.

My lasting legacy however, is a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, which, while the illness itself is not considered life threatening, is extremely hard and debilitating to live with.

For my friends out there with the hidden and often misunderstood illness that is Fibromyalgia.... I know many of you have overlapping illnesses also.... The information in this link highlights to me the supreme importance of avoidance of the many toxic chemicals in today's society.

We thankfully are now made aware of the dangers of exposure to chemicals. We can now educate ourselves. Unfortunately, years ago we were not so canny.

Perhaps in years past we unwittingly exposed ourselves to chemicals and substances that have left a lasting and extremely painful legacy. A legacy that is not wanted, but impossible to give back.

It is very difficult in this world to avoid chemicals. It takes effort and education. Sometimes, in fact, lots of times, it involves self denial of the things in life that seem to be the most attractive. A night out with friends and a continuous supply of wonderfully coloured cocktails maybe, the ease at which we can clean our homes with purpose made chemicals for every possible appliance or perhaps just the wonderful fragrances that we love to cloak our homes in.

The most important thing is never to underestimate the damage that strong chemicals can do, but also, to be aware that our lives are filled with hidden chemicals.

In our body products, in our foods and in our environment.

Not everyone will want to read the articles in this link. It takes a lot of effort to understand that there are reasons why we fall ill and that sometimes the answers to a cure lie within our own selves.

Sometimes to take a pill is the obvious and accepted method of helping ourselves. Often times they are necessary.

Perhaps though, educating ourselves is a more beneficial way forward.

This link is helpful for people suffering from all kinds of Auto Immune diseases such as Lupus, Fibromyalgia and also the very hard to manage disease of Bi-Polar that is so prevalant in this 21st Century.

Of special interest is to look at the article part below just as a sample of information that this link can give. w.fmscommunity.org

Not easy reading but well worth the effort in order to educate ourselves.

DEFINITION AND PRINCIPLES

Chemical sensitivity is defined as an adverse reaction to ambient doses of toxic chemicals in our air, food, and water at levels which are generally accepted as subtoxic. Manifestation of adverse reactions depend on (1) the tissue or organ involved; (2) the chemical and pharmacologic nature of the toxin; (3) the individual susceptibility of the exposed person (genetic make-up, nutritional state, and total load at the time of exposure); (4) the length of time of the exposure; (5) the amount and variety of other body stressors (total load) and synergism at the time of reaction; and (6) the derangement of metabolism that may occur from the initial insults.

To demonstrate cause-and-effect proof of environmental influence on an individual=s health, one must understand several important principles and facts. These principles involve those of total body load (burden), adaptation (masking, acute toxicological tolerance), bipolarity, and biochemical individuality. Each principle will be discussed separately.

Total Body Load (Burden)

This is the patient=s total pollutant load of whatever source (usually from air, food, and water or surroundings).1,2,4 The body must cope with this total burden; usually, it must be utilized, expelled, or compartmentalized. Total body load includes (1) physical factors (e.g., hot, cold, weather changes, positive ions,5 electromagnetic phenomena,6 radon), (2) toxic chemicals (e.g., inorganics: Pb, Cd, Hg, Al, Br, etc.; organics: pesticides, formaldehyde, phenols, car exhausts, etc.),7-21 (3) biological (bacteria, virus, parasites, molds,22 food),23,24 (4) psychological or emotional factors also significantly affect the patient, confirmed by recent work in psychoneuroimmunology, linking the psyche and the neuroendocrine and immune systems.25-28 Failure to reduce the total body load prior to pollutant challenge will frequently yield inaccurate results. Accordingly, we believe it is essential to conduct investigative procedures in controlled environmental circumstances with the total load reduced.

Adaptation (Masking, Acute Toxicological Tolerance)

Induced by the internal or external environment, this is a change in the homeostasis (steady state) of body function with adjustment to a new Aset point.@29-32 Adaptation is an acute survival mechanism in which the individual Agets used to@ a constant toxic exposure in order to survive, at the same time suffering a long-term decrease in efficient functioning and perhaps longevity. Selye was among the first to describe this compensatory mechanism.33 Because of adaptation or tolerance, the patient=s total body load may increase undetected because the perception of a cause-and effect relationship is lost. With no apparent correlated symptoms, repeated exposures may continue to damage his immune and enzyme detoxification systems.34-35 The eventual result of continued toxic exposure over a period of days, weeks, months to years is end-organ failure. Withdrawal or avoidance of an offending substance for at least four days will aid in reducing the total body load, after which a controlled re-exposure challenge will reproduce cause-and-effect reactions. In these deadapted individuals, there is high reproducibility of these evoked reactions permitting the physician to acquire sound scientific information.

Bipolarity

After an exposure, the body initially develops a bipolar response of a stimulatory phase, followed by a depressive phase,1,29,37 usually with induction of immune and enzyme detoxification systems.38 If the incitant is strong enough, or if substantial size or duration of exposure occurs, the induced enzyme and immune detoxification systems are depleted or depressed by overstimulation and overutilization. An individual may also initially experience a stimulatory reaction in the brain, perceiving the inciting substance not as being harmful, but as actually producing an energizing Ahigh.@ Therefore, he continues to acquire more exposures. After a period of time, however, be it minutes, months, or years, his body=s defenses are adversely overstimulated, and he develops disabling depression-exhaustion symptoms.31 This stimulation and depression-exhaustion pattern has been observed with many pollutant exposures, including ozone.12,30 When studying the effects of pollutants upon adapted individuals, the stimulatory phase is often missed or misinterpreted as being normal, thus giving faulty data. Studies in the controlled environment, involving 16,000 challenges in 2,000 deadapted patients, has proven this bipolarity phenomenon repeatedly.

Lots of love to all of you fellow sufferers and your families.

http://fmscommunity.org/

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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