Every day most people in the industrialised world come in contact with a wide range of chemicals. Many of them are in foods (artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives) or items used for various purposes in perfumes, fabrics, paints, petrol, detergents, fire retardants in furniture and so on. Most of these in liquid form are known as hydrocarbons.
Their invisible emissions are known as volatile organic compounds, a name suggestive a capacity to change and become unstable depending on conditions of temperature or humidity.
Fertilisers and pesticides, which are used to promote growth and protect food produce from contamination, have similar properties. All originate from chemicals known as organophosphates. Occasional exposure to these chemicals is unlikely to cause major symptoms of toxicity e.g. breathing problems, lethargy, generalised muscle aching, confusion or collapse unless the exposure is heavy and prolonged.
However a small percentage of the population, individuals with low tolerance can develop the same symptoms if they came in contact with sub-toxic levels of these chemicals. This phenomenon is described as “multiple chemical sensitivity” (MSC).

How does MCS happen?
It is extremely unusual to see in our clinics a person with MCS who does not have a history of allergy to natural inhalants such as dust mites, pollens, animals or moulds and long standing food intolerance (type B/delayed food allergy-see separate section). Therefore MCS is an alarming development in a long chain of events, which previously taxed and overloaded one’s immune system.

It is important to emphasise here that most conditions caused by these allergenic factors do not usually receive a “cause-oriented” medical care. Health care in the western countries is often keen to find a “quick-fix” for this type of problem and resort to a prompt suppression of the symptom with little regard to the complex cellular and immune mechanisms causing them in the first place.

Professor Claudia Miller, an environmental health physician and an expert on MCS from Dallas, Texas, is credited with the concept of the Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT): repeated contact with various chemicals can cause a previously susceptible person to loose tolerance and start suffering with symptoms.

Predisposing Factors & Mechanisms
Frequent contact with chemical irritants is likely to sensitise a person. Example: Contact dermatitis can start affecting a person’s hands after years of using safely washing up liquid; clerical staff can become unwell when close to photocopiers; ordinary people can become hypersensitive to other peoples’ perfumes, hair sprays, deodorants or smoking; drivers previously oblivious to any symptoms from traffic fumes can become sensitive to petrol and exhaust fumes.

It is possible that people with chemical sensitivity have a genetic predisposition affecting vital enzymes in the cells responsible for important detoxification processes. In evolutionary terms animals develop the olfactory reflex (sensors in the nasal lining, coming in contact with the scent of an approaching predator send an alarm signal to the centre of smell located in the amygdale of the brain and the animal is compelled to “run for its life”). The human nose is capable of recognising a scent in the air in concentrations as little as 1:500,000,000 parts.
Patients and their families often think of chemical sensitivity as an immediate allergy because of the severity and the speed of the symptoms they experience. However when tested for markers of immediate (type A/I allergy) to these chemicals, this view is rarely confirmed. Different mechanisms seem to be in operation here, such as T-lymphocytes, cellular hormones (cytokines and interleukins) and immunoglobulin-G all of which are capable of causing serious symptoms, mimicking allergy.

Effects and Symptoms
Chemical sensitivity is not a mere dislike of a smell or a chemical in the air. It is the fact that a person feels unwell or ill, suffers with sudden debilitating weakness, lethargy, nasal congestion, headache, muscle aching, confusion/brain-fog, nausea, perspiration, acute anxiety, panic attacks or acute depression and sometimes collapse. In MCS the physical suffering is sometimes interwoven with a strong psychological component: in an attempt to minimise contact with other people’s perfumes and environmental pollutants some patients are forced to live in a reclusive environment and socialising becomes problematic. From a psychiatric angle these syndromes are akin to some psychiatric diagnoses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, acute anxiety states or phobias and even schizophrenia. Whilst it is important to identify and address the underlying cause(s), it is sometimes difficult to ignore the strong psychological component, which exists and might hinder effective help with this condition.

Sick Building Syndrome
Several years ago, a number of admin staff whose firms started operating from new premises, became unwell complaining of a variety of vague symptoms; they felt better when they went on leave or during the weekends. After the initial scepticism it became obvious that their symptoms were the result of chemical emissions from new carpets, wall paints and plastics, to which some employees reacted more seriously than others combined with a poor ventilation. The same workers experienced no symptoms when they were asked to work in different premises. A similar situation occurred in recent years when some passengers and aircrew in longhorn flights became nauseous and suffered breathing difficulties from the effects of legal levels of aviation fuel emissions in the passenger cabin.

Investigations
Chemical sensitivity can be verified with a placebo-controlled challenge: in a “clean”, thoroughly purified setting the administration of sublingual drops of a number of chemicals causes transient symptoms whereas water or normal saline solution do not. Symptoms resolve promptly. The result is immediate and uncanny. Lymphocyte sensitivity to a range of agents including mercury, nickel, silver (present in dental fillings) and fat cell biopsy are also useful investigations in assessing the extent and severity of the problem.

Chemical Sensitivity and Abnormal Electro-Magnetic Frequencies (EMF)
Without the complex chemistry in our cells, life would not be possible. In every cell, chemical reactions require a) the presence of a highly sophisticated system of enzymes and b) a low level electro-magnetic charge to activate these reactions. For the last 50 years the majority of the population living in industrialised nations have been exposed to generous amounts of low level frequencies from microwave ovens, TV’s, computers and many other electrical appliances, not to mention electric light bulbs. Occasionally, many of us experience this effect in the form of “static” electricity, a momentary sensation of an electric charge when in contact with another conductor, be it a wall, a car or another human being. In a minority of patients with multiple allergies, it seems that this low level radiation may be the very trigger, which causes them to develop reactivity to a range of environmental chemicals such as common hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds. In fact, it is unusual for chemically sensitive patients not to have abnormal body frequencies. This effect is amplified further with:
i) the presence of dental amalgams (which contain metals such as mercury, silver and nickel).
ii) Inappropriate wiring in some older homes
iii) Close proximity to large concentration of water i.e. lakes, rivers or streams.

The phenomenon is called geopathic stress and is now recognized as a medical condition (the United Kingdom is the only other European country apart from Sweden to recognise it, although it has not yet found its place in the medical textbooks!). There are ways to measure the EMF’s in one’s body as well as the house and place of work. If appropriate, these can be diffused and have their influence minimized.

What can you do if you suffer with MCS – 6 tips for survival
TIP 1: Your home is the only environment you can truly control and where you spend at least 1/3 of your daily life. It is worthwhile making it a “safe haven” by removing all sources of chemical emissions. Containers of perfumes, hair sprays, deodorants and most cosmetics and toiletries may be tightly closed but they still allow some emissions to escape slowly

TIP 2: Likewise, paints, detergents, polishing sprays, air-fresheners can be removed from the main house and be placed in a plastic container to be left outside the house or in the garage. There is a surprising good range of more user-friendly alternatives available today, containing natural, less reactive substances

TIP 3: Ventilate your home well (unless you live near heavy traffic); invest in an inexpensive HEPA or carbon filter, which are effective in removing most of these dangerous chemical emissions. Check your gas boiler to ensure that any gas emissions are directed outside (most new ones manufactured in recent years should be safe)

TIP 4: If you suspect EMF disturbance, keep the use of any electrical appliances to a minimum, sit a few metres away from the TV when you are watching it and turn-off any appliances you normally leave on stand-by (you will also save some energy)

TIP 5: If you had dental amalgams for years and tests have confirmed sensitivity or toxicity to any of their metals, consider and discuss with your dentist the possibility to have them removed and replaced with white, composite ones

TIP 6: The Disability Discrimination Act and recent progress of the adopting a more positive approach as regards to Human Rights have assisted in making many companies and employers more amenable to employees’ problems arising from conditions in the place of work. For instance, some of our patients have been able to work in a smaller office, free of other persons’ perfumes or away from photocopiers/toners, emitting glutaraldehyde. Others have been allowed to take their work home and avoid the office.

Other treatments
When avoidance measures fail, it is possible to safely desensitise a person against a whole range of chemicals by means of the “low-dose” method (Neutralisation). Depending on each individual, this can be carried out by means of sub-lingual testing (the administration of drops containing very weak dilutions of a chemical) or intra-cutaneous testing (involving the use of tiny, painless injections and measuring the resulting skin wheal). The resulting treatment is not a total antidote but often helps to reduce one’s severity of symptoms.

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