ALLERGIES AND COPING WITH CHEMICAL EXPOSURE: LOOK UNDER THE SINK!

Synthetic chemicals are found throughout the environment, but especially in home janitorial supplies. To rid the house of unnecessary air pollutants, start by looking under the sink. One can usually find there an accumulation of chemical products of all kinds: paints, solvents, laundry and dishwashing detergents, waxes and polishes, insect sprays, turpentine, shoe polish, and so forth. Whatever is not absolutely necessary should be dispensed with. Essential items, such as detergents, should be transferred to glass bottles with tight-fitting caps. One should save bottles for such a purpose. All questionable items should be stored outside, in places such as a garage or storeroom.

The same rule applies, naturally, to any other area in which toxic products accumulate. Conduct a careful house search, cleaning out drawers, broom closets, hobby areas, and medicine chests. It is amazing how much dangerous junk piles up in a house over the years, silently polluting the environment. One should be careful, however, not to allow any of these items to spill as they are being disposed of, or this may precipitate an acute attack of symptoms in susceptible people.

The human nose is an extraordinary instrument. Ecology patients tend to be either acutely sensitive to smells, or, conversely, lacking in the sense of smell altogether (in advanced cases). If you have a good-to-excellent sense of smell, you can identify noxious smells in the house by going out for a brisk walk in an area with fairly clean air and then returning to your house to perform a quick “sniff” test. If something has an offensive odor, get rid of it. Do not wait a day, or even a minute, since the nose will quickly adapt to the ill-smelling item. After being exposed for a short while, one can no longer fully smell the offending odor. Many patients report a cleaner feeling in the air after they have rid their homes of these hidden pollutants.

Several engineers and otherwise qualified experts now make “house calls” to inspect the homes of patients for chemical contaminants. They bring not only their expertise, but exceptional ability in “sniffing out” danger spots for patients, based on their own chemical-susceptibility problems. (The organizations listed in Appendix C can provide names of such experts.)

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CASE STUDY: BRAIN-FAG WITH HEADACHE AND RHINITIS

Joseph Robinson was a businessman in his forties, whose position in his company was threatened by increasing ill health. He traced the onset of his sickness to a tonsillectomy. Soon after this operation, persistent nasal stuffiness and a postnasal drip developed, which did not respond to any medication.

A busy person, Robinson paid little attention to these symptoms. A few years later, he began to get headaches in the front of his forehead. These usually came on an hour or two after the evening meal and persisted for the evening. They were often accompanied by bouts of fatigue, “laziness,” and mental exhaustion, which kept him pinned to the living-room couch, unable to move.

At first these problems were restricted to the evening hours and were easily attributed to the difficulty and tension of Robinson’s job. Soon, however, the fatigue and mental exhaustion began to creep into his daytime hours as well. He would start to go home early, or rest his head on the desk when he was supposed to be working. His job was in jeopardy when he was first examined for ecologic illness.

A variety of the foods which he ate most commonly, including wheat, milk, eggs, coffee, citrus fruit, legumes, chocolates, various meats, and nuts were eliminated for a week or so. To his amazement, he felt much better, experiencing far less fatigue and no headaches. One by one, these foods were returned to his diet. All of them were tolerated with no return of symptoms except for beef and milk (which are closely related). On the third day of eating beef products, he developed a severe headache which lasted ten hours. He developed a headache half an hour after eating his fourth milk-containing meal. Chocolate also made him feel tired.

With the complete avoidance of beef, milk, and chocolate, all of his symptoms of fatigue, headache, and brain-fag disappeared. As a final test, one month later, he treated himself to a glass of milk. A sharp headache rapidly developed. After about six months, however, he regained tolerance for milk, beef, and their by-products. He was then able to reintroduce them into his diet, provided that he did not have any of them more often than once every four days. He had successfully solved the problem that was ruining his career. In fact, his position in the company improved, and he gained a promotion.

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CASE HISTORY: JUVENILE ARTHRITIS

Kelly Johnson was a nine-year-old schoolgirl when she developed arthritis of the right ankle in the spring of 1970. This was followed by migration of the arthritis to both knees and ankles. Aspirin was the only treatment given until an operation (called a synovectomy) was performed on the right knee, in order to allow it to move more freely.

Four months later, the partially crippled child was hospitalized for food and chemical testing. Examination revealed swelling and limitation of motion in both knees, as well as a scar from the previous operation. Upon beginning the period of fasting, Kelly experienced nausea and headache as withdrawal effects. Progressive improvement occurred, however, so that after four days of fasting her joints were more mobile and less painful than they had been in many months.

Severe recurrences of arthritic pain, swelling, and other symptoms was associated with the ingestion of the following chemically less contaminated (organic) foods:

Rice: 2 hours, stomachache; 9 hours, itching

Chicken: 21/2 hours, pains in elbows and hands

Pork: 3 hours, stomachache; 14 hours, joint stiffness

Beef: 3 hours, chest pain and residual stiffness

Potato: 3 hours, right-shoulder pain

Wheat: 31/2 hours, itching

Corn: 5 hours, itching; 10 hours, swollen extremities

Milk: 91/2 hours, mild itching of skin only

Beet: 14 hours, swollen, stiff hands and feet

In contrast to some of the earlier cases, Kelly’s symptoms generally came on hours after the food ingestion test. Since another meal may have intervened between the ingestion of corn, milk, or beet and the development of symptoms, it was often necessary to repeat tests in order to make sure that a given food resulted in a given symptom. This is the kind of test which is extremely difficult to do outside a specialized hospital setting.

Other commonly eaten foods were all test-negative. Kelly went home in good condition and remained well on the diet we devised for her until the gas-fired furnace was turned on that fall. This was followed by a flare-up in her arthritis. She was therefore moved to an all-electric house. Since then, Kelly has remained symptom-free, adhering well to her dietary program. Other than some physiotherapy for pain in the operated knee, she needs no therapy— not even aspirin—at the present time.

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