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Evaluation and Treatment of Multiple Chemical SensitivityEvaluation OK so you suspect or are certain that you have MCS. What next? Do you simply go to any physician that is available? The answer to that is a resounding NO! First off, you need to make sure that the physician you choose believes that MCS is a physical, not psychological condition. The physician needs to believe that synthetic chemicals toxically overload your body. Don’t even let him/her make the implication that your condition 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 physician do you go to? I think that the best answer to that is one who understands what MCS is. That could be a MD, DO, DC, Acupuncturist or a Homeopath. To find the right person 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 opinion you need natural approach. There are acupuncture points that will drive toxins out of the body. The homeopath is equipped with remedies that will counteract most chemicals. My husband a retired Chiropractor, Homeopath/Acupuncturist treated many people with MCS and according to him with good results. He states that he used a combination of acupuncture, homeopathic remedies and nutrition 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 better with a certain physician, in my opinion he/she needs to make a declaration to you that they recognizes the intensity and the reality of your symptoms and that they are indeed related to a chemical toxicity. Without that declaration, in my opinion you will not have any confidence 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 information needed to properly advise you. When your doctor is taking your initial history, you should make sure that you review 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 specific exposure to a specific chemical? How long was the exposure? What have you done to try to heal yourself? The doctor’s examine should focus on the body parts in question with specific blood work for the specific organ system. Just as important as doing the proper tests for the specific organ in question, don’t allow the doctor to order tests that are not necessary and therefore will cost you more money. The following tests are not recommended for routine evaluation 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 specific reason for anyone of these tests. Let your doctor explain to you why you need the test. 1) Environmental challenge test. 2) Quantitative encephalography. 3) Brain electrical activity mapping. 4) Neuropsychogenic testing. 5) Brainstem evolked potentials. 6) Position emission tomography. 7) Immunologic testing and determination of blood levels of trace volatile organic compounds or pesticides. These tests sound important but don’t help in the diagnosis of MCS. Your physician’s primary objective is to help you uncover which chemical/chemicals are causing your condition. You need to work as a team with your physician to uncover this mystery. Note nothing is trivial in this investigation. Treatment While a number of different types of treatments may help improve you overall health, only complete and strict avoidance for the specific chemical/chemicals will stop the progression and if not to much damage has occurred, improve the health of a MCS patient. The most essential part in treating a patient with MCS is identifying and then avoiding the chemical/chemicals that triggered your body’s reaction. Even with strict avoidance of the trigger chemical/chemicals, improved health may take up to a year. The web site www.ourlittleplace.com has a wonderful 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 person 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 possible avoid plastics. 10) Open your windows as often as possible. 11) Certain 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 patient needs to do to improve their health is to maintain optimal nutrition. What is optimal nutrition? You need to make sure that you are eating enough calories. My research has lead me to the opinion that your food intake should be 40% protein, 30% fats, and 30% carbohydrates, very similar to the Zone diet. In the next couple of paragraphs, I’m going to outline some natural therapies. Prior to outlining them, I did research into their efficacy and spoke to a number of physicians including my husband. I am not giving out medical advice; I am simply trying to expand your knowledge. I suggest that you do your own research, speak to your own physician and come to a conclusion if you want to try any of these natural therapies. Nutritional supplementation in my opinion 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, according to my husband, you should take a B complex 75 mg., and approximately 2 grams of Vitamin C. Also, very important 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 follow the directions on the bottle. Most importantly, you need to investigate 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 specific acupuncture points that release toxins from the body. There are also points that can strengthen specific 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 patient in my opinion. Homeopathy in my opinion can be extremely helpful to the MCS patient. A good Homeopathic Physician is priceless. The Homeopath needs to take an exhaustive history to match your symptoms to the proper remedy. There are many different kinds of remedies that can be prescribed. My husband tells me that each case is different 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 strict avoidance of the offending chemical/chemicals will give you the best chance of regaining some of your life. I hope that this series the last 2 months has enlightened some of you. God Bless.
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