Multiple Chemical Sensitivities
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is very difficult to treat because of the breakdown of the body’s ability to detoxify itself. The first organ to address is the liver because it is the main organ metabolizing the chemicals to which we are exposed whether breathed, through the water or in the food. The liver has the capacity of changing substance into something less toxic to the body. It also manufactures cell protecting and detoxifying compounds used throughout the body. However if a person has been exposed to high amounts of chemicals the liver can become overtaxed to the point where it is unable to process much of anything let alone help the rest of the body. Then every chemical thereafter will cause a strong reaction because liver is unable to neutralize it. The main detoxifying and protecting compound produced by the liver is glutathione. It is made from three amino acids, glycine, cystine, glutamic acid. If glutathione levels are low the liver and the rest of the body cannot metabolize the toxic chemicals which we are exposed to each day.
The best herb for increasing glutathione levels is milk thistle. Cystine which we get from dietary methionine is often deficient. NAC (N-acetyl cystine), 500 mg/day is the safest and most effective way to increase cystine levels in the body. SAMe which has been getting a lot of attention lately also works be increasing cystine levels. Alpha-lipoic acid, 100 mg/2X/day increases glutathione levels and has a strong detoxifying effect of its own. Of course Hepatodoron is helpful, but it would not be enough, on its own. Vitamin C can take over many of the detoxifying functions of the body when glutathione levels are low.
If we only focus on vitamins, we miss out on the things that only occur in nature. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables not only decorate the table and please the eye but contain many different detoxifying and cell protecting compounds. However we must take care because chemically sensitive people have no tolerance for sprayed or treated fruits and vegetables. Even a slight amount can cause a reaction. A requirement is eating organically, or even better taking the next step to biodynamics we all know there is more to illness than just the physical.
We have found yarrow or castor oil poultices over the liver to be very helpful, and we take the basic route in preparing them Yarrow Poultice. Simply brew a strong batch of yarrow tea, then dip a wash cloth into the pot, wring it out while warm and moist and place it over the liver under a towel and blanket. Repeat when the poultice cools down. The result should be that the skin under the wash cloth turns red.
Castor Oil Compress
This is more complicated and messier, but is applied only once. Take a length of wool felt (it holds the heat longer than cotton) Switch the oven on lowest temperature, put the cloth into a pyrex dish, pouring castor oil over to saturate it and put it in the oven. Turn the oven off-it is important not to let it get too hot, and test the cloth on the hand. Then apply directly over the liver, covering with piece of plastic wrap so the oil does not soil clothes or blankets. Cover with a blanket or down pillow to hold in heat and leave on for 15-20 minutes. Afterwards you can put the cloth right back into pan for use the next day.
Saunas can work well for people with sensitivities, although people don’t like saunas. As a culture we are used to being cool and we don’t let ourselves perspire. We use antiperspirants and work in air-conditioned offices or drive in air-conditioned cars. The only time we experience warm air is between office and car, or car and home. However indigenous people, whether in hot or cold climates always used saunas as part of their rituals for maintaining health. Since the skin as largest organ of the body with its many pores is able to excrete a large amount of toxins.
What is going on with people¹s souls when they are unable to process the chemicals they are exposed to? They are almost allergic to the modern age, which they can’t quite take in. This is a relatively new phenomenon because the chemicals triggering the problem did not exist so very long ago. Before that, during the whole course of evolution, the human body evolved together with the kingdoms of nature, the plants and the minerals that we were exposed to. Over many generations our bodies learned to adapt. Now our environment is changing much faster than our body can adapt to the new thing to which it is exposed.
So, on the physical/etheric level the liver is being assaulted and is over taxed. The astral/ego, instead of working more strongly into the lower organism, withdraw. This withdrawal is fear. Fear can become as pervasive as the disease and as the chemicals. I think there is one set of symptoms caused by true multi-chemical assaults on the body, and then there are other symptoms, exactly as intense, but arising in the emotional arena.
Remedies
If people feel that the sensory or emotional physical input we are surrounded by affects them too strongly they become cold and contracted. Then iron is a help. What form it comes in depends on the individual condition. Meteoric iron can be used for digestive problems and embodies the will to incarnate. It gives the ego the weight to come into the physical body. I often use it in combination with phosphorus (the light bearer) and quartz (the vessel receiving the light), imagining that this combination creates a light filled container and encourages the ego to make itself at home there. Sometimes quartz is given alone to strengthen the warmth organism, sometimes scorodite (ferrum arsenicosum) is given if there is a lot of fear, or withdrawal. It is indicated for convalescence, because often when people are fearful they have more difficulty in overcoming illness.
A beloved anthroposophical remedy is Solum uligunosum comp (Wala), made with peat moss and lavender. It actually makes people a little bit less sensitive to their environment and comes as bath, oil, pellets and ampules. The oil, or a capful of the bath, is liked best. If people take showers I recommend ½ teaspoon in the hands, then lightly covering the entire body before going to bed. This seems to make a tremendous difference in people’s ability to go out into the world. Peat moss stands halfway between plant and coal, so it is able to take physical mineral substance, with its stored warmth, bringing it up a notch into the realm of life. It helps strengthen the warmth organism, which I imagine as acting as a barrier, filtering out some of the world.
All of us wish for a healthy, ecological environment, and we can do our part to promote it. But we must be careful not to go overboard, basing a lot of recommendations not on scientific studies but on fear. Besides supporting a careful lifestyle and the right remedies we can have the courage to face up to the world, speaking out in the arenas that need to be addressed, in a way that is based on thinking rather than on emotion or fear. Then we will be listened to much more, and be more effective in changing the world.
Bill Warnock ND graduated from Bastyr College in 1984 and has been practicing in Vermont since then. He is now at the Champlain Center for Natural Medicine in Shelburne.
