Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome Part Two – Underlying Causes and Treatment

There are many underlying causative factors that could have initiated your sensitivity to low amounts of chemicals in your environment.

You may genetically have a poor capacity to detoxify certain chemicals – 50% of the population have this genetic tendency towards slow detoxification of chemicals. If you do not have a family history, it is still very possible to develop MCS in our modern environment.

Over exposure to large amounts of chemicals could have triggered your MCS, even viruses or severe stress can leave your immune system hypersensitive to its environment.

Often nutritional deficiencies caused from a poor diet, gastrointestinal inflammation and excess alcohol intake can greatly deplete the body of specific nutrients essential for adequate detoxification – causing more and more chemical/food sensitivities.

If your body does not have the tools it needs to detoxify chemicals properly then you are definitely going to know about it.

Symptoms such as headache, irritability, fatigue, restlessness, muscle pain and poor thinking to name a few may occur as you come in contact with chemicals your body can’t cope with.

So what can you do? You can give your body the tools it needs to function optimally and to detoxify chemicals properly.

Supporting Your Body to Heal

Avoiding chemicals that you know can affect you is of the upmost importance whilst you work on your body through dietary and lifestyle changes.

By doing so it will alleviate the symptoms that you experience so that you can at least function a lot better.

How to Avoid Chemicals in Your Environment

Avoiding chemicals completely is of course impossible and out of your control.

But what you do have control of are the chemicals used in your home – by doing the following you can greatly reduce your overall exposure to chemicals.

Eat Organic – This will help you avoid pesticides and agricultural chemicals used on spraying crops, fruits and vegetables that you could potentially ingest.
Drink Filtered water – Chlorinated water through the tap can cause problems in susceptible individuals
Avoid wearing perfumes/colognes – These often create headaches in MCS
Use unscented natural skin care and cleaning products – If you use chemical laden skin care products such as body lotions and face creams that you put on every day, you are adding to your overall toxic load as it can be absorbed through the skin. Cleaning products are full of harsh chemicals that can be inhaled as can skin care products that are highly fragranced. Look for all natural alternatives. Yes that does include makeup, shampoo/conditioner, mouthwash, toothpaste and laundry detergent.
Avoid artificial colours and flavours that are added to processed foods – Eat closest to nature as possible by organising your own meals
Avoid toxic paints – The fumes from paint can be extremely toxic to your body and can linger long after the room has been painted. Avoid this at all costs.

Optimise your diet

Eating fresh fruit and vegetables are very important to ensure that your body receives the nutrients it needs for proper detoxification. Antioxidants are also very important to protect your cells and tissues from the damage that can occur from toxic chemicals.

If you are confused on how to eat healthy, then visiting a nutritionist or a naturopath can put you on the right path to help modify your diet to suit you.

Optimise your Gastrointestinal Tract

A sluggish and unclean digestive system can cause your body to become very toxic – giving your body more work than it can handle! A healthy digestive system will help support your body to detoxify chemicals a lot better.

Think of your digestive system like a waste disposal bin. Every day you top it up with food regularly throughout the day, but before it gets really stinky and fly infested you must empty it out!

With your digestive system, it must be emptied everyday – 2-3 times is optimal but once a day is the absolute minimum. Anything less than this and you will start having problems; problems with your immune system and problems with your liver which is the main organ that detoxifies chemicals!

So to ensure you are emptying out the trash regularly you need:

Adequate fibre – Food sources such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains like oats, brown rice, whole wheat (unless you have a gluten problem) and barley, legumes, nuts and seeds. If you still have a problem getting enough fibre you can use 2 tablespoons of linseed/flaxseed meal separately or psyllium husks (but make sure you follow with a lot of water)
Healthy Bacteria – Good bacteria also known as probiotics are very important for the proper functioning of your digestive system. They prevent the overgrowth of bad bacteria/candida; they assist with the absorption of nutrients and support a healthy immune system
1.5-2 Litres of Filtered Water Daily - Drinking filtered water is important so you can avoid chlorine and bacteria that may be present in normal tap water. Drinking enough water is important to soften your bowel movements so you do not become constipated

Nutritional Supplements

Though you may be eating as healthy as you can be, the foods you may be eating may not be as jam packed with nutrients as you would like to think.

The soils may have been depleted with nutrients where the foods were harvested; storing vegetables/fruits for long periods of time before being eaten can have little nutrition once they reach your mouth. Cooking your foods at high temperatures for long periods of time can also destroy the vitamins, and enzymes naturally present.

Supplementing with nutrients alongside a healthy diet may be beneficial for you to really ensure your body receives the nutrients it needs everyday for adequate detoxification.

Any of the following may be beneficial to you – but before supplementing please ensure you talk to a Naturopath or qualified health professional to ensure it is right for you.

Multivitamin

A multivitamin will give your body the minimum requirements of vitamins and mineral it needs every day. Multivitamins can be made very differently so do your research before you buy one. What you want to aim for is one that has reasonably high doses of the following:

Vitamin B1 – 20% of those of you with MCS are commonly deficient in B1. It is necessary for aldehyde detoxification that’s found in many artificial scents and fragrances
Vitamin B6 – 60% of chemical sensitive individuals have been found to be deficient in B6. It is necessary to support an amino acid Taurine with the removal of toxic chemicals
Folic Acid and B12 – A deficiency of these two nutrients are increase your sensitivity to chlorine and xenobiotics (estrogen mimicking chemicals that can have a negative impact on your hormones)

Magnesium

A deficiency in Magnesium can greatly affect your detoxifying capacity, as it is essential in 500 enzyme systems of the body. To learn more about Magnesium and deficiency symptoms, I have covered it in more detail here.

Protein

Protein is made up of twenty amino acids that all have specific roles to play in the body. Many of them such as methionine, taurine and the branch chain amino acids are extremely important to support your liver to detoxify toxic chemicals.

If you are a vegetarian and find it difficult to receive enough protein for your body every day, then it could be a good idea to look into a vegetarian protein supplement such as pea protein or rice protein that is going to ensure you receive the amino acids needed for proper liver detoxification support.

Those of you with poor digestion may not be digesting the protein component of food adequately which can result in a deficiency in a number of amino acids needed for chemical detoxification.

To find out if your digestive system needs help please go here for more information so that you can learn how to treat your poor digestion so you can absorb these essential amino acids properly.

Liver Detoxification Supplements

Impaired liver function is often found in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity individuals as many of you have had over exposure to chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, formaldehydes and heavy metals to name a few. This exposure has increased the toxic load of your body to a point where your liver is unable to keep up.

Liver supplements supply your body with herbs and nutrients needed to support the detoxification pathways of the liver and to protect it against toxic insult from chemicals.

Using a liver formula can be very beneficial in MCS but should be cautioned – when liver detoxifying is not done properly it can have a negative impact on your health as opposed to a positive one. So if you are interested in this please seek a natural health practitioner that can assist you through the right process.

Keep Fighting

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome can be an extremely frustrating condition that can greatly reduce your quality of life. I hope that this two part series has given you a better understanding of how to support your body to heal – even though this may be a long process it is possible! So what ever you do, don’t stop trying.

Remember, your body has an amazing ability to heal but you must supply it with the right tools to do so.