Archive for the 'Allergies' Category
If you find that you are sensitive to various chemicals, then avoiding them is the best treatment. Complete avoidance is often very difficult, but fortunately it is rarely necessary. For most people, reducing their overall chemical ‘load’ makes them far more robust and able to cope with everyday exposures. So simply avoiding cigarette smoke, household chemicals, food additives and tap water may be enough to eliminate symptoms, or reduce them to a bearable level. You should also avoid exposure to large doses of synthetic chemicals, such as from household timber treatment or crop-spraying.
There are also other measures that can improve overall health and make the body more resilient. These include correcting nutritional deficiencies, taking regular exercise, eating a good, healthy diet and reducing stress. Tackling underlying problems such as Candida overgrowth or hyperventilation will also help considerably. Try to get outdoors, to somewhere with clean air, as often as you can, and take some strenuous exercise to improve your general health and fitness.
For those with severe chemical sensitivity, creating a chemical-free ‘oasis’ in the house can be very valuable. For preference, this should be the bedroom, but there should be comfortable chairs, a table, and whatever else is needed for everyday living. A space in which you can do some simple exercises may also be useful if you have difficulty getting exercise out-of-doors. The idea is to retreat to the oasis whenever you can, thus reducing your overall exposure. The oasis is also useful when you are feeling ill and need to recover.
All synthetic fabrics, plastics, chipboard, plywood, foam rubber and other man-made materials are excluded from the oasis. This means old-fashioned armchairs, cotton blankets or a feather duvet, and a traditional type of mattress or a futon. Nothing that has been painted or varnished recently should be allowed in, nor should cosmetics, cleaning materials or any of the other items mentioned in Table 3- If you must, have a television in the room, but it is best not to watch it for too long, as the warmth of the set makes its plastic components give off fumes. Books and a radio-set are a better choice. If the air outside is polluted, an air filter may be a useful addition to the oasis.
It is very important for chemical-sensitive patients to keep their problem in perspective, and not get unduly paranoid about the world around them. The twentieth century may seem threatening at times for someone with these problems, but at least you are not likely to be struck down in your prime by cholera, smallpox or bubonic plague, and there is little risk of being eaten by lions. Life has always had some risks attached to it. Rather than focusing on the hazards of the world around you, try to think what you can do to make your body stronger and more resistant to environmental chemicals.
Above all, make an effort not to develop psychological reactions to chemicals – never assume that you are going to react to a chemical just because you have in the past. If you allow yourself to become fearful of certain chemicals and imagine that they are harming you, you will just be perpetuating the problems rather than solving them.
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