Environmental illnesses are gaining attention, thanks to the 'green' movement

[Guest guest]

Environmental illnesses are gaining attention, thanks to the 'green'

movement

The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com - Cleveland,OH*

Posted by Townsend/Plain Dealer Reporter

October 14, 2008

Categories: Townsend, Real Time News

http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2008/10/environmental_illnesses_are_

ga.html

You move to a new city and into an old house that you fall in love

with at first sight.

A year later, you develop a nagging cough that even the strongest

prescription cough syrup can't seem to tame.

At first your doctor says your symptoms are all in your head but

then suggests you might have some kind of incurable respiratory

disease.

She refers you to an ear, nose and throat specialist. After a

battery of tests, he concludes that you have borderline asthma and

puts you on two daily medications.

A couple of years later, you still have the cough, but it's not as

bad. Another new doctor decides you have allergies and switches your

medication.

A friend of yours suggests you get your house tested for mold.

It sounds weird, but he explains that it's the same advice he just

got from his doctor.

He developed a sensitivity to mold that in recent years had grown

much worse. A visit to an expert in neurotoxic poisoning confirmed

what he suspected for a while: Other doctors may have been

diagnosing and treating him for illnesses he didn't have.

If he didn't change his surroundings, his situation could turn

deadly.

The scenario, based on experiences of real people, is typical of

many who suffer from environmental illnesses or chemical

sensitivities.

Dr. Lavine NagyOften their symptoms mimic other more well-known

conditions, whose treatments may address the symptoms but not the

core problem.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has been working

toward finding the cause of these conditions for the past 40 years.

Going beyond just treating symptoms, environmental medicine is the

study of how the reactions we have when we're exposed to certain

toxins affect our immune and neuroendocrine (nervous system and

hormones) systems.

Still, the field is often misunderstood as " alternative " medicine.

But with the growing popularity for " green " lifestyles and all

things organic, and with illnesses that Louisiana residents

displaced by Hurricane Katrina got after living in Federal Emergency

Management Agency-provided trailers, environmental medicine is

getting more attention.

" People just make such a quick judgment about those who are really,

really sick, " said Dr. Lavine Nagy, who has been championing

for heightened awareness since her own series of misdiagnoses

several years ago for what turned out to be severe multiple chemical

sensitivity.

Often, those quick judgments happen because the people more likely

to report their chemical sensitivities are women over age 40, she

said. Most " normal " women of that age have mild symptoms that are

hard to explain, and thus easier to dismiss, she said.

Experts say that everyone is affected in some way by chemical

sensitivity. No one quite knows why, but some think genetics may

play a large role.

Some people are on the severe end, with their sensitivities so

extreme that they can't function in many public places where they

can't control their environment.

Others may have relatively mild symptoms -- or none at all.

The rest are in the middle. Adults suddenly may develop asthma.

People may become irritated by certain scents that once went

unnoticed.

Nagy, a 1978 Hathaway Brown School grad, practiced medicine in the

Los Angeles area until she was too weak to work. Mold in her house,

caused by a faulty aquarium, sickened her and her family.

Possible signs of an environmental illness:

• Headaches while talking on your cell or cordless phone.

• Increased sense of smell, especially to items such as perfume,

laundry detergents, cats, etc.

• Increased sensitivity to fluorescent light.

• A diagnosis of adrenal fatigue, or thyroid deficiency or

overactivity.

Tips from Dr. Roizen, Cleveland Clinic:

• One of the keys -- especially here in Cleveland -- is to air one's

house out. Over the course of a winter, the quality of inside air

becomes worse than outside air, he said. It doesn't hurt to open the

windows periodically on good days during the winter.

• Avoid materials -- household cleaners, rugs, air fresheners, even

some furniture -- that emit lots of volatile hydrocarbons. As Roizen

put it, " You want to use cleaning fluids that are, in fact, safe

enough to drink. "

Possible treatments to discuss with your doctor (from Dr.

Nagy):

• Remove yourself from possible causes, i.e. a " sick " house or

office. The culprit may be mold, or as unsuspecting as carpeting or

fabric softener. A July study from the University of Washington

revealed that six top-selling laundry products and air fresheners

gave off toxic chemicals -- none of which was listed on product

labels.

• Decrease your total chemical load. Switch to organic food,

filtered air and water.

• Detoxify with the help of intravenous and oral vitamins and

supplements, under a doctor's supervision.

• Investigate whether you have specific food or chemical allergies

or hormone imbalances and/or insufficiencies.

• Consider treatment in a low-temperature (140 degrees) sauna, under

a doctor's supervision.

After three years of misdiagnoses, Nagy traveled to Texas for

testing and treatment at the Environmental Health Center-Dallas. She

now lives in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and is busy raising money for

the Preventive and Environmental Health Alliance, which she founded.

During a visit to Cleveland last month, Nagy -- still bothered by

chemical sensitivity -- delivered a lecture on environmental illness

for the Employee Wellness Program at the Cleveland Clinic.

She also met with Clinic physicians and medical school faculty. She

hopes they will be receptive to an environmental medicine course she

intends to create.

" Medical residency programs are starting to get interested in

integrative medicine, " said Nagy, talking about a discipline that

combines mainstream medicine with complementary therapies with roots

in ancient healing practices.

" But they're still scared about the concept of environmental

medicine, which is a little further, " she said.

Dr. Roizen, the Clinic's chief wellness officer, said that

while it's widely accepted that some people develop a sensitivity to

certain things inside buildings, how many people and the extent to

which they are affected is what is controversial.

" [Nagy] has one point of view on one end of the spectrum, " he

said. " There are also people at the other end of the spectrum. "

As for Roizen, he doesn't hold a definitive opinion because he said

there isn't enough data.

The difficulty for clinicians and health-care providers is figuring

out how to take that information and help individual people, said

Dr. Kathleen Fagan of the Swetland Center for Environmental Health

at Case Western Reserve University's school of medicine.

An epidemiologist, she also serves as board president of the

Cleveland-based Environmental Health Watch.

" We're understanding more about the effects of the environment on

genetics, and the fact that people's genetics determine how they

will react to environmental exposures, " she said. " We still don't

know why someone has a very acute reaction to low-level exposure. "

Fagan sees people all the time who are trying to cope with chemical

sensitivities.

" One of the things I advise these patients, to reassure patients, is

that I [personally] have not seen anyone die of MCS [multiple

chemical sensitivity], " she said.

But, she added, " It is very uncomfortable and debilitating. "

And that, for many people, is almost just as bad.