Re: Best part of the U.S. to live

May 13, 2010

Interesting, I am at Dr Rea's now and he hasn't shared this info with

us, I did ask him for best places for my son to heal, and he basically

said avoid big city pollution, avoid heavily sprayed agricultural areas,

and beyond that it is basically trial and error, he said some people do

better in drier climates, some in less dry climates, and yes find house

that is not moldy.

sue v

>There are very moldy areas of the country. Dr Rae gives his patients a

>run down of chemicals in their area as well as moldiness. During the

>Fall Texas will have mold spores in the range of 5000 spores per cubic

>meter of air and many times higher, and the Ohio River valley also is

>very moldy area, partly due to the river itself, closed in by hills on

>all sides and all the buildings near the river have been flooded many

>times and again closed in by hills on all sides. I am affected by

>outside mold counts and so keep track and stay inside as much as

>possible during high mold count days, which sore in late summer and fall.

>

May 13, 2010

Sue,

Look in your new patient package. That is where mine was in 2005 or 2006.

Regarding: moldiness of Ohio River valley. Dr Rae said that to me personally

since that is where I'm from. He looked up the mold count in Cinci while I was

there and said " wow " , that is very high and said the Ohio River valley is one of

the worst for mold. He and also Dr Shoemaker told me Cincinnati was site of one

of first famous cases against toxic mold with a Dr Bernstein, I believe was the

name, an allergist who had diagnosed toxic mold illness, and taken to court, and

now Dr Bernstein who is still practicing does not diagnose toxic mold illness.

His assistant said 'mold only causes allergies' to me over the phone when I

called him long time ago, so he backed off of that diagnosis after the lawsuit.

Cincinnati is also a known " hot spot " for cancer. Not sure if hot spot is

correct term but there was an investigation about twenty years ago into why the

cancer rate in Cinci was so high, but there is industry here and P & G production

along with others others spews soap and other chemicals into the river along

with other manufacturers, along with the mold issues caused by people living and

working in buildings along the river with history of surviving multiple floods,

salvaged rather than destroyed.

>

> Interesting, I am at Dr Rea's now and he hasn't shared this info with

> us, I did ask him for best places for my son to heal, and he basically

> said avoid big city pollution, avoid heavily sprayed agricultural areas,

> and beyond that it is basically trial and error, he said some people do

> better in drier climates, some in less dry climates, and yes find house

> that is not moldy.

>

> sue v

>

May 13, 2010

end of this interview w/dr rea lists several considerations for best

places... sue

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Medicine Editor

Exclusive Interview: Dr. J. Rea of the Environmental Health

Center-Dallas Speaks on Chemical Sensitivity

* Posted by Medicine Editor on December 8, 2006 at 1:41pm

* View Medicine Editor's blog

Exclusive Interview for Medicine.Org. with Dr. J. Rea, MD, FACS,

FAAEM, Founder and Director of the Environmental Health Center-Dallas

[Note: This interview was conducted November 28, 2006 by Steve Ross, MA,

editor of the Chemical Sensitivity section, and co-editor of the Mental

Health section, of Medicine.Org. Steve has known Dr. Rea since the year

2000, when he and his wife, , visited the Environmental Health

Center-Dallas, Dr. Rea's clinic, to treat 's severe chemical

sensitivity. She was very sick at the time. Not feeling ill himself,

Steve casually decided to be tested, just to see what would happen. When

tests showed that he was on the brink of auto-immune illness, he became

a patient too. knows that Dr. Rea's guidelines, protocols

(including the rotation diet), and antigens, especially the ground-

breaking Autogenous Lymphocytic Factor (ALF) and the B-Cell Stimulator,

saved her life. And by following Dr. Rea's orders, Steve reversed his

auto-immune marker from positive to negative, saving him from sliding

into a seriously debilitating illness. We believe Dr. Rea's clinic is

the premier treatment facility in this country for the diagnosis and

treatment of chemical sensitivity.]

The Interview

Medicine.Org: Dr. Rea, thank you so much for your time today. This

interview is for Medicine.Org, a non-profit site maintained and updated

by site editors, healthcare consumers, and health professionals. The

mission of Medicine.Org is to create a quality information and news

resource - a healthcare connection -- for patients, family members and

medical professionals. The site does not accept commercial

advertisements or endorse any products or services.

I believe your practice was not initially in the environmental area.

What was your field and how did you become a specialist in environmental

medicine?

WJR: Well, my field was general surgery and cardiovascular surgery, but,

of course, during that time I studied a lot of lung diseases which were

due to molds and mycotoxins. I also studied blood vessel inflammation

and worked on the artificial lung and artificial heart, and realized

that the plastics really did damage the individual. And so it was a

gradual evolving of ideas with that background.

Medicine.Org: Were there other environmental specialists at that time?

WJR: Yes, Doctor Randolf was the fellow who started that field and he

was very active at that time. And of course I found him, read his book,

and knew that he knew what he was talking about.

Medicine.Org: Was he a mentor of yours?

WJR: Yes.

Medicine.Org: What was the state of the art at that time?

WJR: Well, there were probably a hundred guys doing this to some lesser

extent in their offices, while Dr. Randolf was doing it in a hospital at

this time. The big thing was that there was really no technical data.

For example, we have T & B cells now and blood levels for different

toxics, and minerals, and so on, and we didn't have that at that time.

Medicine.Org: If you do experimental research at your clinic, what

contributions to the field of Environmental Medicine have come from your

efforts?

WJR: We do experimental research and I think the big thing that has come

is the fact that we've helped create less toxic housing. * We've written

books on this so that people can build houses they are comfortable in or

remodel houses that they have to be less toxic. The other thing that's

happened is that we have developed Autogenous Lymphocytic Factor (ALF)

and another one, the Mycotoxin Lymphocytic Factor (MIM) that modulate

the immune system, and these have been pretty good for a lot of our

people. And of course we've developed a very large clinic for implant

toxicity because a lot of people have reaction to their implants, such

as heart valves, hip replacements, tooth or jaw replacements - there are

220 different implants now.

Medicine.Org: How do you address that?

WJR: Well, we make vaccines for them and some of them, if we can get

them removed, we do that, but not all of them can be.

Medicine.Org: On your website you have an illustration called the

Principles of Chemical Sensitivity. However, there appears to be no

universally accepted medical definition of chemical sensitivity. Why is

this and how would you define chemical sensitivity?

WJR: I would define Chemical Sensitivity as the adverse reaction to the

ambient dose of toxic and non-toxic chemicals, and it can be manifested

in any system in the body. The definition problem stems from the work of

Cullen from Yale.1 We're not sure whether he worked for the chemical

companies or whether he just was ignorant. [in any case] ...he didn't come

to any of us. He created something called " Multiple Chemical

Sensitivity " and this was defined as an entity that has only clinical

symptoms and no signs and no laboratory data. Of course he was very

wrong about that. And that has fueled the controversy for the last

twenty years. And that's been part of the problem. But I think everybody

working in the field agrees on the definition that I gave.

Medicine.Org: That's particularly interesting because most of the people

we know with chemical sensitivity refer to their problem as " Multiple

Chemical Sensitivity. "

WJR: Yes, I know, and that's always been a problem because they don't

realize the legal implications. The legal implications are that it is

psychosomatic because you have no physical findings and no laboratory

data. Every chemically sensitive patient we see has physical signs and

laboratory data.

Medicine.Org: What are the main terms you use to describe environmental

illness?

WJR: Well, Environmental Illness is just a very big waste basket that

encompasses all of medicine, basically, and all environment.

Environmental Illness is any entity that is triggered by something in

the environment. I mean, infections are environmental illness, if you

want to look at it that way. Or bio-infections, bacterial infections,

protozoa, amoeba, or anything that's related to the environment,

pesticide-induced and so on. It's such a broad term that we don't use

it. And some people with a brain involvement have neurotoxicity, which

is in the code books. We try to stick with the medical code books

because most of it fits in there, you see. Lot of people have

vasculitis, inflamed blood vessels, so that's in the code books.

Medicine.Org: Can you identify the most common signs and symptoms of

multiple chemical sensitivity...let me drop this word " multiple " from now

on...patients with chemical sensitivity?

WJR: No, because that's individual, related to whatever (organ) system

is involved. But generally, people with chemical sensitivity have odor

sensitivity, like to perfumes, gasoline, car exhaust, and so on, but

there is also a large group that doesn't.

Medicine.Org: How do allergies differ from chemical or other

environmental sensitivities?

WJR: Well, number one, normal allergies are now defined as anything that

triggers the IgE mechanism, that's gammaglobulin E mechanism. That's a

very narrow type of substances, usually involving runny noses and sinus

and sometimes asthma and occasionally skin diseases. Whereas the

sensitivities like chemical sensitivities, food sensitivities, may not

be that mechanism. There are multiple mechanisms involved.

Medicine.Org: What is the relationship between chemical sensitivity and

auto-immune disorders like Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, and Crohn's Disease?

WJR: A lot of the auto-immune disorders are triggered by chemicals. If

you remove the chemicals or are lucky enough to figure out the

triggering agent, a lot of those diseases will regress. But if they

become too autonomous, then there's nothing you can do about them. In

other words, they can be self-generating after a while, if they've gone

on too long.

Medicine.Org: Do you consider chemical sensitivity a true illness?

WJR: Of course it is.

Medicine.Org: Do you consider it an auto-immune disorder?

WJR: No. **

Medicine.Org: Can you briefly talk about the course, prognosis, and

treatment of Chemical Sensitivity?

WJR: It's too broad a field. I can't really do that because it depends

on which end-organ is involved. For example, if you've got asthma due to

chemicals, and you've got chemical sensitivity, a lot of times, yes,

that can be cleared. But sometimes people have so much lung damage that

it progresses and you have lung failure and you eventually die from it,

you see. And that's true of every organ.

Medicine.Org: So it's very specific.

WJR: Yes.

Medicine.Org: If people can't go to a clinic like the Environmental

Health Center-Dallas, is there self-treatment they can do?

WJR: Well, only to a point. I mean, you know, everybody can protect

themselves by drinking glass-bottled spring water, no plastics, eating

organic food, and trying to get as good air as they can. Everybody can

do that and it does help people.

Medicine.Org: Are there other illnesses you have found to have a major

environmental component?

WJR: Oh yes. In my opinion, almost every disease has a major

environmental component and probably a genetic component as well. These

are usually time bombs waiting for the environmental triggers. But every

disease has some environmental influence. Sometimes it may not be very

much, but other times it may be very significant.

Medicine.Org: Pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides are

used everywhere. On the one hand some experts say they are dangerous,

while on the other hand we see some landscapers, gardeners, even pest

exterminators applying these chemicals with little or no protection.

What would you say about the health impact from pesticide exposure?

WJR: Pesticides are dangerous, very toxic. I'd say it is the number one

generator of disease in this world today. The only people who really say

its not dangerous now are the people who work for the chemical companies

or the pesticide companies or people like that.

Medicine.Org: Pesticides are used almost everywhere, in restaurants,

schools, in public buildings as well as on food crops. Might there be

any connection between pesticide use and the large amount of advertising

dollars put into sexual enhancement products like Viagra and Cialis?

WJR: Yes there really is. What's being found is that the sperm count is

going down in the male and loss of libido is skyrocketing, and this can

be directly traced in some cases to the pesticides, but also to other

toxic chemicals.

Medicine.Org: Regarding relapse, we have heard stories of substantial

recovery from chemical sensitivity as well as terrible stories about

relapse. Is relapse an issue and if so, what would you advise about

relapse prevention?

WJR: Relapse is always an issue because of the fact that you can always

get another exposure. I call it the " Second Hit Phenomenon. " That always

seems to be worse than the primary hit. But let's say you've really done

very well and gotten your body built up and you get a second hit, the

thing to do so you don't relapse very much is to get intravenous

nutrients: Vitamin C, Glutathione, Taurine, multi-minerals and B

vitamins. Get those for a couple of weeks and usually it will reverse if

you get it early. The key, besides avoidance - which is a given - is to

get it early.

Medicine.Org: Are there any unusual cases or cautionary tales about that

you could discuss with us that might be helpful to others?

WJR: Let's see. We have a ton of unusual cases. Well, we had one airline

flight attendant who was working at the ticket counter right before

boarding a flight. Several flights were cancelled so she ended up

working there for about 4 hours. They were stripping paint or something

in the stairwell behind her. She got exposed to this and almost had a

stroke and got severe pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas. And it

was just a fluke, really, and we have many cases like that. Odd things.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Medicine.Org: Patients with chemical sensitivity and other environmental

illnesses are under enormous stress. Doctors may not take their

complaints seriously and may refer them to a psychiatrist instead of

providing services. They seldom get support from family or friends,

their partners usually leave them after a while, they need special

housing and often end up living in their cars. Under these conditions,

it's no surprise if such a patient presents as if they have mental problems.

WJR: I would, wouldn't you?

Medicine.Org: I think so. What are your thoughts about the relationship

between environmental illness and mental health?

WJR: If you get brain toxicity - I mean, look, the brain is another

organ. You can have heart, lung, or intestinal irregularities, or

bladder or kidney abnormalities, but if it hits the brain you can look

like you're crazy. And you're not! It's very tragic. Of course the best

thing is that you keep that belief up until you find somebody that can

help you.

Medicine.Org: Right, because you'll get a lot of pressure to believe

that you are crazy!

WJR: That's right. Exactly.

Medicine.Org: You have written a book on designing and building a

healthy home or office. Could you briefly outline some of the most

important principles?

WJR: I really feel strongly about this because we've done so many

environments. As you know our latest one is with the Marriott Hotel here

in Dallas where we've built some rooms. So we've had a lot of

experience. We've probably helped remodel or build new about 20,000

buildings now. And what we've learned is that, number one, get the

concept before you build it. Get it well thought out and written down,

you know. Then number two, whoever your builder is, educate him. And

you've got to be sure you've got a conscientious one you can trust. And

then the third thing is to make rounds twice a day, morning and night,

and supervise him just so nothing goes wrong. If it does, you can deal

with it right away before there's a lot of cost involved. Those are our

three biggest principles.

Medicine.Org: We followed those principles in building our house here in

Tucson, out in the desert.

WJR: How's it working out?

Medicine.Org: Really well.

WJR: Excellent.

Medicine.Org: The only problem we had was with the heating system. We

wanted to let it outgas for about a month before moving in, but had to

move in about two weeks sooner than expected.

WJR: You had to move in prematurely.

Medicine.Org: That's right. As a result she got sensitized to something

in the system and although the system is thoroughly outgassed by now,

she still feels some reaction to it. It's the only fly in the ointment.

In that respect, we were very lucky.

My last question is about relocation. Due to ill health, many people

decide to relocate. What are the most important things to consider when

relocating for health reasons?

WJR: The first thing is to evaluate it in all four seasons before you

jump, because one season may be fantastic and the next one may be just

the pits. Secondly, find out where the wind currents are coming from

because they could come from a pollution emitter and dump in your area.

Also, take a good look at the local terrain and be sure you're not in a

valley where pollutants or molds will settle.

[interviewer's Note: At this point my tape recorder failed. However, I

have filled in the answer to this question with information from Dr.

Rea's book, Optimum Environments for Optimum Health and Creativity.]

WJR (from the book): The third thing to consider when relocating is the

emission levels of the area. The major sources of chemical pollution in

the air include transportation, fuel combustion in stationary sources,

forest fires, and solid waste disposal. The worst contamination is from

large urban areas and rural areas with year-round aerial insecticide

spraying. Another important consideration are the area's weather

patterns, which can have a direct bearing on air quality. 2

[interviewer's Note: At the end of the interview I asked Dr. Rea if he

had anything more to say that might be of help to our readers. It

surprised and moved me that he immediately returned to the problems

people with chemical sensitivity have finding help for this still badly

misunderstood and misdiagnosed illness. Although I lost his answer

because the tape player malfunctioned, the gist of his original answer

was to keep up hope, despite all the difficulties. I called him back two

days later to ask again and re-record his answer. Of course we were no

longer " in the flow, " but his response was similar: keep up hope.]

WJR: The problem can usually be solved if you continue to work on it.

_______________________________

* Dr. Rea's answer that the development of construction techniques for

less toxic housing was his most important contribution to the field,

took us by surprise. We expected him to say something like his

experimental laboratory vaccines. But on second thought, the healthy

housing issue seems paramount. For example, many times the exposure

leading to chemical sensitivity is from chronic exposure at home or at

work. Under those circumstances, if a person goes for treatment, gets

better, and then returns to the toxic environment (even if they have

vaccines to help), recovery will be difficult.

1. Mark R. Cullen, editor, WORKERS WITH MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES

(Philadelphia, PA: Hanley and Belfus [201 South 13th St., Philadelphia,

PA 19107; phone (215) 546-4995], 1987). This is Volume 2, No. 4 of the

ongoing series called OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE, STATE OF THE ART REVIEWS.

** Although Dr. Rea did not elaborate on his answer, we thought we would

explore further why chemical sensitivity is not considered an auto-

immune disease. After all, chemicals can trigger both of them. The

reason becomes clear when comparing the medical definition of an auto-

immune disorder with Dr. Rea's definition of chemical sensitivity. Auto-

immune disorders are characterized by antibodies that attack one's own

body tissues (for the source of this information, click here). If we

understand Dr. Rea correctly, patients with chemical sensitivity - at

least those who do not also have an auto-immune disorder - do not have

these antibodies in their blood. They therefore cannot, by definition,

be diagnosed with an auto-immune condition. But there is another

important difference between these two illnesses. Although auto-immune

disorders and chemical sensitivity both may be triggered by chemicals

(and reversed, if the offending agent is recognized and removed early

enough), in untreated chemical sensitivity there is a " spreading

phenomenon " that causes adverse reactions to more and more substances.

Patients with auto-immune disorders do not experience the spreading

phenomenon and can therefore tolerate the " ambient dose " of chemicals,

even though exposure to a particular chemical may have triggered their

condition.

2. Rea, J., M.D., Optimum Environments For Optimum Health &

Creativity; Designing and Building a Healthy Home or Office, Crown

Press, 2002, pp. 40-47.

About Dr. Rea:

J. Rea, M.D., is a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon with a

strong passion for the environmental aspects of health and disease.

Founder of the Environmental Health Center-Dallas (EHC-D), Dr. Rea is

currently director of this highly specialized Dallas based medical

facility. The center also has a clinic in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1988, Dr. Rea was named to the world's first professorial chair of

environmental medicine at the Robens Institute of Toxicology at the

University of Surrey in Guildford, England. He was also awarded the

Forman Gold Medal Award in 1987 and the Herbert J. Rinkel Award

in 1993, both by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, as well

as named Outstanding Alumnus by Otterbein College in 1991.He was also

named to the Mountain Valley Water Hall of Fame for work in the field of

study of clean water and, in 1995, he received the F.A.M.E. Award for

pioneering work in environmental and preventive medicine. In 1997 he was

named International Man of the Year and in 2002 Dr. Rea received the O.

Spurgeon English Humanitarian Award from Temple University.

Author of the medical textbooks, Chemical Sensitivity, Vol. 1-4, a home

building book Optimum Environments for Optimum Health and Creativity,

and co-author of Your Home, Your Health and Well-Being, Dr. Rea has

published more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers related to the

topic of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery and environmental medicine.

Born in Jefferson, Ohio, Dr. Rea graduated from Otterbein College in

Westerville, Ohio, and Ohio State University College of Medicine in

Columbus, Ohio. He then completed a rotating internship at Parkland

Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. He held a general surgery residency

from 1963-67 and a cardiovascular surgery fellowship and residency from

1967-69 with The University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School system,

which includes Parkland Memorial Hospital, Baylor Medical Center,

Veterans Hospital and Children's Medical Center.

From 1984-85, Dr. Rea held the position of adjunct professor of

environmental sciences and mathematics at the University of Texas, while

from 1972-82, he acted as clinical associate professor of thoracic

surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He has

also served as chief of thoracic surgery at Veterans Hospital and as

adjunct professor of psychology and guest lecturer at North Texas State

University.

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May 13, 2010

Barb,

from the dr rea interview I just sent out: