General Principles of Environmental Medicine
We are what we eat, breath, drink and touch.
- On any given day, we take in many different chemicals and allergenic substances. If our body has developed an allergic diathesis, we then may also react in an allergic fashion to some foods, chemicals or inhalants we breathe such as dust, mold, pollen, cat dander, dog dander and feathers.
Environmental influences on health. Click for larger image.
The kinds of things that affect us and the problems they can cause. Click for larger image.
- We are also constantly being exposed to electromagnetic radiation, no matter where we are: there is nowhere on the planet that does not get some form of radiation. It is thus impossible to do a controlled experiment on our exposures. We do know, however, that many people are getting more exposure than others.
If, on any given day, one has multiple exposures, the body may have a difficult time coping.
- If this happens regularly, it may be very hard to recover, and some permanent damage may occur.
Illness Iceberg: The real problems lie below the surface. Click for larger image.
- The environmental doctor, to help a patient recover, looks at the BIG picture of the many things that can be happening, and instead of trying to treat individual symptoms, looks at treating root causes, underlying issues which can be undermining the health of ones physiology.Instead of treating a runny nose, one can look at allergic foods, which once removed may eliminate the symptoms of not only runny nose, but cough, headache, stomach ache, even muscle aches.
How do contaminants enter our bodies? Click for larger image.
One of my teachers had a patient who was going to have a leg amputated, but once he went off the family of night shade foods (potato, tomato, tobacco, egg plant, and pepper), his leg improved so much, he no longer required surgery.
The “Environmental Sensitivities-Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Status Report” written in 2010 by my colleagues from the Environmental Clinic at Women’s College Hospital, is an excellent report, outlining the status, definition and further needs of chemically sensitive patients, in Canada.
Even the CMHC agrees! Click for larger image.