FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ONSET OF CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY

This is a very helpful write up by Doctor W.J.REA. Learn what can cause and or lead to a MCS diagnosis. 

Onset of chemical sensitivity is influenced by multiple factors including total body load (burden), total toxic load, nutritional state, synergisms, competition for storage, bioaccumulation, and biological half-life of the chemicals themselves.

Total Toxic (Body) Load (Burden) …Total toxic (body) load is the sum of all pollutants in the body at one time. When this accumulation overloads the system, chemical sensitivity can occur.

Nutritional State… The nutritional state needed to maintain good health is depleted by toxic exposure. Overload of pollutants can increasingly tax the detoxification systems, eventually resulting in depletion of nutrients, system/organ malfunctions, and susceptibility to illness.

Synergisms… Synergisms may be additive if the effects of the pollutants equal the sum of the individual pollutants involved. For example, a patient whose sensitivity to mold results in a runny nose and whose sensitivity to formaldehyde yields burning eyes might react to exposure to both with runny nose and burning eyes. Synergisms may also be potentiative where the effects of the potentially harmful substances exceed the sum of the individual substances involved. For example, mold toxin and formaldehyde combined may together give swollen eyes along with a swollen face and extremities in addition to or substituting for the burning eyes and runny nose. Occasionally, individual pollutants may have antagonistic effects. If introduced simultaneously,these substances may cancel each other’s usual effects. For example, salicylic acid and acetophenomen introduced simultaneously reduce each others effects so that an individual exposed to these might exhibit slight or no symptoms.

Competition for Storage and Removal… Some chemicals may be competitive for both storage and removal. DDT, for example, increases and dieldrin decreases when they are introduced simultaneously. Both compete for the same enzyme sites for detoxification and metabolic function for detoxification, thus, one may circulate and even be deposited in a lipid membrane while the other is metabolized and used or cleared from the body. In our clearing studies, we have observed that certain toxic chemicals cannot be removed until others are mobilized and removed.

Bioaccumulation of Toxic Substances… The accumulation of a single agent in the body is dependent upon the dose level, interval and duration of exposure, and half-life and lipophilic nature of a chemical. Accumulation of a toxic substance also depends on an individual’s quantity and quality of immune and enzyme detoxication responses along with his age and overall health. Accumulation may also occur with constant exposures that allow no time for clearing.

The factors influencing chemical accumulation are solubility quotient, the storage of chemicals in poorly perfused tissues, poor glomerular filtration, intensive tubular reabsorption, and slow biotransformation. This bioaccumulation may be likened to a layered sponge. Each layer fills due to the excess pollutants that are absorbed yet unable to be immediately metabolized. With each new contact, more layers fill with excess pollutants until the maximum load is exceeded and the disease process begun.

Biological Half-Life of Toxic Substances…The biological half-life of a chemical is one half the time a chemical takes to disintegrate. It is usually calculated from animal exposures. It is also based on inadvertent acute exposures of healthy people to toxic substances. The half-life may have little relationship to the detoxification mechanisms available. Metabolism may be high for initial high-dose exposures, but very slow for low doses.26 This latter response will leave residue in blood and tissues and may explain why low dose exposures can be a significant cause of disease. (See Chapter 4. Nonimmune Mechanisms). Various investigators 27-29 have shown a relationship between the presence and the bioaccumulation of foreign chemicals in human tissue and the incidence of cancer. This correlation appears to exist for nonmalignant diseases as well. This finding should cause even greater concern because apparently some environmentally persistent halogenated hydrocarbons such as DDT or chlordane may have a significant negative effect on the human immune system.30

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