I learned a great deal about the adverse effects of chemicals on hormones from Mary Lou Ballweg, president of the Endometriosis Association. She made me aware that PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls used in industry until they were banned in the 1970s) and other toxins were playing a part in causing endometriosis and other endocrine and immune problems.
We've already talked about the high rate of endometriosis in monkeys exposed to minute amounts of dioxin, a byproduct of industrial processes that involve chlorine, including paper and plastic manufacturing.
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| How Common Are Yeast Infections |
In his book, Hormonal Chaos, Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy at Tufts Universlty, discusses the hazards of environmental chemicals. He puts forth the environmental endocrine hypothesis, the assertion that chemicals called 'endocrine disruptors' are interfering with the normal functioning of hormones in animals and humans.
He added, "One-third of these patients have been found to have low T-cells (cells that power your immune system) ... It has become increasingly apparent that these chemical sensitivities are disappearing and the T-cells are returning to normal (following treatment with nystatin ... indicating that the low T-cell counts were caused by Candida albicans."
Dr. D. Lindsey Berkson, a consulting scholar at the Center for Bio-environmental Research at Tulane and Xavier universities in New Orleans, is the author of Hormone Deception, which explores the link of pollutants that mimic hormones and various illnesses in children, women and men. Berkson calls pollution and its widespread effects on human health, "an intimate dance." She says, "We affect the environment with our technological culture and, in turn, endocrine-disrupting chemicals have the potential to affect us all. We could call it the shadow side of technology."
Berkson thinks all illness must now be at least investigated as having a possible link with our environment. This led her to write her next book, Natural Answers for Women's Health Questions, in which she explores 220 illnesses, from endometriosis to breast cancer, with their possible connection to environmental hormonal pollutants, along with human hormonal and nutritional deficiencies, and tells us how to work with complementary medicine to unravel these problems.
She adds, "Many patients with chronic illnesses have chemical sensitivities. We don't know exactly why, but Dr. Truss says in research dating back to 1978 that there is a subgroup of patients with candidiasis 'with severe intolerance to virtually all chemicals.'"
Based on this information, I was able to help many of my chemically sensitive patients by adding antifungal medications to their treatment program.
MY COMMENTS
I can see how my discussion of chemicals can be frightening - even overwhelming. Yet, by becoming more aware of the health problems they cause, you'll be able to take steps to avoid or control them.
If you're troubled by vaginitis, endometriosis, fatigue, fibromyalgia or other yeast-connected problems I've discussed in this blog, you already know there's no "quick fix." Yet, there are things you can and should do.
Here are a few of my suggestions, especially if you're troubled by sensitivities to perfume and other odors, or if you're troubled by respiratory problems, including sinusitis or asthma:
- Get copies of two superb books that focus on indoor chemicals - Staying Well in a Toxic World and its supplement, Staying Well in a Toxic World: A New Millennium Update - by Lynn Lawson. These books are not only authoritative and carefully documented, they are as readable as paperback novels.
- Don't smoke, and don't let people smoke in your home. People in homes where others are smoking experience twice as many respiratory infections as individuals in smoke-free homes, and these infections set up a vicious cycle of other health problems.
- Don't spray insecticides inside or outside your home, and keep your windows closed on the days your neighbors spray their houses.
- If your office is making you sick, bring information to your employer or seek a job in a less-polluted environment.
- Get a copy of Jeffrey C. May's 338-page book published in 2001, My House Is Killing Me! - The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma. May explains how air conditioning, finished and unfinished basements and other home features affect air quality. He offers a step-by-step approach to identifying, controlling and often eliminating the sources of indoor air pollutants and allergens. May also discusses many other things in your home that can bother you. Among them: "off-gassing" of chemicals like formaldehyde from furniture and carpets; old, buried gas or oil tanks or by-products of a manufacturing operation that may have leached toxic chemicals into the soil and even into your basement.
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| How Common Are Yeast Infections |
The use of chemicals or pesticides in your yard or those of your neighbors can also have serious effects on you. To find out more, you can check out How Common Are Yeast Infections.