When Chemicals Make You Sick

MANY aspects of multiple chemical sensitivity are puzzling. Understandably, there is considerable disagreement in the medical community as to the nature of the condition. Some doctors believe that MCS has a physical cause, others believe that it has a psychological cause, and still others point to both physical and psychological factors. Some doctors suggest that MCS may even represent a class of several diseases.

Many patients with MCS say that an initial large exposure to a toxin such as a pesticide caused their condition; others point to repeated or chronic exposure to lower levels of toxin. Once MCS is acquired, sufferers react with various symptoms to a variety of seemingly unrelated chemicals that they previously tolerated, such as fragrances and cleaning products. Thus, the term multiple chemical sensitivity.

Joyce contracted head lice while in school. Her head was then sprayed with a pesticide. Joyce’s health deteriorated, and she became intolerant of many chemicals that had not bothered her before. These include household cleaners, air fresheners, fragrances, shampoos, and gasoline. “My eyes swell shut,” says Joyce, “and my sinuses become infected, causing headaches and nausea so severe that I remain sick for days. . . . I have had pneumonia so many times that my lungs are scarred like those of a person who has smoked for 40 years and I have never smoked!

Chronic exposure to a lower level of toxin, which has also been suggested as a factor in MCS, may occur outdoors or indoors. In fact, in recent decades the rash of sicknesses in the wake of indoor air pollution has led to the coining of the term “sick-building syndrome.

Sick-Building Syndrome

Sick-building syndrome surfaced in the 1970’s when to conserve energy, many naturally ventilated homes, schools, and offices were replaced with airtight, air-conditioned buildings. Insulation, treated wood, volatile adhesives, and synthetic fabrics and carpets were often incorporated into these buildings and their furnishings.

Especially when new, many of these products release low levels of potentially harmful chemicals, such as formaldehyde, into the recycled air. Carpets add to the problem by absorbing various cleaners and solvents and then releasing them over a long period of time. Vapors from various solvents are the most prevalent of indoor air contaminants,says the book Chemical Exposures Low Levels and High Stakes. “Solvents,” in turn, “are among the chemicals most frequently implicated by chemically sensitive patients,” the book states.

While most people seem able to cope with the environment inside such buildings, some develop symptoms ranging from asthma and other respiratory-tract problems to headaches and lethargy. These symptoms generally disappear when the affected people leave that environment. But in some cases, “patients may develop multiple chemical sensitivities,says the British medical journal The Lancet. But why do some get sick from chemicals while others do not? This is an important question because some who seem unaffected may find it difficult to be understanding of those who become ill.

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