|
[ Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Archive ] [ Main Archives Page ] [ Glossary/Index ] [ FAQ ] [ Recommended Books ] [ Bulletin Board ] |
Search this site! | |
In researching the cause of the abdominal and pedal edema experienced by many (myself included) who have sustained chemical injury, I came across your site. I have just read your account of Kentucky's revocation of your medical license. I am not surprised that this happened and is happening elsewhere, but I am surely outraged that it is.
Of course, I readily identified with the problem you encountered with the patient from New York who made the complaint. As a Wellness Counselor and minister to the chemical injury community, I encounter folks like that often. Even though they go from doctor to doctor seeking medical help, many of them do not actually want to get well. Their illness serves a purpose in their lives, and anyone who actually gives them answers to their problem threatens to take the illness away from them. They can get very vengeful when cornered like this. I am so sorry this woman's fear of losing her means of getting attention was directed at you in that manner.
The problem with which I would like help is the edema I was researching when I came across your site. There is apparently a connection between chemical injury and CFIDS, and between CFIDS and Acquired Angioedema. I am wondering if this could explain the abdominal swelling that many of us who have been chemically injured have. For a couple of years after pesticide poisoning in 1996, my face and other body parts were also swollen. (Pictures of this are available at www.naturescountrystore.com/suzanne - they are not pretty but seem to offer comfort to those with similar experiences) Now, the swelling is mostly in my feet and legs. Both of my feet are larger than my right foot and leg in the picture on that site. My weight is the same as when those pictures were taken. I also still have swelling in my abdomen, but not to the extent in those pictures.
I have come a long way since almost dying twice in 1996. Briefly, RoundUp poisoning caused my pseudocholinesterase to drop rapidly. That was the first time I was told I had a short time to live. I refused to believe it and called all over the US until I finally was led to Dr. Donald Dudley in Gig Harbor, WA, who had been doing research on how to reverse pseudocholinesterase decline caused by pesticide poisoning. (As I understand it, Dr. Dudley used to work for a pesticide manufacturer until he realized how very harmful pesticides actually are. He quit and began his research, and was hounded by the pesticide companies in a way similar to your own persecution.) My local PCP was willing to prescribe one of the substances Dr. Dudley had used to successfully reverse pseudocholinesterase decline in rats, and it worked to keep me alive and reverse the decline.
The RoundUp poisoning also caused substantial damage to my liver, specifically the P-450 pathway. Because of this damage, my liver could not effectively detoxify petroleum-based chemicals, so many of them came into my body and caused immediate damage to my red blood cells. With exposures to even tiny amounts of them, my brain, sensing an immediate drop in oxygen, would shut down all non-essential functions in my body. This resulted in a paralytic seizure during which I was conscious, but no amount of my screaming commands to my body could make it move. Only the administration of supplemental oxygen could bring me out of a seizure. Organic brain damage resulted from some of these hypoxic events. Since RoundUp is also an endocrine disruptor, I now have a goiter and several thyroid nodules, and problems with libido and sensation among others. I got slammed into menopause with a vengeance.
I went into the pesticide poisoning with CFIDS, malabsorption syndrome, and Fibromyalgia. Through supplementation and learning how not to overextend myself, I had wrestled my life back from the CFIDS and malabsorption syndrome, but not the Fibromyalgia. Thanks to oxygen therapy and supplementation, most of the symptoms of CFIDS that returned with the pesticide poisoning and the FMS are quiet now except for the sleep disorder, which is helped by a small dose of amytriptilene nightly. I am using Tyler's Lipotrophic Complex, N-acetyl-cysteine, and Milk Thistle to sustain my liver. Moducare Sterinol has kept the candida within bounds. Quercetin and Moducare Sterinol and avoidance have kept my food allergies quiet. Compounded natural hormones have helped with the hot flashes from Hades. Fresh air, well water since our move to the countryside in 2000 and avoidance of petroleum-based chemicals have also helped my liver to regenerate.
I was recently approved to drive once again (first time since early 1997) because I have been seizure free for 1 1/2 years. As with all experiences in our journeys through Schoolhouse Earth, pesticide poisoning has come with lots of lessons. One of those lessons has been that I need to trust my own intuitive self when it comes to healing myself. Another one is that I cannot get pears (alternative medicine) from an orange tree (allopathic doctor). Medical schools today apparently teach doctors to become drug pushers, and my body does not handle drugs well.
This is the background that preceded the edema and the etiology of it. Can you help me figure out the cause of it and how I can resolve it?
In Reply to: Abdominal and pedal edema posted by Suzanne Fisher on September 11, 2002 at 13:18:45:
Thanks, Suzanne.
Your experience has produced a very knowledgable person about MCS. I almost can wish that every legislator could go through what you have so they could become expert enough to actually DO something about this growing problem!
For a problem this deep you are going to have to depend upon mother nature and practice serious wellness for at least a year. Then let me know how you are doing. In the meantime supporting your liver detoxification processes with caster oil packs and those substances already known to suport specific functions (see the liver archives) would help a lot.
ALL of your swelling is directly related to your MCS and it's effect on your liver. Have you had any true liver function tests or are your docs still depending on liver death tests?
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Abdominal and pedal edema (Archive in MCS.) REFERENCE posted by Walt Stoll on September 12, 2002 at 10:55:46:
Thanks for your quick reply!
"For a problem this deep you are going to have to depend upon mother nature and practice serious wellness for at least a year."
I have practiced 'serious wellness' as you put it (eating organically, avoiding harsh chemicals, having the Elisa/ACT done every couple of years and avoiding allergens, etc.) since 1989, and have redoubled my efforts since the pesticide poisoning in 1996.
Liver function testing in 1997 showed p-450 pathway problems. I plan to repeat this test soon. I will also read what is in your archives.
In Reply to: Re: Abdominal and pedal edema (Archive in MCS.) REFERENCE posted by Suzanne Fisher on September 12, 2002 at 13:47:50:
Hi Suzanne,
As you are reading, you should go to the glossary and look up wellness. Wellness as "you" put it is not the same thing as what Dr. Stoll is talking about. It encompasses much more than eating organically and having some tests run. Hope that helps you.
Were you actually poisoned by pesticides in 1996?
In Reply to: Re: Abdominal and pedal edema (Archive in MCS.) REFERENCE posted by Suzanne Fisher on September 12, 2002 at 13:47:50:
Sorry, I meant to say How were you actually poisoned by the pesticide? I.E., did you inadvertently ingest some?
In Reply to: Re: Abdominal and pedal edema (Archive in MCS.) REFERENCE posted by Suzanne Fisher on September 12, 2002 at 13:47:50:
Thanks, Suzanne.
"Serious wellness" includes at least SR, regular exercise AND the whole foods diet.
If the WFD is worth 3 points, the entire program is worth 27 points. Each leg magnifies the benefits of the others.
For a problem this deep, you need the 27 points.
Walt
|
[ Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Archive ] [ Main Archives Page ] [ Glossary/Index ] [ FAQ ] [ Recommended Books ] [ Bulletin Board ] |
Search this site! | |