Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Archives

Pericarditis

Dear Dr. Toll
A recent medical condition and a referece from a freind has led me to seek your medical opinion. Any insight would be greatly welcome and Thank You for your time..my condition is as follows

I am a 19 year old white male with a family history of the normal. High Blood pressure, cancer, arthritis among the most common nothing of any type serious or out of the ordinary. During my senior year of high school I was taken to the hospital for extreme back,shoulder, and chest pains. After and extended stay in the ER I was sent home with a number of pain killers and appointment to see my primary care the following day. After doing bloodwork, ekg's and and eppcardiagram my doctor diagnosed me with Pericarditis. He explained it as cold virus that had landed on my pericardium causing it to inflame. I was out of school for 2 months where I could barely get out of bed. I made a full recovery or so I thought. Over the next year or so I noticed things in regards to my health that were not so before my illness. I suffered from numorous migraines a week, sensitibilty to hot weather( took me two or three weeks to adjust to summer temperatures), and odd bowel functions. My doctors nodded of most as maturation of my body, for migraines they suggested to stop drinking caffeine, and for bowel movements drink more water. For the most part those remedies worked well enought but a month after I was able to change my lifestyle slighty upon the doctors suggesttion I rushed myself back into the Er wit the same symptons of 2 years ago and again was diagnosed with pericaditis only this time it took me a day to get back on my feet and two weeks for a full recovery. My doctor explained my situation as "just something that is going to happen for no aperent reason" and I didn't like the sound of that and am in the process of seeking addition expertise from a cardiologist.
If you have any insight or suggestions they would be apreciated. Thank you very much

Follow Ups:

• Re: Pericarditis (Archive in MCS.) Walt Stoll [9.8] 07:04:02 9/27/04 (0)

In Reply to: Pericarditis posted by Jason [163.1399] on September 26, 2004 at 14:06:25:

Hi, Jason.

My younger brother had exactly the same thing, 20 years ago, and went through the exact same process with thei docs testing everything they could think of and having no idea what was going on.

He finally asked me, his crazy older brother who was just learning about alternative medicine, what I thought. I reviewed his extensive medical history about this problem and suggested he see a clinical ecologist in consultation. It turned out that his chronic and recurring pericarditis was due to environmental chemical exposure.

He is a "modern" chemical farmer and the straw that broke the camel's back was the regular lawn treatment of professional chemical lawn treatments that were being done to his home.

He stopped the lawn treatments and was more careful about the exposure in his business and he has not had a recurrence in more than 15 years.

Just a thought. You will need copies of ALL your records in your hand when you see the clinical ecologist in consultation. See the MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) archives for how to find a good one close to you.

Let us know what you learn and how you do.

Walt