The Patient Who Reacts to Everything

This is a Newsletter for people who react to everything - chemicals (MCS - Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), perfumes, carpets, light, sound, electromagnetic radiation. They can’t tolerate supplements or foods and this makes it difficult to start a programme. Why does this happen and what can we do about it? 

The limbic system and vagus nerve

Sensitivity to things is affected by the body’s response to stress. The stress response is the same for all stressors to greater or lesser degree. States of stress trigger the activation of the ‘fight-or-flight’ response brought about by a branch of the autonomic nervous system called the sympathetic nervous nervous system. The autonomic nervous system automatically controls vital functions like breathing, digestion and heart rate. The limbric system, a set of structures in the brain, is particularly involved in maintaining the state of hyper vigilance in response to a perceived threat. The vagus nerve (10th cranial nerve) is also involved in the response of the autonomic nervous system to stress.

The stress response

When in the stress response, the pupils dilate, the heart rate increases and the senses are heightened to face the threat. The body prioritises its functions in the stress response by winding down the functions of the parasympathetic nervous system or ‘rest and digest’ system. These include digestion and absorption, detoxification and many others. When the threat has gone away, the autonomic nervous system should switch off the stress response and the body goes back to ‘rest and digest.’

The Cell Danger Response

That is what should happen if the autonomic nervous system is working properly. For some people, however, the stress fails to resolve as they become stuck in the ‘fight-or-flight' response. Dr. Robert Naviaux describes the cycles within cells that block the healing resolution process as the ‘Cell Danger Response.’ The cells under threat send out a distress signals which triggers a chronic inflammatory cascade.

Stuck in fight-or-flight

The symptoms I look for in the patient who is stuck in ‘fight-or-flight’ are intolerance to chemicals, perfumes, carpets, light, sounds, supplements, foods, mould and more. They suffer from brain fog, fatigue and impaired ability to think. This is the patient who tells me they react to everything and can toleratenothing. The healing power of the body is reduced as the nervous system is in the opposite of healing mode.

How do you get out of fight-or-flight?

What can you do if your body feels stuck in fight-or-flight and over responds to everything? What might help if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life avoiding your triggers which might be widespread? There are a few strategies and tools that can help coax the body out of ‘fight-or-flight’ and into the ‘safety, relax and recove’ mode. These are the 4 ‘R’s:

• Remove/reduce the body stressors

• Rebalance immune system/mast cell response

• Re-align structures

• Reset exercises for limbic vagus systems

Remove/reduce the body stressors

The threats to the body may include the following:

• Stress from toxic teeth

• Stress from toxic foods and drinks, including excess alcohol - install Ancestral diet of natural/chemical-free foods with adequate water, protein, good fats, and unrefined complex carbs.

• Metabolic stress - high homocysteine, ammonia, histamine, blood sugar imbalances.

• Stress from environmental toxins - EMFs, pesticides, glyphosate, heavy metals, industrial pollutants, chemicals, air fresheners, cosmetics, solvents.

• Structural stress - TMJ (jaw joint) misalignments a.k.a. dental distress, cranial/ spinal/postural misalignments. Stress from life events - financial/economic worries, loss of employment, bereavement etc.

• Spiritual stress - Toxic relationships where you feel suppressed and can’t be yourself, can’t pursue your dreams, unfulfilling career, lack of purpose in life, lack of friendships/communication with others.

• Immune stress - Stealth infections (Lyme, Bartonella, Strep, Epstein Barr Virus, Coxsackievirus, H. pylori, parasites, yeasts, mould, allergies etc.)

• Stress from lack of sleep - the brain is the largest immune organ and does its housekeeping in deep sleep at night.

• Sensory stress - Chronic pain, no relaxation time, too bright lights, too much noise.

Removal of some stressors can be done quite quickly, depending on the person’s willingness to get better. Others, like dental work or remedial work from mould in the home, may take a little more time. However, the best way should be worked out how the necessary actions could be done.

Rebalance immune system/mast cell response

Like the autonomic nervous system, the immune system can get stuck so that certain infections like moulds and yeasts can flourish while the immune cells that keep viruses and bacteria in check, get suppressed. This situation is known as T helper cell -2 immune dominance. Mast cells producing histamine increase and the person gets a number of unpleasant histamine-related symptoms such as headaches, itchy skin, stuffy nose, rashes, hayfevter-like symptoms. The tools we use are specific natural compounds to re-balance the appropriate arms of the immune system and reducing the histamine response.

Re-align structures

It is important to re-align the body’s structures so major misalignments are not causing continuous stress to the nervous system. A significant widespread misalignment is the TMJ (Temperomandibular joint) or jaw joint. Do not underestimate the disruption to‘rest and digest’ that a dysfunctional TMJ can cause. It triggers a continuous stress response and misfiring of nerve cells known as ‘dental distress.’ Symptoms include a noticeable ‘click’ in the jaw joints on opening and closing the jaw. There may be other patterns of body pain and stress. Finding a dentist who can properly treat TMJ issues is not easy, but there a few who have the necessary neurological training and skills. Above all, don’t rely on your average ‘drill, fill and bill’ dentist to diagnose or address this condition.

Other useful tools to realign body structures include cranio-sacral therapy, osteopathy, chiropractic and functional neurology (most often accessed via an osteopathic or chiropractor).

Exercises for limbic and vagus nerve systems

This involves devoting about 10 minutes a day to doing specific exercises designed to calm down the hyper-vigilant limbic system and tone up the calming function of the vagus or 10th cranial nerve.

Limbic system exercises; Buteyko breathing ( see exercises online).

Vagus nerve exercises: See Dr. Stanley Rosenberg’s book “Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve”. The basic exercise is available online.

Other vagus nerve tools: gargling in different pitches, humming, singing an aria while in the shower, swimming in the sea (take care and use common sense if you have a heart condition.

If you would like to explore any of the above issues, please email the Good Health Clinic: goodhealthclinic@outlook.com or ring on 07836 552936

New Clinic Fees

Due to the current economic circumstances, I am increasing clinic fees. I need to increase them in order to maintain services. The new fees will be from the first of August, 2022. Initial consultation £200, follow ups £100 per hour. Beat the price rise book your appointment now.