The Environmental Illness Resource is an excellent website that grew, as Matthew Hogg, its founder and editor says in his 'about us' page, 'out of a a wish to create one place where information on a number of related, and poorly understood, chronic illnesses, variously referred to as environmental illnesses and chronic neuroimmune disorders among other, could be presented.

At its inception in 2003 there were a number of great websites that provided excellent information on one, or a couple of these illnesses, but there was a need for a site that covered them all - since the information presented for one is often very useful for sufferers of some of the others.'

Since EIR covers many conditions that are very relevant to FoodsMatter visitors, we are delighted to be able to share some of the articles to be found on Matthew's site. Please read on...

Reported by Dr Sarah Myhill

Carbon monoxide poisoning and multi-sensitivity - Ideas from Albert Donnay, President of the MCS Referral & Resources ref: MCS Referral and Resources - Essential reading for all patients with multiple chemical sensitivity, electrical sensitivity and hyper-vigilance/chronic anxiety.

Firstly thank you to Alberty Donnay for seeing this handout and checking it for accuracy! Do look at the website which has lots of useful information - see link above.

I see a great many people who are hypersensitive. Sometimes the hypersensitivity is exquisite and is to light, noise, touch, smells (multiple chemical sensitivity) and often to electromagnetic radiation (electrical sensitivity). I have always wondered if there is an underlying mechanism and it appears there is! Donnay has produced a convincing case that this is evidence of past or current carbon monoxide poisoning which may come from outside the body or be made by the body itself as a stress response. This switches on a hypersensitivity and hypervigilence which amounts to chronic anxiety and possibly psychiatric symptoms. The good news is that this is curable!

Where does the carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning arise from?

The outside world
Essentially the incomplete combustion of carbon, so vehicle exhaust fumes, furnaces, water heaters, space heaters, ovens, ranges, stoves, fireplaces, cigarettes and explosives. CO also derives when haemoglobin breaks down or from inhaled dichloromethane, a common ingredient in solvents and spray cans. Also see Modern Household Toxins

AND/OR from within the body
What is most interesting is that CO may come from within the body as a stress response. Stress of any kind induces increased production of haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1), the so-called "universal stress enzyme" found throughout the body, which breaks down haem from haem proteins into iron, biliverdin (which is then converted into bilirubin, a potent anti-oxidant), and carbon monoxide. The stresses that have been shown to induce HO-1 in animals and humans include heat, light, sound, odours, electromagnetic fields, infection, physical trauma and mental or psychological stress. Chronic stress in any of these pathways thus results in chronic destruction of haem and chronic low-level CO poisoning. The ability of so many different types of physical, biological, chemical and mental stressors to induce HO-1 explains why the core symptoms of chronic stress are so similar to CO poisoning regardless of the stressor (see symptoms, below).........

Read on here.....

First published in 2008, first published in FoodsMatter in 2012.

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