Newpharmablog. Health News

One of the most ironic features of the chemical-susceptibility problem is that it is often begun, or at least perpetuated, by doctors themselves. To a large degree it can be considered an iatrogenic illness, that is, one that is induced by medical treatment.

The vast majority of drugs are synthetic and almost all of these contain petrochemical derivatives. Not infrequently, a patient who is unknowingly susceptible to petrochemicals will go to a conventional doctor for treatment. Let us say that the patient’s problem is headache, caused by exposure to natural gas, synthetic fibers, and fumes.

The doctor diagnoses the headache as being stress-related, and tells the patient to try to relax more. In addition, he prescribes a pain-killer containing aspirin and other synthetic substances. When the patient takes this pain-killer, however, he may aggravate his already existing susceptibility to chemicals. In other words, instead of getting better, in the long run his headache problem may become worse. In addition, now he begins to suffer from mental confusion. Because of the increasing chemical load, he has moved, at least temporarily, from a minus-two category to a minus-three.

And so he returns to the physician, complaining of fatigue and possibly depression or “brain-fag,” as well as intensified headache. The physician, not seeing the root cause of the problem, prescribes stronger drugs and advises the patient to take a vacation or see a psychologist. The stronger drugs bring on other reactions and visits to other specialists, in a downward spiral of symptoms and misguided treatments. By this point, the effects of the original chemical exposures have become more burdensome, since chemicals react in a cumulative fashion.

The patient may suspect that the doctor’s prescription pad is the cause of some of his reactions, but he rarely suspects the full extent of problem. Consequently, even a cessation of all medication is unlikely to bring complete relief. The patient muddles along, with temporary improvements and persistent relapses in a generally downward course. The result is usually a frustrated physician and a patient who has become a very bitter dropout from the conventional medical system. This problem is especially serious because in recent years there an explosion in the use of drugs as medicines in industrialized countries. Sales of prescription drugs alone, at the wholesale level, total over $9 billion United States. This figure is practically double what it was a decade ago. Some of these drugs, of course, have been highly useful, even lifesaving, they have been misused and overprescribed, especially to those who are susceptible to their effects.

It is generally well known that drugs can, and often do have serious side effects. Usually, however, these well-publicized side effects are of the kind: they bring on an immediate and highly visible reaction. As with allergies to rarely eaten foods, allergies to uncommonly encountered drugs are fairly easy to detect. If a person with little exposure to penicillin develop an allergy to it, the physician who dispensed the medication can usually tell that a is taking place. Treatment then consists in finding an acceptable I and avoiding penicillin.

Acute reactions to drugs, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. Often a drug will initiate or complicate a general intolerance for synthetic chemicals in the patient. These reactions are difficult to detect, since they come On insidiously. Usually, neither the patient nor the physician connects the heightened symptoms with the drug. The effects of the drug merge into the general background of chemical exposures.

All drugs, no matter how innocent they seem, can have side effects. The reactions may be caused by the active agent in the drugs, but they also can caused by hidden ingredients such as flavorings, colorings, preservatives and excipients, which are binders used in the manufacturing process. Few people realize the complexity of most drugs or the number of ingredients they contain. The ingredients of pharmaceuticals are rarely given on the label. An investigation of one over-the-counter preparation of synthetic vitamins revealed the presence of dozens of chemicals. In addition to seventeen vitamins and minerals the pills contained calcium stearate as a lubricant, gelatin, sugar, sodium benzoate (a preservative), calcium stearate (a lubricant), calcium sulfate, wax, carnauba wax, sesame oil (polishing), Blue Dye N0 2, Yellow Jjj 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, titanium dioxide, polyvinyl pyrolidine, and edible white ink.

Many of these substances cause allergic reactions in susceptible individuals even in such minute amounts. So-called natural vitamins also contain many excipients and additives. While some of these are made from vegetable sources, one can develop susceptibilities to them as well. In general, I urge patients to get their needed vitamins through eating wholesome foods in rotation, according to the principles of the Rotary Diversified Diet.

The first examination of the role of additives in drug reactions was carried out by Dr. Stephen D. Lockey of the Lancaster General Hospital in 1948. Dr. Lockey reported four cases of hives and three cases of asthma caused by additives in drugs. Lockey’s patients became sick when they were given various pharmaceutical preparations which contained petrochemical products. When they were given pure preparations, without these petrochemical additives, they did not become sick. A 58-year-old woman, for example, with a long history of allergies, had frequent attacks of rash and itching. It was eventually learned that these attacks came within half an hour after she had taken synthetic vitamins and an estrogen, a drug used to counteract the effects of the menopause. The only thing that the two capsules had in common was that they both contained Yellow Dye No. 5, a Food and Drug Administration approved coloring. When this patient washed the dye off the two capsules, she was able to use the pills without trouble.

Another patient, a 53-year-old man, took one teaspoonful of elixir of Phenobarbital. This brought on an attack of itching, hives, and swelling around the mouth. The drug preparation was colored with the now-banned Red Dye No. 2. In fact, any drug or food containing this dye brought on the same symptoms. The man was able, however, to take sodium phenobarbital tablets without trouble, since the pill form of the drug did not contain any dye.’

These are not isolated cases. In my first study of this topic in 1952, I found that over fifty percent of chemically susceptible patients reacted to aspirin and that, in a slightly different group, fifty percent reacted to sulfonamide. This was before the extent of the chemical-susceptibility problem had been worked out and, in particular, before the natural-gas problem was realized to exist. Most chemically susceptible patients are susceptible to synthetic drugs and, in general, the more advanced and long-standing the problem, the greater the number of drugs which are related to such problems.

Although it is best to obtain vitamins from fresh organic food, it should be noted that chemically susceptible patients who take supplements generally react worse to synthetically derived vitamins than to those of natural origin. This is so despite the fact that the two substances seem to have identical chemical structures. Vitamins prepared from food sources may also cause allergic reactions. For instance, Vitamin B1 prepared from wheat often reacts specifically. Vitamin C may cause reactions in some patients allergic to corn, as the synthetic product is made from com sugar.

In sum, reactions to drugs in susceptible people may occur to the active chemical ingredients, their bases, artificial colors, scents, preservatives, or other chemical ingredients or contaminants. In view of the number of such possibilities, involving both synthetic and natural ingredients, it is often difficult to trace reactions to the responsible material or materials. At times, combinations of ingredients and circumstances give rise to reactions.

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. This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 5:05 am and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.