I've recently been doing some research regarding environmental triggers for health problems, my motivation being my own health issues. They seemed to have started when I was a teenager and suddenly developed severe seasonal hayfever, which developed into ongoing sinus and eczema issues, which I have had ever since. In my early 20's I had allergy testing done and discovered I had a severe reaction to almost every grass known to man, LOL, along with many other pollens, and, to my surprise, discovered that I also had many food intolerances (as opposed to allergies) which were not only exacerbating my pollen allergies but adding other health issues of their own (fatigue and migraines being the biggest two). At the time I underwent a series of sublingual vaccine therapies for the pollen allergies, which did help tremendously with the hayfever, but didn't do much for my sinus sadly. Around this time I also noticed that I had allergies to both nickel and aluminium. I had been reacting to anti-perspirants since I had started using them as a teenager, but it was only much later that I realised it was the aluminium salts in them that was the culprit for the nasty rashes. Nickel is found in the metal used in cheap jewellery, watches and belt buckles etc - and it was at around this stage that I noticed that many eczema rashes were set off by things like cheap ear rings, a new watch with a metal base plate or a belt buckle rubbing on my stomach.
Then, when pregnant with my first child, I developed carpal tunnel, a condition where swelling in the wrists constricts the main nerve to the hand and causes loss of sensation, mobility and pins and needles in the fingers and hands. At 36 weeks I also developed "maternity rash", or PUPPP (pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy, if you want to get technical), which is essentially an allergic reaction to being pregnant! It manifested as an *intensely* itchy rash and small blisters that started on the stretch marks on my belly and then travelled to my chest, arms and legs. The constant rubbing left my legs and arms in particular looking like I had "carpet burn" all over - something of great interest to obstetrician and the midwives at the hospital, but quite EVIL as far I was concerned! Fortunately both it and the carpal tunnel cleared up in the weeks after the birth.
The CT came back with my second pregnancy though and never went away, getting more intense with my third pregnancy and is something that is still causing me pain - although I am finally having my right hand operated on in March, and the left a couple of months later, yay!
Something else that my second pregnancy brought with it was the development of Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disease which is essentially an inflamed thyroid gland and an overproduction of thyroid hormones. One of the major symptoms of this disease by the way, is intense fatigue - just the thing you need with a newborn and toddler, LOL! It was effectively managed with medication throughout my third pregnancy but it did mean that I was unable to breastfeed my third child as I just wasn't able to produce milk :-(
Getting back to the CT, as I mentioned I'm having an operation next month, after seeing a hand surgeon during the week. He asked the usual health background questions and was completely unsurprised by my background with allergies and autoimmune disease - which in turn, completely surprised me! It had never occurred to me before that any of them were linked (OK, so they are all immune system issues - der - but in my defence I did say that I am tired a LOT, which makes me seriously vague!), so I have been doing a bit of googling since the appointment.
Turns out that people who have severe pollen allergies are very likely to develop autoimmune disease, especially Graves', because the overloaded immune system is weakened and therefore more susceptible. I'm a bit annoyed that in all the visits I have made to my endocrinologist over the years that this link was never pointed out to me? It also turns out that many people with Graves' also have gluten intolerances, which are often difficult to diagnose as the symptoms are usually the same as the Graves', but can have a pronounced effect on the effectiveness of medication and the severity of symptoms! I point that out because I've often wondered if gluten is an issue for me, but confirming it through an exclusion diet seems way too hard :-/ Graves' sufferers are also more likely to develop CT due to inherant hand/ wrist weakness with the disease.
Anyway, all of this is my very long-winded way of getting around to my issue today:
To what degree were/are these immune problems triggered by artificial environmental factors?
There is no doubt that there is a genetic component in allergies and autoimmune diseases... but I wonder how many allergies and diseases are triggered, in these susceptible indivduals, by modern-day chemicals? Food additives like colourings, artificial sweeteners, flavour enhancers and preservatives? Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in our food and immediate environment? Air pollution from car exhaust, factories and so forth? Artificial fragrances, stabilisers, goodness-knows-what is our household cleaning products and personal care products? VOCs and other chemicals released from our household paints, carpets and furniture?
I don't really know the answer to that question, and neither do the "experts" it seems, but there is growing evidence amongst even conventional medical circles that these environmental factors may be quite significant.
Additionally, in times past, foods were eaten seasonally for (usually) only a few weeks at a time, so we were "forced" to eat a lot of different foods in rotation, all containing peak levels of different immune system-boosting anti-oxidants and vitamins. It seems that this food rotation also gives the immune system as chance to recover from any intolerances that the body may have developed to that food. So for example, my food intolerance to tomatoes may never have developed because I would have been eating tomatoes for only a month or so when they were in season. Modern preserving means that I can have tinned tomatoes or tomato sauce every day of the year.
I also know that for example, there is now evidence that the consumption of cows milk at an early age (less than 12 months) can be implicated in the onset of type 1 diabetes, another autoimmune disease. One of the first questions my hand surgeon asked me was if I had any diabetes in my family (I don't but DH does, so that's something I will have to be aware of with my kids), as autoimmune diseases often manifest themselves differently between members of the same family. For example, the mother may have diabetes, the son may have thryoid disfunction, and the sister may have lupus. There is no link (that I can find) between the early introduction of cows milk and thyroid disease, but I find it all interesting nonetheless.
Another issue is the use (and overuse) of antibiotics, particulary tetracycline and its derivatives, which may cause gut flora problems - which may promote the growth of candida (thrush) and other yeast and fungi infections - which in turn weaken the immune system (the reverse is also true, those with a weakened immune systems are also more susceptible to candida). I mention this because at the onset of puberty, like many teenagers, I developed pretty bad acne. Of course I wanted to get rid of it ASAP, so like many many other teenagers (as was the trend of the day), I was prescribed tetracycline antibiotics to lessen the severity, and which I used for several years! In hindsight, these were the years preceeding the onset of my pollen allergies. Coincidence?
What does all that mean? I'm no doctor that's for sure, but it seems clear to me that because my children are (genetically) going to be much more susceptible to immune system problems in the future, I need to do as much as I can to limit their exposure to environmental triggers. That's about as good a reason as I can get for simple living!
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