Are you overwhelmed by the smells of chemicals, such as perfumes and other strong smells, to the point where you can barely breath or think, and have to get away from them as soon as possible? If so, I can relate. I’ve been there too, many years ago, and I’ll explain why I think causes multiple chemical sensitivity and how I got over it.
Before you jump ship, I’ll explain what all this has to do with your digestive system, even if you don’t have IBS, and how I’ve seen many patients dramatically improve their chemical sensitivities.
What led me to even think to do this video was that just the other day I was in a mall department store and I had to walk through the perfume section to get to where I wanted to go. And that smell made me flash back to the days when I literally could not do that.
I remember a time when I was much younger when I would be completely overwhelmed by strong chemical smells, and particularly the perfume sections of a store. Now I fortunately no longer have that problem, but since then I’ve treated more patients than I can remember who also suffered from this, and I’ve learned a few things.
First, let’s talk about why I think this happens. Chemicals have to be cleared by the body. And your body is naturally doing this all the time. We call this detoxification. And when things get bad, we understand it as going through a detox.
But why can some people naturally detox much faster and quicker than others? Some of it is genetics, but a lot of it depends on the overall toxic load in your body. And what most people who are very sensitive to chemicals such as perfumes don’t realize is that their body is probably already being taxed by a very high toxic load.
Because of this, they can’t quickly detox things like chemicals in the air in a perfume section. Their body’s ability to detoxify is already maxed out.
A good analogy would be if you had a bucket of water that was already full. If you try to add more water to it, it can’t hold the water. The water just flows over the top and goes all over the place. That’s essentially what is happening to your body’s detox systems when it can’t handle the perfume section.
This begs the question, what is causing all of that toxicity that is already in your body? Some obvious things might be all of the other chemicals that we expose ourselves to every day, but in my experience that pales in comparison to what is going on in your digestive tract.
Your digestive system is, for most people, the greatest source of toxins to which you are exposed. And many of those toxins can be absorbed. When things are working great, your body can deal with it and you eliminate most of the toxins. But when things aren’t working optimally, your systems of detoxification can become overwhelmed.
There are two major things that can overwhelm your ability to detox. One is if you have antibody reactions to a food. When you have an antibody reaction to a food, such as in a gluten intolerance, then that food is treated as a toxin, not as a food. And I’ve seen the same thing happen with other food reactions. Once food becomes a toxin, it is then contributing to the overall toxic load in your body, which now has to be detoxed.
I personally experienced this. Once I cut out gluten in my diet, my chemical sensitivities started to decrease and eventually went completely away. The other day I walked through that perfume section with no problems other than the flashbacks to the days when that would have made me run out of the store.
That’s one big cause. The other is when you have an overgrowth in your digestive tract, and this can be a Candida or a bacterial overgrowth. They both can and often due produce a lot of toxic byproducts. These toxins are absorbed into your body, and must be dealt with by your liver and your systems of detoxification.
They are down there literally wreaking havoc with your entire body. They are producing toxins that you didn’t even know you were being exposed to, and which you now have to detoxify.
In either case, this can mean that your bucket is already full. You have no more capacity to detoxify chemicals in your outer environment because your body is already so busy trying to detox from the internal toxins. And that’s why many people can’t tolerate chemical smells.
The good news is that I’ve seen this improve in many, many patients once they identify and treat the issues in their digestive tract.
I would love to hear about your stories with chemical sensitivities in the comments sections below. And if you would like help sorting out some of the major causes of this problem, give my office a call at the number below. We’d love to work with you to help you feel better.
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Dr. Wangen is the founder and medical director of the IBS Treatment Center, the award winning author of two books, and a nationally recognized speaker on digestive disorders. He has been on ABC, NBC, and Fox as well as public radio, and was named one of Seattle’s Top Doctors by Seattle Magazine.