MCS - Phenol?

Various allergy/intolerance (chemical sensitivity) testing shows me to be severely reactive to phenol....just as bad as amalgam. I have such bad MCS i am like a leper, i scan everything and when out of my own environment think ahead before every move. I have thought and thought about this, but i cannot think where my exposure to phenol is coning from, i am so carefull, am i missing something? Is it linked to metals in any way?


Hi,
If I remember you also have Gilbert's disease, a begign condition of the liver. Did the dr. say how much or little GIlbert's contributes to the phenol problem?


Yes I do have the Gilberts but I didnt realise it could contribute to phenol problems. Now I have just searched for a list of phenol foods I realise just how many of them I cannot tolerate as well as many of the listed household products/beauty products. Seems there could definately be a connection with Gilberts - maybe its that particular pathway in the liver that deals with the phenols. Interesting - anyhow. Thanks


Hi,
In my daughter's case, we found that several pieces of her bedroom furniture (bought in South Africa) had been treated with a varnish containing Penta-Chloro-Phenol, a fungicide used to prevent fungi and mould growth. When the furniture was removed, she recovered from several years of chronic illness


Thanks,
Thats good you identified the problem for your daughter and removed it, what a good job she has recovered, youve got me thinking now, about two years ago we removed skirtings, doors, shelves anyhting wooden that was painted and stained the new wood with a product called dulux "protective" wood stain. Could it still be outgassing?

Our furniture is pine or oak, the walls are emulsioned and i buy natural fibres, some wooden and tile floors but the carpets inc bedroom are 50/50, also have a latex matteress, could that pose a problem? We have a big oil boiler too in the utility room, i am begining to wonder if we should encase it off somehow? I run three air purifiers in the house, the bedroom one runs all night. I damp dust daily and dont use any cleaning products other than eco ones and i use those sparingly. I dont use any normal shampoos or soaps, i cant even use the natural ones, i would be FAR too ill, i use Dr Bronners soap now and again.

I will have another good think about my house and how i can modify it.


Hi,

If this was the product used, then it contains:
25-50% Volatile Organic Compounds (solvents)
Cobalt Carboxylate
Ethyl Methyl Ketox.
Dichlofluanid (a fungicide)

The organic solvents are probably gone by now but the fungicide could well be causing problems for anyone with MCS.
Where you ill before you used this woodstain?



Yes, Thats the one, Trade Dulux!

I had no idea it contained these things, thankyou for enlightening me. We stained more than twenty doors in the house, plus all other wood, is there any way of sealing the fungicide in? would phenols still be a problem?

I was VERY ILL ten years ago, i had been taking Minocin (Tetracycline) for ten months flat, recovery took at least another ten months, i never quite felt 100%, but NOTHING LIKE AS BAD as i have done this last eighteen months, i didnt have this MCS and these food intolerancs they are ridiculous.

My sixteen year old son has gone from sporty to fatigued, plus some food intolerances. Husband says he is well, but he has kidney pain and when i test his urine he has blood in it (not visible to the naked eye) doctors have ordered an ultrasound, i bet it will be ok, mine was.

The conventional docs just shun me, because of my adverse reaction to Minocin and its effects ten yrs ago, they look back through my records and say, "you have had this sort of trouble before i see" they put it down to nerves or depression


Interestingly, the EPA website lists Histological changes to the kidneys of rats used to test the fungicide.

20 doors has a surface area of roughly 60 square meters, which is the equivalent of 2 16'x 19' rooms! If you are reacting to the Organochlorine, I imagine that concentrations could be resonably highy despite the precautions you are taking.
Your first step should be to get an industrial hygienist to take air and dust samples and evaluate OC levels. If residue is present in high concentrations, then the only sure way of remediating is to either exchange the doors and wood or have them refinished by removing all the previous stain (I'm not sure if painting the doors would seal in the OC)


Also worth bearing in mind that allergy tests are not particularly accurate. Phenol is built from Benzene molecule with an OH group. Dichlofluanid is also formed around the same Benzene molecule. It could easily be that you are actually allergic to Benzene, rather than specifically to Phenol.

Steve, Thanks for the info, your so knowledgable. I have just googled Benzene and see it is used as a building block for making plastics and rubber, it is in cosmetics, cleaning products, synthetic fibres, newspaper print and much more, i CANNOT be near these things because of how ill they make me, as a rule my reaction isnt instant, it takes a few hours, but it can last two days, i can barely funtion, everything feels surreal, the cracks in my nose last for three weeks. I leave masks around everywhere for emergency use, life as i knew it is history! Anyway, i will make inquiries about getting some measurments taken, then i will know about the woodstain or anything else that i should address.

Like her, i wonder if there is anything that we can do to help repair residual damage, or is it just a matter of avoidance?

Thanks Again


There's plenty you can do

1. Seek out a good doctor who specialises in environmental and nutritional medicine. The BSAENM is a good place to look. He/She will test immune status, detox pathways and nutritional status and start you on a program of supplements to boost detoxification and modulate your immune system
2. Get rid of any sources of aromatic hydrocarbons (Benzene based) in your home. That probably means getting rid of all the wood you treated, since that's quite possibly what's causing your problems
3. When the house is remediated, get rid of all dust... on books, on top of cupboards, under beds etc. Use a vacuum cleaner with an active carbon exhaust filter to prevent redistributing the contaminant
4. Start ventilating your home (full air exchange 4-5 times per day, even in winter
5. If lab work returns high concentrations of the pesticide (>5ppm in household dust sample), consider changing your mattrass (for an internally sprung model) and duvet. Wash all curtains, bedding etc
6. Eventually, once you remove the 24x7x365xX exposure that's constantly triggering your immune system, your response to other occassional exposures will gradually lessen over time


Hi,
I consulted with a BSAENM doc last year in York, he took a fat cell biopsy that showed me to be loaded with many chemicals consistant with exposure burning trade waste (this had been happening near my home) thankfully it has stopped now, doc also did Lymphocyte sensitivity screen that showed amalgams to be a problem, toxic screen test identified nickel to have caused probs with liver enzymes. After amalgam replacement i began to react to composites, lymphocyte sensitivity test clarified this.

Repeat fat biopsy showed a MASSIVE improvement in chemical reduction after approx 200hrs in IR sauna.

One problem seems to have fuelled another, new BSAENM doc did tests, found leaky gut, gut fermentation in small bowell, most amino acids very low. Vit E gamma tocopherol 0.10 ref range 2.0 - 8.5. nickel interferes with vit E activity, i cant tolerate supplimentation.

I think an accumulation of smoke, amalgams, woodstain etc triggered a catalogue of health problems that caused MCS, multiple food intolerance, candida. I will definately get house tested for chemicals and follow your suggestions regards making house safer.

Thanks Again