INDICATIONS AND REASONS
FOR REFERRAL (TARGET AILMENTS)
Referral to a physician well trained and experienced in Environmental
Medicine should be considered anytime a patient or his/her physician
wishes to try to find the actual causes behind a chronic and/or
complex illness rather than just continue to treat it with symptomatic
drugs. All organ systems are commonly involved with illnesses
that may respond well to the Environmental
Medicine approach.
See the "Office Applications" section below.
A referral might be particularly helpful if a patient's illness
is chronic; consists of multiple symptoms in multiple organ systems;
exhibits patterns that fluctuate over time (expecially if the
patterns are known to result from biological mechanisms dysfunction
due to involvement with exposures to environmental inhalants,
chemicals, or the diet); or has not responded satisfactorily
to a symptomatic multiple drug approach.
OFFICE APPLICATIONS
This list illustrates only some of the potentially extensive
range of adverse health effects that have been associated with
Environmentally Triggered Illnesses
(ETI) as defined in this
section. By listing a disease name here, it is not implied that
it is always the result of ETI. However, the physician should
be alert to the possibility and should consider evaluating the
patient for an ETI connection if indicated by an appropriate
history.
Where an illness involves an ETI component, therapy to correct
the contributing causes of the illness should always rank as
the number one choice, ahead of any other therapy that is just
symptomatic, though symptomatic therapies are appropriate adjuncts.
All of the diseases and symptoms listed are documented in the
published peer reviewed medical literature to be potentially
due to the mechanisms of ETI. (Chemical
Esposures: Low Levels and High Stakes, 2nd Edition
by Ashford, Nicholas A., Ph.D., J.D., and Miller, Claudia S.,
M.D., M.S., Van
Nostrand Reinhold, New York, New York, 1988; Human
Ecology and Susceptibility to the Chemical Environment,
by Randolph, Theron G., Charles
C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1962.
- Systematic
Illnesses: Alcoholism, obesity, tobacco use, and
food allergies.
- Cardiovascular Disorders: Migraine headaches,
arrhythmias, vasculitis, thrombophlebitis, hypertension,
angina, myocardial infractions, edema, and fluid retention
syndromes.
- Eye/Ear/Nose/Throat Disorders: Conjunctivitis,
eczema of the eyelids, blurring vision, photophobia,
laryngeal edema, Meniere's disease, recurrent otitis
media, rhinitis, frequent colds, sinusitis, vertigo,
hearing loss, tinnitus, and pressure in the ear.
- Pulmonary Disorders: Asthma, certain pneumonias, chronic
bronchitis.
- Endocrine Dysfunction:
Thyroid dysfunction, premenstrual syndrome, fibrocystic
breast disease, and diabetes
- Gastrointestinal Disorders: aphthous stomatitis, gastric
and duodenal ulcers, chronic gastritis, irritable bowel
syndrome, infantile enterocolitis, eosinophilic gastroenteritis,
regional ileitis, ulcerative colitis, certain malabsorption
syndromes, and gut flora dysbiosis.
- Hematological Disorders: Certain anemia's, thrombocytopenia.
- Genitourinary Disorders: glomerulonephritis, nephritic
syndrome, chronic cystitis, recurrent vaginitis, enuresis,
dysmenorrheal, infertility, and vulvodynia.
- Neurological Disorders: Fatigue, certain seizure disorders,
sleep disorders, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease,
multiple sclerosis, and various cognitive and memory
disorders.
- Neurobehavioral and Psychiatric
Disorders:
Attention deficit disorder, manic-depressive illness,
somatoform disorders, sexual dysfunction, eating disorders,
schizophrenia, panic disorders, irritability, anxiety,
spaciness, and chronic fatigue.
- Rheumatologic Disorders: Lupus erythematosus, scleroderma,
myalgia and arthralgia, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis,
and other arthritides.
- Musculoskeletal Disorders: Muscle spasm headaches.
- Skin Disorders: Eczema, urticaria, angioedema, scleraderma,
and dermatitis herpetiformis.
- Cancer
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