Environmental medicine includes conventional and alternative diagnostic procedures, environmental science, and chemistry in the evaluation of disease states. The scope of this area includes studying the interactions between environment and human health, and the role of the environment in causing or mediating disease. Environmental medicine is looked upon with mixed feelings by physicians and politicians alike, for the basic assumption of environmental medicine is that health is more widely and dramatically affected by environmental toxins than previously recognized. From a medical standpoint the field is suspect because many environmental diseases cannot be treated with pharmaceuticals, and standard diagnostic tests are often ineffective in determining cause. Politicians are very wary of environmental medicine because it can require hard choices that can effect polluting industries, common agricultural practices, and government mandated health programs such as pesticide spraying and vaccinations.

Common Symptoms of Environmental Sensitivity
Environmental sensitivity is also called multiple chemical sensitivity or MCS, and most sufferers of MCS have at least several of the following symptoms: burning or stinging eyes, digestive upset, extreme fatigue, headache, migraine, vertigo, dizziness, muscle & joint pain, poor memory & concentration, runny nose, sensitivity to light & noise, sinus problems, skin rashes or itching skin, sleep problems, sore throat, cough, wheezing, breathlessness, nausea.

An astute observer would note that the symptoms could be ascribed to almost any illness, so this makes a diagnosis of environmental illness complicated.

What can be used to help define MCS in order to help decide whether it is MCS or another allergy-related illness is that the following criteria apply:
The patient exhibits symptoms that are often an allergy-like, reacts to both large and often very low levels of irritants, toxicants, or triggers. Other people present at the same time may not detect anything at all, or anything unusual or irritating.
The symptoms are ongoing or chronic, and not a one-time event.
The same symptoms are reproduced with repeated exposure to the same trigger(s).
The patient is affected by numerous triggers.
The patient improves when triggers are not present.

People having a predisposition to allergy, rhinitis, hay fever, eczema, and asthma are more likely than most others to develop multiple chemical sensitivity.

Most Common Triggers for MCS
Common sources are listed when not obvious. Cigarette smoke is obvious.
Cigarette smoke
Epoxy resin : Surface coatings (Paint for ships and other marine uses, primers for cars, steel pipes). Electrical insulation materials (Enclosing transformers, condensers, capacitors and other electrical components). Adhesives and glues (Widely used across many industries for its strong bonding properties, e.g. aircraft, flooring, road and bridge surfacing, concrete bonding, automobile manufacturers, home (DIY, hobbyist, artist, sculptors all find many uses for epoxy glues), used in some dental bonding agents.
Formaldehyde : Pressed wood products (hardwood plywood wall paneling, particle board, fiberboard) and furniture made with these pressed wood products. Urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI). Combustion sources and environmental tobacco smoke. Durable press drapes, other textiles, and glues)
Isocyanate : They are widely used in the manufacture of flexible and rigid foams, fibers, coatings such as paints and varnishes, and elastomers, and are increasingly used in the automobile industry, auto body repair, and building insulation materials. Spray-on polyurethane products containing isocyanates have been developed for a wide range of retail, commercial, and industrial uses to protect cement, wood, fiberglass, steel and aluminum, including protective coatings for truck beds, trailers, boats, foundations, and decks.
Mercury : Methyl mercury from fish and shellfish, elemental mercury from dental amalgams (silver fillings), airborne from coal burning power plants, many drugs contain mercury as a preservative. A listing may be found at http://www.fda.gov/cder/fdama/mercury300.htm, accessed April 27, 2009. Interestingly, thimerosol (a common preservative in vaccines) is listed as a bulk chemical but the vaccines containing this toxin are not listed.
Office photocopier fumes
Paint fumes
Perfumes
Pesticides
Wood preservatives : Chromated copper arsenate is a chemical wood preservative containing chromium, copper and arsenic. Pentachlorophenol (or its contaminants dioxins, furans and hexachlorobenzene)

Volatile Organic Compounds
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a large group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. While most people can smell high levels of some VOCs, other VOCs have no odor. Odor does not indicate the level of risk from inhalation of this group of chemicals. Common VOCs include:
Acetone
Benzene
Ethylene glycol
Formaldehyde
Methylene chloride
Perchloroethylene
Toluene
Xylene
1,3-butadiene  

The risk of health effects from inhaling VOCs depends on how much is in the air and how long and how often a person breathes it in. Short term effects include eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, nausea / vomiting, dizziness, and worsening of asthma symptoms. Long term effects are more serious: Cancer, liver damage, kidney damage and central Nervous System damage.

Treatment
1. Avoidance of triggers and other chemicals is extremely important. Removing contributing chemicals from the home environment and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives aids recovery.
2. Lower the body burden of chemicals through diet, exercise, low temperature sauna, bowel and liver cleansing programs.
3. Restore liver function and health.

Supportive Treatments – MCS results in chronic stress with hormone and neurotransmitter depletion as well as chronic inflammation. All of these concurrent conditions will be addressed as required.