Shortcuts to Living a Healthy Life in an Unhealthy World, Part 2
Download this article as a PDF: “Shortcuts to Living a Healthy Life in an Unhealthy World, Part 2”
In the last issue, I wrote that the basic principles of health can be summed up as “toxins out, real nutrients in.” Avoiding all toxicity is not possible in today’s world, but the nastiest stuff is just one shopping decision away.
Two serious sources of toxins are right in your laundry room. Laundry detergents and fabric softeners are loaded with nervous system poisons that have been implicated with many symptoms. The biggest culprits that I have found are Downey, Bounce in any form and any detergent or product with Febreze.
Two examples are from patients in my office. One 35 year-old woman presented with recent onset of numbing hands and fingers with right-sided headache and episodes of severe anxiety. Fortunately for her, she was wearing a freshly laundered outfit and the smell of her very intense fabric softener immediately alerted me to the possibility of neuro-toxin. Because she had the symptoms for approximately a week at about the same intensity, I instructed her to rinse all her recently laundered clothing three times in cold water and call me in 72 hours. That’s usually the time that the stuff takes to wear off. Sure enough, three days later, her symptoms were gone.
Another case is of a woman in her 70’s who presented with numbing and tingling of both legs. Again, thanks to my nose and the recently laundered clothes, the same “treatment” resolved her symptoms.
If these patients had presented these complaints to a neurologist, thousands of dollars later in diagnostic tests and countless trials of ineffective drugs would have left them with the same symptoms and quite a bit more toxic from all the drugs. Even if you are not symptomatic, there is no point in letting neurotoxins accumulate in your body to wreak havoc in the future.
So, what to do? There are lots of alternatives to a safer laundry. I use ARM & HAMMER™ Liquid Detergent HE Compatible, Perfume & Dye Free. It has to say both things – i.e., sensitive skin and scent-free. The sensitive skin one alone has Febreze in it and that’s another can of worms. Febreze “works” not by eliminating the source of smells, but by anesthesia to your olfactory nerve so that you can’t smell anything. I don’t know about you, but my cranial nerves don’t need any more anesthesia! I don’t use fabric softener sheets, but, if this is necessary for you, the very useful little book, Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda: Hundreds of Earth-Friendly Household Projects, Solutions and Formulas, will provide you a safe formula and many alternatives to toxic household cleaners.
Here are two more tidbits of recent discoveries. The fad du jour is an electronic bracelet, “Fit Bit.” If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an electronic device that measures how many steps you’ve walked and keeps all kind of nifty info about your “fitness” for the day. If you remember a previous article entitled “The Electromagnetic You,” the concept that we are a composite of electromagnetic fields might be familiar to you. Let it suffice to say that wearing this item can interfere with or even disrupt those fields. A patient with a history of neurological injury reported having fallen three times in the prior week. She said that she just “lost her balance.” I noticed she had the Fit Bit on her wrist and asked her how long she’d been wearing it and she said about two weeks. Again, following the adage of doing the easiest, least invasive, least expensive thing first, I told her to stop wearing it and see what happens. Not only did she report feeling better the next day, she recalled that she had found a Fit Bit in her parking lot and was wearing two of them at the same time til she found the owner just prior to the falling episodes. We are bombarded with massive amounts of this stuff that’s never been around before. The evidence is mounting for this EMR being “too much of a good thing.”
A final tidbit. On its release day, Apple sold $300 million worth of wrist watch computers. I don’t know how much EMF is required to have available the knowledge of the entire world on your wrist. Since I live by “when in doubt, leave it out,” I’ll carry my cell phone in my purse and far away from vital organs. That’s also why I use the speakerphone whenever possible. It’s good to avoid electromagnetic radiation going straight into your brain. EMR is considered by many as the most virulent type of pollution. Short of living in a Faraday Cage (EMR block used in science experiments), the best thing to do is avoid exposure when you can, such as these two suggestions. One of my colleagues does home and office calls to measure the amount of EMR exposure you are experiencing. She then makes recommendations such as changing the location of your router, etc. Feel free to call the office for her contact info.
Til next time: see you on the dance floor.
About the Author: Dr. Collings is an alternative health practitioner, she utilizes only natural remedies. Her offices are located at 120 W. Germantown Pike, Suite 210 in the Meetinghouse Business Center Plymouth Meeting, PA. For more information, visit her website: www.drveronicacollings.com.
Download this article as a PDF: “Shortcuts to Living a Healthy Life in an Unhealthy World, Part 2“
