How Neuroplasticity Healed My Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

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Welcome! I'm Jennifer, the owner & founder of Healing Redefined Holistic Wellness Center, holistic practitioner, and head nutrition nerd here at Healing Redefined.

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Medical Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please consult a physician in matters relating to serious illness and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Medications – You should work closely with your physician to adjust medications as your body heals. Many of you will be able to say goodbye to “maintenance” medication forever but some will not.

21 Responses

  1. I have a question for Libby: I have MCS and I generally adhere to the above guidelines. One of the main anxieties I currently have is I dread my weekly treatments (I alternate between lymphatic drainage and chiropractic care/energy work each week) because I have an unusually difficult day following the treatment. The treatments are obviously helping, but I don’t want to encourage anxiety if it is hindering me from getting better. I wonder how you would approach the problem. Would you discontinue treatment or would you continue and try to focus on the positive aspects of the treatment?

    1. I’m going to poke my nose in Miss Melissa. 🙂 Look into flower essences. They work on the concept of vibrational healing and are great for clearing emotions. The essences themselves cause no allergic reactions, so the only possible component that would bother you is the alcohol they are steeped in. You can avoid any reactions by using it transdermally (on your skin).

      1. Jennifer, I am glad you poked your nose in! I have been thinking about trying flower essence again. I would need to apply transdermally. Would the wrist be the best place? Also, do you recommend a particular brand?

  2. Could this piece of writing just be what I needed ? I’m thinking that it may be so ! You got my attention when you used the example of having stress in one’s life and then moving to a moldy house, well that was me 25 years ago, when all of my sensitivities and food problems started. I have spent spent a lot of money chasing after one thing or another, and trying this diet and that, and seeing this practitioner or reading that person’s blog, or buying so and so’s book, and I have yet to heal my food sensitivities. I spend hours and hours at the computer researching every week on a daily basis. I’m now 59, but when I turned 50, I felt that everything has gotten worse, and since I live in Maine, November through February kicks it up a few more notches, too. Lately, I have been feeling like saying that there is no way out of this restrictive diet and lifestyle that I am on. Despair follows that thought. I’m a creative and artistic person, and I need to replace all the fear about food with my art. I’m going to follow your steps and see what happens. I’m still going to eat healthy foods that work for MY body and not follow any one diet and feel deprived and hungry anymore, because It just adds to the feeling of helplessness when they don’t work. Your article was timely for me, and thanks so much for posting it. If you can think of anything else to help me get started in supporting my effort I’d love to hear from you. Thanks a million, I’m very excited to start my day today with this new way of thinking ! xo jackie

    1. Hello there to Jackie and all. The frontiers of neuroplasticity are really making inroads dealing with these challenging syndromes. I have used the GuptaProgramme.com to deal with CFDS and MCS and did improve and am still using it. You can go to the website for more information. I encourage all to read the book, “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” by Norman Doidge MD. It helps to support why amygdala retraining works.

      For more you can research Annie Hopper’s approach at http://www.wiredforhealing.com and read her book. Norman Doidge’s first book, “The Brain That Changes Itself,” inspired her to help overcome severe MCS and emf sensitivity and to proceed to develop her program.

  3. I overcame 15yrs of ME using this method, it is truly astounding how effective it can be. However, it was much harder for me than these simple guidelines suggest (this is not a criticism of the article, just saying..). I don’t think I would have stayed with it or been consistent enough without a very experienced practitioner. We can put up enormous resistence to changing ingrained habits, so it was really gruelling at times to stick with it and push through all the inner resistance that came up to making the shifts. I’d done all kinds of diets and therapies before trying this and the results were always superficial or non-existent. Doing this was transforming.

  4. Charlotte, how did you go about finding a practitioner ? Do you need to see them face to face, or can you work with them on the phone or by Skyping them ? Sorry to ask, but what is ME ?

    1. I was actually told about my practitioner by my aunt who had heard about her from a friend – so word of mouth. I saw her face to face over 3 days then all follow up was over the phone. The exact training i did would have to be done face to face but other practitioners may work differently. Mine was an NLP practitioner with a specialism in ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue syndrome)

  5. Check into tapping or EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique. There are websites, books, youtube videos….Gary Craig, Dawson Church, Nick Ortner, Brad Yates are some names to look for.

  6. NeurOptimal Neurofeedback is an effortless way of accomplishing the same results. It is a means of providing the brain with feedback about its own activities, like showing your brain a mirror, once the brain becomes aware off its own quirks, it sorts itself out automatically releasing stuck ineffective patterns.

  7. I so desperately need to try this! My question is…..
    Situation: I had my carpets cleaned, they were supposed to use only the natural treatment but pretreated it with chemicals….ugh!
    I was feeling dizzy when I went downstairs and felt alarmed. When I found out they had pretreated the carpet, I went into a complete panic….which often happens when I am exposed and know that I am going to have a MCS “episode”.
    My 4 year son and I were terribly sick that day and night and the following day. Since then, I have been dealing with a racing heart, light headed, digestion issues, etc…
    I am doing everything I can to get the chemicals out of my home, but it is taking time.

    Is this the type of situation, where you are recommending to try to not think about the symptoms? I am trying so hard to not thinking about them, but my heart is pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears.

    Would you be able to offer any of your experiences of how you worked through a body crash from MCS?
    I would be so truly grateful. I know neuroplasticity is what I need to heal….. After reading about it, I know the Limbic system is where my damage is. I just need to understand how to do this during the scary MCS “episodes” or “crashes”.

    Thank you for your time!
    Warmly,
    Michele

  8. I too have MCS/reactive airways. I’m a therapist and I provide Neurofeedback. I also do other alternative treatments. I’m currently treating with Dr. Bradford who has me on the Ziem protocol and I’ve had excellent results.

  9. If you’d like to get a jumpstart on your healing I can wholeheartedly recommend attending a training session at Dynamic Neural Retraining Systems. Their method is based on the principles of neuroplasticity and their results have been so good that their method is now going through clinical trials at two universities in Alberta, Canada. When I attended one of their courses I was almost completely light blind and had to wear 2 pairs of sunglasses when I went out, and my immune system was so off-kilter that any small breeze running over my head could make me sick for days. I had also been suffering from extreme fatigue brought on by Epstein-Barr virus for over five years. It’s not a quick fix – you have to practice at least an hour a day for six months – but the results have been remarkable. Just this fall I completed a 1200 kilometer walking pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku in Japan, something I never could have imagined! Check them out at https://retrainingthebrain.com and make sure to watch the video testimonials. All of the instructors have themselves recovered from “mystery” illnesses. One of the assistants had been confined to a reclining wheelchair for years and now is a regular runner and roller skater. The method might appear “miraculous” but it’s all based on science. Good luck!

  10. Hello there to all. The frontiers of neuroplasticity are really making inroads dealing with these challenging syndromes. I have used the GuptaProgramme.com to deal with CFDS and MCS and did improve and am still using it. You can go to the website for more information. I encourage all to read the book, “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” by Norman Doidge MD. It helps to support why amygdala retraining works.

    For more you can research Annie Hopper’s approach at http://www.wiredforhealing.com and read her book. Norman Doidge’s first book, “The Brain That Changes Itself,” inspired her to help overcome severe MCS and emf sensitivity and to proceed to develop her program.

  11. I recovered from MCS, after serious acute exposure to chemicals once I moved into brand new condo construction. Also had EBV, HHV6, hepatitis, jaundice and list goes on. I was very ill for many years, lost my entire 40’s decade, but little by little, for most part, recovered from MCS.

    Until RECENTLY. Last place I lived I got serious exposure to mold although not visibly obvious. Telltale sign — major major brain fog that almost got me into a serious car accident. High levels of certain mycotoxins showed in urine tests, mold exposure from bood tests, as well as from mold plates.

    It’s a reminder, even when we think we recovered and are symptom free, it can come back with a vengeance from some sort of toxic load on system.

    While I completely agree there can be emotional, psychological or past trauma component, I don’t believe the complete solution is simply retraining the brain. BTW, I am trained in NLP and have used it in my work for last 25 years so I know the value of retraining brain. There are purely physical causes that can stress the body to a hyper-vigilant level and yes that will be reconditioned over and over. Until I clear out the mycotoxins, that alert system is serving a purpose. Everybody is different.

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