Clinical Characteristics of Chemical Sensitivity: An Illustrative Case History of Asthma and MCS
Gerald H. Ross
Environmental Health Center-Dallas, Dallas, Texas
Abstract
A case history of the induction of asthma and chemical sensitivity in a 42-year-old registered nurse illustrates several of the characteristic features of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). This patient's problems started shortly after moving into a new home under construction, with associated chemical exposures. Other MCS patients report the onset of the condition with other chemical exposures such as those encountered at their places of work or use of pesticides at their residences. Patients often describe a spreading phenomenon of increasing intolerance to commonly encountered chemicals at concentrations well tolerated by other people. Symptoms usually wax and wane with exposures, and are more likely to occur in patients or families with preexisting histories of migraine or with classical allergies. Idiosyncratic medication reactions (especially to preservative chemicals) are common in MCS patients, as are dysautonomia symptoms (such as vascular instability) and poor temperature regulation. Myalgia and joint pains and food intolerance are common features as well. Contamination with xenobiotic chemicals is frequently found in these patients when they are tested. Reactive airways dysfunction syndrome is a recently identified condition that exhibits features of both asthma and chemical sensitivity. MCS patients frequently have patterns of neurotoxic brain metabolism that can be confirmed on single photo emission computed tomography imaging. -- Environ Health Perspect 105(Suppl 2):437-441 (1997)
Key words: allergy, asthma, bronchospasm, hypersensitivity, multiple chemical sensitivity, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, solvent exposure
This paper is based on a presentation at the Conference on Experimental Approaches to Chemical Sensitivity held 20-22 September 1995 in Princeton, New Jersey. Manuscript received at EHP 6 March 1996; manuscript accepted 26 September 1996.
Address correspondence to Dr. G.H. Ross, Environmental Health Center-Dallas, 8345 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 220, Dallas, TX 75231. Telephone: (214) 368-4132. Fax: (214) 691-8432. E-mail: jross@ehcd.com
Abbreviations used: MCS, multiple chemical sensitivity.
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Last Update: March 24, 1997