Hi,

I've had serious reactions to many meds and chems & to some extent foods for maybe 15 years, gradually getting worse until I went into shock with hair colour about 6 yrs ago when I was extremely ill for about a year. Cut a long story short, having all my ancient amalgam fillings removed after that helped hugely and I've mostly got my life back, but chems have to be kept to a minimum around me, I can still have itching, brain fog, & other symptoms if I cross paths with too much of the wrong thing.
Anyways I slipped and tore ankle ligaments last yr which has not healed properly, I really should have it repaired but its a 1hour op - so I was wondering if any of you guys have had a general anaesthetic - if so how did you react to it??

Thanks! Jodie

Hi Jodie,

Great to hear that the removal of your amalgam fillings has helped so much in improving your health. It seems to be a key factor in recovery for many with EIs.

My personal advice regarding general anaesthetic for those with chemical sensitivities is to avoid if at all possible. It was a general anaesthetic that finally pushed me over the edge and led to me developing MCS/EI....ironically at an alternative medicine hospital where I was getting treatment for ME/chronic fatigue syndrome! Anyway, I would discuss with your speciialist if it is possible to have your ligaments repaired using a local anaethestic and the least invasive type of surgery e.g. keyhole. If this really is not possible then I have read of MCSers suggesting some types of general anaesthetic are less of a problem than others. Take a look at the article below:

'Xenon Gas Anesthesia May Be Suitable for Surgical Patients with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity'

Best of luck!

Hi Maff,

Thanks for that. Can I ask how long you were 'under' for? I found the Xenon paper too, seems to be all there is as far as recommendations go.
I keep changing my mind. The ankle keeps giving way, & only a matter of time before I keel over & break an arm or something and end up under anesthetic anyway. It's also causing pain further up my leg & I can't take painkillers for more than a few days *sigh*.

Another option is Prolotherapy & maybe people here should know about that - its basically dextrose injections into injured areas which creates growth of new collagen.. & some believe cartilege growth too. From what I can tell nearly everyone that tries it gets positive results. The type of injury I have I would need about 4 treatments, but should be able to tell if it's working after 2. I've found an orthopaedic specialist at Royal London Orthopaedic Hosp who's been practising this for 17 years ( you need someone who's had plenty of practise!). It can't be double blind tested unfortunately as the placebo is almost identical to the real thing (placebo is injections w/out dextrose) and makes almost no difference to the results (they've tried). Maybe I should give that a go first.. tho what it won't do is clear out torn bits of ligament/bone etc which are lurking around and getting in the way & maybe causing pain. The op would do all that.

Incidentally I had the amalgams removed on recommendation of a nutritionist, but went for 2nd opinion to a professor of dentistry at UCL who is also a practising dentist. He said, if you have old fillings they leak more mercury vapour and with some individuals their health improves a lot if they have them taken out, he recommended I go ahead, and he was right. Curiously he was also a government advisor on dentistry so why that info hasn't got thru to NHS dentists is a mystery - guess it would be expensive if it did - everyone with old fillings demanding to have them taken out and replaced with something less dodgy. :-s

Jodie,

I wasn't under for long at all. It was only for having a shunt placed into a vein in my chest - they tried with local anaesthetic first but I was too tense which meant the vein was harder to reach. The shunt was for daily infusions of nutrients and various other things.

Some great information there. Incidentally I wrote a paper on amalgam toxicity during my degree in nutritional medicine and while the evidence base isn't great, there's certainly enough to suggest mercury vapour escapes fillings and is inhaled and in the body can be converted to the more toxic methylmercury form. Obviously more wear and tear on older fillings makes this even more likely. We had a practising dentist lecture on the course and he was adamant they were a bad idea and removal could be highly beneficial in some cases where people had "unexplained" chronic illness. It is very curious this information hasn't reached the NHS given the credentials of the government advisor you consulted with...but it is usually about money!

I hope you find a solution that is successful for you. I will try to reply again about the alternative to surgery you wrote about, very interesting. Right now however I should be in bed as it's 1am on Christmas Day! Merry Christmas

Hi Maff,

No private dentist will use mercury amalgams now AFAIK, tho who knows whether the substitutes have been tested thoroughly either. I just know I got a big heap better after my amalgams were removed.

This seems an excellent description of MCS www.immuneweb.org/articles/mcsintro.html

the author seems to think we lose our ability to detox properly, and this is definitely what it feels like. I remember watching a film once where someone was poisoned (tho not fatally) and all the symptoms they were going thru were exactly like mine when I was having a terrible time. I had Urine amino acids & organic acid tests (IWDL) which showed my detox system is "pretty screwed up" according the nutritionist who analysed it. It seems to add up.

Antihistamines really help take the worse effects off, so I guess inability to detox properly also sets off a histamine reaction. I use Zyrtek which seems to be the only one which will stop itching, before I found that I had to coat myself in calomine head to toe! :-/

As far as the decision to remove amalgams was concerned, I first had a Biolab Kelmer test to see how much mercury was there, also a Melisa test for metals to see how I reacted to general metals, tho dont' think that was necessary as it turned out. After getting 2nd opinion from the UCL prof I went to a dentist who specialised in amalgam removal (its a tricky business as you're dealing with the 2nd most poisonous substance on the planet apparently). He tested for off-gassing on each filling and removed the worst offenders first (he took them out 2 at a time , no more) I immediately felt better - literally within hours of the first 2 coming out. So worth having a few out first if anyone wants to try this, and they can find a dentist who will test them (mine has moved to Australia sadly) and see what the effect is.

Following that I did a detox with PcaRx. Altho I was very reactive at the time I didn't have a prob with that or the tests I had to have to get thus far.. I think the Kelmer involved swallowing some substance but didn't cause probs... I had another Kelmer once all the fillings were out and I'd done a detox, just to make sure I was mercury free (I was).

It seems to me we need to understand how our detox pathways are damaged and it is possible to mend the system somehow?? I've had every mainstream endocrinology test going and according to those everything is working perfectly - even tho I deliberately made myself ill before I went in for testing!! The only time anything shows up is with advanced (and expensive) tests done with my nutritionist, trouble is I can't usually tolerate the supplements she wants me try! Do you know of any research into exactly how our detox systems are messed up or what we can do (apart from avoiding chems) to set it right again?

Incidentally when I had all this testing I was working at a college which trained nutritionists to degree level, since you're in the field you might have come across it, it's a partner of Middx University www.cnelm.co.uk/

Back to the ankle prob, they have offered a 'nerve block' which only works 60% of the time it seems. I think I'll get an MRI & if that will show up most of whats going on in there, if its just the ligaments that are damaged I'll go the prolotherapy route I think.. here's a good read about prolotherapy in case anyone is thinking of using it. www.painclinic.org/treatment-prolotherapy.htm

Hope you had a good Christmas - ours was great, 'cept I got a bit reckless with the food choices, I'm waiting for the effects to wear off :-b

Catcha later

Jodie

Hi Jodi,

I have had MCS / EI for about 8 years now, and I had a full hip replacement a year and a half ago, opting for general anesthesia (iv, not gas). Before the surgery I was pretty terrified - in large part b/c I didn't know how my body was going to react...

I interviewed a LOT of folks (on the phone) about it - one woman's response helped me the most to walk thru my fear... She said that if she were in my place, she would take plenty of time before the surgery to: 1) get my body as clean and as healthy as possible; 2) accept that I'd probably experience fallout from the anesthesia (and all the new and "steriilized" materials); and 3) have a plan in place before the surgery re: all I'd need to do to clean up my body and help it recover / heal post-surgery. Then 4) follow thru on my recovery plan.

I found the allopathic community was (and is) infinitely more responsive to being told I'm allergic to various substances - their eyes glaze over when one tries to explain what MCS / EI is...

So, I made a list (in bold block print) of all the chemicals and products my body reacts badly to, gave a copy to my GP and to my surgeon, AND gave two copies to my spouse. At the top of my list I put the word ALLERGIC in huge block black lettering. When I came out of recovery my spouse attached one of these lists to the pole the iv bag hangs on (a lot of people don't really LOOK at what's in patients' charts - we could see my list was in there).

I also brought a bottle of the hand sanitizer that's safe for me, and my spouse made sure to stop everyone entering my room from using the sanitizer that hung just inside my door (which I really react to!).

Having someone from my family THERE to stop hospital staff from being on auto-pilot was one of the most extremely helpful things I could have done -- I found the products used in the hospital to be more of a problem for me than the anesthesia.

Yes, I itched and had brain fog post-surgery - probably from the anesthesia.And I had my usual weird pains moving around inside my body. And I had a terrible rash wherever anything was taped to my skin...

But I can walk freely now. And I no longer live with debilitating pain in my hip.

If and when my right hip needs done I won't wait the way I did for my left hip (I waited over 4 years). I'd just get 'er done, have help to keep my body as safe as possible while in the hospital, and do my detox routine once I'm out.

I hope this helps...