The Environmental Illness Resource Blog

I thought for my main blog entry this week I'd discuss a subject that has for the past 10 years or so had a major impact on my ability to cope with daily life and plan for events in the future - the daily and seasonal fluctuations in the appearance and severity of my symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, environmental illness, and related conditions. I'll also talk about what I have done to adapt

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Continuing with my blog series aimed at helping you decipher the results of a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA), this week I will describe the various "metabolic markers" that might be referred to on your test results.

n-Butyrate
This short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) is produced as a result of the fermentation of dietary fibre, particularly gums and pectins, by certain bacteria that

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Last week I blogged about how the two phases of liver detoxification can get out of balance due to chronic exposure to toxins, for example, and how this can impact on a person's health. As discussed, the most common problem is that phase 1 speeds up and phase 2 cannot keep up - someone in this situation is known as a pathological detoxifier because of their increased risk for symptoms and

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The Wellness Revolution (Wiley, 2002) was the “shot heard round the world” for the wellness industry. It defined wellness as an industry—linking hundreds of thousands of disparate service and product suppliers with a single cause.

It showed like-minded scientists, fitness providers, businesspeople, food manufacturers, restaurant owners, wellness product distributors, doctors, and others focused

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Hey all,

Just wanted to let everyone know that my website Planet Thrive was recently freshened up, with an updated design and some great new features! We have close to 1500 members, and we are growing every day.

Please come check us out. Here are some highlights of the new features we just unveiled:

EI Lifestyles - featuring inspirational people and places. Read our first feature on the inspiring

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Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is a very common problem and cause of symptoms in those with environmental illness.

Blood sugar levels are usually carefully controlled by the hypothalamus in the brain (a major control centre) which through a series of steps causes the release of two hormones from the pancreas; insulin, which lowers blood sugar by increasing uptake by cells, and glucagon, which

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Fatigue is a symptom which is common and particularly debilitating in environmental illnesses, as well as in many other chronic diseases (e.g. heart disease).

Fortunately there are a number of nutritional supplements, herbs, and medications which in many cases can significantly improve your energy levels and therefore improve your ability to function normally so you can enjoy life once

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This week a major review of scientific research into whether certain antioxidant supplements improve health and extend life caused another debate on the usefullness and safety of nutritional supplements to erupt.

Scientists at Copenhagen University, Denmark, who are part of the respected Cochrane Collaboration looked at 67 studies on beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium

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 There has been a flurry of media activity in the UK this week after researchers from the University of Hull published a study showing that for mild to moderate depression antidepressant drugs show no clinically significant benefit over placebo. In other words they are pretty much useless.

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