Coping With Chemical Sensitivities

May 22, 2012 / Charles W. Lapp, MD / Ask The Doctor

Wendy M. asks, “What is the best way to cope with chemical sensitivity syndrome, especially when everything makes you sick but you need to take antibiotics or medications?”

A: Unfortunately, the only way to manage multiple chemical sensitivities is to avoid the offending chemical, odor,fume, or smoke. Exposures can trigger headache, nausea, respiratory symptoms, wheezing, and generally fling unwell. Chemical sensitivities can trigger a flare of CFS/ME/FM too.

Exposures can be limited or abated by alkalinizing. That is, take a pinch of sodium bicarbonate (such as Arm & Hammer Baking Soda) by mouth and wash it down with a swig of pure filtered water. This can be repeated every 5 minutes until the exposure is abated.

Specialists in chemical sensitivities frequently recommend scavengers (such as B12), antioxidants (pycnoganol, resveratrol, and others), and glutathione supplementation (nebulized, parenterally, or as N-Acetyl Cysteine ).

When it is necessary to take offending medications or antibiotics, an allergist can sometimes desensitize an individual.

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Dr. Hillman was born and reared in Utica, New York. He attended college at Clarkson University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and then spent two years toward a master’s degree in biochemistry/oncology at the University of Buffalo’s Roswell Park Division, where he did research in leukemia. Dr. Hillman attended St. George’s University School of Medicine, and completed his clinical years at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, graduating in 1996. During the Summer of 1994 he also did research at the University of Buffalo Dental School using PCR technology on RNA subtyping of gram negative oral bacteria. Following medical school, Hillman went on to a Family Practice Residency at North Shore / Long Island Jewish Hospital in Bay Shore, NY.

After his residency, Dr. Hillman worked for the US Army at the West Point Military Academy (Keller Army Hospital family practice unit), worked in the Emergency Room and hospital admitting areas, and ran a private practice as well. From 2005-2006 he also worked at the Winn Army Hospital at Fort Stewart, GA, before setting up a private Family Practice in Huntersville, NC in 2007. In addition to his private practice Dr. Hillman also has an interest in helping clients with disabilities. He has worked for ProMed Urgent Care in Occupational Medicine and performed over 13,000 examinations for Social Security Disability.

Dr. Hillman has a family member with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so he has a long standing interest and empathy with the disorder! He is married and has two sons and a daughter. The family lives in Huntersville.