INVISIBLE TOXINS

My lads and I went to a local café for some chips last week. We sat in an area that was usually set-aside for smokers before the ban, and it was great to have a free run of the place. We were happily tucking into the meal when a woman lit up a cigarette in the corner of the room. Instinctively I shouted (in a polite, excuse me voice), that there is a ban on smoking inside any public building. The woman obviously lit up out of habit and panicked taking herself and the ciggie outside. As we left the building the woman was again puffing away with a friend in the doorway of the café. I tried to make light of the situation by saying that I didn’t want her to get into trouble by the owner. The woman responded with a grimace and her friend just gave me a really dirty look and took a long drag on her fag as we walked past. Initially I felt really guilty about confronting the woman, but now I’m glad I did as I don’t want my lads to have to breath other peoples second hand poison when we go out. The only question I am left with is would I have impulsively spoken out if the offenders were beefy blokes polishing their knuckle-dusters?!…probably not.

INVISIBLE TOXINS
Cigarette smoke is something you can see and smell. Because of this fact it is easy to avoid it. There are other toxins in our everyday life that are not so obvious. Take household chemical cleaners for example. It is estimated that 15-20% of the population suffer from significant allergic reactions to these consumer products. The reactions fall into two categories, allergies and intolerance.

ALLERGIES
Allergies are a response to something the body realises as being toxic. This will usually produce physical symptoms such as skin reactions, headaches or breathing difficulties. Mental and emotional disturbance are also common.

INTOLERENCE
The symptoms of being intolerant to something are joint pain, chronic fatigue and a host of emotional states involving an inability to concentrate, feeling “spaced out” and woolly headed, irritable, anxious and depressed.

Some allergists see no difference between Allergies and Intolerance saying that the effects are the same. Things get more complicated though when some allergies show no symptoms at all, these are called hidden allergies.

HIDDEN ALLERGIES
Hidden allergies are similar to low level poisoning. The body adapts gradually to the toxins over a period of time. There are obvious examples that I could use such as nicotine or alcohol, but I will use the humble cup of tea and coffee to make the point.

Caffeine, found in tea, coffee, many soft drink products and chocolate is one of the most commonly consumed psychoactive drugs in the world. When you first have caffeine it may make you feel jittery and irritable. But take in enough of it over a long period of time and your body will adjust to the drug and the outward physical symptoms begin to disappear. The caffeine however, will continue to wreak havoc on your system, by altering your metabolism, contracting your blood vessels and muting the response of your adrenal glands to stimulus.

I DON’T HAVE AN ALLERGY!
Many people resist the idea that they have an allergy or they are suffering low level poisoning. Think about the medications that we take to deal with all those vague disorders such as sinusitis and headaches. Anti–histamines counteract the effect of histamine- a chemical released in the body when there is an allergic reaction. Aspirin and paracetamol are anti-inflammatory drugs. No one is sure exactly how these drugs work to relieve pain. However, inflammation is another common sign of allergy and poisoning. Even without thinking in terms of allergy, you and the doctor might automatically turn to anti allergy medicines to deal with the effect of toxic chemicals found around the house.

DETOXIFICATION
This week I have given you the symptoms. Next week, (unless something really exciting happens that I have to talk about), I will look at some simple methods to counteract the harmful effects of the chemicals that we come into contact with on a daily basis. There’s nothing magical about the ideas and most of them are just common sense. A couple of simple starters are to only buy one chemical cleaner when you usually buy five, and open a few windows to let some fresh air in.

Environmental.