Environmental Illness - A Patient's View

The significant problems we face cannot be solved 
by the same level of thinking that created them.
-- Albert Einstein

Environmental Illness (EI) is a term for diseases caused by the human-made environment we live in. Some diseases can have either natural or artificial causes. Examples of diseases that can have environmental causes are:

• Asthma
• Allergy (headaches, sneezing, migraines, acne, sinus pain, etc)
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Chemical sensitivity
• Electromagnetic sensitivity
• Other sensitivities (sound, sunlight, etc)
• Autoimmune diseases (lupus, scleroderma, etc)

Other diseases may also be considered environmentally induced, such as Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis, but the information I've seen on that is more speculative. Even though cancer can be caused by chemical exposures, it is generally not considered an Environmental Illness.

In the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in patients with the above diseases, especially children who are the most susceptible. As we continue to expose ourselves to ever higher levels of pollution (fragrances, toxic carpets, pesticides, traffic fumes, etc), the number of people with these illness can be expected to rise too.

Environmental Illnesses are treated by a variety of health providers, such as homeopaths, acupuncturists, environmental doctors, natural doctors, allergists etc. The health provider that specializes in treating EI is the environmental doctor, which has either an M.D. or a D.O. degree and has received specialized training before becoming a member of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine. This is a rather new field, and there are not many doctors practicing it yet. It is also considered controversial by some doctors, as they are competing with allergists for some of the same patients, but in my opinion, allergists are not competent to treat the more severe cases, i.e. when the patient progresses beyond regular asthma and allergies.