In the November 9, 2002 issue of the newsletter, my comment on the article "Does Chemical Sensitivity Cause Depression or is it the Converse?" caused a fair amount of backlash from some readers afflicted with the disease.

While, unlike the traditional medical establishment, I fully acknowledge that chemical sensitivity is a very real affliction, and those that suffer it are not making their symptoms up, I also noted that the causes of chemical sensitivity can extend beyond just the physical -- there are often emotional traumas, sometimes not readily apparent to the sufferer, that have set the stage for the major disruptions in the detoxification and immune systems.

This "mind-body" connection is not just the case with chemical sensitivity, but is fundamental to most diseases. Those who criticized my commentary, however, seemed to believe that I was downplaying the severe nature of their affliction and perhaps suggesting that it really is "just all in their head."

Nothing could be farther from the truth. I suspect, in rereading my comment, what I failed to do is provide all the necessary detail on my position. Like any professional, I am sometimes prone to assuming that certain facts, certain points, are pre-established knowledge -- when in fact they may only be common knowledge within my profession -- so I will reiterate and expand my position here.

First of all, I have an extensive amount of both professional and personal experience with chemical sensitivity. Professionally, I have successfully treated many hundreds of patients with this disorder, some who were so seriously handicapped they could hardly consume anything besides purified water and a few types of vegetables. My staff and I were able to facilitate the healing of their chemical sensitivity -- with a primary focus on treatment of emotional disorders, with physical treatments such as dietary changes as an adjunct -- and they are living normal lives again.

On a personal level, I was married to a Canadian physician who was disabled by severe chemical sensitivity. I never had it myself, in other words, but I was very close to it every day, and fully understand its extreme impact.

I was also trained at the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, which is the professional organization recognized as one of the leaders in the treatment of this illness. I immersed myself deeply in the medical research on chemical sensitivity, and have since only maintained this level of research and interest on the topic.

This newsletter is all about providing insight -- often, when warranted, a different insight than what is "standard" -- on particular health topics. Whether or not you agree with me in the end, I believe you will agree that on the issue of chemical sensitivity, I am qualified to present my position.

It is quite obvious that there are toxic poisons in this world and they can cause many horrible health complications. In countless articles available on Mercola.com, I have warned against such toxins in foods, vaccines, cosmetics, the environment and more, providing reasons why they are dangerous and practical alternatives for avoiding them. What’s more, I have successfully treated thousands of patients where such toxins played a major role in their condition.

There is no question that those afflicted with chemical sensitivity suffer from a serious disease whose symptoms result from such toxins -- toxins often in minute quantities in the most "ordinary" of products and places. These toxins don’t always have to be external, either, as people with severe constipation will testify. If one does not have a bowel movement for many days, poisons that should be eliminated may instead recirculate within the digestive system and wreak more havoc on a sufferer's health. The chemicals are, in other words, most obviously responsible for the physical reactions.

But the chemicals alone are usually not the primary cause. By maintaining the belief that they are, and just adopting an increasingly restrictive lifestyle centered around avoiding every potential catalyst, many people are sabotaging their body’s own ability to truly cure the disease.

So again, the primary cause of chemical sensitivity is often emotional trauma. While the list of what may qualify as "trauma" is far too long to list, I can state that, of the over 20,000 patients I have treated in last 20 years, those with the most serious conditions generally have some serious traumatic event that happened in their early childhood, typically below the age of 5. Sexual abuse is clearly one of the worst offenders, but there are many others that are equally as devastating; lack of optimal parental love, or their parent's own marital disorder, can be equally or even more devastating. This is not to suggest that all sufferers of chemical sensitivity experienced these particular traumas, though, since everyone’s life experience is unique.

More so, it is to set the stage for this explanation: whatever the trauma or traumas, the extreme emotional burdens can have a profoundly negative impact on the body in a physical sense. The emotional wound can tear through the body’s bioelectrical functions and become a very physical wound -- weakening the immune system is one common and very serious result.

On a small scale, people experience this relationship between emotion and physical health all the time: a stressful week at work, for instance, often makes you more prone to catch a cold. On a large scale it is only more extreme: an emotional trauma can debilitate your body’s very ability to ward off toxins (or, for others, viruses and bacteria), thus leading to disease such as chemical sensitivity.

With my chemical sensitive patients, therefore, my first line of treatment is always to assess whether such emotional traumas may exist. Quite often, they do. My next line of treatment, therefore, is to eliminate this fundamental cause, at which point I can then move on to implementing the appropriate diet and other treatments to rebuild their body’s defenses against the chemicals.

While a wide variety of emotional treatment methods are available, I am a strong advocate of the psychological acupressure method known as the "Emotional Freedom Technique." I have used other methods in my practice over the years, and have been exposed to the results of many more psychological techniques in my years as both a traditional and natural physician. But my success rate with employing EFT to help many hundreds of people resolve their emotional trauma quickly has far exceeded any other results with any of these other methods.

Because I do so strongly believe in EFT’s ability to help eliminate the emotional barriers to healing and health, including in the case of chemical sensitivity, I recommend that anyone even remotely interested in learning more about this easy-to-learn method check out my free EFT manual. It will provide more insight on the technique, including how to start using it right away.

I do also offer a comprehensive EFT series on DVD or VHS for anyone interested in understanding and employing the methodology in full detail; a few critics of my original comments in the 10/09/02 article on chemical sensitivity went so far as to suggest I was just saying there is often an emotional component to chemical sensitivity in order to sell this series. While I suppose there will always be those who believe that any information is just a disguised attempt to sell something, especially in this culture, let me reiterate my position here, as well:

I do not take home one cent from the sale of the EFT DVD and VHS series, or anything in my "Recommended Products" section, and never have. Any product you find in that section is there because I strongly believe in its value to you; oftentimes, these products are also difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere.

Any money made from the sale of any of the products instead goes right back into maintaining and expanding Mercola.com and this newsletter -- implementing, in other words, the vision to change the existing medical paradigm from one addicted to band-aid solutions (such as insisting that those with chemical sensitivity should merely avoid those chemicals) to one focused on enabling the body to fight and prevent the true causes of disease. While the profits from the "Recommended Products" do make a dent in the site costs, I have still funded this endeavor almost entirely out of my pocket.

What’s more, this newsletter, and the 20,000+ pages of health information on Mercola.com, are still and always free. Most people who have delved into the website or received this newsletter for a while know that my intention is not to "sell you stuff"; if it was, this is definitely not the route I would be taking. Instead, my intention is to help people understand that, if their health condition is in any way less than optimal, there are true solutions beyond the band-aids like pharmaceuticals, surgery or living in a plastic bubble that the existing medical establish really is trying to sell you.

Yes, chemical sensitivity is a very real, and severe, affliction. And yes, of course it makes sense for those with chemical sensitivity to avoid toxins; ideally, of course, everyone should try to avoid toxins. But the true solution resides in establishing emotional well-being and implementing an appropriate diet, so that your body is re-optimized to heal and ward off toxins like everyone else, allowing you to live a normal life again. And the first step toward this solution is believing that such improvement really is possible.