PRACTITIONER VOICE
the manufacture of baby bottles . 7 Years earlier it had been banned in Canada and many states in the USA .
One might ask the question : Are not tiny doses acceptable ? In my opinion , the answer is no , because chemicals like BPA exert biological influence in nano-doses . One study demonstrated that applying BPA to prostate cells at 25,000 times less that the assumed active dose still stimulated growth of those prostate cells . 8 This suggests that prostatic hyperplasia is triggered by micro amounts of BPA .
So now we have :
• Congenital accumulation of toxic levels of copper , which worsens with age
• Accumulation of exogenous oestrogens ( xenoestrogens ) either through the OCP or other sources
• An excess of endogenous ( natural or internally generated ) oestrogen , called oestrogen dominance .
The concept of oestrogen dominance was pioneered in the 1980s by Dr John Lee , 9 but is not generally recognised in conventional medical circles . Natural ( endogenous ) oestrogen dominance , plus accumulation of xenoestrogens , ( which are exogenous or externally derived ), while an alarming health care issue , is a phenomenon which largely falls outside the radar of conventional medical diagnostics .
The human body will use all its resources to keep the blood , and the vital organs through which it passes , as healthy as possible . This is called homeostasis . The excess oestrogens end up in the liver . It is there that they meet up with the toxic load of copper and combine in a toxic sludge , resulting in biliary tree congestion ( not gallstones ). If this toxic congestion continues it can progress to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease .
This is the common picture when there is a high hepatic load of copper and xenoestrogens . The patient will complain of nausea , fatigue and IBS symptoms .
If there is mood disturbance it is more commonly anxiety alternating with depression . Often the depression will be worse at menstruation and the anxiety worse at ovulation . Depression may be severe immediately after childbirth and , as in Susan ’ s case ( Case Study 1 below ), receive a diagnosis of post-natal depression .
Case Study 1 : Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Susan : Anxious , hopeless , depressed
It was during both pregnancies that Susan started to have real trouble with her digestion . She had always had a “ niggly tummy ” as a child . If there were a tummy bug going around then she would always catch it . Vomiting and diarrhoea occurred daily .
She knew about morning sickness but had no idea that she would experience severe vomiting and nausea for most of the pregnancies . For her second pregnancy she was even hospitalised for dehydration and given the drug Maxalon ® to stop her vomiting .
In both deliveries her contractions stopped so she was given a hormone drip . Her abdominal symptoms worsened after these drugs . But this was no surprise to her since she had never reacted well to the oral contraceptive pill either . When she first tried the OCP as a teenager , it gave her severe migraines and nausea , so she decided to never use it again . When the hormonal drips were used to keep her labour going during both deliveries , the symptoms reminded her of the earlier time when she had used the OCP .
After childbirth , her abdominal symptoms became much worse . Every day she experienced nausea , flatulence and diarrhoea . There were some trigger foods that she knew to avoid , such as chocolate , avocado and mushroom , but the confusing thing was that her food sensitivities
A myriad of symptom patterns can occur in patients with copper excess . Many of these patients will have high pyrroles when tested for kryptopyroluria ( mauve factor ). These patients are unable to store their dietary intake of zinc and vitamin B6 ; they may require a daily supplement of these for life .
seemed to change . One day she was okay to eat a salad , but next time it gave her excruciating wind . Eventually she stopped eating all fruit and vegetables , and confined herself to bread and chicken , no fats or oils , nothing spicy and minimal red meat . She was not cured on this restrictive diet . She still had her symptoms every day but the intensity of the symptoms was reduced . She took probiotic supplements , which helped a little , but still she had an ongoing problem .
Her doctor ordered a series of pathology tests : endoscopy to check the stomach and oesophagus ; colonoscopy to check the bowel ; ultrasound to look for gallstones or abdominal masses . All these tests came to nothing , so she was diagnosed IBS . Eventually , as various IBS treatments failed to achieve improvement , her doctor told her she had post-natal depression and recommended antidepressants .
Susan had some anxiety and depression . But if you had ongoing abdominal pain and nausea for years without any sign of anyone being able to help you , let alone give you a concrete diagnosis , wouldn ’ t you feel anxious , hopeless , depressed ?
Not long after her second child was born she started to develop breast lumps . With each monthly cycle the lumps became more painful . It was at this point in the evolution of her illness that Susan decided to try homeopathic treatment .
146 | vol29 | no3 | JATMS