A new theory of a disease process caused by pesticides and other toxic chemicals may explain multisystem symptoms for which a disease cause hasn’t been found.
Many in the medical community have identified widespread pesticide and other chemical exposure as a real health threat, causing serious debilitating health effects.
A questionnaire is now used as a diagnostic tool—along with an introductory brief version of the questionnaire—to help reveal whether you might unknowingly have an underlying disease process called toxicant-induced loss of tolerance, or TILT.
We’re all exposed to toxic chemicals on an ongoing basis, but for some of us, these exposures become intolerable. Perhaps the exposures have accumulated to a problematic level or their bodies are suffering a condition that inhibits their ability to tolerate these chemicals. Whatever the cause, TILT is the result.
Miller is a professor emeritus and member of the research faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She has both treated and studied the effects of toxic chemical and pesticide exposure.
Brief Questionnaires Can Help Identify Chemical Exposure
As humans, we’re exposed to so many more new synthetic chemicals than our ancestors were 50, 100, or even 300 years ago. To get an idea if chemical exposure may be behind some symptoms and health issues you’ve experienced, answer these three questions from the Brief Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (BREESI) questionnaire:- Do you feel sick when you’re exposed to tobacco smoke, certain fragrances, nail polish/remover, engine exhaust, gasoline, air fresheners, pesticides, paint/thinner, fresh tar or asphalt, cleaning supplies, or new carpet or furnishings? By sick, we mean headache, difficulty thinking, difficulty breathing, weakness, dizziness, upset stomach, and so forth.
- Are you unable to tolerate, or do you have adverse or allergic reactions to, any drugs or medications (such as antibiotics, anesthetics, pain relievers, X-ray contrast dye, vaccines, or birth control pills) or to an implant, prosthesis, contraceptive chemical or device or other medical, surgical, or dental material or procedure?
- Are you unable to tolerate, or do you have adverse reactions to, any foods such as dairy products, wheat, corn, eggs, caffeine, alcoholic beverages, or food additives (such as MSG and food dye)?
QEESI is the internationally validated reference standard for assessing chemical intolerance and the TILT disease process. It has been translated and used by researchers in more than 16 countries and in more than 80 studies published in peer-reviewed journals.
In surveys of 10,000 U.S. adults who took the brief version, BREESI, 20 percent reported intolerances to chemicals, foods, and drugs, while more than half reported food intolerances.
The Basics of Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT)
A toxicant is a toxic substance that’s produced by or is a byproduct of man-made activities. Amid this modern spread of toxicants, Miller has proposed a new theory of disease, Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT), which has the following two stages of development:- Initiation: caused by a one-time acute event; a series of exposures; or long-term, low-level exposures to toxic chemicals.
- Triggering: caused by previously tolerated chemicals, food, or drugs that can cause multi-system symptoms.
- Pesticides.
- Cleaning agents, including ammonia, bleach, and disinfectants.
- Solvents, including paints and glues.
- Drugs and medical devices, including anesthetics, antibiotics, vaccines, implants, and chemotherapy.
- Oil and petroleum products.
- Combustion-related products, including tobacco smoke, tar and asphalt, natural gas, soldering and welding, and engine exhaust.
- Indoor Air Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), including new carpet, plasticizers, formaldehyde, fragrances, and mold VOCs.
Chemical Intolerance, TILT Are Different Than Allergies
Chemical intolerance and TILT aren’t the same as classic allergies that involve immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, which most allergists are looking for. The TILT disease process involves toxicant sensitization of mast cells, our immune system’s first responders to foreign chemical substances, including synthetic organic chemicals, foods and food additives, medications, and recreational drugs.“These sentinel cells guard the perimeters of our skin and other organs, warding off invaders and protecting our internal milieu. They serve as first responders to most bodily invasions and insults.
“Largely lying in wait, these warriors spring into action if they perceive a major threat, releasing a vast array of mediators all at once.
Dramatic Increases in Exposure to Chemicals
Miller said three major events have occurred in the past few centuries that have dramatically increased our exposure to toxic chemicals that have overactivated our mast cells.Only now are researchers learning that our contemporary chemical exposures may be provoking mast cells to release their inflammatory mediators, resulting in “mast cell activation syndrome” with chronic and/or recurrent multi-system symptoms.
Stories of Toxic Chemicals Causing Terrible Effects
An important part of the questionnaire asks if other people or pets in the household have experienced health problems. Sometimes the answer to this question can provide previously missed information.Dr. Claudia Miller
In Miller’s case, in 1977, she and her husband moved to an old house, and she made what she later realized was a mistake by hiring an exterminator to spray. Within a few months, her kitten died. She now knows that kittens are especially sensitive to the organophosphate insecticides that are sprayed by exterminators—something we all should be aware of because these types of insecticides are still heavily used today.Jane Little
Jane Little—a BBC journalist who had to drop out of her career for a couple of long spells because of chemical-related health challenges—introduced Miller at the forum. She said she got “hit hard by herbicides” and was plagued by severe neurological symptoms after walking her dog in an area that had been sprayed with two different pesticide concoctions.She eventually realized that she suffered her first extreme reaction to chemicals when a cocktail of disinfectants was used on her father’s family farm in England in 2001. She believes that may be the instigating event in both her and her father’s chemical intolerance.
