Bad news!
I wonder how many people commit suicide due to pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed?
How many of the doctors whose patients commit suicide due to the pharmaceuticals they prescribed are disciplined?
Dr. Armstrong has helped a lot of people over the years, people that other doctors were unable to help, or worse, subjected to harm.
Finding doctors that don’t harm people with environmental and chemical “sensitivities” (from ignorance, disbelief, or even inadvertently, while others take their oath to do no harm as an excuse to do nothing) is nearly impossible. Too many of us are forced to go without health care as a result.
Although it seems that her approach was lacking in this case (we don’t have all the details), and my condolences go out to the family who lost a loved one, in addition to the hypocrisy of not disciplining other types of doctors after patient suicides, the closing statement in the article is propaganda that will inflict harm on people whose needs are not being served by the current system:
“Critics, including many doctors, say sometimes there’s no evidence that something is dangerous because it actually isn’t dangerous, and trying to find environmental sources for particular afflictions can mean ignoring real problems.”
The critics are usually from the petroleum/pharmaceutical industry and have a lot to lose if MCS/ES is officially understood.
All too often now, ignoring the man-made environmental sources of adverse health effects means ignoring the real problems, and countless people, including children, are suffering as a result.
(continued in the comments, I don’t have the reblogging format down yet)
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 
The critics (unnamed here) are usually from the oil, gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical industry, those who create the harmful substances that people with MCS/ES have to avoid, and then they get more government subsidies for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals that we also have to avoid because of their petrochemical content, products designed to treat symptoms (not heal the problems) that are covered by health insurance plans, while alternative, non-toxic forms of medicine and health therapies are not covered.
Trying to heal the damages by natural methods isn’t always successful, but they are rarely if ever harmful. Chemotherapy isn’t always successful, and can be quite harmful, and anti-depressants cause suicides too.
Sometimes there is no evidence of industrial/chemical/ environmental harm, because they refuse to look for it, can shut down the researchers who are looking, and can have regulatory bodies overlook any evidence of harm that does exist.
Ontario, thankfully, is funding more environmentally aware doctors, as we don’t have nearly enough for the growing numbers of people being disabled by pollutants (see the statistics page)
Building Expertise in Environmental Health
Ontario Supporting New Fellowships in Emerging Public Health Field
http://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2014/04/building-expertise-in-environmental-health.html
We live in such messed up times, largely because the prevailing motivating factor is greed, and anything or anyone who gets in the way of making a profit is considered expendable.
People can become suicidal from, among other things, everyday toxic exposures, a lack of nourishment due to processed foods, pesticide poisoning, a lack of acceptance, poverty, and so many other factors at work these days, and the current medical/pharmaceutical system that ignores all the influences is not helping create a healthy society.
Indeed, more people are chronically ill than ever before.
We need all health professionals to understand environmental health issues.
We also need more health professionals to understand the neurological changes that exposures to toxic chemicals, molds, wireless radiation, and diet can have on people (be they hardwired during developmental stages, or various durations of temporary from exposures at other times), and above all, we need to start putting the well-being of people above insane corporate profits.
The current system where man-made environmental factors are ignored is not sustainable. It is not healthy.
Current and future generations need us all to do better.
Interesting tidbit from Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada:
“Some employees experience allergic reactions, asthma or migraine headaches due to chemical sensitivities. The Royal College supports a scent-free environment and requests that employees refrain from using scented products such as perfumes, aftershaves, air-fresheners, etc., during working hours.”
http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/about/careers/benefitsofemployment
In the Clinical Review ‘Approach to patients with multimorbidity with sensitivities’ -Can Fam Physician 2014;60:533-8-, it clearly states that ‘Resolution of multimorbidity follows appropriate assesment and intervention. Treatment is directed into 3 broad categories: resolution of inflammation by incitant avoidance; remediation of biochemistry; and toxicant burden elimination to resolve immune dysregulization and the hypersensitivity state (Toxic Induced Loss of Tolerance).’, it seems that these were the methods being carried out by Dr. Armstrong and the fault is not with the treatment prescribed but rather with the lack of understanding and support from family, friends and society which is what most probably drove this poor young girl suffering from ES/MCS to commit suicide!
Synthetic Drugs and/or conventional medicines would only make her symptoms condition of (TILT) worse, the same as trying to ignore these as if they doesn’t exist (anywhere but in your head which is what many doctors will tell you!) and therefore the ‘continual exposure’ to neurotoxins could in itself create a psycotic episode along with the distress the poor young woman was suffering due to her unrecognised condition and the marked psycological distress and hopelessness this creates that would lead to this terrible outcome.
These Multiborbidity syndromes need multi-disciplined professionals who can cooperate with an environmental specialist to provide the appropriate treatment not to the paitients main condition but those that arise as a result.
We desperately need UNDERSTANDING & SUPPORT ♡♡♡ for the Environmentally Sensitive or as we can see (this is not the only case!) it will be causing a high mortality especially among the ‘young’ sufferers. What kind of a future can they imagine or wish for? A life of suffering and cruel unrecognition, margined from family friends and society??? That is what is killing us and making being poisoned and seriously sensitive fatal! : (
This is really heartbreaking !!!
If we had access to the proper health-care and our ‘environmental illnesses’ were properly understood and treated this would not keep happening!
If only they would truely remember these words daily and hold to them
“To prevent disease, to relieve suffering, and to heal the sick – this is our work.” – Sir William Osler ♡♡♡
Thank you so much for bringing this up Therese!
I thought to do it and it completely slipped my brain-fogged mind.
While a sad case indeed, the approach by the Ontario College of Physicians is an obvious bias against a highly respected physician dedicating her life to helping environmentally ill. We have a 3 year waiting list in Ottawa for help for environmental illness. Yes we are depressed and suicidal bouncing from unqualified physicians and standard allergists who have no clue about environmental/chemical allergies or illness. The Ontario College of Physicians needs to wake up!
There’s plenty of research that shows how the kinds of situations and treatment we are forced to deal with (due to a systemic lack of accommodation) cause both physical and mental stress, including suicide. Subjecting people to harmful environments, drugs (made of petrochemicals) and inappropriate attitudes do not make for happy, healthy people.
And they know, they (claim to) have a fragrance-free environment in their own facilities. Although fragrances aren’t the only harmful thing in indoor environments, it’s one of the most obvious and prevalent ones, that seem to instigate more cases of MCS/ES than anything else.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada:
“Some employees experience allergic reactions, asthma or migraine headaches due to chemical sensitivities. The Royal College supports a scent-free environment and requests that employees refrain from using scented products such as perfumes, aftershaves, air-fresheners, etc., during working hours.”
http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/about/careers/benefitsofemployment
It’s like they are saying: a chronically ill person with MCS who is depressed can only get help from a doctor who may give them pharmaceuticals that may make them worse; and even it this causes someone to suicide, it’s okay because at least it wasn’t caused by a doctor who uses nutritional, environmental based medicine.
The companies who have a lot to lose will lose a lot. The truth doesn’t just go away.
Go figure, eh?
“The province is providing nearly $560,000 to support two new annual fellowships over three years for a total of six new fellowships.”
this started in 2014 should have taken 3 years to train so where are these new doctors … it does not say treatment any place in that article.
from the post above
Building Expertise in Environmental Health
Ontario Supporting New Fellowships in Emerging Public Health Field
http://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2014/04/building-expertise-in-environmental-health.html
should I live long enough to get thru the wait and have any money at all left by then I am seeing Dr Armstrong.
desperate times call for desperate measures… suicide is a sad thing so is living with mcs.
Dr Molot said in one of his recent presentations that there wasn’t much interest from doctors to receive that training!!!
The Task Force should be releasing their interim report very soon. I look forward to seeing what they have to say.
There’s a lot more interest otherwise, films, a new tv series, books, and whatnot.
Hopefully the medical community will wake up and realize what’s going on.
I recommend checking out Dr Stephen Genuis and Dr Molot’s videos and writing.