| Perfume and Headache
JN- Integr Physiol Behav Sci 30(2):157-68
TI- Mesothalamic discharge in a chronic pain, allergy
and fluid retention syndrome (case report).
AU- Andy OJ; Nicholas W; Dearman C;
PY- 1995 Apr-Jun
AB- A 32-year-old woman was bedridden for a year because of chronic
pain and headaches. She had insomnia, depression, suicidal thoughts and
a severe chemical allergy. She had been on steroid therapy for two years
and became Cushingoid with striae in the arm pits, groins and abdomen.
However, she had no hypertension, nor the buffalo fat and hirsutism. She
was very edematous, with a weight gain from 112 to 180 lbs. The fluid retention
did not conform to the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone.
Studies revealed abnormal scalp EEG discharges and high-voltage seizure
discharges in the posterior thalamus. Electrothalamic stimulation suppressed
the thalamic discharges and relieved the patient’s pelvic pain and headaches.
After one month of several thalamic stimulations per day, she was able
to get out of bed and ambulate. In addition, the patient no longer was
edematous and was tolerating perfumes and floor detergents. Steroids were
progressively reduced without complications of withdrawal. She went from
a completely steroid dependent state to independent during the first 1-1/2
yrs of thalamic stimulation. With continued thalamic stimulation she has
done well for 8-1/2 yrs, weighs 112 lbs, keeps house and drives a car.
It’s speculated the illness is a chronic pain multiple syndrome predominantly
due to mesothalamic discharges and body infirmities. The mesothalamic discharge
implicated neural networks, which represent biologic systems, i.e. pain,
sleep, fluid retention, etc. Therapeutic stimulation attenuates the discharges
and the neural networks return to their normal set points of homeostasis.
SN- 1053-881X
MH- Adult; Case Report; Chronic Disease; Corticotropin (DU); Cortisone
(BL); Edema (*PP); Electric Stimulation; Electrodes, Implanted; Electroencephalography;
Female; Human; Hypersensitivity (*PP); Pain (*PP); Thalamus (*PP);
AN- 95399323
LA- Eng
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JN- J Am Coll Nutr 12(6):693-702
TI- Symptom and personality profiles of young adults
from a college student population with self-reported illness from foods
and chemicals.
AU- Bell IR; Schwartz GE; Peterson JM; Amend D;
PY- 1993 Dec
AB- Despite much debate over a presumptively somatic vs psychological
etiology of nonatopic food and chemical sensitivities, little systematic
research has addressed the issues. The present study investigated self-reported
illness from several common foods (wheat, dairy, eggs) and chemicals (pesticide,
car exhaust, paint, perfume, new carpet), symptom patterns, and psychological
profiles of a sample of young adult college students (n = 490, age 19.4
+/-2.4, 52% female/48% male). Subjects were divided into 4 groups on the
basis of sample medians for frequency of illness from the foods (FI) and
chemicals (CI); high FI with high CI (FI/CI), high FI alone, high CI alone,
and NOILL (low FI and CI). FI was associated with more defensiveness (denial
of negativity) while CI was linked with more shyness (avoidance of novelty).
Women outnumbered men in all groups (FI/CI: 61%; FI: 80% CI: 55%) except
the NOILL (40% women). Nevertheless, the FI/CI, FI, and/or CI groups still
had significantly higher total symptom scores as well as more indigestion,
headache, and memory trouble than did the NOILL group, even after depression,
anxiety, shyness, defensiveness, and gender were covaried. The illness
groups reported significantly more limitation of foods that mobilize endogenous
opioids or generate exogenous opioids (sweets, fats, bread) as well as
more illness from opiate drugs, small amounts of beverage alcohol, and
late meals. Nasal symptoms from pollens or animals were more common in
the FI/CI (42%) and CI (42%) than in FI (26%) or NOILL (28%) groups. Premenstrual
tension syndrome and irritable bowel were also more common in the FI/CI
group. The findings indicate that young adults outside the clinical setting
who are relatively higher in FI and/or CI have distinctive symptom and
psychological patterns. Covariate analyses suggest that important symptoms
in FI and CI individuals such as indigestion, headache, and memory problems
may occur in addition to rather than as simply part of emotional distress.
The data are consistent with a previously hypothesized role of olfactory-limbic
and hypothalamic pathways and with a time-dependent sensitization model
for illness from foods and chemicals.
SN- 0731-5724
MH- Adolescence; Adult; Anxiety; Defense Mechanisms; Depression; Drug
Hypersensitivity (*PX); Female; Food Hypersensitivity (*PX); Human;
Male; Personality (*); Sex Characteristics; Shyness;
AN- 94124864
LA- Eng
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JN- Biol Psychiatry 35(11):857-63
TI- Sensitization to early life stress and response
to chemical odors in older adults.
AU- Bell IR; Schwartz GE; Amend D; Peterson JM; Stini WA;
PY- 1994 Jun 1
AB- This study examined the hypothesis that older persons who currently
report illness from environmental chemical odors (cacosmia) may have experienced
higher levels of stress early in life than did noncacosmic controls. The
hypothesis derives from a time-dependent sensitization (TDS) model for
cacosmia (Bell et al 1992) that predicts a relative interchangeability
of stress and chemicals in inducing and eliciting sensitized responses
in vulnerable individuals. Subjects were selected from those in the top
24% (cacosmic) and bottom 27% (noncacosmic) of a sample of 192 older adults
(mean age 73.8 years) for self-reported frequency of illness form the odors
of pesticide, car exhaust, paint, perfume, and new carpet. As in previous
investigations, cacosmics were younger, more depressed, and more shy; cacosmics
also included a higher proportion of women (83% versus 61%). As predicted,
cacosmics rated themselves higher in stress for the first four decades
of their lives, but not the recent past or present, even after controlling
for depression, anxiety, hostility, shyness, age, and gender. Cacosmics
reported increased prevalence of physician-diagnosed nasal allergies, breast
cysts, hypothyroidism, sinusitis, food sensitivities, irritable bowel,
and migraine headache. Only 4% of the overall sample (including 9% of the
cacosmics) acknowledged the controversial physician diagnosis of "chemical
sensitivity." The replicated observation of greater shyness in cacosmics
is consistent with the ability of hyperreactivity to novelty to predict
enhanced susceptibility to TDS from low levels of pharmacological agents
in animals. The findings support a TDS model for cacosmia and suggest that
cacosmia as a symptom identifies a large subset of the nonindustrial population
with significant psychophysiological health problems that merit further
objective examination.
SN- 0006-3223
MH- Aged; Environmental Exposure (*); Female; Human; Hypersensitivity
(*PX); Life Change Events (*); Male; Middle Age; Personality Development
(*); Risk Factors; Sick Role; Smell (*); Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t; Support,
U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.;
AN- 94331478
LA- Eng
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JN- Headache 34(4):214-6
TI- Precipitating factors in migraine: a retrospective
review of 494 patients.
AU- Robbins L;
PY- 1994 Apr
AB- The predominance of certain triggers for migraine was assessed in
494 migraine patients. Stress (62%) was the most frequently cited precipitant.
Weather changes (43%), missing a meal (40%), and bright sunlight (38%)
were also prominent factors. Sexual activity (5%) was the precipitant cited
by the least number of patients. Significant differences were found between
men and women in their responses to weather changes, perfumes, cigarette
smoke, missing a meal, and sexual activity. Spring was cited by 14% of
patients as a time for increased migraine attacks, followed by fall (13%),
summer (11%), and winter (7%).
SN- 0017-8748
MH- Adolescence; Adult; Female; Human; Male; Middle Age; Migraine (*ET);
Retrospective Studies; Seasons; Sex Characteristics; Stress (CO);
AN- 94284077
LA- Eng
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JN- Aust N Z J Med 18(3):311-7
TI- Fifty years of migraine research.
AU- Lance JW;
PY- 1988 May
AB- The prevalence of ice-pick pains and ice-cream headache in migrainous
patients and their localisation to the habitual site of migraine headache,
suggest that segments of the central pain pathways remain hyperexcitable
between spontaneous attacks. Excessive afferent stimulation (flashing lights,
noise, strong perfumes) or hypothalamic changes resulting from emotion,
stress or the operation of some internal clock may set in motion brainstem
mechanisms, including spontaneous unilateral or bilateral discharge of
pain pathways. Studies in the experimental animal have shown that certain
monoaminergic brainstem nuclei can influence the cerebral circulation unilaterally
and that they and the trigeminal system can induce a reflex dilatation
of the external carotid circulation. Descending pathways from the same
brainstem nuclei cause the adrenal gland to secrete noradrenaline, which
in turn can release serotonin from blood platelets. Free serotonin may
become adsorbed to the arterial wall, thus increasing sensitivity to pain,
augmenting afferent input and adding a pulsating quality to migrainous
pain. Both neural and vascular components of migraine implicate monoamines,
specifically noradrenaline and serotonin, as neurotransmitters and humoral
agents. The recent pharmacological classification of serotonin (5HT) receptors
indicates that agonists of a subset of the 5HT1 receptor and antagonists
of 5HT2 receptors are most likely to be helpful in the treatment of migraine.
SN- 0004-8291
MH- Animal; History of Medicine, 20th Cent.; Human; Migraine (ET/*HI/PP/TH);
Research; Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t;
AN- 89049926
LA- Eng
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