ALLERGY ADDICTION: GARRY’S STORY
Garry graduated from university as a solicitor believing he had found his chosen vocation. Before going away for an after-exam holiday, he secured a junior position with a large firm of solicitors in the city. Returning from his break, tanned, relaxed and fresh he couldn’t believe how badly he felt after his first week’s work. Putting it down to a readjustment to work syndrome, he didn’t pay much attention to it, believing it would soon abate as he settled in. This settling in period took about nine months and he was beginning to doubt whether law was really what he wanted to spend his life doing. On arriving at work he’d feel tired, make silly mistakes, experience erratic mood swings, forget things, get depressed, have trouble paying attention to what clients were saying and feel sleepy all afternoon if he had wine at business lunches. He thought it must be the job that was the problem because on the weekends he felt great. Stacks of energy, mentally on the ball, no headaches and no drowsiness after alcohol.
In time the long awaited settling in process was over. He found he was coping much better at work. So much so, in feet, he didn’t mind working back at night and even popping in on Saturday or Sunday morning to do a bit more. Working was now giving him a buzz; it was mentally stimulating. After a few years he realised he had become a workaholic, when during his summer vacation he kept wanting to go into work. The fact was he couldn’t relax at home. Home made him edgy, headachy, tired, bored, listless. Even escaping to his parent’s beach house with his girlfriend didn’t help. Being at work gave him mental stimulation, it gave him energy and enthusiasm, he felt optimistic and confident while there. Being away from work made him feel as bad as when he first started going to the office.
Although Garry felt much better at work, there was one thing that bothered him. Since starting work he had developed a stuffy, itchy nose and regular sore throats which, although not as bad as when he first started work, were still persisting. His girlfriend persuaded him to see me. That summer he had trouble relaxing as his nose was so blocked not even swimming in the surf would clear it.
To cut a long story short, I eventually persuaded Garry to take me into his office one weekend and sure enough, one whiff of the place said it all. That suffocating smell of synthetic carpet, synthetic upholstery, synthetic curtains, plastic-covered and synthetic-wood desks pervaded the place. The synthetic carpet still smelt as new as the day it was laid as the air in the building was recycled through the air conditioner. All the windows were sealed. Hardly a breath of fresh air had been through that room since the building was completed. In short, the building was sick. And smelt it.
Garry’s plight was obvious. He’d started off reacting vigorously to the chemically toxic environment, had adapted to it and then went into withdrawals while away from it on weekends and vacations.
Going on the Metabolism-Balancing Program reduced the intensity of his withdrawal symptoms on the weekend. He didn’t show up allergic to any foods which was fortunate as many people in his position show up allergic to those foods with preservatives, flavourings and colourings that are chemically related to the environmental toxins they are inhaling. I don’t doubt that if he had stayed in his place of work long enough, spin-off food sensitivities would have developed from the over-exposure to the ambient air chemicals he was breathing each day.
Garry saw the light immediately and sorted out his priorities very quickly. He is now working in his own small practice in one of the northern beach suburbs of Sydney where he can open the window of his office to fresh air. His office has slate floors and is lined with wood panels (real wood). All upholstery is leather, and wool and cotton covered in some eases. The office is not air-conditioned and plastic has been limited to pens and a few other essentials.
After going through the initial withdrawal symptoms, which knocked him around for a short while, Garry hasn’t looked back. He claims he hasn’t had a day’s illness since he moved and he’s happy working a forty hour week.
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