Sensitivities are difficult to deal with in that, unlike full blown allergies, they mutate constantly. There are different kinds of sensitivities which are triggered by very different things.
Summary of triggers (non exhaustive)
If we do not listen to the signs (swelling, rashes, behavioral shifts, mood swigs, “abnormal” weight, etc) children do not learn to listen to their body/mind/soul and end up as adults constantly abusing themselves by going over the limit of what they can actually handle. Slowly my family is learning to listen and the next step is learning to treat properly. Here are some of the triggers we are familiar with.
I have found the following to be common issues in our family:
1- High level of toxins in the Body and/or Mind (emotions, negative coping behaviors).
The most successful solution, has been a slow detox but a word of advise on detox.. They are hard. Start very slowly, with one aspect i.e. food or emotions and go slow….. (more on detox in another post)
2 – Allergic reactions (hidden ones are often chemical and environmental). Solution, find and eliminate the allergen by pursuing an elimination diet for foods, eliminate products in home, put air filters inside during winter and allergy season, check for bugs (lice, worms, etc)). But beware that if the immune system is very decreased, most likely toxins are too high in the body…
3 – Stress (Solution: learn to slow down and eliminate stress). Exposure to any form of stress triggers endangers the health of all organs and weaknen the immune system.
4 – Continuous overwhelmed state (Solution: learn your limits, addictive behaviors (overworking etc) and eliminate triggers as well as behaviours)
5 – Unhappiness (Solution: slow down, learn to articulate and communicate with others, take care of yourself and learn to understand what YOU need)
6 – Other people’s stress and unhappiness (Solution: learn to identify the sensations others create in you and ask them if they are stressed or sad etc, just asking reduces input for you and gets person to check in themselves and either relax or decrease toxins they send out, learn to create distance both physical, mental and psychological with others… often simply moving away by a few inches does the trick for me).
7 – Too much motion, noise, visual stimuli etc.
All have in common to become increasingly worst as the immune system stops doing its job.
One of the big question is why is the immune system not functioning properly?
Personally, I show signs of being overwhelmed by toxicity much faster than others, and as a naturopath explained to me, HSPs actually are people who have a very healthy immune system which is showing signs of distress/stress easily. Toxicity in our lives are just like addictions, the more you intake, the less your system shows sign of being affected by many poisons and the more we crave these toxins. HSPs however do and young HSP show these signs to much more extremes….
One thing that is very important to understand is that sensitivities are not just in one part of life and often symptoms are compounded and signals of multiple sensory overload. I have learned, by dealing with my children and my own sensitivities, that we are affected by EVERYTHING. We are chemical beings and anything that can change our chemical, electromagnetic, fluid, energetic or biological balances can become a poison. In other words, anything we can sense is processed by the body. Here lies the first difficult, what are senses?
There are the typical direct input ones, we are all familiar with:
– Touch
– Smell
– Taste
– Sight
– Hearing
But there are many other ways we process inputs to the body, pretty much any organs we have correspond to a type of activity which all have sensory integration consequences.
– Emotions
– Empathy
Are two aspect of ourselves that should be considered senses. What we feel informs us of danger, safety etc as much as what we see. And empathy isthe starting point of non verbal communication.
According to the article Medical Mystery Surrounding Highly-Sensitive Kids … Solved?
We have two additional senses: The sense of balance and coordinated movement (the vestibular system), and the positioning sense (the properioceptive system). We’re more aware of the vestibular sense when we have an inner ear infection and feel dizzy. The properioceptive system receives its information from our muscles and joints. It lets us know where we are in space and helps us move effortlessly and smoothly.
This why some of us get motion sickness in cars, etc. In other words, anything that children’s senses take in from the environment can be experienced differently from a non-sensitive person and that makes the world overwhelming. It is important to understand that other people can be part of the issue.
In the article: For kids, high sensitivity to stress isn’t necessarily bad”
it is explained that researchers now know that children who are highly sensitive to stress tend to be at higher risk for health and behavioral problems compared with their less delicate peers. Yet, a new study finds that sensitivity in of itself may not necessarily be what primes children for struggles. According to new research published in the journal Child Development, while highly sensitive children who are raised in challenging, high-stress settings are indeed more likely to have health complications and behavioral troubles as they grow up, emotionally sensitive kids who are raised in supportive, nurturing, low-stress environments tend to thrive and excel. The findings, researchers say, indicate that being extraordinarily reactive to stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing for children, and far from being a stand-alone factor in kids’ development, is in fact strongly influenced by home environment
We have been cleaning out our children’s environments for three years now. It has been a life changing process for all of us. I now understand that we are on a life detox journey which is taking us very far away from where we started and we rare all doing much better.
Detoxing means clearing out the body of toxins that come from any sources such as:
– Emotions
– Foods
– Stress
– Air
– People
– Behaviours
– Media
etc…
It is very important to change things slowly and with proper support (professional).
Natural medicinal detox
There are many ways to cleanse your organs. Before doing anything, talk to your doctor to insure your health will not be jeopardized by a detox. I personally avoid drugs and diets but try to detox by changing what I eat.The following is an excerpt from the article by Adam Webster How do I detox my liver and kidneys through proper diet?Changing what you eat is one of the best ways to help your liver and kidneys eliminate toxins. Foods high in antioxidants should be part of your daily diet. Some examples of foods good for detox include beets, which are high in beta-carotene, flavonoids, and carotenoids – substances that help the body restore health. Broccoli, spinach, tomatoes are good sources of essential vitamins including B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and antioxidants like lycopene (tomatoes) and selenium.The powerful antioxidant beta-carotene as well as Vitamin C is also present in carrots, peppers, citrus fruits, papaya, guava and plantains. Some people undergo a rigid detox diet in addition to making permanent dietary changes to improve the function of their liver.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7278231) An easy way to start detoxing it is by using lemon juice.According to Natural Health Remedies: ” Simply add the juice to a glass of water and sip it throughout the meal. This will help you stomach digest your food and prevent undigested food entering the blood stream. This syndrome is sometimes called a leaky gut. Your liver sees them as contaminates, food particles, even minute particles should not be in the bloodstream. Your liver filters them out. Improving the digestion process relieves the liver of this filtering load.2) A very gentle way is with castor oil. Soak cloth with the oil and apply externally to the liver. Leave it on for 1.5 hr at a time and do this for a week.
Detox diets?
According to WebMed:
Detox diets are so restrictive that you can’t maintain them for long (most are designed to use for a couple of weeks anyway). Also, any weight loss is usually from fluid and muscle loss. You quickly regain weight once you go off the diet. Worse, especially if used long term, detox diets can cause harm.
The good news is that your body has its own natural detoxifying process that works quite well. The liver and kidneys do a good job of processing chemicals and eliminating them in sweat, urine, and feces. For example, the colon’s natural bacteria detoxify food wastes and its mucus membranes prevent bacteria and toxins from reentering the body. The liver combines its own chemicals with other chemicals, making water-soluble compounds that your kidneys can excrete in urine. And some chemicals are also excreted through the lungs and skin.
If you want to try a natural liver detox diet, be sure to talk to your doctor first. Do not use a detox diet for longer than a brief period. The same goes for the use of any laxatives or supplements that have a laxative effect, especially if they’re stimulant laxatives. They can cause dehydration, mineral imbalances, and problems with your digestive system if you use them long term.
While fasting and diets may not work in the long term, there are foods that can help clean out your liver and kidneys.
According to the article: Detox Food Helps You Be Healthy, certain foods contain nutrition that enhances the liver’s ability to clear toxins from the body.
…These detox foods can be included regularly as part of a healthy eating habit.
the top 10 liver detox foods are:
- Garlic and Onions
- Cruciferous Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage)
- Whole Grains
- Turmeric
- Berries
- Green Tea
- Yogurt
- Legumes (beans), nuts and seeds
- Soy
- Red Grapes
Excerpt from the article Useful Foods for Kidney Detox and Cleansing
Periodic kidney detox is very useful for good health because the kidneys perform an extremely important detoxification function within the human body by filtering by-products of metabolism and digestion.
A natural and easy way to ensure that the kidneys are functioning to their maximum level is to drink around 10-12 glasses of water daily and to pass out urine when the bladder is full, without holding or controlling the need to pass urine. Indeed, drinking sufficient amounts of pure water is the best and most natural method of constant kidney detox. It’s cheap, too.
Odorless and colorless urine is an indication of the kidneys functioning well without accumulation of any particular minerals, salts etc. This will also help fight urinary tract infections if there is any possibility.
A simple way of kidney detoxification is to include lots of herbs, fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet. (…) Fruits and vegetables act as natural cleansers because they are high in fiber and help in the digestion process. They are thus good for kidney detoxification. They also provide energy through various minerals, vitamins, and proteins that are well balanced. They are fat-free and natural and hence do not contain any preservatives, stabilizing agents, processed sugars etc. The system will thus find it easy to assimilate, digest, and absorb all their nutrients quickly and effectively.
Some of the fruits and vegetables specially recommended for kidney detox include grapes, cranberries, spirulina, spinach, blueberries, nettles, dandelion, parsley, ginger, millet, barley, tofu, string beans, and asparagus.
Following a healthy antioxidant-rich diet may help keep your pancreas healthy and protect you from developing pancreatitis, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Nutrient-dense whole grains are naturally low in fat and provide the body with a source of B vitamins. According to a 2009 study published in the American Journal of Physiology, adequate intake of thiamine is essential for the release of the endocrine hormones from the pancreas. Healthy whole grains for the pancreas include whole-wheat bread, whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals, oatmeal, brown rice, popcorn, whole-wheat pasta and whole-grain crackers. A whole-grain food item should list a whole grain, such as whole wheat or whole oat, as one of the first ingredients on the food label.
Fruits and vegetable contain high amounts of vitamin C and vitamin A, both important antioxidants. A 1990 study published in Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics says that oxidative stress may an initiating factor in the onset of pancreatitis. Supplementing with antioxidants has been shown to reduce symptoms of pancreatitis. Adequate intake of antioxidants may also keep your pancreas healthy and prevent illness. Nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables for a healthy pancreas include cantaloupe, berries, oranges, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, carrots and kale.
Lipase is an enzyme secreted by the pancreas that is responsible for helping you digest fat in food. When your pancreas is sick, you need to decrease its use. Keep your pancreas healthy by limiting enzyme excretion and limiting your intake of high-fat meats. Healthy lean meat choices for the pancreas include poultry, fish, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin and lamb chops. Beans can be a healthy alternative to meats, and in addition to being a low-fat source of protein, beans also provide fiber and B vitamins. Healthy bean choices for your pancreas include kidney beans, black beans, navy beans, garbanzo beans and lentils.
Like meat, dairy can also be a source of fat. To keep your pancreas healthy, choose low-fat and nonfat dairy foods. Healthy choices for the pancreas include nonfat milk, 1 percent fat milk, nonfat and low-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese.
Food. Yes, real, solid food that will fill your stomach.
The best types of foods to eat which will help your colon cleanse itself gently and naturally, are high in fiber.
Whole grain and bran cereals for instance, are an excellent way to get extra fiber into your diet and help clean your colon. You may want to try adding flax seed to your breakfast for even better results.
Anything green and leafy is another excellent source for helping to cleanse. Try eating plenty of vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and various salad greens.
One of the best foods for helping you with colon cleansing though, is fruit. Blackberries for instance, have a whopping eight grams of fiber per cup, and all that extra fiber does a wonderful job of cleansing your colon. Prunes and prune juice are also excellent foods to use for cleansing your colon, and just about any other type of fruit or fruit juice which usually makes you have a good bowel movement will work as well.
The whole point of cleansing your colon naturally using food, is to increase your body’s waste elimination process for several days at the minimum. You want to force your body to start flushing out the solid waste materials, so that it’s also carrying the toxins and bacteria out of your body more quickly too.
2. The digestive process is now recognized as important in how our sensitivities/allergies functions, recent research has shown over and over how essential a proper balanced gut flora is to not increasing sensitivities.
When sensitivities are getting out of control, dealing with the balance of the digestive system is essential. Probiotics, enzymes are all essential at helping the immune system rebuild it self, but even before doing that, detoxing the liver is CRUCIAL.
3. The skin is one of our major organs and we often completely ignore the fact that it is alive and a major filtering system to the body.
– Transpiration/soaking in liquids are others ways we let many toxins in without necessarily realizing it.
4. The brain chemical balance can be affected by moods, smell, exercise levels etc.
5. Media affects our moods, physical well being. It do needs to be considered as part of what needs to be detoxing.
The Highly Sensitive Family 
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