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Natural Awakenings Dallas -Fort Worth Metroplex Edition

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Health Solutions for Chemically Sensitive Patients

Sep 05, 2016 06:49PM ● By Gina Cronin

Dr. William J. Rea

According to Dr. William J. Rea, a world renowned thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon in Dallas, environmental toxins may be at the core of a range of health issues from neurological conditions to asthma attacks. After conventional medications and treatments failed to improve his son’s severe and life-threatening asthma and allergy-like symptoms more than 40 years ago, Rea refused to continue him on drugs and cortisone and opened the Environmental Health Center. Rea recalls, “My son’s doctor remarked, ‘If you’re so smart, figure it out yourself.’”

The Center features furniture made from natural materials such as porcelain steel walls, tile floors and full-spectrum lighting, with filtered water and ventilation systems. Perfume and other fragrances are prohibited. As a result, the clinic is fi ve times less polluted than the environment outside, making it the ideal space to treat patients with multiple chemical sensitivity. After treating his son’s condition with a cleaner environment, exercise, saunas, antigen shots and a special diet, Rea decided he wanted to dedicate his life to helping others with environmental illnesses and chemical sensitivities.

Since the center’s inception in 1974, Rea has written 10 books, 150 scientific papers and numerous how-to pamphlets for living toxin-free. He has lectured in Germany, Belgium, France, England, Latin America, Australia, China and throughout the U.S., treated more than 30,000 patients and helped environmentally remodel more than 20,000 public and private buildings through the clinic’s Home and Commercial Building Evaluation.

Doctors are divided on the validity of environmental illness, but patients at Environmental Health Center can attest to the health benefits of Rea’s treatments. “Individuals can be negatively affected by mold toxins, pesticide exposure, nonorganic foods, gas heat, air pollens, animal dander, machinery exhaust, carpets, cleaning supplies, perfume and smog,” says Rea. “Those with compromised immune function or past head injuries are especially vulnerable.” One case involved a little girl that lost all her hair due to mold exposure in her home. Rea brought the girl into a controlled environment, removed the mold from her home and all her hair grew back.

Treatments at the Environmental Health Center include replacing gamma globulin and T-cells; oxygenation therapy to improve oxygen extraction by the cells; nutritional and dietary changes; and antigen therapy for hypersensitivity to foods, molds and chemicals. He increases patient intake of vitamin C, glutathione, magnesium, calcium, zinc and copper as needed. If necessary, he suggests patients temporarily relocate to the pesticide-, mold-, carpet-, generator-, toxin-, smoking and animal-free housing at his leased section of the nearby Marriott hotel until home pollutants are eliminated and treatment is complete. Patients suffering from migraines, brain dysfunction, short-term memory loss, irregular heartbeat, digestive complications and muscle aches have benefited from these measures.

“My advice to my patients and the public is that it is best not to have gas heat and not to use any pesticides,” says Rea. “I also suggest to install hard floors rather than carpets, and of course eat organic food and drink safe, filtered, distilled or spring water in a glass, and not from plastic bottles.” These adjustments are made simple by the Environmental Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization and storefront founded by Rea in 1975 that makes toxin-free products and informational resources readily accessible. Here, consumers can find a wide range of hard-to-find and environmentally safe cleaning supplies, sunscreens, feminine products, personal hygiene products, nutritional supplements, books, glass bottles, water and more.

For more information, call 214-368-4132 or visit ehcd.com.

Gina Cronin is a writer for Natural Awakenings magazine.