By now you may know that it is hard to be exact about this illness. Actually, of course, it is we who are doing the testing. In a narrower sense, EI means illness caused by exposures to low levels of the synthetic chemicals in many common modern products that do not seem to bother most people, such as perfumes, fabric softeners, detergents, and other cleaning products. Exposures can be from air, water, or food, whether breathed, ingested, or touched.
Reactions range from mildly annoying to severe and life-threatening.
Symptoms can occur in any organ system or in several systems at once, such as gastrointestinal, autoimmune, and nervous systems. Symptoms tend to come and go with exposures, and they rarely show up abnormal on the usual medical tests. However there are beginning to be better and better tests. And some of us are allergic in the conventional sense, to pollens, mold, and dust. We spend much time explaining our illness to those whose cooperation we need but who often doubt its existence.