Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics

Anaesthetising injections used in dental treatment are relatively simple chemicals given locally and reaction is rare. If you are concerned, try to avoid having injections unless absolutely essential. If sensitive to water and disinfectants, take your own water with you for rinsing your mouth.

Some people are affected by the mercury in amalgam fillings. Replacement or new fillings of material other than amalgam can be paid for under usual NHS funding if your dentist is willing to do it, but it requires a special letter from your doctor saying that the work is essential. Consult your dentist and doctor.

Other materials used in dental treatment very rarely cause problems, or are used only fleetingly (e.g. in making moulds for braces or dentures). If you think you have become sensitive to your dentures, try changing your denture cleaning material first. If you are sensitive to plastic materials, it is possible to have metal dentures made.

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Water distillers purify water by boiling water and cooling it again. Gases evaporate, bacteria and viruses are killed, and almost every other chemical salt,” mineral and contaminant is left in the boiling chamber. The condensed water is then passed through an activated carbon filter, which removes organic chemicals which have not been removed in the steam. The distilled water is collected in a storage chamber. The resulting water is extremely pure – comparable to reverse osmosis water.

Distillation units cost between £400 and £600. They can be plumbed in under a sink, or can be used on a worktop or table top. Apart from the de-mineralised taste, their other drawbacks include the expense of electricity costs, their low flow-rate, their need for regular cleaning, and their bulk. The resulting water is warm also, so usually needs cooling before drinking. Their major disadvantage for the chemically sensitive, however, is that the water, being de-ionised, absorbs chemicals very readily from its environment and, being usually stored or held initially in a plastic container, has been known to upset people sensitive to plastics. Although it is so pure, in practice chemically sensitive people often tolerate distilled water less well than other types of purified or filtered water.

If you do not want to instal a distiller but want to use distilled water, one company The Freshwater Company (address below) supplies distilled water in containers (plastic) in the London and Home Counties area for a cost of between 21p and 25p per litre (2 pints) at 1992 prices. Pharmacies also sell distilled water, usually in plastic containers. You need to check whether it has been distilled with an activated carbon filter distiller. Some distilled or de-mineralised water sold for steam irons or other uses has not been filtered with activated carbon and still contains organic solvents.

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If you need such a product because of chronic illness, you are not required to pay VAT. Vacuum cleaners can be supplied exempt of VAT if you sign a simple declaration form which the supplier will provide.

Remember to change bags and clean fabric filters regularly. If changing bags or cleaning filters upsets you, enlist someone to do it for you.

The Medivac is available from The Healthy House or direct from Medivac. The Nilfisk is available from Allerayde or direct from Nilfisk. All these suppliers offer a trial period. Other suppliers of allergy vacuum cleaners are BVC, AEG, Miele, Rainbow and Vorwerk. Addresses and telephone numbers below.

The Rainbow machine is worthy of particular mention since users report that they find it more effective than the Medivac or Nilfisk. Dusts and dirt are removed by passing through water and there are therefore no bags to change, or filters to clean. The main drawback is price – it’s about £900 (at 1992 prices).

If you absolutely cannot afford to buy such a cleaner, another option is to try exhaust filters, available from Allerayde. These are made of fabric which you tape over the exhaust of any conventional cylinder cleaner, and most hard cased upright cleaners. The fabric is thick synthetic wadding, but has not been reported to cause any reactions. These filters are not as effective as the filtration cleaners. Tests have shown that they are slightly less efficient at trapping particles, and they let out through slightly larger particles. But they still trap over 99 per cent of particles over 0.5 micron in size, which covers most important allergens.

The filters cost £20 for three filters, at 1992 prices, and last about 24 hours of vacuum use. For most people, this would mean replacing them every 12 weeks or so. This is a cheaper solution than buying a filtration cleaner over the long term, unless you use a vacuum cleaner very heavily. Drawbacks are, however, that you are exposed to dusts on changing niters and that it can be fiddly to fix the filters on properly. Again, enlist someone’s help to do it for you if you need to avoid dusts.

Using exhaust filters may be a help if you go away for some time – on holiday or on a prolonged visit.

They may also help to use for a trial period while you decide whether thorough vacuuming will be of benefit to you long term.

Hoover sell High Filtration dust bags for their Turbopower and Turbomaster upright cleaners, which are claimed to reduce the amount of dust passing. A Which? survey in 1991 found that ‘these gave only a small improvement over their other bags and that they still let through an unsatisfactory quantity of dust’.

Contact a local allergy support group, or a local group of a national charity, to see if they have members willing to lend you an allergy vacuum cleaner to try for a while.

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You are left, if you are sensitive to many things, with virtually no choice in contraception except natural methods. The most effective method of natural contraception is called the sympto-thermal method, combining the mucus method (also known as the ovulation or Billings method) with measuring temperature changes and other changes in bodily symptoms. Used correctly, the sympto-thermal method has a failure rate equivalent to a cap or diaphragm used with spermicide, a condom, or a coil, according to the Family Planning Service. Most women are fertile for only about seven days each month around ovulation. Learning to monitor the signs can help you identify the times when unprotected sexual intercourse will not result in pregnancy. The mucus produced by the cervix has characteristic changes on days prior to and just after ovulation. Body temperature also has identifiable changes around the time of ovulation. Other symptoms, such as abdominal pain, bloated tummy and breasts, and an increase in libido often accompany ovulation. During the few days each month when the woman is fertile, you can either abstain from intercourse, or use a method of contraception which you can tolerate in small amounts.

The drawbacks of this method are that it requires a lot of attention and monitoring, and that it is probably only possible for people who have a regular and co-operative partner, or who are in a stable relationship. Furthermore, for women who have an extremely irregular cycle, or do not menstruate, it can be impossible to detect the bodily changes.

A good family planning clinic or experienced doctor will be able to help you work out what to do. Try the Durex.

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Simple slatted beds of solid wood and metal are readily available. Mail order companies, such as Freemans, Littlewoods and Grattans, sell metal frame beds by post (addresses below). Habitat and IKAEA do not sell by post but have a choice of wooden, metal, glass and even marble furniture at reasonable prices. Contact them for details of local branches.

If you want to have upholstered furniture made for you, Multiyork will make chairs, stools and sofas upholstered in cotton wadding, on a beech frame. They will use a totally untreated cotton cover fabric if you supply it (>FABRICS for sources) over a pure cotton barrier interliner fabric to meet fire safety regulations. They have branches around the country or will take postal orders.

Alternatively, contact the Association of Master Upholsterers for local specialist upholsterers.

Treske will make solid wood furniture in any wood of your choice, with a varnish of your choice.

Directors’ chairs made of cotton canvas and varnished wood, are often well tolerated and comfortable. You can also use them to carry with you if you go on holiday, on a visit or if you have problems at work. They are widely available at Habitat, DIY stores and department stores. Also try folding chairs of wood and metal.

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