Why Am I Sensitive To Everything?
Are you frustrated, trying to figure out why your body is reacting and sensitive to nearly EVERYTHING?
You may be asking yourself, "What can I eat? What should I do? How do I fix this? I'm allergic to everything!" Even beauty products, perfumes, or the smell of laundry detergent makes your body break out into an allergic-like reaction.
Many people deal with minor sensitivities daily, and some of those reactions are normal and to things that are really a threat. Our bodies are incredibly designed to be able to locate and remove toxins and other foreign pathogens. However, if the body becomes too overburdened by toxins, the opposite effect can happen, and you become increasingly more sensitive to everyday normal things that never affected you before. This period in the healing journey can be very frustrating when trying to play the role of the detective for every possible trigger source.
To overcome your endless and constant flare-ups, you first need to understand what is causing your sensitivities and toxicities. When you address these underlying sensitivities and toxicities in your body by getting to the root cause(s), you can finally begin to experience true relief from your debilitating symptoms and live a normal life again- symptom-free.
Why Do Some People Get Sick, And Others Don’t?
Have you ever wondered why some individuals are more prone to diseases than others? For example, some people may be bedridden for days if they catch the flu, some could experience mild symptoms, and others are perfectly fine. Well, the Terrain Theory could help explain why.
What is The Terrain Theory?
The Terrain Theory explains that a balanced healthy body is a symbiotic network of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and human cells. If your body or "terrain” is balanced, healthy, and well, like your gut microbiome and immune system, it will be able to fend off pathogens better and make you less susceptible to illnesses.
It is impossible to avoid all viruses and bacteria in our environment, and we shouldn't try to eliminate ALL of them either by using harsh cleaners and sanitizers on everything. It is simply not possible to sterilize our bodies of every germ or pathogen. However, we can optimize our “terrain”/microbiome/ immune system so your body can defend itself against harmful pathogens to keep you safe.
The key is to keep your body's inner environment inhospitable for viruses and parasites to live in. If your terrain is not healthy, due to chemicals and underlying stressors that weaken your immune defenses, invaders can come in and take up residency in your body. Additionally, the toxins and waste they leave behind can lead to further sensitivities, illnesses, or damage to cells, tissues, and organs.
But with time, patience, and expert guidance, you can rebalance your inner terrain to strengthen your immune system so you can become more resilient and resistant to illnesses.
With this concept in mind, We want to help you take the first step in overcoming your complicated illnesses by identifying what is making your “terrain” less than optimal and what is triggering your constant illnesses and sensitivity flare-ups, so we can design a targeted protocol to rebalance your microbiome.
Common Causes of a Poor Terrain
So how does the Terrain Theory explain why you're oversensitive and reacting to every little thing? In today’s society, many individuals’ “terrains” are unhealthy and are weakened by the prevalence of toxic chemicals and heavy metals in our foods, air, and water, parasites, mold toxicity, and viral infections like Lymes with co-infections. Our inner “terrain” is a reflection of our environment and diet.
Many people consume a poor diet predominantly made up of processed foods (even if they are labeled as “healthy”), have abnormally stressful lifestyles, and are constantly exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). All these factors alter our "terrain" and cause a wide variety of dysfunction and chaos, leading to frequent illness, inflammation, sensitivities, and toxicities.
Medications, especially antibiotics and steroids, can also alter “terrains” and make them imbalanced and unwell.
Mold Toxicity + Lyme Disease
Having a toxic “terrain” makes you more susceptible to the most common and severe culprits of why your body could be sensitive to everything, like mold toxicity, parasites, and Lyme disease (with co-infections, like Bartonella). We see at least one of these (sometimes all three) in most of our clients.
Toxic bodies are more attractive to things like parasites, fungus, mold, bacteria, and viruses. What happens is that once the parasites, mold, or Lyme is in your body, and if it isn’t addressed properly, can weaken your immune defenses, leaving your body more susceptible to new illnesses. These pathogens can even activate dormant infections (like Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), herpes, or chlamydia). These dormant infections may have been in your body for years but haven’t caused any issues until the “terrain” becomes toxic enough to reactivate them.
Reactivated dormant infections can weaken your immune system further, making you even more susceptible to parasites, mold toxicities, and Lyme disease, and the mold and Lyme could’ve exacerbated your symptoms and sensitivities. Because they all thrive on highly toxic terrains, it becomes a vicious cycle unless you deliberately cleanse and restore balance to make your terrain more beneficial to your health and wellbeing.
When your body is fighting multiple things at once, it will prioritize what it thinks is the biggest threat. In most cases, the body becomes overwhelmed, cell danger response stays on, and drainage pathways become stagnant. This leads you to develop multiple allergies and sensitivities to foods, and scents, and in extreme cases become sensitive to even the water you drink. The key to fixing these underlying stressors is to address them in the correct order.
Manifestation of Inflammation + Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
If left unaddressed, an unhealthy terrain due to environmental toxicity, Lyme disease, parasites, and/or mold toxicity can lead to you being highly sensitive because of an uncontrollable production of inflammatory cytokines throughout the body. Eventually, your mast cells, which are part of your immune response, can also become overly reactive and lose specificity, so they react to what feels like everything.
It can get to a point where even the slightest stimuli will activate your immune system/ mast cells, causing your body to react to chemicals that are in your everyday products, foods, bright lights, certain odors, or even fluctuations in pressure due to weather and temperature changes!
This is known as Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and is when persistent inflammation impacts all systems of your body. This complex chronic illness is so severe that you can experience an extensive list of symptoms. If you’re asking yourself, “Why am I so sensitive to everything?” and are experiencing debilitating symptoms, you can read more about MCAS here to see if it could be what’s causing you to be a highly sensitive person.
Overcome Your Chronic Symptoms & Heal Holistically
Are you looking to get to the root cause of your symptoms? We can help you.
We use holistic approaches and functional medicine lab testing to investigate what is triggering your chronic symptoms so you can address them at their source and start to feel better faster. Our health coaches are masters at guiding the healing of multiple root causes in a personalized order that gets you wellness results that last. We also help you maintain good health and minimize your disease risks.
by sarah southerton
Certified Integrative Health Practitioner (IHP2) & Functional Medicine Health Coach
I specialize in helping people heal chronic illnesses and achieve optimal health. After my own battle with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Lyme disease, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and Post Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), I was thrust into the world of alternative medicine, herbal healing, and low-tox/low-stress living. I have since restored my health and no longer suffer with debilitating symptoms and I’m passionate about help other people who are suffering, so they can feel better a lot faster than I did.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as healthcare advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an healthcare professional-patient relationship. We do our best to keep information accurate and up to date, however mistakes do happen, and we cannot make guarantees regarding the accuracy of our information. We are not liable for any information on this website or your reliance upon it.
