Endocrine Disruptors – Should I Be Concerned?

Should you care about the endocrine disruptors
that are in your life?

As many of you know, my blood glucose levels tend to go wonky every now and then. This particular situation was after I'd been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, but before I had progressed to borderline diabetes.

The number of carbs I ate back then mattered whenever the glucose level was not under control.

Up until lately, carbohydrates were never the cause.

Instead, food sensitivities, such as gluten and GMO corn, had always sat at the heart of the problem. This was probably because I didn't eat a lot of sugar.

Once I uncovered the offending food and removed it from my life, the glucose levels have always returned to normal.

When I started reacting to something again during the summer of 2012, however, I was at a loss as to what was causing it.

At the time, I wasn’t eating gluten, dairy, or GMO corn. I’d been off gluten for over three years. I’d been without dairy for more than two, and GMO corn for a year.

But the glucose number was not improving.

What was left for me to give up?

Soy?

I removed the only source of soy in my diet -- organic low-sodium gluten-free tamari sauce -- but it didn’t seem to make any difference.

The blood glucose levels continued to be wonky, and my weight continued to climb as the blood glucose level tipped over the line into diabetic territory.

Needless to say, I was extremely confused -- and worried!

Sometimes, Vertigo is a Blessing

I have a lot of health problems that interfere with my quality of life. One of these problems is bi-lateral vestibular dysfunction, otherwise known as vertigo.

Vertigo is not a simple dizziness or the light-headedness you feel if you go too long without eating. It’s a spinning motion that occurs inside your head.

Sometimes, it manifests as the world tipping sideways, and sometimes, your legs just go out from underneath you and you crash to the ground without warning.

When that happens, you hit the floor before you realize what’s happening because no matter how hard you try, nothing you attempt to hold onto will keep you from going down.

Nothing.

Before anyone asks, no I do not have BPPV.

The problem is not related to crystals in the ears breaking off and getting lodged where they don't belong. That’s already been checked out by a neurologist.

I had a massive smoke inhalation from a series of Southern California forest fires over the course of a few days more than 10 years ago. The neurologist that looked at me at the time believed I had Meniere’s Disease, but the Primary Care Physician I was going to wasn’t willing to accept her diagnosis.

I’m on my own with this because even the ENT I saw back then (ears, nose, and throat specialist) told me to:

• stop being lazy
• go back to work
• learn to live with it

I was a floor supervisor and personal one-on-one educator for low-functioning developmentally disabled adults in a workshop setting at the time. I couldn't go back to work. It was not a sit-down job.

Plus, I couldn't walk. Hubby carried me or supported me everywhere we went.

Today, I am only partially disabled. Thanks to a special chiropractor who knew how to get the energy flowing in the right direction, and moving to a lower carb diet. I am no longer bedridden. The only disruptor in my life is the weather.

I always know when bad weather is coming.

The blessing is that the swelling inside the ears and the vertigo I experience from that always alerts me to what I need to stay away from, but sometimes the message gets confused. Like any typical elimination diet, the number of variables can easily interfere with figuring out what’s going on.

Allergic to Doing Dishes

One of the constants that I’d been noticing was that the ears always swelled and the vertigo seemed to suddenly appear shortly before hubby got home from work.

That didn’t make any sense. I know. It was just what I was noticing once I started observing myself.

I also was able to clearly see that it grew worse after dinner, especially when I was cleaning the dishes to get them ready for the dishwasher.

I kept thinking it was something I was eating for dinner or something to do with the city’s water because nothing else made any sense.

What I’d forgotten was that the dish soap I was using wasn’t 100-percent fragrance free.

The local health food store had been out of the Dishmate Free and Clear that I typically used, so I had settled for a popular brand from Walmart, somewhere around the beginning of the summer.

I had bought the one that had the least offensive smell, supposedly a pure dishwashing liquid, but it did still have a light scent. What I didn’t know then was that some types of dishwashing liquids have an endocrine disruptor in them.

What is an Endocrine Disruptor?

An endocrine disruptor is a chemical that interferes with your hormones. It can cause:

• attention issues
• cognitive problems
• learning disabilities
• make men more feminine
• give women more masculine characteristics

Basically, any body system that is controlled by hormones can be upset. This is because these chemicals interfere with:

• secretion
• synthesis
• transport
• binding
• action
• elimination

of hormones associated with that system in the body. When you come in contact with an endocrine disruptor, insulin doesn’t work properly.

The pancreas is an endocrine organ.

It secretes the hormone insulin to take care of the glucose in your blood after you eat. Chemicals that interfere with this process are called endocrine disruptors.

There are many types of endocrine disruptors:

• the PCBs in plastics
• bisphenol A (found in the inner lining of most food cans)
• dioxin
• pesticides
• phthalates (found in many shampoos and other soap products)
• arsenic (currently found in rice)

These disruptors can affect your adrenal glands and thyroid, as well as your pancreas.

This means your:

• immune system
• reproductive system
• cardiovascular system
• central nervous system
• digestive system
• metabolism
• adipose tissue (body fat cells)

are all targets for disruption!

Plus, disruption means higher stress hormones, such as cortisol, which leads to glycogen being broken down into glucose to fuel the emergency situation.

Endocrine Disruptors and Insulin Resistance

If you're a typical low-carb dieter, you will spend a lot of time focusing on the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, but some endocrine disruptors can actually increase insulin resistance regardless of how many carbs you’re eating.

• bisphenol A
• dioxin
• PCBs
• some pesticides

and the phthalates found in shampoo, soaps, and dishwashing liquids increase insulin resistance and can make pre-diabetes or diabetic blood glucose control much worse.

They also play a role in type 1 and type 1.5 diabetes – the type of diabetes that runs in my family.

This is particularly important because type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, the same as celiac disease, and phthalates have been found to induce autoimmune problems in certain strains of mice.

This all seems to run akin to what I’ve learned about myself this past summer.

Dumping the Dishwashing Liquid

Within only a couple of days of dumping the dishwashing liquid and returning to my trusty Dishmate, my blood glucose level totally corrected itself.

The lesson for me always seems to circle back around to balance. While too many carbs can cause insulin problems for many people, carbohydrates should never be your only focus.

Endocrine disruptors literally saturate our environment and are particularly problematic if you're a diabetic or even a pre-diabetic. Those with insulin resistance already, also need to be careful with endocrine disruptors because they can make your condition worse. 

We need to become more aware of their presence in our lives and take a more holistic approach to our low-carb lifestyle – instead of just focusing on diet alone.