This Is Why You're Sensitive to EVERYTHING

Being ‘sensitive’ to lots of products or foods has been incredibly normalised in the beauty and foods industry and yes, some people are more sensitive to things than others, generally speaking. However, if you are one of those people that finds yourself saying ‘I think I’m just sensitive to everything’, or regularly struggling with skin irritation, hay fever or watery eyes, then it could be your body’s way of telling you that everything isn’t hunky dory inside.

There Is Always a Reason

There are no such thing as ‘random’ reoccurring symptoms. There is always a reason why your body is reacting in the way it is, even if you’re not entirely sure what it’s reacting to. This should be reassuring, as if there is a reason, it means there is a solution and, therefore, this doesn’t have to be lifelong management of your ailment.

It’s not about staying on a low lectin, low phytic acid, low salicylate, low histamine or low oxalate diet for the rest of your life. This would be managing, or avoiding, the issue. Really, you need to address the issue at a root cause level - when you work out what it is! 

Many people take antihistamines to relieve symptoms of a reaction. This is again managing, or masking, the issue. So, why are you experiencing the symptoms? One of the immune markers called histamine is creating an inflammatory-based response in the body, wrongly reacting to something that the body believes to be a foreign invader. This means there is some type of toxin or breakdown in the methylation pathway. This is fixable, even if it’s ‘genetic’! 

The two main reasons why this can occur is because of poor gut health or a congested liver, as a result of overwhelm from toxic load.

Congested Liver

Your liver is the manager of detoxification in your body. However, if there are too many components causing disruption, its job becomes pretty difficult to execute effectively and, as a result, the liver becomes overwhelmed and the detoxification tasks become congested.

These ‘disruptors’ look like too many toxins and an imbalanced/inflamed body. So, how do we reduce the disruption?

Firstly, you need to reduce your toxic exposure. To learn how to best do this, check out the recent post on ‘Toxic Products You Have Used This Week.’

 Secondly, we need to give the liver a helping hand. We need to make sure that our liver can properly detoxify the body.

Wait a minute, why does an overwhelmed liver result in being sensitive to everything?

Histamines need to be broken down by enzymes. There is an enzyme in your liver called histamine N-methyltransferase, which focuses on breaking down histamines. This means that if your liver is overloaded, you’re going to have a hard time breaking down histamines. This causes inflammation, resulting in symptoms of ‘sensitivity’.

The Bottom Line

Being sensitive to everything is uncomfortable, frustrating and can really affect your confidence and quality of life. I’ve been there, done that! So, I fully empathise with how you’re feeling, but I want you to know that this doesn’t have to be a constant balancing game of managing symptoms, triggers and reactions. You can heal!

If you are struggling with sensitivities, I recommend you do two things straight away:

1. Aim to reduce your toxic load, even if this is just starting with low-hanging fruit like switching your plastic tupperware to glass containers.
2. Detoxify your body the functional medicine way.

Once you detoxify your body with something like the 21 Day Reset, then I recommend:

1. Completing a 7 Day every 3 months and
2. Continue to make sustainable changes to reduce your exposure to the toxins you can control in the environment.