Chemical Free From A To Z

by Dale Schock
From Women Living Concisously Book II

Oh my God, I can’t breathe—am I having a heart attack? There’s pressure on my chest, my heart’s racing, and everything around me looks foggy. Sick to my stomach and dizzy, I’m also sweating profusely.

I’m terrified! Only twenty-four years old and these strange symptoms come upon me when I’m driving my children home from a routine doctor visit.

Subsequently I find out that I experienced an anxiety attack. Soon, I begin feeling anxious and fearful more frequently, particularly when leaving my house. The only place I feel truly safe is in my own home.

Eventually going out is not even an option for me and, as the years go by, my anxiety attacks increase. I begin to make excuses to explain why I don’t attend my children’s school functions, visit with friends and family, or go grocery shopping,

The truth is that I’ve become housebound, and the doctor diagnoses me as agoraphobic!

Five years after my agoraphobia diagnosis—essentially a fear of being in open or public places—I’m basically a hermit. Until…I decide to take back my life! With the help of family and friends, I’m able to overcome my anxiety, and slowly I rejoin the living. What a relief!

Finally, just as I seem to have gotten back to normal, I begin to experience pain in my abdomen and bleed so heavily each month that I’m stuck in my house for a week. When the pain gets so bad in the middle of each month that all I do is lie in my bed and cry, I decide it’s time to visit the doctor.

Diagnosed with ovarian cysts and fibroid tumors, the cysts are so large the doctor is afraid they may be cancerous. I’m told I need a hysterectomy. My scheduled surgery that’s supposed to take two hours lasts for five. I find out later that not only do I have huge tumors and cysts, but also endometriosis, which complicated my surgery.

Recovery from the hysterectomy is difficult. By now I’m forty and my hormones, or lack thereof, wreak havoc on my body and my emotions. Prescribed hormone therapy simply doesn’t work; I stop taking it and hope for the best.

The Common Denominator

A year after my hysterectomy I start to notice rashes all over my body. No matter what I do, they won’t go away! Within months my body is one giant oozing, itching, painful rash! Unable to tolerate even the most comfortable clothing, or lie down in bed, my doctor diagnoses me with contact dermatitis and prescribes a steroid and an antibiotic.

Three rounds of treatment later and still I find no relief! I learn that when a doctor doesn’t know the cause of a rash, he or she labels it contact dermatitis. Not satisfied with simply treating my symptoms, I want to understand why this is happening to me! Once I identify the cause or causes, then I can eliminate them!

I look back over the past twenty-five years and wonder if my agoraphobia, hysterectomy, and skin rashes can possibly be related. Perhaps what makes me sick has a common denominator! I start by listing all the things with which my skin comes into contact on a daily basis. I’m surprised to discover that—on an average day—I come into contact with over five hundred different chemicals!

I used hand wash, shower gel, shampoo, deodorant, body lotion, bar soap, toothpaste, hair styling gel, perfume, eyeliner, mascara, makeup, and lipstick—all personal care and household products—and all before breakfast! Then there’s the dishwashing detergent, window and household cleaners, disinfect for the bathtub, toilet, and sink, and more…

It’s unbelievable how many different chemicals my skin comes in contact with every day!

They say a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. All this time I assumed that our skin is an impermeable protective barrier that keeps the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. I couldn’t have been more wrong, as my research shows that our skin absorbs whatever substances—good or bad—come into contact with it!

Additional research leads me to realize that all of these products contain toxic chemicals that denature protein. This means that these toxic chemicals modify the molecular structure—especially via heat, acid, alkali, or ultraviolet radiation—of a protein or DNA, so as to destroy or diminish some of its original properties.

In short, these toxic chemicals change how we look, and not in a good way, by increasing the appearance of age spots, brown spots, wrinkles, sagging skin, and puffy eyes. In addition, they can cause a plethora of ailments—including hormone disruption,  joint pain, skin reactions, allergies, depression, headaches, chest pains, ear infections, chronic fatigue, dizziness, loss of sleep, early puberty, hyperactivity, irritability, behavioral changes, violent coughing, vomiting, cancer, heart attacks, blindness, and even death!

What a frightening aha! moment when I realize everything my skin comes into contact with that can affect my life so dramatically. It turns out my medical issues have been caused by a combination of chemical toxins built up over an extended period of time. This causes a breakdown in my immune system and hormone disruption.

Suddenly, the fact that I started menstruating at eleven and had a thyroid problem makes sense, as both are hormone-related. All those bubble baths and all that tooth brushing creates hormone disruption! Bubble bath liquids and toothpaste contain substances such as sodium hydroxide—which is the same as lye!—triclosan, a pesticide, and propylene glycol, or anti-freeze.

In addition, I discover through my research that, since 1938, the U.S. government does not regulate or control what’s used in cosmetics sold in this country. That means products may contain any chemical substance and manufacturers are not required to list them as ingredients.

The Solution: AlphaZelle To The Rescue

Now that I know I’m chemically sensitive and have severely damaged my skin, my first job is to eliminate toxic ingredients from my life. I begin by going through all my products, and boy do I have a rude awakening! Every single product I use has toxic chemicals in it—with no exceptions!

By this point I’ve learned that chemical sensitivity and/or toxic overload eventually damage our alpha, or mother, cells—situated at the very base of the skin. These cells are responsible for periodically forming new skin cells which replace the dead cells that slough off on a daily basis.

As damaged alpha cells send increasingly more damaged new cells to the surface of our skin, these unhealthy cells eventually become fine lines and wrinkles, brown or age spots, sagging skin, puffy eye bags, and many other embarrassing skin conditions.

I realize my rashes will never clear up unless I repair my deep alpha cells. For me to get healthy and address my problems I need to use products with no toxic chemicals in them.

My search for safe, non-toxic products begins, but despite looking in health food stores and natural companies, I find no totally clean products. Even the ones labeled “natural” or “organic” include chemicals and fragrances!

Eventually I realize the only way to guarantee what’s in the products I use is to formulate my own!

During my research, I’m fortunate to develop a relationship with a few cosmetic chemists willing to work with me. They help me experiment with powerful and safe active ingredients, and to develop toxin-free preservative systems that will have a long shelf life.

We begin to develop products that perform as advertised, feed the skin with proper nutrition that accelerates healing, and repairs the mother/alpha cells that are toxically overloaded. We start with a few products that can help as many people as possible, including a hand wash, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, facial cleanser, and facial moisturizer.

I name our company AlphaZelle—Alpha for “first” and Zelle for “cell,” because this is where real health truly begins. Over the years, we’re able to fine-tune our products and use the safest, most powerful active ingredients. Now, after ten years, we have over sixty different “clean” products that don’t cause hormone disruption or immune system issues.

Unfortunately, I will probably always be chemically sensitive, even though my alpha cells continually heal and constantly send healthy new cells to my skin’s surface. However, I can’t remember now the last time I had a headache, lacked energy or ambition, or experienced rashes, since my skin has responded so well after many years of feeding it the proper nutrition that our products provide.

I now know how important it is to live a toxin-free life—I only wish I’d learned this earlier!

It’s become my mission to educate others so that they and their children don’t experience the kind of torment and confusion I did. The most important thing I learned is that I must read ingredient labels. Since our skin absorbs everything it comes into contact with, all ingredients should be as pure as the food we eat.

If I don’t think I’d eat it, I won’t put it on my skin! I’m profoundly aware that some companies don’t want me to know what’s in their products and will cleverly disguise toxic ingredients by combining them into a “proprietary blend” with a name I cannot identify, or rename an ingredient to make it sound safe.

Also, companies are not required to disclose the chemical makeup of fragrances, or to list impurities or contaminants. If an ingredient list causes any doubt, I err on the side of caution and keep looking for a cleaner product. I formulate my products with therapeutic food grade essential oils instead of synthetic fragrances. 

Now a happy, healthy human being, I love helping toxically overloaded people and their pets return to a more normal life! Also, through AlphaZelle, I help parents prevent their babies and children from becoming chemically sensitive, and assist young people to retain their youthful appearance as they grow older.

I truly love this journey of healthy, vibrant living as we continue to expand our company. Now totally chemical free from A to Z, I know my good health starts with AlphaZelle!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Dale’s many hats throughout the years include those of bookkeeper, bank teller, stay-at-home mom, networker, artist, caregiver and entrepreneur. While searching for a remedy for her own itchy, painful rashes, Dale joined numerous wellness companies from 1993-2003. Her passion was ignited when she discovered that many of the products she used contained toxic ingredients that caused her chemical sensitivity. This led to her current mission to educate consumers about how to find safer products and replace toxic ones with healthy, eco-friendly versions, and AlphaZelle was born! AlphaZelle offers healthy, eco-friendly, toxin-free (clean and green!) household products for the whole family, including pets.

 

Dale F. Schock
AlphaZelle LLC
www.alphazelle.com
dale@alphazelle.com
201-213-4178