Totally Allergic

A tormented Briton seeks help

Sheila Rossall was on top of the world. She was attractive, she was a singer with the British pop group Pickettywitch, she even had a hit record to her credit. But three years ago, Rossall began exhibiting extreme sensitivity to virtually all man-made materials. Perfume, synthetic fibers, plastics and processed foods caused her to swell up and vomit. Forced to withdraw to a darkened, air-filtered room in Bristol, Rossall dropped down to 88 Ibs. and became too weak even to lift her head. She seemed fatally allergic to the 20th century.

In a last ditch effort to save her life, friends sent Rossall, 31, to Dallas last month to be treated at the Brookhaven Medical Center's Environmental Control Unit. The unit is one of a handful of clinics in the U.S. devoted to a new and controversial branch of medicine, clinical ecology. Specialists in the field, founded by Chicago Allergist Theron Randolph, 74, theorize that some people are especially sensitive to man-made chemicals in the environment, and suffer allergic-type reactions. Says Randolph: "These individuals rapidly become susceptible to a wider range of materials. Sooner or later, in the worst cases, they are disabled by these reactions." What makes Rossall and others suddenly vulnerable is a mystery, although age may be a factor. Says Robert Stroud, the allergist supervising her treatment: "The body's machinery starts to get sticky as we grow older."

Though cases like Rossall's are rare, Randolph and his adherents assert that thousands suffer from less severe ecological "allergies." In many people, they say, these reactions are not immediately recognizable, masquerading instead as arthritis, alcoholism, headaches and depression. According to London's Sunday Times, Rossall in the past has been diagnosed as suffering from a pancreatic tumor, angina, coronary thrombosis, asthma, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

To determine what substances are primary irritants, clinical ecologists isolate the patient in a carefully controlled environment. At Brookhaven, for example, Rossall lives in a ceramic-tiled room (she will later move to one covered with porcelain). Her mattress is pure cotton, as are her pillows, sheets and clothes, all of which are washed in unscented baby soap or baking soda. Visitors dress in cotton garments and must not wear makeup, perfume or deodorant. At each meal she eats only one dish--ranging from organically grown vegetables to wild game such as bear and lion--prepared in aluminum pans. She drinks water drawn from several natural springs. Later in her treatment, she will spend time in a stainless steel booth, being exposed to small amounts of gas fumes, formaldehyde, insecticide, perfume and smoke. Rossall records her reactions to every meal and chemical test in a diary.

After a stay of three months (costing about $37,000), Rossall hopes to know what substances she can tolerate and how to live more comfortably on the outside by minimizing her contact with those that she cannot. Says Stroud: "Patients learn that their home is their castle."

Traditional allergists wonder whether patients at Brookhaven and other special clinics are actually suffering from allergies, other physical ailments, or neuroses. Dr. Timothy Sullivan of Dallas' Parkland Hospital points out that allergic reactions are not documented by blood tests. Moreover, the diet and chemical testing relies solely on the patient's reporting, a subjective process open to self-fulfilling prophecies. Says Dr. Sheldon Spector of Denver's National Jewish Hospital: "If you're convinced your teeth are going to itch when you eat wheat, then they will itch." Despite the dispute, desperate sufferers are eager to try "ecological medicine." Says Randolph, who has been treating such patients for a quarter-century, the past five years at a 20-bed facility at American International Hospital in Zion, Ill.: "I keep the beds filled, and I can't keep up with the waiting list. "

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