Summary
Usage The Toxicity and Symptom Screening Questionnaire (MSQ) identifies symptoms that help to identify the underlying causes of illness, and help to track a patient's progress over time. Practitioners often use this assessment to evaluate the impact of environmental toxicants and cumulative toxic body burden in the context of chronic disease. Examples of exposures to toxicants include heavy metals, mold, pesticides and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Many toxicants have been associated with immune system dysfunction and linked to cancer, poor mental health and autoimmune conditions (Ratnaseelan, 2018; Doi, 2011; Bansal, 2018; Gangemi, 2016; Joo, 2019). The accumulation of toxicants from our modern world may lead to an overloaded detoxification pathway, increased systemic inflammation, and clinical patterns such as immune dysfunction or endocrine disruption (Pizzorno, Patrick & Marchese, 2020). For more on the topic refer to The Institute for Functional Medicine.. Summary The Medical Symptom/Toxicity Questionnaire (MSQ) is one of many versions of detoxification questionnaires available. The MSQ consists of 14 body domains (head, heart, energy level, ears, lungs, eyes, skin, other, nose, joints / muscles, GI / DIG, mouth / throat, mental / emotional and weight) and comprises a total of 71 questions (symptoms) that are rated as follows: 0 = Never or almost never have the symptom 1 = Occasionally have it, effect is not severe 2 = Occasionally have it, effect is severe 3 = Frequently have it, effect is not severe 4 = Frequently have it, effect is severe The points are added and resulted as follows < 10 = Optimal 10-50 = Mild Toxicity 50-100 = Moderate Toxicity > 100 = Severe Toxicity There are a plethora of toxicity and symptom screening questionnaires that can be found online implementing differing cutoffs and custom symptomology lists. The Institute of Functional Medicine references a Detoxification Questionnaire that varies from the MSQ with much lower cutoffs (Very Poor > 50, Marginal 31-40, Good 16-30 & Excellent ≤ 15). Other practices expand the assessment to include a xenobiotic tolerability test and an alkalizing assessment, and rate symptoms at lower cutoffs (high > 50, moderate 15-49 & low < 14)..
Instructions
There are 14 sections with a list of symptoms (71 total) representing various body domains (head, heart, energy level, ears, lungs, eyes, skin, other, nose, joints / muscles, GI / DIG, mouth / throat, mind / emotions, weight). First time, rate each of the following symptoms based upon your health profile for the past 30 days. Follow-up, rate your symptoms for the last 48 hours ONLY.