Herbal, homeopathic and anthroposophic medicines are obtained mainly. Manual Potentiation: The dynami. May 23, 2013 PDF/A in a Nutshell 2.0. PDF/A is an ISO standard for using the PDF format for long-term archiving of digital documents. Since its publication in 2005, PDF/A has become the format of choice for archiving digital documents in a wide range of industries and applications.
Quick announcement – I have created a brand new website dedicated to toxic mold awareness. It does not have any health related information so please continue reading this post on how to detox from mold exposure.
However, it DOES have some of the most comprehensive information about mold from mold testing, to removing mold, to preventing mold, and everything in between. Check out after you finish this post.For years my health was a rollercoaster of unusual, maddening, saddening horribleness.
Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I was truly on a downhill slide to my end-game. Little did I know that it was and it’s horrific offspring – – that were slowly trying to kill me.Fast forward from December 2014 and I have been on a long, winding journey of recovery from mycotoxmosis and mold related illness. My now 10-year-old sidekick has been along for the bumpy ride with me. Life after mold is complex and full of ups and downs. But there is hope and recovery (to varying degree) is possible.I wanted to write a book about my recovery.
What I did, how I did it, what products I relied on, what I learned, etc However, since I am not a medical professional it was a huge legal mess to actually get such a thing published and the risk to me was too great. As such, I am turning the protocol I used into a post that I hope you all will share far and wide. I will continue to update this post as I am constantly learning about different options and trying additional avenues to bolster my health and continue my recovery.I want to share my healing journey as a source of inspiration, NOT medical advice. Everything I share here is what I did to detox from mold exposure and what had worked or has been working for me.
I am not guaranteeing anything for anyone else. Although I will go out on a limb and say that I would be shocked if some of the things I did to detox from mold didn’t help you recover from toxic mold exposure.In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not going to discuss products I used or supplements I took that did not help me detox from mold. Because they were a waste of my time and I don’t want that for anyone who might be using my suggestions as a baseline for what they should do. If they didn’t work well for me, why recommend them right?
So I am only discussing things that worked.Are you ready? Then let’s get right to it! Detox From Mold ExposureThere are numerous ways to detox from mold exposure and I took a multifaceted approach. I made lifestyle changes, took various healing supplements, and used other products that are known for aiding in detoxing and healing. Healing from toxic mold exposure takes time. You won’t see results overnight.
For some people, it can be a years long process. But the MORE you can do to aid your body in detoxing and healing, the better your chances are of healing sooner as opposed to later.Today I am going to look at three areas of detox if you will.
I will share the specific Products that I used or am using, Supplements I took or am taking, and Lifestyle Adaptations I made. Let’s get to it! Products I Used To Detox From Mold Exposure. As an EC3 Candle burns, the heat from the flame aerosolizes and disperses an all-natural, antifungal ingredient embedded in the soy wax into the air. In independent lab tests, EC3 Candles were able to reduce the mycotoxin count in a room by 90% in less than 3 hours. The candles have no added fragrance, so as not to aggravate other chemical sensitivities that are common in sinusitis sufferers.The reason I used and continue to use these candles was to lesson any air born mold and mycotoxin exposures that I might be getting from simply living life.
Mold spores creep in to our homes pretty easily and these candles absolutely helped keep any hitchhikers at bay.If you would like to learn more about the EC3 product line and WHY it works, please check out my post. Want to grab some candles now? You can find the. I discuss sweating further on in this post but in a nutshell while all sweating has a detoxifying effect, the sweat you produce as a result of using a near infrared sauna is the most detoxifying and healing kind. Infrared’s deep penetrating heat is what most effectively stimulates metabolic activity, which in turn triggers the release of stored toxins through sweat, as well as through the liver and kidneys. I use a sauna for 20 minutes daily and have seen really amazing results system wide from using this.Saunas can be expensive and they are definitely not all created equal. I now have a but this is the initially and I was more than pleased with it.
Make sure you purchase and only these bulbs. The rebounding motion stimulates all internal organs, moves the cerebral-spinal fluid, detoxifies fatty tissues, and is beneficial for the intestines. Many immune cells such as T-lymphocytes and macrophages are self-propelled through amebic action. These cells contain molecules identical to those in muscle tissue.
All cells in the body become stronger in response to the increased “G force” during rebounding, and this cellular exercise results in the self-propelled immune cells being up to 5 times more active. These immune cells are responsible for eating viruses, bacteria and even mycotoxins, so it is good that they be active.
Jumping on a rebounder directly strengthens the immune system, so it’s a big deal to do this!I try to jump on my rebounder 3 times per week. Even doing this for 5 minutes per day makes a huge difference in your body’s ability to detox from mold exposure.This is a that really holds up! While not exactly as supplement, this one is a BIG DEAL! You MUST rinse out your nose as part of any healing process where sinuses have been impacted. Since mold spores and mycotoxins fly up one’s nose with ease, rinsing out your nasal passage is of utmost importance.
My daughter and I used twice daily for a year and then dropped down to every few days after that.It is important to note that you should never attempt to rinse your sinuses with just water. It burns like no other and your brain feels like it will explode. Always use the sinus rinse packets along with distilled water. This is a huge one people! In order to get any sort of toxin out of your system, it is best to give it something to grab on to. Ideally, this is something that easily makes its way out of your system. By easily, I mean causes no disruption to your normal body operations.
Activated charcoal does an excellent job of grabbing mycotoxins and ushering them out of your cells. It isn’t instantaneous and takes a lot of diligence but this particular binding agent is well worth it. Basically, you likely won’t have much forward progress without a binder.You can certainly use something like but I prefer the activated charcoal.
If you do choose to use clay, this particular one is very convenient and doesn’t taste horrible.When using a binder, it is crucial that you time it properly. It must be taken away from all food, beverages, and supplements/medications. 90 minutes before or after consuming anything is ideal. For the best absorption, take activated charcoal 90 minutes after a meal with lots of healthy fats.In addition, you want to keep a steady stream of binders in your system. My doctor had me using activated charcoal three times per day, spaced as evenly as possible.Not all activated charcoal is created equal.
Just trust me on this one. That is an entire post in and of itself. These are the brands I recommended in order of what I used with the most success:. This is a supplement the entire world should be taking.
If you have been exposed to toxic mold, then this is a must-take. Yes, this has a funny name with plant-based ingredients from the Amazon rain forest but please trust me when I say this supplement is gold. It actually gets into your DNA and repairs your body on a cellular level. GlutathioneNext to taking PhytoZon, glutathione is the next most important thing you can put into your system.
Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant and primary antioxidant for detoxification. It’s found in nearly every human cell, and medical experts say that lifespan is directly equivalent to the amount of Glutathione in your body.
With its ability to protect and detoxify, it also provides crucial immune system support. It’s also worth noting that glutathione is incredibly well researched. In fact, thousands of clinical studies have been conducted on this powerful antioxidant.Glutathione is a tricky substance however.
You can’t just pop a pill and call it good. It has to get into your system in a very specific manner. Liposomal glutathione is one option but it has to be special ordered through a practitioner and it contains a couple of ingredients that I am not thrilled about. It needs stabilizers and I just prefer not to put anything extra into my system when there is a totally pure and effective means of delivery available.
While I did use liposomal glutathione for a bit, I made the switch to the Life Wave Glutathione Phototherapy patches. Let me tell youbest decision ever! I have had my glutathione levels tested at regular intervals and they are stellar! This is great news for my body’s ability to detox.I could regurgitate all kinds of info on phototherapy science and how the patches work but instead, I will to learn more.In order to ensure that other people had access to these patches, I created an account with the. If you decide to place an order, you will need to give them my customer account #. That is 890946.
Brain SupportMold and mycotoxins wreak havoc on your brain. You may or may not realize the impact initially but believe you methings are going awry in your brain. I noticed some pretty serious neurological effects and I certainly wanted them reversed. I used a couple of different products to help support my brain health and after two years of use, I really did notice that a lot of healing had taken place. I still have some difficulty with comprehension at times but it is only when someone is speaking to me. It takes me a few extra moments to really digest what they are saying. Beyond that, I am just as sharp as I was before.Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a naturally occurring phospholipid in the brain that has an important impact on specific neurotransmitters including acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.
Numerous clinical studies have indicated that 300mg of PS taken daily demonstrated positive support on attention, concentration, focus and memory. I absolutely believe that PS played a huge role in my brain detoxing. My doctor was adamant that there was only one brand worth its weight. I tend to agree. Is the only brand I trust and use.The other product I used was the. This is a unique product as it contains apoaequorin, a vital ingredient for brain health. Apoaequorin was originally discovered in jellyfish of all things.
It has a loyal following and I tend to believe that it really does help with memory issues specifically. PS is a more well rounded brain support product and Prevagen is specific to memory. They make a great combination! When it comes to your sinuses, the bottom line is that you HAVE to get the mold spores out of our nose. Your entire immune system is compromised until you do.
Many antifungal nasal sprays are harsh. The ones my doctor initially prescribed were brutal and my daughter would go into fits at the sight of the bottle. We powered through for far too long. It wasn’t until 2016 that I discovered a more natural option that works!is an effective tool for combating bacterial and fungal infections in the nose.
This homeopathic nasal spray relieves sinus congestion and inflammation caused by mold and does so very gently. My daughter loves this stuff!We use the CitriDrops Nasal Spray daily to combat the everyday mold we are exposed to from going outside, shopping, and the like.For 12 months, we used CitriDrop Nasal Spray in conjunction with. Sinus Defense is homeopathic Lac Vaccinum (not to be confused with being a “vaccine”).
It is a homeopathic, colostrum-based Transfer Factor. Discovered in 1954, Transfer Factor was discovered to transfer immunity from one person to another (example: mother/ child via breast feeding) Sinus Defense boosts the immune system’s ability to better identify, remove, and remember foreign antigens. This enables the bodies T-cells, the core of our body’s adaptive immunity to allergens, to effectively remove the foreign antigens.I still use the Sinus Defense Nasal Spray as needed. I have found it helpful during “sick season” as well. Lifestyle Adaptations I MadeI steered clear of ALL inflammatory foods and foods known to be contaminated with mycotoxins. Your body cannot properly heal if it is being bombarded by inflammatory foods.
You need to keep our system as calm as possible. The common inflammatory foods include:. Sugar. Gluten. Dairy (cow).
Corn. Alcohol. Processed Foods.
Synthetic Sweeteners. Food Additives.
PeanutsAs for foods that are known for being moldy or contaminated with mycotoxins? I wrote an entire post about it.
Check out.I exercised daily and tried to break a sweat. Exercising seems like a no-brainer but really it is the sweating part that is more difficult than it seems. I would make sure to dance (this is my ), take vigorous walks, hike, and rebound darn near daily but I didn’t always break a sweat. Sweating releases toxins and while any exercise is beneficial, the most healing kind involves sweat. So try to exercise for a good 45 minutes daily making sure you get a good sweat going. I ran in every room.
You can’t expect to heal if you are taking on rogue mold spores from the environment. You need to filter those invaders out before they invade you. Mold comes in from the outside due to daily living. And of course, it can happen if you have a mold event occur in your home. To mitigate any setbacks in healing, air purifiers are key.There are a lot of air purifier options and not all are created equal. The five I use and trust are:. (an affordable option but not as powerful as the next four).
Labs and Other TestingI do keep track of my health through regular labwork and some pretty cool “gut” tests. Twice a year I make sure to have the good old basic blood work done alone with a C4A test. I personally feel that the C4A lab is pretty important.C4a has become the inflammatory marker of greatest significance looking at innate immune responses in those with exposure to Water Damaged Buildings. The complement system (C4A) is a group of proteins that move freely through your bloodstream. The proteins work with your immune system and play a role in the development of inflammation.
Each complement activates inflammatory responses, with spillover of effect from the innate immune response to acquired immune response and hematologic parameters. These short-lived products are re-manufactured rapidly, such that an initial rise of plasma levels is seen within 12 hours of exposure to biotoxins, and sustained elevation is seen until definitive therapy is initiated. It is good to keep track of changes in your C4A levels.If your doctor cannot or will not order the C4A test, you can order it yourself through. Search for “Complement C4” to order. The test runs about $85.GI mapping and the gut explorer test are two stool based tests that have been instrumental in my recovery.
Both tests look at different things going on in your gut. They can identify damage from mold, bacterial imbalances, and so much more. I have been blown away at the level of information both these tests have given me.It is amazing how much damage mold reaps on your GI tract. It is also amazing how much healing can happen when you know what is going on in there.If you are interested in learning more about one or both of these “gut” tests, please reach out to me via and I will connect you with my practitioner Elizabeth who can offer you a free consultation.
(Please note that I DO NOT receive any sort of incentive for referring you. Elizabeth is one of the trusted professionals I have received care from and in my opinion she truly is a gut health expert.)If you are interested in seeing what mycotoxins you are excreting, you can do so with a Mycotoxin urine test. You can order this yourself through. This test may or may not be useful to you but it definitely can give you some additional information about your detox progress.Life Extension offers a Biotoxin Mold Illness Panel that can be useful when you are in the early stages of figuring out IF you have been exposed to mold and/or how much damage it has caused. Click and then search for Biotoxin to learn more about this test. You can order this test yourself.
The Right PractitionerI encourage anyone who has been a victim of toxic mold exposure to find a practitioner who can help you from a “functional” perspective. Simply put, you want someone to take a holistic look at your health history, lifestyle, toxin and chemical exposure, etcWhile lab tests can be beneficial, there is so much more to health than what a test results says. From the foods consumed to the amount of water you drink, every little thing that goes into your body plays an important role in healing. So do find a practitioner you can trust. If you would like to know who I used with success, feel free to contact me. All the practitioners I have seen work with patients remotely. You can also check out my list of “” here.
Filed Under:, Stuff I Have To Tell YouStatements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products and/or information are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. Readers are advised to do their own research and make decisions in partnership with your health care provider. If you are pregnant, nursing, have a medical condition, or are taking any medication, please consult your physician. Nothing you read here should be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post.Hybrid Rasta Mama is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com and affiliates sites. For additional information, please visit my page and/or my page. Let’s Connect!
Be sure to check out these Products I Love. About The AuthorJennifer, author of Hybrid Rasta Mama, is a former government recruiter turned stay-at-home mama to a daughter brought earthside in early 2009. She is passionate about and writes about the benefits of CBD oil, coconut oil, toxic mold awareness, holistic health, and natural living. She frequently shares allergy friendly recipes on her site as well as DIY herbal remedies, and natural cleaning recipes.Jennifer graduated with honors with a Bachelor's Degree in Ethnic Studies. In January 2019 she became a certified mold and moisture intrusion inspector. She has completed coursework in the naturopathic series offered by the Avicenna Institute and accredited through the Board of Natural Medicine Certification Council.
In addition, Jennifer is a certified CBD educator.Jennifer is a member of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors as well as the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness. I agree with the activated charcoal. I was living in mold for 7 years, it killed my 2 cats and i have had to do all the work to detox on my own. Drs wouldn’t believe me, i couldn’t get anyone to help me.
I have been out of the place for 4 years and i’m still sick. It’s horrible. I tried all the detox protocols i could find and some worked a little bit but truthfully i feel there has been too much damage done. I actually got to talk to the scientist that interpreted my home test and he said that he was surprised that i wasn’t dead. Fortunately i was already taking a lot of the supplements that are suggested for detox and i had several air cleaners in my apartment. That’s probably why i wasn’t dead. I had no idea i had mold but i have always supplemented because i worked out so much and i ran air cleaners because i had allergies.
The activated charcoal has probably been the most help to me and it’s cheap. If you are sick from mold, this should be at the top of your list. I use diatomaceous earth too. Together they work quite well as far as making you feel a bit better.
It amazes me how little Drs know about mold and how unwilling they are to investigate. They want to tell you it’s something else and they want to treat you with crap that will make you even sicker! I have yet found someone that will help. It has affected every aspect of my life and it’s very difficult to function. It ruins your life and it’s a huge problem and Drs refuse to address and governments don’t want to talk about because there are so many buildings that are contaminated and they wold have to fix it. Thanks for this super useful post.
I’m working with a mold toxicity-literate doc for two toxic mold exposures in two homes. Ugh.QUESTION: Running an air purifier (I have an IQ Air Plus) at the same time you’re using the EC3 candles and/or Better Air Ecological Balancing System seems like it would be at cross purposes. That is, the air purifier would suck up, for lack of a better term, the good things the EC3 candle and the probiotics are putting in the air. (And maybe the EC3 candles would do the same to the probiotics. How did you navigate that?The concept of the Better Air Ecological Balancing System sounds great. But, all the places I’ve found that sell it say they are out of stock. I don’t know if this product is still available, do you?Thanks very much,Syd.
So glad you found my website and that it has been helpful! The folks at Microbalance actually recommend that you use the candles at the same time as they help purify anything that gets “stuck” in the air filter. Because the EC3 candles purify so quickly (whereas the air purifiers take a longer time to perform an air exchange), you don’t loose any of the benefits from the candles.
I typically only use the candles once a few hours per week now so I hadn’t given much thought to the issue of the probiotics getting “cleansed out of the air” by the candles. I need to look into that.
However, the same concept applies to using the air filters and the probiotics at the same time. The Better Air system is apparently being upgraded and the new unit will be out in January. You have some wonderful posts that are packed with amazing info!
I have been exposed to mold as well and tested positive for the labs that say I am being exposed and for sure have a immune issue! My house was tested and tested unsafe for someone with my genetic makeup. I have been on a healing journey for the last year. I have done all the detox measures from clean organic eating, coffee enemas, daily sauna, bemer pad, foot detox, removing ALL chemicalsyou name it! All these measures have helped tremendously but I still wasn’t right. I removed myself from my environment and have been out for about three months and that has made more of a difference than anything!
I still have issues about daily and major chemical and food sensitivities, although better! Sorry that was soooo long, my question is.since all testing says mold, I have been prescribed CSM and Welchol. I didn’t see in the posts I read that you ever mentioned these?
I’m curious of why? I’m convinced that I am not going to get better unless I follow the Shoemaker protocol. I haven’t started due to being hesitant due to my sensitivities but I’m getting very curious and I would like to know your take on these detox measures. Thanks so much for the great info! Great question and sorry you are going through all this. Essentially, CSM is a binder.
The environmental doctor I saw was in line with Shoemaker but deviated a bit in an effort to save her patients money. In her experience, other binders like Activated Charcoal and Betonite Clay (in high doses) work just as well and are much gentler on your system. Obviously Welchol is the same things as CSM, just formulated slightly different. My main concern with both medications is that you are using a med designed to lower cholesterol to do things that more natural supplements can also do (and do with fewer known side-effects.) Also, as a personal with multiple chemical sensitives, I would be very cautious about using these. Personally, I wouldn’t do it.
I believe in the Shoemaker protocol but I absolutely believe that there are adjustments, the the ones I mentioned, that can be safely made. If you want to chat more offline, just email me! Be very careful with activated charcoal. Much of it is produced in questionable third world manufacturing plants, and owing to its high adsorbency, it will pick up many contaminants in the environment it is produced and stored. Certain brands have made me very sick.CSM isn’t any more dangerous than activated charcoal, particularly if you are taking it without excipients (available at compounding pharmacies). It’s completely inert and is made to USP standards (unlike charcoal).
It also has a much much higher binding affinity. If you look at the document linked below, you will see a comparison of AC and CSM in the approved washout procedure for the enterohepatically circulated drug Terflunomide. Look at page 4 – it takes 100 GRAMS of charcoal per day to equal half the effectiveness of 4-8g cholestyramine 3x per day.
100g of charcoal is about 200 capsules or 36 teaspoons!If you want to get better any time soon, please give CSM a chance. Just read your post.
I think I have mold symptoms but not sure. Def live in a moist converted basement with prior leaks and no air circulation with three Chihuahuas in the adjacent room who use the bathroom all over the floor and it is cleaned at a later time, sooooooo yeah, def not ideal. Anyway, have been having breathing problems and at first blamed it on smoking bud, but after I stopped that my breathing issues persisted.
Long story short, did you have breathing issues also, because I think my breathing problems may be from mold. Hello, I am 35 years old and this past year I have been diagnosed with MTHFR gene where my body cannot get rid of toxins on its own.
However I was diagnosed with mold being at 9000.I have been sick for a year now, I am really weak, I cannot go on stairs at work, sometimes I hardly walk, etc. My hair is falling, I am REALLY BLOATED, and I gained 20 pounds of inflammation, water weight doc says ( must mention I was really active at the gym before this occured).
I have been a vegan for a month now which seems to help a little. I do not eat dairy, sugar, gluten, carbs, soy, etc.I eat very healthy only zucchini’s, squash, lots of avocados, onion soup, flax seeds and cannot give up my morning organic black coffee.How can you workout for 45minutes everyday?
Are you not weak like me?I Have been doing detoxes for the last 4 months but it seems that I detox very slow. Am I going to get better? Also why do I get so bloated, I feel that I might have a parasite more then mold?
Can anyone help me pleaseI have been seeing a doc thats very expensive $400 an appointment and he told me to keep detoxing. I am so so sorry to hear that you are going through this. It is definitely a long journey to get back into better health but it can happen! The MTHFR gene throws a curveball at healing as well. Did you know that almost all coffee has mycotoxins? There are a couple of coffees on the market that are mycotoxin free. You probably want to switch to one of these.
Here are links: andI have days when I am stronger and days when I feel like complete poop. Working out can simply mean three, 10 minute walks at a pace you can sustain. The important thing is to just try to move your body.What city do you live in? It sounds like you need to work with a different practitioner. I know a couple that work remotely with patients and might also know of someone local to you as well.
Feel free to contact me offline as well. Hi Jennifer.I’m located in NYC. I need to find a mold specialist doctor. Can you make a recommendation?
I am highly allergic to mold. My house tested positive. My brain is no longer functioning the way it was. The headaches are excruciating. The dizziness is scary causing me to vomit. I’m now feeling a burning in my throat.
The hair loss is getting worse by the day. Starting my detox tomorrow based on your recommendations. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so generous with your information.
Hello Jennifer,So glad I found your site last night. I was exposed to mold a few weeks ago because my truck got damp and molded. I did everything to clean it and parked it in the garage to air out. Last week I put it back in the garage when arriving home but, failed to open the windows again.
Yesterday I took it out and half way thru my errands I was getting a scratchy throat and by evening I felt weight in my chest. That’s when I began searching remedies. Some of them I already have among my supplements.I used the link from your site to get PhytoZon. I tried ordering as a preferred customer but, I cannot find the link to sign up. I used their chat but have not received an email.
Can you tell me what to do please. I appreciate all your help. Dear JenniferThank you so much for this invaluable and comprehensive information.
I am newly tested for 3 sky-high mycotoxins, but not aflatoxin for which I am immensely grateful.I would very much like to know how you timed your charcoal/bentonite clay dosages. I am having difficulty fitting in two doses per day to space them apart from food correctly. Would you be prepared to share how you timed them, or what would be the optimal timings? I need to take into account also when I take the liposomal glutathione, which also needs to be taken apart from food and apart from charcoal/bentonite clay. Unfortunately I can not afford to order the glutathione patches as I live overseas and would have to pay 80% customs on it.I am so thankful for having found your website.
It is such a godsend of a find. Quite some time ago I knew I had been sickened by mold and was subsequently diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
I pretty much concluded the assault to my immune system was the real culprit causing the auto immune reaction.Recently I have been getting more and more sick but we have had 3 years of family crisis(traumatic injury of my son) we are just coming out of the worst of so I attributed my health decline to that.Only as that has been somewhat relieved I am still getting worse.we live in a half below ground level apartment from 1970. (Unfortunately the place is part of my job ad a property manager for the last 3 years) I just realized our cat’s issues fit mold allergy also. Aftwr a wrek at hoem stay cation I feel sicker than ever. I am getting mold tests today!I expect I will be revisiting your recommendations. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Jennifer,Thank you so much for sharing your experience!We recently informed that our unit has a high level of black toxic mold and allergens mold. We left our unit starting March, 2018 after living there for 5 years.It is a year that I am really sick and have severe allergy rhinitis. I am highly allergic to chemical smells and spicy and salty foods. Before getting sick, almost for one and half months, I had a feeling that I cannot breathe like before.
That there isn’t enough oxygen to breathe.on May 11, 2017 when I got really sick, I went to different allergists and head and neck doctors for my symptoms without knowing about the existence of toxic black mold in my unit. My symptoms are severe congestion and burning of my brain which cause ringing in my ears.
I have a feeling that there is a lack of oxygen reaching my brain. Also feel that my brain is active all the time and sends signals frequently causing ringing in my ears. I am feeling tired too.Do you or anyone have these types of symptoms?Do you know any specialist who treats mold toxicity close to me around Los Angeles, CA area? Please email me.Thank you!Virginia. I’m glad to have found this article.
I think I may currently be going through a serious case of being plagued by mycotoxins. This past December, I noticed that my feet were suddenly always freezing cold, as if I were standing on a block of ice. Little did I know that this was the first stages of peripheral neuropathy. Since then, my feet have begun burning and tingling. I still have the cold sensation. But not as much. I’m always tired, gassy, bloated, etc.
But the neuropathy is my main concern because I really don’t want to lose the use of my legs nor the ability to work and be active. I visited my trusted naturopath a few days ago. And just yeaterday I submitted a urine sample to get tested for mycotoxins among other things. When my naturopath mentioned the possibility of mold toxicity, it seemed like a light bulb appeared above my head. I grew up in a house with a moldy basement, lived there until I was 20, and the recently moved back in about six or seven years ago to help my ailing father who has since passed away. In recent years, the flooding in the basement had become much worse than I had ever remembered.
Luckily, I’m out of there now. But I’m worried that the damage has been done. I always knew that mold was supposed to be potentially harmful. But I foolishly thought that it would really only contribute to respiratory issues and allergies. Little did I know that it can cause mental issues, neurological issues, and a host of other horrible things.
I’m convinced I’m toxic, even though I haven’t even received the test results yet. But now I’m really scared that the damage I’ve already done to myself by not realizing what was going on behind the scenes may be irreversible.
The neuropathy is scary and all-consuming. It is the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think about before bed. I’m constantly monitoring the comings and goings of the symptoms, as well as feeling for variations in them all day long. Does anyone here have any experience with mycotoxin induced neuropathy? If so, how long did it take to resolve after beginning and sticking with a cleanse? I trust my naturopath will steer me in the right direction.
But I guess I’m just nervous about whether or not I can actually rid myself of this. Of course, articles like this do give me hope that recovery isn’t impossible.
It’ll just take some time and diligence on my part. Thank you for this extremely useful and helpful blog post.
I’ve been trying to get rid of this black mold (stachybotrys) in my body since I got exposed in early 2015. Earlier this year, I took it to another level by doing a strict anti-fungal diet and taking anti-fungals like oregano oil and Pao de arco.Despite that effort, I’ve actually gotten much worse since then. I feel like I’m so close to a point of no return. I’m trying to be brave but it’s very scary how bad my symptoms are getting.After reading your post, I realized that there are many things I have barely even tried in my protocol.
I have an IQair filter but I never considered how the BetterAir probiotic dispenser could help with the air quality. The candle and detergent that removes mycotoxins sounds awesome. Also, I haven’t gotten any of the anti fungal products like the sinus cleanser, which is crazy because I’ve always had sinus issues like pain and pressure and constant post-nasal drip and I never linked that to mold even when I became severely ill. Now I’ll be cleaning out my sinuses every day for sure.I have ordered the aforementioned products and even a sauna. I can’t believe I ignored cleaning up my environment for so long. I hope this is missing piece of my treatment for this brutal condition.
As I have had IBS along with Toxic Mold poisoning, bowel movement is not always good. I would be concerned about taking a binder. Can you recommend anything else which is as good. I have had the poisoning since 2013. Also pretty severe allergies to many things – especially many herbs can cause rapid heart beat. Chlorella was excellent but affected my sleep which one needs to recover. It began regular movement for the first time in decades.
I’ve stopped for now.The worst thing is my blood pressure went off the charts. I tried some exercise which I thought would help. But I think it may be making by BP worse. Could this be true?
This is a great option for the binder: While it still is a binder, it should not impact bowel movements. In fact, it can often help with that. If you believe you can tolerate it, I would try it out.Do you have access to a dry sauna? This is another alternative.
But you would need to go at least 3 times per week.Exercise doesn’t typically make BP higher but it could if something else is also going on. What kind of exercise are you doing? Maybe you need to start slow with walks and work up. Have you added in any new foods or supplements during this time period? Taking a medium sized clove of garlic about an hour before sleep will help you go to the bathroom, it kills mold, and lowers blood pressure and heart rate and will help you sleep. It’s also a natural blood thinner, so be aware of how that may affect you with whatever else you’re taking and whatever other hath issues you have. Mold can cause internal hemoraghing but also dehydration which thickens the blood.
And I believe, many binders tend to thicken the blood.garlic is also very good for the brain. Hi Jennifer,This was one of the most comprehensive and well-educated posts on this highly uninformed subject! I have been researching it for a couple years, ever since my exposure to a toxic moldy apartment (that I have since moved out of). I am still experiencing bad symptoms, even after moving out of that moldy apartment. I LOVE all of your recommendations and have already read about some, and your blog served as a beautiful reminder but others I had never heard of and I am very hopeful to have learned all this new information.One main thing right now is I live in Los Angeles, CA and I am looking for a physician or practitioner who takes PPO insurance that can diagnose and treat me. I don’t have alot of extra money, so it’s tough to go to a practitioner that does not accept insurance.
I understand that western medicine is kind of out of the loop on this training, so it can be difficult to find an MD that actually embraces the havoc that mycotoxins wreak on our bodies. I would be forever grateful if you could point me in the right direction on this?Thank you so much for your help and keep these amazing blogs coming! I recently had an exposure to an apartment with cigarette smoke pouring in from the neighbor as well as what we think has to have been mold, needless to say a very toxic environment. My dog developed fungal infection in all of his paws as well as ear infections that we had to treat and I developed what started as asthma attacks to the environment as well as a hypersensitive smell and fatigue. I have always been more aware of my body than a lot of people are as well as I am very focused on eating an organic diet without processed food as well as generally less sugar in my diet(just natural fruit sugars and honey) and I knew the environment I was living in was causing me these issues until one day I just said to my husband that’s it were not living here anymore I’m done.
We moved out sold off almost everything, except for expensive electronics and some important paperwork I now keep in a separate cupboard. At first I thought you could fix clothing with Borax as well as vinegar and was washing first with Borax at high temperature with the clothes and second with Vinegar, at which point we were living with family while trying to find a new place to move into. When I was washing these clothes I suddenly developed multiple chemical sensitivity and became really sensitive to clothing detergent and could no longer wear any of the clothes. They caused me to be extremely itchy and now if I am even too close to clothes drying from detergent or people with parfume detergent or cigarette smoke the smell makes me really sick and often create asthma attacks.
It’s gotten to the point now that even with new clothes I can smell the chemicals and am extremely sensitive to them, and in general I can really just smell EVERYTHING (it’s horrible!!!). I am really limited in the options of what I can even wear at this point and am never comfortable in clothes. The hypersensitivity of my nose is so extreme I can not live a comfortable day to day life and even as a Yoga teacher am finding myself no longer doing yoga because I don’t want to smell as a side affect of breathing,(not helpful for trying to center myself and calm the stress all of this causes).
And with the discomfort of smell and clothing combined it’s really hard to get myself outside to exercise making it hard to sweat detox, especially during winter. I find I am now also consistently getting headaches as well as just experienced a 21 day period who I had to medically stop with prescriptions(I am not happy to be putting in my body since it’s clearly in a time of desperation) because the period was taking to much vital energy from me making me anemic and furthering the issues of fatigue, it simply could not continue. On the period I was often getting dizzy but as the period subsides it seems to be going away. I am extremely fatigued even after and have seen many dr’s and an allergist who all seem to be lost in my situation, the allergen specialist did blood allergy testing with negative results, I did a thyroid test with normal results and my other blood test only showed that I had a white blood cell count to low which the Dr’s don’t seem concerned about. I recently started visiting an osteopath hoping maybe it can help my body heal and am also going to see a naturopath, but I would like to know if you think these issues of sensitivity and hypersensitivity could be related to mold exposure and if from your experience it sounds possible that’s what I am dealing with?
I have since boxed up in a separate room all of the clothing that was kept in our possibly contaminated apartment as well the only other things we kept were glass or metal and everything was thoroughly cleaned with Vinegar but I am wondering if I have to worry about my new clothes having exposure because of keeping the laptop and am also stressed about that since I can not currently afford to replace it. I am also studying Aromatherapy and have a wide array of oils who I often use to diffuse with anti-fungal oils in our environment and am hoping this can keep our new environment minimized. I also never saw any active mold for example touch something in the place we were living in although there was some mold growing in the shower which I often sprayed with Vinegar to keep at bay, but am worried none of that matters because of the lovely spores. I never got the kind of mold tested unfortunately. I am just wondering how big of a risk keeping some electronics can be for recontaminating everything else. As for the new clothes I already had to buy a new washing machine because of an intolerance to even the residue of the old chemical detergent therefore the new clothes are only washed in a new machine with chemical free detergent. I also maintain a chemical free environment in my home.
It’s been 3 months now since living in that apartment and with eating so health and living chemical free I just don’t understand why these sensitivities aren’t going away. Thanks for the information on the supplements I hope some of them can help! Hi JenniferLove your video. Well done.Just revisiting this issue after almost a year of following a mold detox plan greatly informed by this post. I am wondering whether you used anything to break down the mold biofilms. My Naturopath advised me to use Kirkman’s Biofilm Defense.
Do you have suggestions for this?Just wanting to say that I too love the EC3 candles, and I use the Citridrops in my nasal rinse twice a day, but my nasal issues have not resolved. Maybe it will take longer? By the way, I had to move house again, and now live in a dry and mold free flat. I had the air conditioner cleaned by a specialist who uses non-toxic cleaning materials to strip out the molds from the unit and the ducts. It was expensive, but worth it.My next step is to buy the BetterAir probiotic system that I heard about recently. Apparently it was invented, and is made, in my country, so I’m happy about that.Keep up the great work despite the difficulties from Google and other Internet fascists.
Hi Gabriella! Yes, I have used Kirkman’s Biofilm Defense myself and thought it was a great product! You typically only use it for the short term. I don’t mention this in the post because it starts to cross the line of “medical advice” in the eyes of the FDA and FCC. Anyway – give that product a try!Those candles are awesome!!!! Sinus issues take timeespecially if you had a long term mold exposure.
Just keep at it! You may need to consider adding in some Sinus Defense spray. This works WITH the Citridrops and together they bring a lot more relief.Thanks for the encouraging words. Reach out whenever!
Hi, and thank you!!! I live in a mobile home in an extremely humid area. My hvac system is full of mold and spews it into and onto everything. I have every symptom listed on sites. I own the home, and have mold coverage insurance.
WHAT IS MY FIRST STEP? Should I leave first & begin healing regimen? Can insurance companies declare a home uninhabitable, leaving one with no home? I don’t want to enact the coverage if that’s a possibility. Can I heal while in the moldy home?
Any info will help. Good site – thank youI recently read some very negative information about Janet Hope. Hopefully it’s incorrect. I am in southern California about three hours from her.
When I contacted her a six years ago after learning I had severe mold poisoning she had nothing to offer with regard to my severe allergies which were a result of mold poisoning.She only said she recommends a rotation diet. I know there are more things one can do for allergies such as provocation neutralization or LDA allergy treatment. But mostly I need to get the toxins out of my body as they are causing dehydration noticed by the color of urine. Garlinase has been safe and I am going this weekend to try infrared sauna. Also Glutathione and Artichoke extract.
I have read about them many times. I read some time ago that you must switch between the substances you take as the mycotoxins become accustomed. There are many good articles on the WEB about other things to do. Especially under Mercola’s listings. When you do an infrared sauna you need to find a special brush to use on your skin immediately after. I am looking for it today on line.
Toxins need to be taken away from your skin after being perspired out. Actually I found infrared usage pretty inexpensive – about $35 per session.Is there someone else you recommend in addition to Dr. I’ve found it almost impossible to find anyone who really knows what to do. So far they’ve taken my money and really don’t come through. As a result of the mycotoxins affecting thyroid and hormones I have a difficult time with blood pressure which is controlled by thyroid, so things such as many herbs are out of the question as they really raise blood pressure significantly. You have to check herbs out on line.
They’re not safe for everyone.You really have to do your research when you have mold illness. There are few doctors out there that are the real deal.
One of the most striking features of unorthodox medicine—variously described as quackery, irregular medicine, fringe medicine, or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)—has been its ability to survive for centuries in a very wide variety of forms. Although it has changed enormously with the passage of time, unorthodox medicine has always has been a rich source of disputes, claims and counter-claims, and accusations of fraud., One might expect that unorthodox medicine as a whole would have diminished as a result of the spectacular advances in regular medicine during the second half of the twentieth century, but that does not seem to be the case. In fact we will never really know how many people in the past consulted unorthodox practitioners instead of, or in addition to, consulting the orthodox; we don't even know today.
But we do know that before the mid-nineteenth century the irregular practitioners for whom the derogatory term ‘quacks’ is appropriate, were used by a large proportion of the population.Most of these pre-1850 quacks tended to specialize. Some were bone-setters, others claimed to cure venereal disease without the use of mercury. A ‘Dr’ Taylor of Beverley in Gloucester arranged to attend regularly at three public houses to which patients only had to send their urine and he would tell at once whether they were curable or not. There were self-styled oculists who specialized in the treatment of cataract and curers of ‘cancer without operation’. One of the latter, calling himself the ‘High German Dr Symon’, invited you to visit his house and see for yourself ‘a cancer of the armpit of five pieces of 12 and one half ozs weight’ which he claimed to have removed.Most of these irregulars were uneducated or even illiterate and only a minority were full-time healers.
They usually had regular jobs, such as blacksmith, farrier, grocer, butcher, cheese-monger, cobbler, cutter and mechanic. THE BIRTH OF COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINEThe essence of the change was a rebellion against orthodox medical science as taught and practised in the teaching hospitals, and the introduction of a series of radically different but all-embracing beliefs on the nature and treatment of disease. The empirical quack continued in the background and still exists today, although in an attenuated form.
But the new irregulars—the literate ‘book-reading’ practitioners—were usually educated men and often medically qualified.They were therefore not so much quacks (although frequently derided as such) as practitioners for whom the terms ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ is more appropriate. Indeed, supporters of CAM have good reason to object to the term ‘quackery’ being linked in any way with such practices as homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and herbalism. It would be impossible to review the history of all the current forms of alternative medicine, so I am confining this paper to one of the earliest and still the most frequently used unorthodox system: homeopathy.
HOMEOPATHYWhile it can scarcely compare in antiquity with Chinese or Indian medicine, homeopathy is the longest established CAM to have arisen in Europe. It was founded by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), who grew up in Meissen in Germany, received his medical degree in Erlangen in 1779, and died a millionaire in Paris in 1843. During his first fifteen years as a physician Hahnemann struggled desperately to make a living.
One day, however, he made a discovery. He started to take regular doses of cinchona or ‘the bark’ (i.e. This, he said, produced all the symptoms of intermittent fever (malaria) but to a mild degree and without the characteristic rigors of that disease. This led Hahnemann to an idea which was published in 1796 as Essay on a New Principle for Ascertaining the Curative Power of Drugs, which was followed in 1810 by his famous work The Organon of the Healing Art.Hahnemann believed that if a patient had an illness, it could be cured by giving a medicine which, if given to a healthy person, would produce similar symptoms of that same illness but to a slighter degree. Thus, if a patient was suffering from severe nausea, he was given a medicine which in a healthy person would provoke mild nausea.
By a process he called ‘proving’, Hahnemann claimed to be able to compile a selection of appropriate remedies. This led to his famous aphorism, ‘like cures like’, which is often called the ‘principle of similars’; and he cited Jenner's use of cowpox vaccination to prevent smallpox as an example.The differences between orthodox medicine and homeopathy could hardly be more vivid. From its beginning homeopathy always began with a long consultation, lasting at least an hour, in which all aspects of the patient's illness and life were discussed—homeopaths like to stress that they practise ‘holistic medicine’—and the appropriate treatment chosen. In contrast, during the first half of the nineteenth century, when homeopathy was becoming established, orthodox medicine was immersed in the belief that advances in understanding disease could only come from a detailed correlation of symptoms and signs of the sick patient on the ward, and the findings at autopsy: clinico-pathological correlation. As Bichat famously put it put it at the very end of the eighteenth century:‘For twenty years from morning to night you have taken notes at patients' bedsides. Which, refusing to yield up their meaning, offer you a succession of incoherent phenomena. Open up a few corpses: you will dissipate at once the darkness that observation alone could not dispel.’Clinico-pathological correlation demanded the understanding of a very long and complex collection of diseases accompanied by heated debates between the contagionists and the anti-contagionists.
This was way beyond the comprehension of the general public. Moreover, medical treatment was to a large extent crude and ineffective, consisting largely of potentially dangerous polypharmacy, purging, and profuse blood-letting.Hahnemann showed no interest in detailed pathology, and none in conventional diagnosis and treatment. He was only interested in the principles of homeopathic medicine which he used to name the illness. Classical homeopathy was therefore seen by its supporters as an attractively safe system, simple, easy to understand, and centred on the patient as a whole and not on pathological lesions.
This goes a long way to explain why homeopathy was popular.But there was one aspect of homeopathy which, from the time it was first announced in about 1814, led to open warfare between orthodox medicine and homeopathy. This was the result of Hahnemann's belief that drugs should be given in a dose which only just produced the slightest symptoms of the disease which was being treated. To achieve this aim, Hahnemann diluted his medical preparations to such an astonishing extent that if one assumes that that the substance he employed was completely soluble, by only the fourth dilution the ratio of the medicine to the solution would be 1:100 000 000. The physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) in the USA, always a master of ridicule, said that Hahnemann's dilution would take ‘the waters of ten thousand Adriatic seas.’ But Hahnemann insisted that homeopathic medicines retained their therapeutic power provided you shook the preparation violently during the process of dilution—a process Hahnemann named as ‘potentization’ by which every homeopathic medicine not only retained or even increased its therapeutic power, but persisted as a ‘dematerialized spiritual force’. To orthodox practitioners this was sheer nonsense. Hahnemann claimed that by his methods he could cure all or nearly all acute diseases. To make matters worse, he announced in 1828 that all, or nearly all, chronic diseases were caused by ‘the itch’ (scabies).Whereas Hahnemann claimed that homeopathy could cure all or virtually all diseases, his followers modified these claims in the hope of becoming accepted by orthodox medical practitioners.
One of the first institutions devoted to homeopathy was the American Institute of Homeopathy, founded at the end of the nineteenth century, when it seems that ‘a rapprochement between homeopaths and conventional physicians gradually unfolded. Homeopaths adopted new orthodox treatments.
While allopaths regular orthodox physicians borrowed homeopathic remedies. In 1903, after long antagonism, the American Medical Association. Invited homeopaths to join the Association.’ The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1939 in the USA allowed homeopathic medicines to be sold openly on the market. Five homeopathic hospitals were founded in Britain, the two largest (in London and Glasgow) having in-patient units. Today the ten most common diseases treated by homeopaths are (in order of frequency) asthma, depression, otitis media, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), headache and migraine, neurotic disorders, non-specific allergy, dermatitis, arthritis and hypertension.There seems little doubt there has been a remarkable revival of homeopathy since the 1960s and 1970s in many countries, but especially the USA where, in 2002, it was estimated that the number of patients using homeopathic remedies had risen by 500% in the previous seven years, mostly by purchasing over-the-counter remedies.
In the USA patients seen by homeopaths tended to be more affluent, more frequently white, present more subjective symptoms, and to be younger than patients seen by conventional physicians. In Britain a survey by the BBC in 1999 found that 17% of 1204 randomly selected adults had used homeopathy within the past year (this includes homeopathic remedies bought over the counter) and another survey in 1998 estimated that there were 470 000 recent users of homeopathy in the UK. It is likely that most patients in the UK who use complementary medicine are largely middle class and middle aged. One of the well known features of homeopathy is that from the nineteenth century to today it has been firmly supported by royalty and the aristocracy. Edward, Prince of Wales was the patron of the London Homeopathic Hospital, while the Duke of York, later King George VI, gave the title ‘Royal’ to the hospital. He also named one of his race-horses ‘Hypericum’ after a homeopathic remedy. He entered it for the Thousand Guinea Stakes at Newmarket in 1946 and it won.
IS HOMEOPATHY EFFECTIVE?If you rely on the personal experience of patients, there are a large number of people who will claim, usually with great certainty, that they had been cured or at least helped by homeopathy when orthodox medicine had failed. One can see why. The system is easy to understand and seems safe. The long consultation is, per se, therapeutic, although it is seldom realized that a succession of shorter consultations with an orthodox and sympathetic general practitioner can soon add up to an hour, with the added advantage that the series of consultations allows observation of the development or disappearance of a disease over time. This is especially important since many of the diseases treated by homeopaths are either transient and disappear spontaneously, or they are cyclical, consisting of a series of attacks followed by spontaneous remissions.
If a visit to a homeopath happens to be followed by a remission or the total disappearance of a disease, homeopathic medicine gets the credit.If there was ever a medical system which cried out for a careful scientific trial it is homeopathy. One of the early trials, carried out in 1835, is astonishing because it was very close to a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, undertaken with great care long before the mid-twentieth century when most of us believed that such randomized trials were first devised and carried out. It showed, incidentally, that homeopathy was ineffective. This was followed by such a long series of clinical trials and systematic reviews, stretching up to the present time, that to review all of them would take up more space than the whole of this paper; but a useful account of clinical trials of homeopathy in the nineteenth century was published very recently.Some homeopathic practitioners argue that carrying out randomized controlled trials is an appropriate activity for orthodox medicine but inappropriate for homeopathy, where effectiveness should only be judged by patient satisfaction.
Where clinical trials and systematic reviews have been carried out, however, the results remain uncertain. A few seemed to show that homeopathy was effective, but only slightly; a majority showed that homeopathy had no therapeutic effect. Unfortunately many of the trials included in systematic reviews were less than perfect in design, application or sample size.A recent authoritative paper concluded that ‘the evidence of the effectiveness of homeopathy for specific clinical conditions is scant, is of uneven quality, and is generally of poorer quality than research done in allopathic (mainstream) medicine.’ Nevertheless ‘when only high quality studies have been selected. A surprising number show positive results’ although ‘even the best systematic reviews cannot disentangle components of bias in small trials.’ These authors conclude that ‘more and better research is needed, unobstructed by belief or disbelief in the system.’When one recalls the underlying beliefs of the homeopathic system, such as the process of extreme dilution with the transformation of a drug into a ‘dematerialized spiritual force’, a totally neutral and ‘unobstructed’ attitude may be impossible. We can, however, be reasonably certain that in the context of the total provision of medical care, homeopathy has played and still plays a large part, judged by the number of patients who believe, rightly or wrongly, that homeopathy has helped them.The late Sir Douglas Black should have the last word. In a very balanced article on complementary medicine, he wrote:‘Although mainstream medical intervention is critical in only a minority of episodes of illness, in those particular episodes it is critical indeed; and I would plead that at least in acute illness, and possibly in any illness, “complementary” medicine should also be subsequent to an assessment of the clinical situation by competent “orthodox” means.’.