Tag:

mold illness treatment

Start Here: My Mold Toxicity Treatment Key

by Catherine 1:17 pm

The Essentials to Getting Better Are a Mold-Free Environment and Consistency–

Supplements, Medications, and Treatments Fill in the Gaps

“What mold toxicity treatment protocol did you follow to get better? I have tried everything, and worked with numerous doctors, but nothing seems to be working for me. I am still very sick. I fear that I will never get my health back.”

I receive an email containing a version of the above statements almost everyday from someone seeking information about how to recover from mold toxicity. And, I get it. Who doesn’t want real, actionable answers on how to treat mold illness from someone who has been there and seemingly pulled through? Heck, I even wrote a few of those emails myself back when I was in the throes of sickness, confusion, and hopelessness. It is normal and understandable to just want answers and a roadmap back to health.

Many of those who write to me have been suffering for months, some even years, and they are sick and tired of being sick and tired. They want to know the EXACT medications, treatments, actions, and supplements I took to heal my body. They want to know if there is something that they are missing, and why, after spending thousands of dollars and doing everything imaginable, they are still sick. They want someone to just tell them what to do, so that they can finally heal too.

Am I withholding that valuable information? Is it somewhere on my blog already, and they are just missing it?

I do not have a definitive answer to these questions, except to say that, “No. My treatment protocol is not on the blog anywhere yet.”

The reason? Because I do not believe in protocols and strict rules when it comes to treating mold illness. A strict treatment protocol preceded by a battery of tests and genetic mapping is NOT what healed me. In fact, I found all of the strict adherence to rules, testing, protocols, and treatments a barrier to understanding and conquering this illness. I even think a lot of the science on Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and published literature on mold and mold illness is so confusing that it keeps people sick. Lot’s of the information out there on this illness is convoluted, circular, and unnecessary for helping people get better.

1:17 pm 2 comments

Making Sense of Mold Illness Treatment: Everyone is Talking About Mold, But Does Anyone Have the Answers?

by Catherine 4:12 am

With All of the Toxic Mold “Talk,” Latest Detox Protocols, and Newest Remedies, Are We Actually Any Closer to REAL Solutions?

How is it that so many people are suffering from illnesses triggered by mold and other contaminants in “sick” indoor environments, but there still remains no general understanding, widespread medical acceptance, definitive mold illness treatment protocol or true answer for healing?

Similarly, how can so many people be in desperate need of medical interventions for mold toxicity, but, yet, most medical doctors are still not even asking patients about their environments or considering the possibility of mold as the cause for illness? Without a sufferer being able to get a correct diagnosis, there certainly can’t be a cure, right?

This can be so frustrating!

It doesn’t seem to make sense or like it should be that difficult to identify and treat illnesses triggered by mold. But, and for reasons I hope to illustrate in this post, it is, unfortunately, not that simple.

Compiling What We Know

When you do a deep dive into the scientific literature on water-damaged buildings (aka moldy indoor environments) and illnesses/diseases associated with residing in them, the history of reports on mold-related illness is actually quite long and convoluted. The only true medical cautions about humans spending time in moldy spaces are for children, the elderly and the immunosuppressed, as they are more susceptible to fungal infections and respiratory distress. Most, if not all, qualitative fungal research is focused mainly on contaminated food and agricultural products and diseases having to do with fungal infections such as farmer’s lung, and systemic infections acquired by transplant recipients or already sick hospital patients. These studies and literature date back 30 years or more. The definitive pronouncement about inhaled mold spores in everyday environments as the source of illness doesn’t occur until the Mayo Clinic study published in 1999 that links chronic sinusitis with an immune system response to mold and the presence of fungus in the sinus of those patients.

After that came a distinct influx of research and toxicological studies on water-damaged buildings sparked by the findings and work of Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. His work came onto the scene in the 2000’s (his site remains the top resource for mold illness treatment info on the web today, and he is still publishing studies and patient findings) forging the connection between biotoxin exposure (in indoor environments and otherwise) and the chronic inflammatory response, which he coined Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (“CIRS”). CIRS is diagnosed in patients whose bodies initiate an all-guns-blazing immune system attack on toxic mold antigens that never turns off, and thus begins to affect all systems in the body, causing malfunction, inflammation, and sickness on a large scale. His work identified various biomarkers for testing and diagnosis and a genetic HLA-DR susceptibility to such an inflammatory response from biotoxin exposure.

4:12 am 1 comment

Mold Prevention Products Wellness

Glutathione: The Most Important Antioxidant for Mold Recovery That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

by Catherine 4:34 pm

What if your body could produce a master detoxifying molecule that could be used to treat and prevent cancer, aging, disease, Alzheimer’s, autism, and autoimmune disorders? Well, it can! It is an antioxidant called glutathione (GSH). In fact, its medical importance for the integrity of the immune system and for its role in detoxification processes has been studied so thoroughly that there are over 70,000 articles on glutathione on Pub Med alone.

The unfortunate fact and one that I will go on to explain later is that for the chronically ill, GSH deficiency is prevalent and difficult to counter. That is my main motivation for writing this post. I want to share my experience as a “moldy” learning about my own GSH levels and how to use different forms of GSH and/or specific protocols to boost its natural production in my body. Successfully increasing my GSH was a turning point in my recovery, because detoxification became easier and more effective inside my body. So, even though some of this information will seem dense, I really want to share it with you, because understanding how GSH works to prevent toxic build up and to counter the cellular damage caused by mold might help you heal.

First, let me say that I realize that a discussion on glutathione is nothing new (remember all of those articles I mentioned?), especially if you have taken a dive into the natural healing and naturopathic realm. Many of the most influential biohackers (Rhonda Patrick, Ben Greenfield, Robb Wolff, Dave Asprey) and well-known medical and naturopathic doctors (Wendy Myers, Joseph Mercola, Mark Hyman and Chris Kresser) tout its benefits and some have even created their own supplemental form of it. But, why? What is glutathione? Why does your body need it? And, what can it make any difference in your recovery from environmental, mold, or chronic illness, and/or autoimmune issues?

4:34 pm 4 comments