Mold Situation

First a little background. I know I've discussed in another post here all of the issues my grandmother has been having with her health, i.e. frequent upper respiratory tract infections, migraine headaches, loss of memory, clinically diagnosed fungal infections particularly bad in her gut, recent development of diabetes. My grandfather, who passed recently, died of a sudden heart attach with no warning. He was in what appeared to be good health. I lived in this home for a period of years during which my weight climbed 80 lbs in three months with no change in diet or exercise habits and developed gynecomastia (obvious issues with estrogen balance). My younger brothers are now living in the home and both have developed severe depression, averse to social situations, weight gain, gynecomastia, back pain. These are all people who prior to this were healthy, athletic individuals.

I suggested to her that she get her house tested for mold. For a long time she was resistant. She lives in a large, beautiful home. She isn't wealthy but extremely frugal and this has amassed her a good deal of money, yet she hesitated because she didn't want to spend the $600 to get the house tested. I finally convinced her to after she had a severe case of bronchitis. Well the results came back on Wednesday. Her house is full of mold. Apparently whoever laid the foundation did not seal it properly and the drainage system from the roof was backing up, leaving water in and around the foundation. The walls throughout the home were full of mold. This was incredible to me. From the outside you would never know. Its an extremely nice home. But it was like this canker underneath that had been growing for years.

The house was testing in the thousands of spores per cubic meter for stachybotris in the upper level of the house, with higher levels in the basement (interesting to note my grandfather spent most of his time there). The spore numbers for aspergillus of several types were immense, I'm talking in the 70,000 per cubic meter range. I just wanted to let you guys know, and I thought you might find it interesting. I've only begun to make the connection between these parasites/opportunists and disease in the past year or so thanks to posters like Rdkml and others (you know who you are). To consider the swift decline in health that so many have experience shortly after coming into this home and to now know this, it like a veil has been lifted.

Needless to say, she is going to have the foundation amended and the remediation crew is going to come in shortly after. It will be interesting to note how her condition improves after the mold is clear. But I just wanted to post this as I thought some members might find it interesting. Myself, I'd been intrigued but still skeptical about mold's role in disease, but now I think I can say I'm moving in the direction of believer. Hope all of you had a good holiday.

Thanks for the info.

Found this that may be helpful as well.

http://books.google.com/books?id=zo3zDq8QROcC&pg=PA14&dq=When+Traditional+Medicine+Fails,+Your+Guide+to+Mold+Toxins&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yK-vUI-EHaeCiwK8m4DIDA&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=When%20Traditional%20Medicine%20Fails%2C%20Your%20Guide%20to%20Mold%20Toxins&f=false

Jeez. anthony, have you heard anything about the cost of all of this, and if so, do you mind sharing? I guess the prognosis for eradication is good...?

I'm really sorry to hear but at least she's taking steps now to eliminate.

Rdkml,

Thanks for the info sir. I have been trying to research alternatives to Cholestyramine recently. The product Cholestepure is rumored to be effective, however, they are two different materials. Whereas cholestyramine is a resin, the latter is plant sterols. I'm not sure if it is as effective, or if there are other types of substances that can have the same effect. Will certainly be implementing the activated charcoal though.

Whodathunkit,

Thanks. No word yet on how much the remediation is going to be. But I'd imagine that combined with the actual changes we're going to have to make to the structure's foundation, it'll probably be thousands of dollars. Not much fun . But what is the price of health. If its the home she wants to live the rest of her life in, then she doesn't have a choice if she doesn't want to move. But again, I hope that after clearance there are some marked changes in her health. Its interesting how the house just "feels" different too. It getting to a psychological level, but I can say the house just feels different to be in.

Thanks for posting that experience, anthonyspencer.

Mold is truly nasty stuff. I lived in a building (frat house) with a serious mold problem for three years. Hair loss began at that time (age 19), along with skin conditions, vision disturbances and a now chronically congested nasal passage. I've posted this before, but about 75% of my close friends also had on early onset of MPB set in at this time too, which has always been very intriguing to me. I'm getting ready to move shortly and am planning on doing a full on mold detox/prevention plan to see how my overall health and hair improves once I move into my new place.

I had bad mold in my house that I lived in for a year, I started on cholestepure and my hairloss slowed dramatically, so I put it down to the mold, I also suffered with cognitive problems and bag anxiety, which is more difficult to remedy once the pathways in your mind have been made and 'walked down' so many times. I moved yesterday and so I'm hopeful my body will begin removing the rest of the toxins, and i will probably do a lot of sauna sessions at the gym, bit nervous about continuing high dose cholestepure because i imagine it might reduce vital hormones (through reducing cholesterol).

Best of luck to your grandmother Anthony.

Thanks fellas. I think I'm definitely going to give the cholestepure a try. Hopefully something good comes of it. Trueground, interesting story about the frathouse experience. The house I was in in college had mold issues as well, and I've found that a lot of those old crappy houses have this problem. The apartments I lived in in college, you know the kind, the big "fit as many people in for as cheaply as possible" type are notorious for mold. It sucks that is pretty difficult for college-age people to find housing that isn't so subpar.

Yeah the experience was definitely interesting.. Constant flooding, visible black mold, people congested on the regular - awesome. Again, the most interesting part about this is that there were at least 5 of my 10-15 good circle of friends that started Propecia before the age of 20. That's a pretty amazing percentage if you ask me, especially when I would compare our group to groups of guys from other fraternities - they largely had no visible signs of hair loss.

For mold:
- radionics works well
- sun exposure (i think sneezing is indicator of detox)
- diet: cabbage juice, radish juice
- supps: humifulvate, saw palmetto, active charcoal
- cholestepure
- plenty of sleep in clear place.

If one is using cholestepure, i think it's necesairlly to add some extra cholesterol in diet.
- egg yorks
- butter oil - ghee
- meat

All is from my personal experience, it may not work for everybody.

Thanks Beebrox,

I'm particularly interested in cholestepure. From what I understand, it has the ability to remove mold and mycotoxins from people who are not able to naturally purge it, correct? What are the dangers of using cholestepure, and how can it be used safely (dosage, time, frequency) to detox mold/mycotoxins?

What benefits did you notice from using it personally?

Thanks!

TrueGround wrote:Thanks Beebrox,

I'm particularly interested in cholestepure. From what I understand, it has the ability to remove mold and mycotoxins from people who are not able to naturally purge it, correct? What are the dangers of using cholestepure, and how can it be used safely (dosage, time, frequency) to detox mold/mycotoxins?

What benefits did you notice from using it personally?

Thanks!

Yes, correct, but dont know what is that genetic error that blocks detox pathways for mycotoxins in those 24% everybody talks about.

Cholestepure will lower your cholesterol which is substance many hormones are made by. If it is too low, you are messing with hormones.

Still, too early to tell anything. I think i feel the same, using it 3 days... I made some progress while adressing mold, this is something i can tell. I am confident to continue with what i am doing... You dont show any simptoms while detoxing so it's not like metal chelation or pathogen killing with herx reactions. What i notice is darker stool and lower electrical sensitivity. I dont get red eyes after using computer anymore... But still, i had some results before started using cholestepure, that also means other stuff also work as well.

If you make some practice of it, feel free to post your experience. I think there is tons of things which can work as good. High fiber diet, etc...

Yeah, I'll be doing a lot of research in the coming month and decide which approach makes the most sense for me to take. Will definitely keep you posted on any progress I make..thanks again for your input.

TrueGround, please keep us posted on your progress. And Beebrox, great info man. I'm about to purchase the activated charcoal and cholestepure. I've also convinced the fam to try it as well so hopefully they all don't have a bad experience and think of me as a quack from now on.

I have been waiting on the cholestepure for a while, and seeing if there was a better alternative to cholestyramine on the market. But unfortunately I haven't found one, and I think combined with the absorptive capacity of the charcoal, they ought to do pretty well as a combo.

And good looking out as far as the dietary cholesterol is concerned. Also, has anybody had any success with the thieves oil diffusion at this point? I feel its been several months since I last heard talk about it, and wondered if anybody had implemented it fully in their homes.

AnthonyS,

Will do. Keep us posted too with your cholestepure/activated charcoal combo.. I'd also like to hear more about the thieves oil. Is it something to be used specifically in a home that is suspected to be toxic or is it to be used in all homes to keep spores from forming in the first place and keep mycotoxins out of the air?

anthonyspencer54 wrote:Also, has anybody had any success with the thieves oil diffusion at this point? I feel its been several months since I last heard talk about it, and wondered if anybody had implemented it fully in their homes.

Yes, in place i used to live before i moved last month, we had mold issues. I sprayed the house once a week with diluted thieves oil and it helped. Bad thing it was, you have to do it consistently and it's another thing to do. It's not so cost effective also. It might be better idea to invest in air ionizer and get out the carpeting and what else is keeping the place moldy. Of course first focus should be humidity and water... Thieves oil is also great for cleaning - you can put few drops with detergent when cleaning the floor. The oddor kills little mold bastards and my lungs always say 'tnx' after the place is ventilated and smells like place i want to live in.

I think this picture shows some insight of mycotoxins pathway. It's 2004 research picture, however...



source:
http://www.publichealthalert.org/Articles/scottforsgren/biotoxin%20pathway.html

Useful info by Mercola on the subject - dietary approach and what to avoid:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/01/recovery-from-toxic-mold-exposure.aspx

Dr. Klinghardt view on chronic infections and Lyme.
http://andreannarainville.com/klinghardt_docs/LymeProtocolOct09.pdf