Mold and mycotoxins

[TheBrain]

I'm waiting to receive a dehumidifier as the house humidity is 62%!!
The only place where there might be mold detectable is on the top of the metal molding on the wall baseboard where the dust has turned green. We have the furnace fan running continuously to circulate the air. We removed all the carpets except the spare bedroom to expose the hardwood floors. I spoke to an earn nose and throat specialist about this problem recently.

At a certain point in the humidity above 50% I think is when the spores populations increase and are likely to increase reactions. I think we get headaches from the humidity and the air conditioning does not remove enough of humidity.

It takes about 4 days for the mold to die off and any other pest as they do not have a respiratory system and rely on air humidity to survive I am referring to bed bugs and such creatures.

It sounds like there are a few quacks in this moldy business so I would be aware of what they are proposing and investigate it closely to see if it has any scientific basis.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases ... 022416.php

"The mold spores will not grow if moisture is not present. Indoor mold growth can and should be prevented or controlled by controlling oisture
indoors."
https://www.epa.gov/mold/brief-guide-mo ... -your-home

Now is there anyway to use 23andme to check that out..??

I used to get beaten up as a kid in child warfare and had one guy picked on me a lot who was stronger than me for a few years in grade school. I probably bugged them too much but who knows so watch out for my latent bug you tendencies? I remember I was screaming when I saw a cat being run over and all the gut spilled out I called 911 I must have had a trauma attack but no one else was so excited!
sorry about the rant back to bed.

If 50% humidity is the point at which spore populations increase, then we'll have to do more here. Right now, the humidity in the house is 69%. It actually feels quite comfortable. Colorado was too dry for my body, but living so close to the ocean means lots of humidity.

Thanks for those links. I'll check them out. I've been caught up in watching two free online summits (and wanting to keep up with a third one) and feeling behind on things. But both are over now.

I'm sorry to hear you were bullied as a child. The traditional ACE (Adverse Childhood Events) questionnaire doesn't include bullying as an adverse event, but the Extended ACE questionnaire does. It definitely counts.

If you are interested in determining your ACE score and Extended ACE score, you can do that here:

http://www.nikigratrix.com/acescore/

LAC, I will reply to your most recent post tomorrow. I've got to get up from this computer and move.

[buck3Maureen]

Hi Alyson, As a type 3 in the middle of addressing mold exposure, one thing jumped out at me that you wrote. You said that you and your husband cleaned up some mold you found after a vacation. I think that would be a no-no given your genetic sensitivity. In my case my numbers are very similar to yours my tgf beta 1 is about 4600. 15 yrs ago I went into a vacation home with a bottle of bleach to make sure the place would be safe after the carpet had been removed. The home was being remediated for mold. The day after that I had non stop post nasal drip. So I can pinpoint exactly when I was exposed and after a number of years and research I got my symptoms under control and just last year found that I have more to worry about then mucous and sinus infections. My point is one exposure can cause a lifetime of problems for sensitive people. Maureen

[GenePoole0304]

I will correct myself on excess humidity as I was a bit to vague saying over 50%

"Generally speaking, it's best to keep your indoor humidity levels between 30 and 55 percent. Doing so will help you avoid the problems that come with both low and high humidity.

In order to feel the most comfortable in your home, it's best to aim for a humidity level of 45 percent. That is the level that people tend to feel most comfortable, and it's well within the range of safe humidity levels."

http://blog.jerrykelly.com/2011/12/what ... el-to.html

second night with the dehumidifier here, I set it for 45% on the ground level but upstairs it gets a bit more humid at 51% so tonight I will set it at 40% although the wife says if feels cooler but we slept better so far.

I used to have that stuffy head feeling before when I came inside from the humidity in the house. It was over 55%. I got 2 new humidity meters to make sure my reading were close. One old meter reads 3% too high.

I can see dust around the duct work and the duct cleaner called for his yearly cleanup. We have cut outs in the ducts so he can access them to do a god cleaning. The house was built in 1959 and we moved in 1988 and we found 2 ducts disconnected and when I had them cleaned they removed plaster and construction material so it appeared that they never were properly cleaned. It took a while to find a good duct cleaner that I could rely on.

[TheBrain]

Hi--

I didn't mean to disappear from the discussion. I have more to say and will post some time this week.

But I wanted to let you know that Ritchie Shoemaker is interviewed on The Thyroid Connection Summit. The title of his talk is "Toxic Mold and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)."

Today is Encore Day, so you can watch all interviews. Shoemaker's interview is mostly about his work, not so much about the thyroid. But I thought those who have contributed to this thread might be interested. I thought the interview was very informative.

You can sign up here:
http://thyroidconnectionsummit.com

The interview is only available until 10 am ET tomorrow.

[circular]

Was just filing some papers in my closet. My file folders are in Bankers Boxes (really must get around to getting a cabinet!). I noticed (not for the first time) a musty smell. I got to wondering if there were mold resistant file folders, paper, boxes ... I'm guessing any archival products are mold resistant and generally antimicrobial.

These Smead file folders on Amazon are advertised as antimicrobial.

There are expensive, specialty archival products here.

Printer paper that advertises as archival can be found easily in office supply stores.

Then my favorite when practical: scanning documents and storing them digitally. I make heavy use of the Genius Scan app, synced to Dropbox online, which also then syncs those scanned docs to my hard drive. All my important files on my hard drive are in my Dropbox folder, and anything added there also syncs to Dropbox online. Dropbox doesn't sync down to Genius Scan though. GS is just to get the hard copies to Dropbox easily.

[TheBrain]

For those of you who did MARCoNS testing: Did you use MicrobiologyDx.com? A naturopath I saw said that testing through this company is the only recommended testing for the Shoemaker protocol. I see on their web site that I can order a test kit at no charge, and the test costs $85.

However, I can't find anything on the survivingmold.com web site about MicrobiologyDx.com.

[Julie G]

Yep, that's the one my FMP used. Good luck with the test, Alysson!

[TheBrain]

Thanks, Julie! I figured it's one small step I can take.

The FMD in Savannah, GA who Dr. Bredesen recommends (she's an expert in CIRS and MPI-Cognition trained, as you know) charges $650 for the first visit. And she wants me to have that first appointment before doing the $700 mycotoxins test. I simply don't have the funds for that right now. My insurance will cover very little of her appointment, but I haven't asked about the mycotoxins test yet. I'd be lucky if they'd cover half of it.

[SarahAnne]

Unfortunately I took unwarranted comfort in Dr. Bredesen's analysis that Type 3 cases were typically 3/3's, not E4s. I'm an E4, so I didn't worry too much. So with results just in, here's what I learned:

Urine test - all four mycotoxins "present" (with gliotoxins extraordinarily high)
HLA DR - I have the "dreaded" 4-3-53 (multi susceptible), plus 17-2-52A (mold susceptible). So fun.
Other labs - MSH too low (19), TGF Beta too high (6200), MMP9 too high (860)

Looks like a train wreck of great new info. And I have zero idea where I might have been exposed, or might continually be exposed as I sit here in my (formerly safe) family room. Ahhhhh! Ok, deep breath. I have ERMI kit on order. In addition to my heavy metals levels and my multiple viral antibodies, it's all gonna be fine, I'm sure.

I try to laugh when I'm crying so thanks for bearing with. If anyone has new information or suggestions in the area of mycotoxins, please let me know. Also, I'm curious to know how we discern if it's possibly viral load or heavy metals that are causing the MSH/Tgfb/MMP9 results, not molds? How can we definitively figure out the root problem(s)? I will meet with my Bredesen-trained practitioner in a week or two and will share if I learn anything new. But I know there have been some real experts on this thread.

Many thanks,
Sarah

[Julie G]

{{{Sarah,}}} I'm so sorry. Please take comfort in the fact that you're not alone. Have you seen this thread where many of us are sharing our CIRS journeys? Dr. Bredesen has abandoned the idea that E4s are protected from this presentation. As carriers of the pro-inflammatory allele, we seem to sustain the higher inflammation better for longer periods, but eventually succumb. I can't emphasize enough how stunned he is at the prevalence of this in his patients. Over 60% of his 100+ patients he's guiding are tuning out to have biotoxins as the primary driver of their disease process. (I suspect the number is actually higher.)

The most frustrating part is that there are very few trained practitioners in this area. I think Dr. Shoemaker has around twenty. Dr. Bredesen knows of a handful of others. There is a huge gap in meeting this need as more and more patients are learning that they may be affected. Dr. Mary Kay Ross, who's a fellow survivor, is his trusted expert in this area. She'll be at our meet up in San Diego. I hope you can come to listen to her speak and to spend some time with her. She's moving from Savanah to Marin County to work directly for MPI Cognition. Perhaps she'd be a good fit for you? That said, I know she, like everyone with this specialty, is overwhelmed with her patient load.

Trust me, I know how overwhelming this is. Read the first half of the thread I referenced above. I was terrified as well. My first TGF Beta-1 was 40,000. I now feel so grateful to know this is a contributor for me. I feel blessed to have narrowed down the cause of my CIRS and to have a specific target to work on You've done the same. I'm sending good energy your way. You're smart; a lemons to lemonade kind of girl. You've got this. We're with you. -XO