Mold and mycotoxins

[AfternoonJones]

Hi Slacker,

Thank you for the quick response. I imagine I could spend a whole lot of time researching and going down the rabbit hole, although I feel you're probably right on the money concerning the method, amount, and frequency of exposure.

I appreciate the links and info on the testing as well. I think I will mark this one down as solved for now and not worry about it too much.

Thanks again

Kindly,

Cailen

[NF52]

If you want to go down this rabbit hole, Dr Richie Shoemaker's website is a great resource. There is some disagreement if ingested mycotoxins are as bad for us as inhaled toxins.

If you rarely use mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin, your risk for toxin harm is probably lower.

Hi Slacker,

Thank you for the quick response. I imagine I could spend a whole lot of time researching and going down the rabbit hole, although I feel you're probably right on the money concerning the method, amount, and frequency of exposure.

I appreciate the links and info on the testing as well. I think I will mark this one down as solved for now and not worry about it too much.

Thanks again

Kindly,

Cailen

"Not worrying too much" is probably one of the very best things we can do for our brains! Glad you found the site helpful.

[J11]

We had a mold problem related to a leaky roof. All the drywall with mold has been removed, so the remaining mold would be in the attic which one might expect has separate ventilation from the house.

The problem that I have noticed is that I now continue to have wheezing problems. Should such respiratory issues continue even after the source of the mold has been removed? Any suggestions of natural treatments that might be of help to treat my putative mold asthma?

[Plumster]

Any suggestions of natural treatments that might be of help to treat my putative mold asthma?

I didn't really feel the results of mold exposure until I was out of my former moldy environment.

You might try Activated charcoal, Bentonite clay or Chlorella. The activated charcoal capsule needs to be taken 1-2 hours away from food and supplements.

[J11]

Thank you very much for the suggestion Plumster! I might also look around for some house plants to make my environment even more healthy for my respiration.

Might you be aware of whether mold asthma would continue even with the removal of the mold from my environment? I find it odd that the mold is gone, yet the wheeze remains. Perhaps this is a self-sustaining inflammation that needs a reset.

[Plumster]

Might you be aware of whether mold asthma would continue even with the removal of the mold from my environment? I find it odd that the mold is gone, yet the wheeze remains. Perhaps this is a self-sustaining inflammation that needs a reset.

Is it possible that you have the HLA genes that make us mold susceptible, which means you can't get rid of the toxins without binders? I do have the bad genes and am currently taking a variety of binders. Or is it possible that that remediation wasn't sufficient?

[slacker]

Might you be aware of whether mold asthma would continue even with the removal of the mold from my environment? I find it odd that the mold is gone, yet the wheeze remains. Perhaps this is a self-sustaining inflammation that needs a reset.

How was your mold removal performed? Did you do it yourself or hire a remediation company? And how do you know for sure that it is gone? There is huge debate in the remediation world on best techniques, with all camps certain that their approach is the best. "Traditional" remediators use various products to get rid of the mold, and typically run a HEPA air scrubber during the work to catch any spores that are released during the cleaning process. Spores can reseed and grow mold under the right conditions. Humid environments are prone for this, but it can occur in dry climates as well, especially if porous materials are present (ex. adobe, ceiling tiles).

There is another school of thought, developed by Dr Richie Shoemaker that Dr Bredesen supports, that believes that if the mold removal process kills the mold, that fragments are also released. These fragments are also considered toxic and too small to be caught by a HEPA device. The remediation process with this school of thought is much more elaborate than traditional remediation. This approach may be warranted if the person has CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome) or if symptoms such as asthma don't improve.

Binders (as suggested by Plumster) help the body get rid of toxins, but if you are still exposed to what is triggering your asthma, they might help but not resolve the problem. Sweating also helps; there is some evidence that sweating by using sauna and raising body temperature is more effective than sweating through exercise. This has been discussed elsewhere on our site. A search on "sauna" would be a start if you are interested.

I've been working through the mold remediation world myself and appreciate how vague and complex it is. It's very hard to know who to trust, what to do, and what the chances are for success. I feel your pain! Everyone who has responded to you want to help support your journey towards better health.

[LA18]

I just reread this thread and really appreciate all the insights offered on what to do when mold toxicity is a significant health issue.

Regarding this, I’m curious as to whether anyone has had a whole-home air purification system installed in their HVAC. I have CIRS and my health really improved when I started using Austin Air purifiers in multiple rooms in my house, which makes me think that, despite multiple remediations and HVAC cleaning, it may not be perfect.

My understanding is that systems that eliminate toxins via ultraviolet light (e.g., APCO) can be effective. They’re not too expensive, but there’s the risk of a mercury containing bulb breaking and causing contamination.

Recently someone suggested that I consider the iWave. While it uses a form of ionization to clean the air within the HVAC system, it supposedly doesn’t generate ozone. The problem is that I can’t find any independent data or reviews of this system assessing its safety and the validity of the manufacturer’s claims.

If anyone has information about or experience with the iWave or other whole-home systems they could share it would be much appreciated. I know there’s one by IQAir that might be a good option, but it’s costly and, unfortunately, beyond what I can afford at this time.

[J11]

Plumster, thank you again for your comments!
Unfortunately, I am one of those people who wait and wait to solve problems instead of solving them early when they would often be cheaper and easier to resolve.

What happened with me was our shingles began to disintegrate on our roof not longer after we had them installed. We could hardly believe that shingles would do this and we waited and waited for years for the shingles to somehow repair themselves; they never did, they merely continued to deteriorate.

A year or two ago we finally got around to having the roof reshingled and the rotted plywood replaced. This left mold issues in the attic, with a particularly prominent area where the water had accumulated and had seeped through the drywall. Last year we finally also redrywalled this area. We redrywalled until we had clean edges. the drywall that we took out did have some black mold, though less than I had expected given the extent and the duration of water accumulation. If one were to look at the drywall now, one see a mostly fresh surface without discoloration. There are 2-3 other areas that had some minor water damage, though to does not appear that there is mold present. If it were simply a straight ceiling with drywall that needed to be done, then this would be a reasonably inexpensive job and I would probably redo it just for the peace of mind. However, there are a whole bunch of twists and
turns and complexities, so I think it might be better to leave it as it is.

As I mentioned there is a fresh finish to almost the entire ceiling surface and there is now virtually no mold visible. The small amount of visible mold has been doused with multiple rounds of Mold Control (concrobium). Our living quarters are thus sealed off from a mold source. from the attic side, there likely is remaining mold, though there is a heavy plastic layer protecting the drywall, so there might not be a great deal of actual mold even in the attic. Perhaps the insulation might have become moldy though if necessary we could simply remove the insulation.

Given the above, it is a big mystery to me why I am now experiencing respiratory issues. It is possible that there are other asthmatic
inducers present in my environment, however, it would take me some time to think of other potential sources of my current trouble.

I have had another somewhat similar medical issue arise a few years ago. At that time I had been exposed to imiqumod. Not long after I started to develop eczema. It was quite scary. My skin began peeling off my fingers and adding water and polysporin seemed to make it worse. Medical opinion suggested steroids (I believe), yet online videos showed some highly disturbing results of such treatment. Fortunately, through time the skin problem simply vanished largely by itself though I think I might have taken some supplements to try and treat it (vitamin D might have been helpful). This incident taught me that removing an allergenic/asthmatic
irritant will not cause a problem to spontaneously resolve. Once an inflammation process begins it can take some effort to reverse it.

Thank you for the suggestion about the HLA genes. Do you have the SNPs that I should look out for?
By binders do you mean taking activated charcoal etc?

My best guess is that the remediation effort has been successful.
There is little or no visible sign of mold from the ceiling side below the attic.
The remaining drywall is almost entirely free of any sign of water exposure:
The small amount of drywall that did have water exposure shows little if any signs of mold.

[J11]

slacker, our remediation effort consisted of ripping out the rotten drywall. It was a fairly clean job. The water leaked down from the attic and all that was needed was to reinstall drywall. We could see the edges of the drywall where the black mold was or was not present. The contour of the attic resulted in the water pooling in one particular corner, so removing the drywall was able to remediate the most seriously affected area. Most of the rest of the attic was not affected at all. There was however, water damage along one side of the attic, though this water was never sufficient to cause water damage to the ceiling below. It would be very cool if there were some sort of a product that could go up there and "eat up" the mold that is now up there. Perhaps a bacteria? As it is now, the best strategy might be to simply leave it alone. There is no longer any moisture entering the attic, so no new mold should be forming.


Very very cool!
I started reading around and I came across a $10 hepa filter idea.
Reduces particulates by 90%!!!??!!
I had asked about these filters and was told that they cost in hundreds or possibly thousands.
I took a miss.
These pro hepa filters can reduce particulates to 0!!!!
For $800 that might even be worth it, though I think that I might first look into indoor plants.

$10?
Sorry gotta go, I'll be the guy at the mega mall with my buggy filled up with these filters.
Clear the track!

Slacker, the engineer that you are, probably also thought of the potential of running these box fans and filters in
series! Two of these for $20 gives you a 99% reduction in particulates, 3 for $30 gives 99.9%?
That would seem to be a very good deal.
For $70 with 7 layers in the series you would be competitive with the $800 version.

Alert!!
Everyone on forum,
I, J11, command you, GO NOW Big Box now BUY HEPA FILTER (~$14)
and if necessary BOX FAN. The People know their Friend J11. Obey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU