This is a place for me to document my mold journey in case anyone needs to see how someone experienced mold, and how they managed it. I will link everything I can that has worked for me. Some links have discounts for you, some are affiliate links that benefit us both, some are just links. Everything that has worked for me, I have tried to get a discount code for. Mold cost me my entire life savings. If I can save you a little, I will.
Everyone experiencing mold toxicity may have a journey that's completely different from someone else experiencing mold toxicity. Many experience nasal congestion since mold spores like the nasal cavity. Some experience God-awful rashes. Some feel brain fog or chronic fatigue like symptoms. Some may have anxiety and/or insomnia symptoms. We are all different, but the end goal for all of us is the same, and it's listed out at the end of this blog post: avoiding mold, getting back to basics, and going to war against mycotoxins. I feel like I am at the end of the battle, and entering the maintaining stage, which is why I am able to share my story now. I made it through, thank you Jesus!
I guess the best place to start is the beginning. I wish I knew when that was. I am going to start when I first got tested, October 2020. I actually think the beginning was from childhood, but I feel the stress triggers of life from 2017 to 2020 were the beginning of my body shutting down. What happened for 2017 to 2020 to be stressful? In 2016, my son went to bootcamp to become are United States Marine. His MOS was to fly in helicopters. My biggest fears are heights and flying, so as you can imagine, I was not okay on a number of factors. My grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2018 (he died in 2021), my son was in a car accident in 2019 that broke his back and ended his career in the USMC, I was in an altercation at work with an incarceration individual, and then we all know what happened in 2020. On top of that, my soul dog, Hera, died unexpectantly. My nervous system was trashed.
I will have to apologize now, the brain fog up until early 2024 was intense, so my memory and recall of events may be choppy. Hang in there with me. It's all worth it in the end.
During the time of 2017 to 2020, I was learning a lot about health and wellness because I was increasingly becoming weaker each day. I had been a competitive power lifter for 8 years prior to this, and I simply couldn't lift anymore. If I tried, it took me a whole week to recover. The why of what was happening would make sense in a few years.
I went to the regular GP doctor, and she said I was allergic to grass and to hire someone to mow my yard. She wasn't wrong in that I'm allergic to grass, but that wasn't even close to addressing my problem. I decided to see a functional medicine practitioner. She wanted to run some tests. The first test was an OAT test, which came back with one marker high, 3-Oxoglutaric. This marker is for GI candida, but no other mold markers. We worked on balancing some of the info that came up on that test, mostly nutritional deficiencies for about a year. The functional medicine practitioner then recommended a book called Toxic: Heal Your Body because I was not getting better. The symptoms I was having was extreme anxiety and insomnia. I would sleep for a few minutes and be up for an hour or two before I could fall asleep again. I would pee several times at night too. The lack of sleep began to really wear on me, and the fatigue was overwhelming. I developed a rash on my face and neck that was making life feel like it was not able to be lived in this skin. I went gluten free and started to wean off of dairy, which was mostly cheese. I'm lactose intolerant anyway, but I do love scrambled cheese eggs.
Since I wasn't getting better, but was getting worse, I decided to run a full battery of tests. This includes: Female hormones (similar to DUTCH Plus), GI Map, more bloodwork, a genotype test, a food sensitivity test, and a mycotoxin test. Let me tell you I was a mess. I made a lot of therapeutic purchases, a Therasage 360 sauna (code ANDREA10 for 10% off), a vibration plate, a rebounder, loads of supplements, a PEMF mat (code ANDREA10 for 10% off), a red light panel, and was still sick! I wasn't getting anywhere with this provider, so I tried again on my own. Let me tell you that it is HARD to be as sick as I was, do research on all the symptoms, rule out what it wasn't, and put together a plan for what I thought it was...all at the same time, plus working full time and running a small business.
In July 2023 I hit rock bottom with chronic illness. I decided to see a different functional medicine dr. She ran more tests, a ton of tests actually, and took 20 vials of blood! It was identified that mold was my primary issue, and it was creating a lot of additional problems, including reactivation of old diseases. I went on a really strict diet for 6 weeks, no coffee or caffeine, no gluten, no dairy, no eggs, no grains, no sugar (including natural like honey), no artificial colors, no corn or things derived from corn, no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives, nothing enriched, and nothing process, no yeast either. The only fruit allowed was apples, berries, nectarines, peaches, and pears. So basically I ate meats, veggies, and a few fruits for 6 weeks until the IgG and IgE food tests came back. Then I was able to expand my nutrition to include items that came back with a 0 rating, meaning I didn't react to them. My dr recommended a long list of supplements to heal leaky gut and to support detoxification for the mold. Primarily, very high dose glutathione that I still take to this day. I like two different brands. I will tag the brands in a list at the end of this. We also worked on healing my gut from the damage it experienced. I took digestive enzymes every meal, and systemic enzymes at bed time every night. I ended up having to on FMLA leave the day before Thanksgiving 2023. I was THAT sick. I took 6 months of short term leave to totally focus on healing. Every single day, my only priority was to manage my health. Now, I hear you, this isn't an option for everyone. I know, that's the point of this blog. I did the work, and I'm sharing what got me well again. I do recommend taking time off if you can though.
I continued with sauna therapy to sweat out the toxins, 3-5 days a week. I added an ozone bubbler because mold hates oxygen at the end of my sauna sesssions. I also wash all my produce with ozone too. I took binders to grab the toxins so they didn't recirculate. I worked on lymphatic massage (Dr. Perry's Big 6), castor oil packs, vibration plate, and complete liver support, for months, every single day most days, for a while until I began to feel better. My sleep quality was the very last symptom to come around and improve. Mold steals melatonin and creates cortisol, while toxifying the mitochondria so you are completely exhausted around the clock. I randomly had a company reach out to me to try their CBD products. I had been using another company for years, but their CBN changed the game! It took about 2.5 weeks taking their CBN to have a radical positive impact on my sleep quality. Now that I sleep, I feel like I am sprinting toward the finish line of healing finally!
So what all did/do I take...
Supplement list of what worked for me that I still take today:
1. Glutathione, high dose, 1tsp 1x daily
2. Glutathione, with cofactors, 5ml 1x daily
3. Digest It All (digestive enzymes, code ANDREA for 15% off) 1-2 capsules per meal
4. Dissolve It All (systemic enzymes, code ANDREA for 15% off) 1-2 capsules at bed time on empty stomach
6. FD Beef Liver (code ANDREA for 15% off) 2-6 capsules daily
7. SunChlorella, 5 tablets daily
8. Shilajit (code ANDREA for 15% off), 2-5 tablets daily
9. CBN (code ANDREA10 for 10% off) 1,200mg, 1 dropper per day
10. Antimicrobials listed below
What would I recommend, in general, to someone who thought they had mold toxicity but couldn't afford $30,000 to spend in 6 months on a functional medicine doctor, therapy tools, and supplements?
Stop the exposure
1. If you have mold in your home, move. I know that's not ideal for most, but if your environment is making you sick you either move or remediate it. Get an ERMI test to know for sure.
2. Go on elimination diet. AIP or Whole30 are great, there is an abundance of free info on these diets on Pinterest and general search engines. Avoid moldy foods like cheese, peanut butter, coffee or switch to mold free coffee, corn (all corn derived products), dried fruit, leavened bread, yeast, mushrooms, pickled items, fermented items, and sugar/sweets. Food is now your medicine, either take medicine that is going to make you well or make you sick.
Back to basics
1. Chronic illness wrecks our nervous system. It's the bear trying to kill us. Even if you don't feel stressed, you are from the mold. Take time to regulate your nervous system. If you don't know how, check out my eBook.
2. Support all detox pathways, especially the liver including all 3 phases, gallbladder, and kidneys. Here is my detox blog.
Go to war against mycotoxins
This is my story, and my cheat sheet for you. Mold took a lot from me, a lot of life, and a lot of money. I hope that sharing my story will help you on your journey, and help you to save some money too. If you can test, do so. Guessing just lengthens the time you'll be sick. All the links to the tests come with a consultation, and you don't need a dr to order them. You can order them and do them at home. If you need additional support, I can help you.
Step 1: test
Step 2: eliminate
Step 3: detox
Step 4: Supplement
Step 5: antimicrobials
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