How To Locate And Destroy Mold

[tara]

If you are feeling ill then you can take a visual contrast test online VCSTest.com: Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) Test and look into the Dr Shoemaker treatment protocol.

It looks as though that VCS test identifies neurological deterioration, right? Is there anything about it that distinguishes mold or anything else as the cause?
I don't doubt that mold toxin poison can have serious effects, but it's not always the only candidate.

 

[x-ray peat]

It looks as though that VCS test identifies neurological deterioration, right? Is there anything about it that distinguishes mold or anything else as the cause?
I don't doubt that mold toxin poison can have serious effects, but it's not always the only candidate.

That's certainly true on its own, but taken together with a history of exposure to mold and the existence of other mold symptoms, it provides a very reliable screening tool for mold toxicity. There are then several blood tests one could take. The VCS test is also useful to measure progress in recovery.

Of course finding a Doctor to take any of this seriously is the bigger challenge.

 

[tara]

... and the existence of other mold symptoms ...

What are the other mold symptoms?

 

[x-ray peat]

Symptoms Of Mold Exposure | Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker - Surviving Mold

 

[tara]

Symptoms Of Mold Exposure | Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker - Surviving Mold

Most of those look very general - are any of them particularly associated with mold, as opposed to other illnesses?
If there is indication of some of the low metabolism symptoms, and some of the neurological/cognitive difficulties, why mold as opposed to hypothyroid and/or diabetes and/or alzheimers, allergies, etc etc ....?

 

[smith]

Those symptoms are VERY general as tara said. Makes you wonder how many of these seemingly dedicated informational sites exist mostly just to sell a marginally effective supplement or set of information after scaring you into thinking you have a problem that's serious enough to require that you buy one.
More general (and commonly experienced) symptoms = more customers.

Many people take the VCS test with only good news, but in the words of @akgrrrl ,

Symptomology can arrive even 7 to 10 years after exposure.

Intense.
By the way, please keep us updated and thanks for the informative post, I didn't miss it. Looks like garlic is a cheap biofilm disruptor. Natural Anti-Biofilm Agents

 

[x-ray peat]

Most of those look very general - are any of them particularly associated with mold, as opposed to other illnesses?
If there is indication of some of the low metabolism symptoms, and some of the neurological/cognitive difficulties, why mold as opposed to hypothyroid and/or diabetes and/or alzheimers, allergies, etc etc ....?

Very true. I think that's why so few Doctor's take it seriously or take the time to diagnose it. But again I think a combination of an exposure history, failed VCS test, some of the symptoms and lab tests for antibodies is a good place to start. Improvement of symptoms once mold is remediated or avoiding exposure would confirm it. Someone with hypothyroid or other issue may have some of those symptoms but they wouldn't have the other indicators.

 

[shepherdgirl]

Concrobium.

 

[Lutzzy]

Very true. I think that's why so few Doctor's take it seriously or take the time to diagnose it. But again I think a combination of an exposure history, failed VCS test, some of the symptoms and lab tests for antibodies is a good place to start. Improvement of symptoms once mold is remediated or avoiding exposure would confirm it. Someone with hypothyroid or other issue may have some of those symptoms but they wouldn't have the other indicators.

Know the Cause with Doug Kaufman is a big believer in the fact that mold and fungus are at the root of all our problems. He has many books and followers.....The new Keurig coffee maker is a mold motel as the water never completely leaves the maker it always has some in the maker to mold. For that reason we have one sitting in the box unopened as I am not fond of mold.

 

[Dave Clark]

Know the Cause with Doug Kaufman is a big believer in the fact that mold and fungus are at the root of all our problems. He has many books and followers.....The new Keurig coffee maker is a mold motel as the water never completely leaves the maker it always has some in the maker to mold. For that reason we have one sitting in the box unopened as I am not fond of mold.

On the Keurig, I bought one, mostly for the convenience of making coffee for guests. I use distilled water in the unit, I also put a bit of colloidal silver in the water, just to keep it stable. I was shocked when I walked by it one day and saw mold growing on the top of the water (the water reservoir is clear on the side of the unit). I have never in my life seen mold grow on water, not even after storing water in containers for months. There is something freaky not-good about these units, to cause that to happen. I think I will loose my unit.

 

[InChristAlone]

On the Keurig, I bought one, mostly for the convenience of making coffee for guests. I use distilled water in the unit, I also put a bit of colloidal silver in the water, just to keep it stable. I was shocked when I walked by it one day and saw mold growing on the top of the water (the water reservoir is clear on the side of the unit). I have never in my life seen mold grow on water, not even after storing water in containers for months. There is something freaky not-good about these units, to cause that to happen. I think I will loose my unit.

Mold will grow with the tiniest amount of organic matter and with tap water you will develop some scum over time in any water lines that sit for periods of time. It happened in the fittings of my reverse osmosis filter. I am thinking of just making fresh distilled water. Then you know exactly what your water has. Pretty much nothing.

 

[x-ray peat]

Know the Cause with Doug Kaufman is a big believer in the fact that mold and fungus are at the root of all our problems. He has many books and followers.....The new Keurig coffee maker is a mold motel as the water never completely leaves the maker it always has some in the maker to mold. For that reason we have one sitting in the box unopened as I am not fond of mold.

Ill check that site out. thanks

The leaching from the Keurig plastic cups and other exposed plastic may be a bigger health issue than the mold.

 

[smith]

#Peaty anti-fungals

Too bad SSKI permanently destroys thyroid; that's touted as a miracle killer for everything,
including politically-incorrect diseases like Morg's

.............

 

[IWishIWasRich]

I believe there is black mold in the sliding doors of the shower, maybe in other places, I dont know what the **** to do, there is no ventilation in my bathroom other than a small grate in the wall.

My mom cleans the bathroom with bleach but its impossible to completely remove it, the sliding doors specially are black on the corners it doesnt look good.

I wish I was rich to have a house with a big window to the outside, I would be able to nuke all bacteria and viruses safely running an ozone machine but I can't risk doing that in a flat with a poor ventilation.

 

[bistecca]

There isn't an easy answer to this question. I live in an old (early 1900's) apartment and it has a lot of challenges. We don't SEE any mold, but we notice a lot of bad smells coming from various points. We have an exhaust fan in the bathroom, and that keeps interior mold from developing on anything. We also have a large dehumidifier(a couple hundred dollars) which does a great job of removing interior moisture and keeping things dry.. But there are still challenges with old houses which relate to how they are constructed. Old homes are very air-permeable. Ours is built above ground on a concrete foundation with a crawl space. There is no insulation or air or water barrier between the crawl space and the floor of our living space. So it's basically just crawlspace-subfloor(plywood?)-carpet-living space. The crawl space, in the summer, gets as humid as the outside air, which can be very high for long periods of time. It's well known that moisture in hot humid air will condense on cool surfaces, like the bottom of the subfloor in the crawlspace, which is cooled by the airconditioning in our apartment. Well if you have an exhaust fan, you create a vacuum in your apartment and pull in air from outside.. Guess where it comes from in our apartment? The crawlspace, which probably has all sorts of mold growing on the framing and the subfloor. There is also radon to be concerned about.. In the winter, when it is hot and humid inside in comparison to outside, you have air pushing out through the house and the moisture from inside condenses on the interior walls and framing of the house as it contacts the portions cooled by the exterior air. There you have more opportunity for mold to grow. So the questions arises of how to build a safe house..? There are a lot of different perspectives on that question. In the past, we used materials that were not as sensitive to moisture as those we use today. Stone, Cement, old growth timber, plaster. The houses were also more capable of breathing, which allowed moisture to either dry to the outside during the winter when the heat is cranking, or dry to the inside in the summer when the heat is beating down on the outside of the house. Today houses are more air tight(tyvek home wrap and insulation) and the materials (plywood, OSB oriented strand board, new growth low density timber, drywall, etc) are much more moisture sensitive. The rules today require you to build homes that are more air tight, insulated and energy efficient. Old moisture resistant materials are also more expensive compared to new stuff. The answer? Maybe build smaller homes with higher quality materials? Use materials that aren't moisture sensitive?(rockwool, stone) Abide by the efficiency, air-tightness, insulation rules, but control the airflow into your house through specific portals and dehumidify that air with a high powered whole-home dehumidifier.

I don't have an answer to your specific problem, but as time goes by, if you consider all these challenges, you'll be able to make more educated decisions with respect to rentals and buying or building a home.. If you want to learn more, google for stuff from Joe Lstiburek or Matt Risinger, both of whom are building industry professionals and have lots of stuff on the web to read/watch about building safe, quality homes.

 

[energyandstruct]

My family normally makes coffee cold brew and I always find that it smells moldy to me, and has odd layer in top of it. Anyone experience this issue,? We may also have mold in our house. Mold avoidance doesn’t seem feasible and perhaps the answer is to treat inflammatory response —mast cells, tgf beta, etc ?

 

[Dave Clark]

My family normally makes coffee cold brew and I always find that it smells moldy to me, and has odd layer in top of it. Anyone experience this issue,? We may also have mold in our house. Mold avoidance doesn’t seem feasible and perhaps the answer is to treat inflammatory response —mast cells, tgf beta, etc ?

I agree, I live in a house that was in the Agnes flood of 1972, and had mini-flooding issues over the years because it is next to a creek. I would love to move, primarily to get out of the flood zone, and because I think there is hidden mold in the house that coud be behind some of my health issues. But to your point, most people can't just pack up and move, so we are going to have to rely on treating the responses. I personally am very cynical about buying houses since you never know what you are in for: hidden mold, cell tower goes up next to your house shortly after moving in, flooding in your new area that historically never happened, bad neighbors, local government turning bad, etc., etc, etc. The more new buildings are being built with pro-mold materials instead of mold resistant materials (i.e. plaster replaced with dry wall, etc.) the more you see places with mold issues on the news (three schools in my area were temorarily shut down for mold issues this year). They say this cheap Chinese dry wall grows mold like a petri dish, but everybody loves cheap until this type of stuff happens. Anyone intersted should watch this: https://blog.bulletproof.com/moldy-movie-coming-soon/

 

[Beastmode]

Ray Peat email to me about mold removal:

"An ozone generator and/or bright ultraviolet light are safe to use when you can leave the room closed for a few hours. I don’t think spore exposure is very harmful, unless a person has a very specific allergy."

 

[Dave Clark]

Ray Peat email to me about mold removal:

"An ozone generator and/or bright ultraviolet light are safe to use when you can leave the room closed for a few hours. I don’t think spore exposure is very harmful, unless a person has a very specific allergy."

I suppose he may be right since it is the mycotoxins, not the spores that do the damage. However, if you have spores, you have mycotoxins. I have read that ozone generators were over rated since they kill the spores but don't get rid of the mycotoxins that they produce, although as I just mentioned, less spores, less mycotoxins, I presume. Anyway, I want to believe they can help and may get one to try: https://www.promolife.com/clean-air/ozone-air-purifiers/

 

[Beastmode]

I suppose he may be right since it is the mycotoxins, not the spores that do the damage. However, if you have spores, you have mycotoxins. I have read that ozone generators were over rated since they kill the spores but don't get rid of the mycotoxins that they produce, although as I just mentioned, less spores, less mycotoxins, I presume. Anyway, I want to believe they can help and may get one to try: https://www.promolife.com/clean-air/ozone-air-purifiers/

I imagine he's speaking from experience, but I didn't ask him if he had this specific problem. Ray's replies have typically been spot on for anything I asked him and applied thus far. Regarding the mold, I haven't tried this specific suggestion yet so I'll report back when I do.