Recovering From Toxic Mold: The Missing Link

I want to make it clear, I am not here to sell you expensive potions, lotions, supplements, drugs, and pretty little packaged green smoothies.

As a mold-injured patient advocate, I can’t tell you how annoyed I get from seeing mold experts pushing these things on people for the benefit of their bottom line, rather than the benefit of you and I.

Once you are able to fully understand toxic mold, not as an allergy, but the complexity of how it can be linked to seemingly every known illness taught in medical school, and what to do to mitigate exposures, I can guarantee you that you will be able to re-enter society as a functioning human being, able to pursue your goals and passions once again.

The discovery began with Erik Johnson, ex-nuclear missile launch specialist, author, citizen scientist, and activist. His training in biological warfare is the essence of what has helped many who decided to reclaim their health and their lives by embarking on the journey of mold avoidance.

Let’s nip the, “mold is everywhere,” statement in the bud.

No, toxic mold is not everywhere and yes, avoiding toxic mold is possible. Try it before knocking it.

Moving along — if you are unfamiliar with Erik’s story, you can find it here. After a mysterious flu hit his small town of Incline Village, Nevada, he noticed that many who failed to recover were being exposed to sick buildings, that later launched a famous syndrome known as Chronic Fatigue. In case you are unaware, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is mold illness; no exceptions.

If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, it’s because they, #1) unaware of the history that started CFS, or #2) know the history and is behaving fraudulently in order to pursue their own special interests.

Now ladies and gentleman, I do apologize for the click baity title, but let’s get real here, it’s click baity in order to grab your attention to this key aspect of recovering from mold exposure. That key aspect is contamination. To capture what is meant by this, we will use the wisdom of Webster — the dictionary that is.

To contaminate may imply the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filth. The exact opposite meaning of this verb is to decontaminate, or purify.

As I like to say, it’s that easy and that complicated at the same time.

This is what we often see within the patient population and that is, the lack of understanding of how to navigate extraneous contamination in their day to day environments. We believe this lack of knowledge is what keeps people ill, spinning in a loop, blaming anything and everything as cause — even “energy vampires.”

Erik found that through rigorous experimentation, that if he could mitigate exposure to Stachybotrys and its residual contamination, that he could mitigate other issues like sensitivity to fragrances, chemicals, pesticides, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, and food allergies.

Talk about progress!

This has been validated by many other extreme mold avoiders. You can view their testimonies here.

Now, let’s get to the specifics. In our latest Facebook LIVE chat, we talked extensively about mitigating mold contamination in order to heal. If you are mold injured and have been doing everything in your power to get well and are lacking progress, this information is for you. The most important aspects of controlling contamination are:

• Leave behind items (either throw away or store in a storage locker) that were in a moldy location. We often see advice on cleaning items, and want to send out a warning that this is not always effective. If you and your family members are gravely ill from mold exposure, it is highly recommended that you leave behind items that were exposed to a moldy home/location in order to jump start healing. We find this to be an issue with people who move, take their items with them, and do not notice a change in their health status (rather a decline).
• Begin experimentation to better understand your symptoms and reactions when in proximity to contaminated items. When Erik was on his deathbed, diagnosed with CFS, he could not afford the expensive experimental treatments that were offered at the time the syndrome was discovered. What he noticed was a change in his symptoms when his mom dragged him out of the house and into the mountains of Lake Tahoe. So, he sealed up a piece of drywall with Stachybotrys growing on it, in a HEPA vacuum bag, and took it out to the Nevada desert. He conducted proximity experiments, noticing how he felt every time he walked near the piece of contaminated drywall. He later used these symptoms as a guide, an indicator, that he was in a bad zone and would have to leave.
• Another aspect to Erik’s experimentation was the discovery of how sticky Stachybotrys toxins are. He found that by simply walking into a building that was contaminated by this particular mold, that these toxins would stick to his hair, clothing, skin, etc. Through his biological warfare training, he knew that Stachybotrys was behaving similar to a nerve agent, and that the appropriate way of handling a nerve agent is setting a decontamination protocol in place. By understanding his symptoms and the properties of this nerve like agent, he knew that any time he was exposed, that he would have to remove his clothing and take a shower immediately in order to remove this agent from his body and stop it from wreaking havoc on his body. This worked for him and many others who have decided to conduct strict mold avoidance.

These are some examples of strategies that you can use and experiment with as you continue on your healing journey. I’d say, what do you have to lose if you haven’t lost everything already?

This information and training is what sets us apart from other mold experts because we understand that healing happens beyond sweating, supplementation, and nutrition. Continuous experimentation and navigating your environments using your senses is going to take you farther along the healing journey quicker than any magic potion.

Let us help you get there by building a decontamination strategy that works for your situation: exposingmold.com/consultations. As Erik likes to say, let us help you, “develop strategic perceptification through situational awareness.” 🙂

Writer: Alicia Swamy, Vice President, Exposing Mold Inc.