According to Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, a leading biotoxin researcher with a medical degree from Duke University, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), is the result of chronic inflammation produced by exposure to biotoxins (toxins produced from living organisms) that come from mold (mycotoxins), tick-borne infections like Babesia, dinoflagellates, blue-green algae, some reef fish, and the brown recluse spider. The most common trigger of CIRS is usually the combination of mycotoxins, bacteria, VOCs, chemicals, and other damaging pathogens found within water damaged buildings [1].
Dr. Theoharides at Tufts, who has published nearly 400 peer reviewed papers and is in the top 5% of most quoted authors in pharmacological and immunological journals, has long spoken of the link between mold exposure and mast cell activation [2]. Activation of mast cells would release histamine, along with other inflammatory molecules into the blood stream.
Today I’m interviewing Dana Howell, a patient who has healed herself from mold exposure and subsequent mast cell activation, through her research and with the help of Joe Cohen at Self Hacked. Joe is the person I called on to read my 23 and Me results. I wanted an unbiased view of what was going on and he certainly delivered.
Yasmina:
Dana, please tell us a bit about CIRS.
Dana:
You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook
CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN.
Yasmina: Please tell us a bit about the symptoms and your personal experience with mold exposure. Dana: The average CIRS patient will have about 22 symptoms. The risk of these patients sounding like hypochondriacs is compounded when all traditional lab work returns ‘normal.’ I was one of the lucky genetically predisposed who became sick almost overnight in a very moldy home in Vietnam. It started with drowsiness and itchy skin. From there things went downhill fast. I was standing up talking one morning when I suddenly fainted. I came to with my Vietnamese host mother hovering above me in panic, rubbing tea tree oil on my face. I immediately removed myself from the mold home in Vietnam, but symptoms became more severe as the already absorbed biotoxins continued to recirculate throughout my bloodstream. I thought I was getting better when I suddenly began to get panic attacks (I was never an anxious individual, it was more of a “poison attack”), leading to sunlight sensitivity, extreme sound sensitivity, visual snow, loss of feeling of my left leg, confusion, brain fog, breathing problems, stabbing migraines, GERD, neuropathy, POTS symptoms, seeing make believe images in my peripheral, dizziness, and the worst…a case of 24/7 Depersonalization/Derealization (hallucinations, feeling as if you are on some kind of drug: patterns moving, seeing trails etc.). It’s no wonder LSD came from the grain fungus ergot, eventually triggering the Salem witch trials! All these years later mold is still creating problems, and patients are still being demonized and told it’s all in their head. Yasmina: I’m sorry but I have to butt in quickly: one of my really bizarre symptoms was LSD-like trippiness after eating certain foods. Cashews, vanilla, mushrooms picked freshly from a field in Beirut when I was covering the war spring to mind. Carpet patterns would literally start moving around. My bedroom in Spain growing up was in the basement. It was covered in mold. I still remember the smell. My mother was also a huge advocate of leaving food in the fridge for weeks and totally ignoring the sell-by dates. I still remember her scraping green mold off bread before handing it to me, saying: “Don’t be silly! Where do you think penicillin comes from?!”.You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook
CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN.
——————-REFERENCES——————–
[1] http://www.survivingmold.com/about/ritchie-shoemaker-m-d
[2] http://www.chronicpainpartners.com/free-webinar-mast-cell-disorders-by-dr-theoharis-theoharides-june-2-2015/
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