On April 25th we had a 4 hr. doctors appointment with Dr. Janette Hope M.D., President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and toxic mold survivor. All aspects of Larry's life (childhood, work environment, home environment etc.) and symptoms were taken into account.
We have now been on the treatment plan for almost a month. When we first walked away from Dr. Hope's office our heads were just swimming with an enormous amount of information including a 6 page treatment plan. Even though this treatment plan sounded overwhelming at first, we are starting to wrap our heads around it and believe we are having great success with the aspects of it that we have been able to apply thus far.
Following is a brief summary of his treatment plan and a few other inclusions that we have learned along the way. It is important to understand that most people that experience mold poisoning also develop chemical sensitivity. Larry has already had 3 severe bouts of this where he was like the "bionical" man of smells and was very sensitive to smells that could not be sensed by the normal person. These bouts of his when on for as long as a week and can become permanent.
1. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS
A. Avoidance of exposure to water-damaged environments and/or moldy environments, including home, work place, school, car and other settings and items that have been exposed to these settings.
Note: We were fortunate to get out of our water-damaged environment in only seven months. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to completely rid ourselves of all of the items that were in the water damaged environment. It is very interesting that a large majority of the "experts" in our society do not believe in "toxic mold poisoning", but the insurance companies all have exclusions for it. We were renters at the time of damage and we paid to have our things protected by renters insurance, but we have no coverage because of this exclusion. Larry has been camping out since his last release from the hospital and I have been working hard to get our house cleaned out (mostly the bedrooms at this point) of most of our belongings except for the essentials so that he can come home to a clean environment.
B. Avoidance of exposures to: pesticides of any sort, solvents/VOCs, smoke of any kind, plastics including eating or drinking from plastic, heavy metals, dry cleaning or locations near dry cleaners and most importantly any environment that makes you feel ill or unwell!
Note: The pesticides one is a tricky one for us with us owning a feed store.
C. Use non-toxic items like baking soda, vinegar, Bon Ami non-chemical abrasive cleaner and 20 Mule Team borax for cleaning and laundry.
Note: We were already in the process of switching over to non-toxic cleaning items. One product that I also use for cleaning is colloidal silver (a natural antibacterial). If you go to norwex.biz they make cleaning rags, wash cloths and towels with the silver already in them. They also have a really neat window cleaning and mopping system.
D. Organic diet to minimize exposure to pesticides and other contaminants.
Note: I buy as much as I can organic and I also do a lot of my cooking out of Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions". I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone. It is full of so much valuable information.
E. Evaluation and control of any documented excess EMF exposures.
Note: A book could be written about this whole subject. An excellent book that Dr. Hope recommended that I have ordered is called "Prescriptions for a Healthy House" and they have a lot of good info. on EMF exposures.
F. Glass (corning visionware) or ceramic-lined cast iron cookware. Avoid non-stick/Teflon coating and aluminum. Stainless steel may leach nickel which can be problematic for some with allergies and autoimmune conditions.
Note: These are very similar recommendations to Sally Fallon's cookware recommendations. I also bake with stoneware.
G. Triple element air filter including HEPA, carbon and zeolite to minimize expsure to particulates and VOCs, especially in the bedroom (NO ozone).
Note: A great place to order a good one of these is on Dr. Ray's website toxic-black-mold-syndrome.com. They are about $650 each and I need two for my house so I am trying to get some money together to pay for them. We have ordered one for our feed store to help reduce the toxic load at work.
H. Create a "bedroom sanctuary". Uncarpeted room with healthy, non-contaminated bedding and knick-knacks, or keep these items primarily in solid wood or glass cabinets.
I. Filter drinking, bathing and washing water.Whole house water filter with additional drinking water filter is best. Alternatively, drinking water filter and chlorine water filter for shower.
J. If outdoor air quality is good, spend as much time possible outdoors.
K. Spend time daily in the sun without sunblock. If a sunblock is needed, use a barrier non-nano particle sunblock such as zinc, rather than a chemical sunblock.
Note: I ordered some of this off of badgersport.com
2. SEQUESTERING AGENTS
A. Cholestyramine (by prescription--this is also available with no additives, but it is very expensive and most insurances will not cover it)
B. Charcoal
3. GLUTATHIONE (glutathione protects cells against free radicals that cause oxidation damage, neutralizes/removes toxins and enhances immune function)
A. Readisorb Glutathione in glass bottle. This is liquid medication and can be ordered directly by going to readisorb.com
B. Nasal glutathione
C. Nebulized glutathione
D. Transdermal glutathione
Note: The last 3 forms of glutathione are by prescription only and have to be made in a sterile compounding pharmacy. Unfortunately, our insurance only covered $13 of our $500 bill (Grrrrrr!)
Also, our family has had great success with "protandim" an all natural herbal supplement that upregulates glutathione in the body (visit abcliveit.com to view a dateline that aired about this product). If interested in ordering please visit my website at lifevantage.com/jillward.
4. UPPER RESPIRATORY CARE
A. Saline nasal rinse with Neti Pot 2-4 times per day.
B. Nasal Itraconazole (this is another prescription only med that is made at the sterile compounding pharmacy).
5. SKIN CARE
A. Collective wellbeing Charcoal body wash
Note: We really like this soap, it just takes some getting used to washing in black soap.
6. SAUNA/EXERCISE
A. Exercise as tolerated. Exercise to sweat if able to tolerate.
B. Sauna therapy (I believe that this type of therapy will be beneficial to our family for many reasons. When I have the money, I plan to order one off of the heanenlyheat saunas website).
C. Warm epsom salt baths with filtered water.
7. DIET
A. Trial of gluten-free diet
B. Trial of dairy-free diet
C. Fermented foods (homemade yogurts or kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee)
D. Increase consumption of foods with natural anti-fungal properties such as garlic and coconut.
E. Increase consumption of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage)
8. SUPPLEMENTS
Dr. Hope has him on 15 different supplements:
1. Vitamin C
2. Fish oil (Carlson's brand oil or Nordic Nturals Capsules)
3. Magnesium
4. Vitamin D3
5. Coenzyme B Complex (Country Life)
6. CoQ10
7. Zinc
8. Acetyl L Carnitine
9. Phosphatidyl serine
10.KPAX
11.Hydrolyzed Whey Protein
12.Probiotics
13.Sacchromyces boulardii
14. Methyl B12
15. Freeze dried Acai powder
At first all of this information seemed so overwhelming. It has taken reading the treatment plan over and over and doing some of my own research to make sense of everything.
One of the most helpful things that I did was go and get a pill sorter so that I could organize his medicines. This treatment plan has taken a lot of dedication and work on both of our parts, but we are seeing some amazing results that I will write about in my next post so it is very worth the time and effort!
No comments:
Post a Comment