Me wondering why I look like a zombie before figuring out the house was moldy.
An update:
I am 80% better than 3 months ago when I basically died from living in multiple places with mold in HVACs. I made this website for people who want to know more about it. I recommend you take this mold issue very seriously.
I knew “mold was bad and could cause illness” but that was it. The specialists I spoke to prior to this didn’t understand the extent that mold can damage some people’s immune systems, pretty much permanently without treatment.
It really looks like my family’s food intolerances, environmental allergies, chemical sensitivities, psychiatric illnesses, autoimmune conditions, etc. are from a genetic predisposition causing an immune system that cannot properly identify biotoxins (mold and certain bacteria) after exposure, and eliminate them, causing a permanent inflammatory response.
The Lion Diet helped this an unbelievable amount. I would’ve died without it. Same with my family (my mom and dad both have genes for this. It looked like the diet cured me – until I lived in places that made me unbelievably sick. First Nashville, then Miami. It was pretty scary until I figured out what was going on. After the diet, I have no treatment options. I can’t tolerate medications, diet is my lifeline to not living in pain. And then I got sick again, on the diet that “cured” me after almost 7 years in remission. Terrifying.
The condition is called CIRS – chronic inflammatory response syndrome. If someone has told me I had a chronic inflammatory response syndrome would’ve said – “well yeah, duh.” But this seems to be it. Diagnosed and everything. It’s nasty. But it’s fixable – a total miracle.
Our HVAC (ugh. Keep an eye on your HVACS PLEASE!)
After I found mold in the house I was in, we moved out that day. I started treatment with a prescription binder called cholestyramine and somehow not only was that tolerable/didn’t cause an immune response (after starting very slowly) it actually helped.
I can’t take almost any medication without severe adverse reactions (benzodiazepines give me severe anxiety/insomnia, psych drugs – same thing, over-the-counter pain medication causes pain all over my body, anti-histamines give me crawling sensations all over my body and anxiety and insomnia, I’m allergic to a ton of antibiotics (but not all – keflex and doxycycline seem okay), I’m allergic to shampoo conditioner, soap, scented products give me pain and brain fog, VOCs cause leg numbness. Just forget about being around anything cute and furry, I can’t even go into houses that have animals without touching them, I still get symptoms.
Allergic reactions to everything. This is was a latex free bandaid that stayed on for about 30 seconds.
It’s like being in a bad TV show. If it wasn’t happening to me it would be hard to believe. It has been happening to me for decades and it’s still hard to believe. I have an immune system that reacts to everything that most people can tolerate, at least in small doses. Not that any of the things I listed are good people. It. Is. Wild. That’s why I talk about the role of diet and avoiding toxic products. I feel their impacts more than a normal person but they impact other people too. It’s not just me, I’m just like a live wire for these things.
My face being so puffy I didn’t recognize myself. All the time.
Anyway!!
CIRS treatment, (at least the initial binder) plus being very very mindful of my environment plus the Lion Diet has resolved 80% of my symptoms in a fairly short period of time (2 months) I should be back to podcasting in another month! My parents are going to start treatment after their tour. They’re doing well because of the diet but still aren’t 100%. Compared to pre-diet, different people. But they could be better. Luckily they haven’t been living where I have. We’ll see what happens.
I will literally never let illness take over my life again, or the life of my parents. At least I’ll do everything I possibly can to avoid that. Human bodies can heal, if you can figure out what they need. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s a lie sick people are told constantly.
Before I put my autoimmune disorder into remission the first time with the Lion Diet, I stopped having hope. After I had my hip and ankle replaced when I was 17 I decided to stop hoping, it hurt too much. When I was 21, I changed my mind. When I was 22 I changed my mind even more and decided I was either going to cure myself or I was going to die trying. And I put myself into remission when I was 23.
Recently, the autoimmune symptoms crept back in slowly. I never got as sick as I was prior to the diet but symptoms were slow, insidious, and sneaky. First, a difficult time sleeping, then some muscle fatigue, things normal people have sometimes. Then it progressed into a bit of anxiety, then a bit more, then constant cold symptoms, then digestive issues, and eventually full blown insomnia, fibromyalgia-like pain everywhere, numbness, constant bronchitis, and arthritis. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on. Months.
Super cute bloodshot eyes that stayed that way until out of exposure for 2 months.
I paused the podcast when I finally got too sick to think. My internal dialogue died. I couldn’t walk up stairs. It was NUTS.
Random bruises that wouldn’t heal for months.
Anyway! I’m feeling a lot better!! I do believe that after (finally) identifying the cause of my hypersensitive immune system (CIRS) I’lI be able to calm my immune system down over time and reintroduce some reasonable foods (nothing unhealthy). That might take some time but it’ll come.
I wanted to update you guys because I kind of disappeared for 2 months and remind sick people that they’ve got control here. They just need to figure out what they’re body is screaming at them. Apparently, mine was screaming “be aware of your surroundings and air and don’t fucking live in a moldy house”
I’m putting together a website to help people treat this. I’ve done a ton of research in the last few months. This biotoxin issue impacts a lot of people. I think most people in the health and wellness space are sensitive to these, and using diet to mitigate immune responses. I assume almost all people stuck on a carnivore diet are there because of this too. It’s not rare. The genes are in 24% of the population and between 50-80% of all houses are water damaged. People just don’t know.
I’ll share the website when it’s up, and ways to treat this and remediate your living spaces and working spaces. 76% of people can probably just remediate their house and feel better. The other 24% may need extra help. This is a total game changer for health and I’m going to blow it sky high. Now for the conspiracy theorists:
Home insurance companies donate the second largest amounts of money to the government (republicans and democrats) after pharmaceutical companies. Part of what they do is ask for water damage to not be taken seriously. “Just dry your house, blow a fan at the water you’ll be fine. The worst it does is some sneezing.” Wrong. This is why in the last 15 years they capped water damage insurance. Because this is a massive problem. Like I said, 5o-80% of houses have mold from water damage.
I was told by a doctor that works with the military treating biotoxin illness (CIRS), and he was told that it’ll take a trillion dollars to fix military housing because of the mold issues. They think it contributes to PTSD symptoms.
The government is fully aware this is an issue but they’re too disorganized and crooked to look into it thoroughly. In my opinion, this is as big of an issue for people’s health as lead and asbestos. The website I’m putting up will have links to hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers showing what these biotoxins do.
Funky white stuff after doing EBOO (blood filtration). They can’t identify it but said it was likely mold.
If you guys think I already go ham on psychiatric drugs and the dangers literally nobody is told about (hi here’s a prescription you’ll never be able to get off of if you take it for more than a year without a lot of pain and suffering), or the food pyramid scam that’s killed millions of people (animal products are bad here survive on our healthy cereal, seed oils, and high carb processed foods)…
Just wait. From the research I’ve done, this is even worse.
I’m (almost) back baby
Mikhaila, can you post all the pictures you have of the mold or is it just the one picture of the HVAC blower?
Has anyone been on the antibiotic Metronidazole since your illness?
I was on 500mg for 10 days and I was able to eat a lot of different foods including a couple bites of bread with no ill side effects. Once I was done the treatment this quickly wore off unfortunately.
Praise the Lord, you’re healing!! I’m a couple weeks in on my CIRS treatment (taking the cholestyramine) and your update gives me hope, thank you!
My husband and two boys (4 and 6) likely have it as well. How is your daughter doing?
Keep after it! We live in a society that overvalues houses and undervalues the humans that live inside them. I have been on this same healing journey for nearly 6 years. Most people that become aware of mold contributing to their failing health feel very alone. Keep using your platform to bring awareness. I wish you and your family a speedy recovery.
Thank you for speaking up about this issue. I am traditionally educated in the Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary medicine, yet my belief in the valid, scientific research regarding environmental illness and our toxic food supply often gets me labeled a “conspiracy theorist”. People don’t want to believe the buildings they inhabit, the chemical fragrances they equate to cleanliness, and the heavily processed food they consume for convenience could possibly pose serious health threats. Most individuals would rather take a pill than shatter the paradigm of their reality. They want to believe the world, and especially the medical profession, is on their side, and they don’t want to become an outcast. Like you, I developed chronic illness at a young age, was “diagnosed” with incurable, idiopathic illness, and was forced to learn and adapt if I wished to survive. Like you, I thought I had finally regained my health until moldy housing took it all away again. I appreciate that you have been so outspoken about the impact of diet on your health; it has given me another avenue to attempt to heal my overactive immune system. I wish you the best of luck in your journey, and please feel free to reach out if you wish to speak to someone with a similar life experience.
Hi
I have been following you for years and I was really convinced that the lion diet is helpful for people with unknown chronic issues. Which was very hard for me to believe, because I have been vegetarian since birth. However, you seem to have continued exacerbations, made worse by allergies and mold. So I’m leaning more towards the plant based side like medical medium. Lots of people with chronic, unexplainable diseases and autoimmune issues have improved by following him and they seem to have less flareups. I know plants make things worse for you. These ppl also have lots of sensitivities. So medical medium ( i know i hate the name too, but its the guy who started it), he states you have to feed your body with only glucose and electrolytes in the beginning but it has to be bioavailable. So only celery juice and some juices in the beginning. Then mono meals and slowly introduce things. His theory also makes sense, about liver unable to detoxify etc. Anyways, i just though I should share since you seem to be one of the few ppl who is willing to experiment and try everything and actually look at the science behind things and are not about being dogmatic etc. Good luck on this crazy journey, I look forward to seeing you solve these issues that are affecting more and more people. You are so brave and I am honored to follow along. Best of luck!
Leave a comment