After 15 years and treating over a thousand CIRS patients, I can tell you with certainty that the biggest obstacle to getting patients well is neglecting step 1, removing yourself from exposure. This is the same problem for every doctor and healthcare provider dealing with CIRS patients around the world. Since those of us certified in the Shoemaker protocol collaborate daily by email and meet regularly for conferences, I can assure you this is the number one problem.
As mentioned in the article (Living in a Toxic Soup), the issue with water damaged buildings (WDB) is not as straightforward as we thought it to be just a few years ago. This is not “Mold Illness”. This is Biotoxin Illness, caused by 30 different organisms, toxins and inflammagens found in WDB’s. In order to correctly diagnose and treat the problem with my patients, I have to also deal with their home and work environments or they will not make significant and permanent progress in healing from CIRS. To do that, I rely on Environmental professionals to assist in their care. It takes a team to defeat this illness. CIRS coaches are also critical to help patients navigate through the many steps of treatment and questions they have about remediation of their environments.
Here are the things I have patients do to address the first step of the protocol as listed in my treatment handout:
Go to the website for Environmentalanalytics.net, the home of Michael Schrantz, CIEC. He is the Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) Dr Gruning uses to coordinate investigation and remediation of your environments. Fill out the contact us form and mention you are my patient. His office will contact you (likely via email) and set up a virtual consultation to thoroughly review your situation. He will then provide appropriate “next steps”, including the possible collection of specific tests to obtain on your home/work environment and how to correctly sample them. During your consultation he will likely address whether you should execute an inspection and/or remediation (to be determined based on your unique situation). Follow-up consultations are also available with Michael (if/as needed) to help you make sure that your environment is safe enough so you can begin to heal.
The only “gold standard” test for indoor environments is msqpcr dust sampling; spore trap and Petri dish sampling is historically limited and certainly not consistent with the preferred method of sampling recommended following the Shoemaker protocol for Biotoxin treatment. ERMI looks at 60 molds; a smaller HERTSMI-2 kit only looks at 5 mold species, but is predictive of the safety of the environment for a CIRS patient concerned about mold exposures. However, mold toxins only account for <10% of the sickness caused by a WDB; Actinomycetes and bacterial endotoxins account for 80%. Envirobiomics.com has a dust test (#7) for HERTSMI-2, bacterial endotoxins and Actinomycetes; the cost is about $500. Do not order this test until you have had your consultation with Michael Schrantz.
Contact an HVAC contractor that is experienced in dealing with CIRS patients. This is a critical step since up to 75% of the patient problems Dr Gruning sees come from contaminated HVAC systems. Even new systems can become sick within a few months. The system must be carefully evaluated and treated. We will give you contact information for a local company, Cool Air, that Dr. Gruning has trained to care for his patients. If you use a different contractor, you will be responsible for ensuring that they are experienced in the care of CIRS patients and their unique needs.
You will not get permanently better with the treatment protocol if you continue to be exposed to toxic mold spores and fragments, bacteria, toxins and inflammagens in your living/work environment.
Air filters can be very helpful to decrease your symptoms and immune dysfunction. The one Dr Gruning recommends is from Air Oasis and is called I-Adapt Air. It generates ions that neutralize the organisms in the air, as well as HEPA filtration to remove them and charcoal to remove VOC’s. It has been studied with CIRS patients and can reduce the symptoms and improve the physiological changes that occur with CIRS. It will even improve the VCS test results within a few hours. Place it in your living area and move it into the bedroom at night to blow clean directly on you while you sleep.
Again, if you are dealing with CIRS, this is the most important step to getting well. Don’t ignore it. Don’t put your head in the sand and pretend this can’t be happening in your home. It probably is. Once addressed, then we can make great progress in your healing from CIRS and restoring you back to a functional life.