I pray you are doing well after Hurricane Irma. We stayed in Fort Myers and are all fine, thank the Lord. My home is ok, but I have lots of big trees down and my neighborhood flooded. My office has some leaks and wet carpet. I was able to reopen my office Friday and saw some patients. I hope to open our free clinic this Tuesday night. All in all, I feel very blessed, but I know so many others are struggling.
After the storm, and the flooding, there should be concerns about toxic mold. I am being asked a lot of questions about that since I specialize in the care of those with Biotoxin illness, caused by toxic molds, and am one of the only Drs in SW Florida doing this. Now if you have not been tested for the genetics for this disorder, then you don’t know much about this. Toxic mold is one of the inflammagens that grows inside a water damaged building. We now have plenty of those in SW Florida!
If you are living in a wet environment, and you start to not feel well, or you were not well before and now are getting worse, then you need to learn about this condition. It only takes 48 hours for wet drywall to grow toxic molds. Wet carpet and cloth furniture also breeds them. Leaks in the ceiling can harbor all kinds of toxic organisms behind them. Once the power comes back on and the central air starts running, it picks up the mold spores and distributes them all over your home or business. Now, the entire structure is contaminated.
Biotoxin Illness is technically called Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, or CIRS. 24% of the US population is genetically susceptible to toxic molds and can get very ill from them. I am one of them, a 4-3-53. That means I can’t kill these organisms when they enter my body and they live inside forever, producing a neurotoxin that is potent enough to be used as a biological warfare weapon. This toxin poisons the brain and causes all kinds of hormone disruptions and symptoms.
CIRS is a multisystem, multisymptom illness. Fatigue is a prominent complaint. Pain all over, as in Fibromyalgia, can result. Autoimmune disorders are common, as is Leaky Gut Syndrome and headaches. Strange neurological symptoms that defy testing are also common. Brain fog can be debilitating, resembling dementia at times.
There is a screening test for this disorder that is very accurate. You can do a VCS test at VCStest.com on your computer. It is 98.6 % accurate if the symptoms are present. There is an effective detoxification protocol that I use in my practice and free clinic for patients with this disorder. It was developed by Richie Shoemaker and you can check out his website at survivingmold.com; it is the premier place in the world for accurate information on CIRS and toxic mold illness.
Don’t believe the remediation and air conditioning people when they say they don’t see any mold. Make them take pictures and show you. Assume the worst if the area was wet for over 48 hours as it may be hard to see visually. Get it properly remediated with a containment zone under negative pressure and HEPA air scrubbers. Check yourself for symptoms and using a VCS test. Call my office if you are having symptoms or fail the test.
God bless you as you recover from Irma. Stay safe and be cautious.