The Dangers of Indoor Mold (sinus, allergy, infection, skin)
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This document, already 10 years old, is a Statement by Dr. Stephen C. Redd, Chief, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, National Center for Environmental Health at the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in the state of Georgia.
Here's an article written by Dr. Joseph Mercola which goes in detail about how fungus can affect us. For those that are not familiar with Dr. Mercola you can see his qualifications here. I know that inspite of that some have already called him a "quack" but opposition usually results in derogatory criticism so it should not be a surprise. Anyway, I've been reading his articles on/off for at least 10 years so obviously I like most of what he has to say.
Since I am a strong advocate for people taking an active role in their own health, I suggest that you continue reading on this subject as knowledge is power, there is a ton of information out there but you have to look for it.
Ah, and in case anyone's wondering, the reason I'm sharing this is because my own health deteriorated because of exposure to mold and excessive growth of the yeast Candida Albicans, causing even what doctors speculated was "chronic hepatitis of unknown origin" (they didn't really know for sure...) and although I've made considerable progress I still haven't completely recovered, but my first step was to move out of the old house where I lived which I was sure had a lot of "hidden" mold.
This document, already 10 years old, is a Statement by Dr. Stephen C. Redd, Chief, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, National Center for Environmental Health at the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in the state of Georgia.
Here's an article written by Dr. Joseph Mercola which goes in detail about how fungus can affect us. For those that are not familiar with Dr. Mercola you can see his qualifications here. I know that inspite of that some have already called him a "quack" but opposition usually results in derogatory criticism so it should not be a surprise. Anyway, I've been reading his articles on/off for at least 10 years so obviously I like most of what he has to say.
Since I am a strong advocate for people taking an active role in their own health, I suggest that you continue reading on this subject as knowledge is power, there is a ton of information out there but you have to look for it.
Ah, and in case anyone's wondering, the reason I'm sharing this is because my own health deteriorated because of exposure to mold and excessive growth of the yeast Candida Albicans, causing even what doctors speculated was "chronic hepatitis of unknown origin" (they didn't really know for sure...) and although I've made considerable progress I still haven't completely recovered, but my first step was to move out of the old house where I lived which I was sure had a lot of "hidden" mold.
The first link does not say much except that some people may get sick from mold.
Every house has mold and mildew, whether you can see it or not. The majority of people suffer no ill effects. Where you can see it, it can be removed with common household products, including bleach. Making sure that any moisture problems are dealt with can reduce problems with mold and mildew.
Yes, Mercola is a quack.
So are the folks who mislead people into thinking that if they have a symptom or condition for which no specific diagnosis can be found that it is due to "overgrowth" of Candida.
Just as every house has mold and mildew, if we look hard enough most bodies can be found to have Candida residing in them somewhere, usually not causing any symptoms at all. For women, it is commonly found in the vagina. It may or may not cause vaginitis, with discharge and itching. Taking an antibiotic can alter the normal vaginal ecology and enable Candida to cause symptoms, as can being diabetic or having a condition that alters the immune system, such as HIV or being on chemotherapy for cancer. It can cause thrush and skin infections.
Since pretty much all of us are carrying at least a few Candida organisms, this creates a field day for the quacks to sell everything from colon cleanses to e. coli (yes, I found an online ad for a "probiotic" that contains e. coli). Since it is impossible to avoid exposure to Candida --- it's all around us --- they have a set of permanent customers, which is always great for the bottom line.
Systemic Candidiasis does exist, but if you have it, you are very, very sick. You are not likely to get it if you are not already sick from another major illness, such as cancer, HIV, or receipt of an organ transplant. It will not cause symptoms like chronic fatigue. And if you had it in the liver, you would indeed be seriously ill.
And if you go on the Candida "diet", you are likely to feel better because you reduce sugar intake, not because of any effect on Candida.
Chronic Candidiasis is a manufactured diagnosis. Your second link is to an advertisement for books. Save your money, don't buy them.
The first link does not say much except that some people may get sick from mold.
Every house has mold and mildew, whether you can see it or not. The majority of people suffer no ill effects. Where you can see it, it can be removed with common household products, including bleach. Making sure that any moisture problems are dealt with can reduce problems with mold and mildew.
Yes, Mercola is a quack.
So are the folks who mislead people into thinking that if they have a symptom or condition for which no specific diagnosis can be found that it is due to "overgrowth" of Candida.
Just as every house has mold and mildew, if we look hard enough most bodies can be found to have Candida residing in them somewhere, usually not causing any symptoms at all. For women, it is commonly found in the vagina. It may or may not cause vaginitis, with discharge and itching. Taking an antibiotic can alter the normal vaginal ecology and enable Candida to cause symptoms, as can being diabetic or having a condition that alters the immune system, such as HIV or being on chemotherapy for cancer. It can cause thrush and skin infections.
Since pretty much all of us are carrying at least a few Candida organisms, this creates a field day for the quacks to sell everything from colon cleanses to e. coli (yes, I found an online ad for a "probiotic" that contains e. coli). Since it is impossible to avoid exposure to Candida --- it's all around us --- they have a set of permanent customers, which is always great for the bottom line.
Systemic Candidiasis does exist, but if you have it, you are very, very sick. You are not likely to get it if you are not already sick from another major illness, such as cancer, HIV, or receipt of an organ transplant. It will not cause symptoms like chronic fatigue. And if you had it in the liver, you would indeed be seriously ill.
And if you go on the Candida "diet", you are likely to feel better because you reduce sugar intake, not because of any effect on Candida.
Chronic Candidiasis is a manufactured diagnosis. Your second link is to an advertisement for books. Save your money, don't buy them.
Great post, and I totally agree. As to "Dr. Mercola" - while he posts some articles with a few kernels of truth, most of them are "fear-mongering" and advertising for his miracle products which claim to be suprerior to others on the market and that only his will make you well.
We all have candida in our systems, it is only when it gets out of control that it's a problem. This can happen when we take antibiotics or eat too much sugar/junk food as mentioned above.
Yes, mold is definitely bad, but most of us aren't living in homes that were flooded by storms and can't dry out and the like. Normal everyday mold can be dealt with easily.
Fortunately, I'm very familiar with the IGNORANCE of people who believe the way you both do. I don't care what you think, you can't convince the people who have or have had candida overgrowth, precisely because of the reason you state of antibiotic use, that it's all in our minds, and frankly, who cares what you think?
Honestly, although I never wish evil on anyone this is one case I hope both of you will go through it just so you can see if it's real or not, but of course, due to your own beliefs you'd always think it's something "else" and could go to your graves never knowing what really was wrong with you.
And, oh sure, it's wrong for anyone who practices naturopathy or any alternative healing modality to earn a living out of what they believe but there's nothing wrong for doctors to kill people every year and make many way sicker by the legal prescriptions they write. And there's nothing morally wrong either with the big labs to become excessively rich out of the suffering of millions. But let anyone who discovers something new but controversial to try to sell a book (or several and they're immediately a quack, talk about biased and narrow-minded!
Old houses have mold, but a fairly new house should not, contrary to your know-it-all statement mold is NOT "normal" nor acceptable in a home, especially where there are children, pets, elderly persons or anyone whose immune system might be impaired even in the smallest way. Besides, not all molds are alike, if you've never heard of toxic black mold I think you should do a search. For your information, there is a Yahoo group now inactive called "Toxic Mold & Women" where I read very many horror stories which actually made so it's not just "a few" people who get sick. The group went inactive mainly because most of those women had to seek help from alternative practitioners since MDs don't even have a clue and couldn't help them.
And I do agree that Dr. Mercola get a little carried away with the warnings, for that reason several years ago I stopped receiving his newsletter, but that's probably the way he thinks, anyone who's heard of personality types knows everyone views a different angle on things, but for me that doesn't mean he isn't right about a lot of things. My take is that NO ONE, NO SINGLE DOCTOR OR AUTHORITIY knows everything. I take what makes sense TO ME from different sources. After so many years "connecting the dots" I KNOW I am right about a lot of things and petty opinions from people who have never taken the time to learn and research for themselves cannot possibly change my mind nor influence the way I feel.
So you are both very welcome to remain in your ignorance. I just pray that anyone else who reads this will be smart enough to be curious and cautious enough to protect themselves and LEARN MORE, and it doesn't require buying a single book or product, btw. Whenever there's a book I'm interested in, if my public library doesn't have it I just request it from the inter-library loan FOR FREE!
Did you ever forget a little tub of sour cream or cottage cheese or ever have a little Tupperware container of leftovers get shoved to the back of the fridge for a couple of weeks, then open it and find it covered in fuzzy green or brown or orange stuff? That is mold.
Buy a fresh loaf of bread from a bakery on Friday, leave for the weekend, and find the bread has little green spots on it on Monday? Mold.
Have a shower that never gets to completely dry out between uses and develops black gunk here and there? Common household mildew.
The air we breathe is loaded with mold and mildew spores. There is no way to avoid it, short of living in a sterile bubble. It will come inside on you and your clothing, your pets, and every time you open a door or window.
Old houses have mold and mildew. So do new houses. The amount may vary according to how well the building is maintained, especially with regard to controlling moisture, but it is there.
And most of us happily coexist with it. If it is where we do not want to look at it, we can zap it with any of a number of products from the shelf at the grocery store, repeating as necessary when it inevitably comes back, because it will come back. If you are going to move because of mold and mildew, you might as well go live under a bridge, because there is not a house or apartment that does not have mold or mildew spores in it.
"The term "toxic mold" is not accurate. While certain molds are toxigenic, meaning they can produce toxins (specifically mycotoxins), the molds themselves are not toxic, or poisonous. Hazards presented by molds that may produce mycotoxins should be considered the same as other common molds which can grow in your house. There is always a little mold everywhere - in the air and on many surfaces. There are very few reports that toxigenic molds found inside homes can cause unique or rare health conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss. These case reports are rare, and a causal link between the presence of the toxigenic mold and these conditions has not been proven."
The most common true problem from mold is allergy. If you have an allergy, a doctor can diagnose it. It is no big mystery. Then you have to be more vigorous in finding it and removing it from your home. But to say that doctors do not know anything about it and only naturopaths do is ridiculous.
Every one of us has Candida somewhere --- the mouth, the gut, skin, vagina. If it gets into the lungs or vital organs, it makes you sick. Going-to-the-hospital sick. That is not likely to happen without some serious underlying illness.
The people who want you to believe that vague, non-specific symptoms like fatigue are due to "overgrowth" of Candida are just trying to make a buck from a non-existent malady.
Molds/fungi have a very useful function on this earth, they are the "great recyclers" of all dying matter, so yes, we are "surrounded" by it but it doesn't mean they are all harmless by any means, therefore your statement is very generalized.
That very mold in your refrigerated food can make you very sick over time, what nobody thinks, not even me in years past, is that by the time you see the "green fuzz" on the food the fungus has been there a good while, so if you eat it a day or two before you are already ingesting the mold and its mycotoxins, which at least one of the articles you provide have mentioned. But the only reason why you can say "most people coexist with them happily" is simply because you have not gone deep into this subject and because you trust those who tell you otherwise, so I myself believe you've been sold a bill of goods too, but you're so happy with them that you wouldn't dream of trading them for anything else, even if it meant an improvement for you and your family.
What most people don't know is that we get lots of mycotoxins in our food, especially grains, because of the modern way of storage, and by law a certain amount is "acceptable" (of course, otherwise they'd have to throw it all away!).
And the GREATEST misconception is one that you just cited: that the most common effect to mold/fungi is allergies. Well, I used to believe that for many years, not so anymore. Now I'm convinced that many so-called allergies, except perhaps the one from direct inhalation, are really not such, they are just reactions to the mycotoxins in the foods. I've lived it myself, such reactions which were not the "typical" ones sent me to the ER when I was living in a places that had too much mold AND ate certain things which I later learned to be either loaded with mycotoxins and/or residual antibiotics as in cow's milk .
I suppose you won't argue that the human body cannot deal deal with too many toxins at once but perhaps you'll also have something to say about that. Did the doctors even have a clue what was wrong with me? Not at all! But I thank God for putting people in my path who suggested, what could be wrong with me. And two years ago I moved away from the house where the a/c had spread the mold spores everywhere, I only took with me what fit in my car, most things that could easily be cleaned and made mold-free and I immediately began making improvement, but to this day I still cannot eat a lot of typically mycotoxin heavy goods or I feel sick for days.
An unexpected "side effect" of all my mold/yeast exposure was that I suffered liver damage, which is small wonder as my poor liver was overwhelmed with all those toxins, including those produced by the yeast living inside of me, which, btw, has manifested itself in very many ways so I don't need anyone to "sell me" an idea, what I learned on my own and the evidence spoke for itself.
The reason why some people can tolerate "all that mold/fungus" is because their immune systems are strong, but is that really so with everyone??? Nope, and precisely it's antibiotics which weaken our immunes systems. First by killing the friendly bacteria in our gut, which comprises a large part of our immune system, and secondly because of its own immune-suppressive qualities. Oh sure, there's been many who've tried to deny that but if anyone researches what the anti-rejection medications are made of that are given to transplant patients you will easily see that the main ones are made out of fungi... And I wouldn't call happily to live with a gazillion of conditions which are associated with fungi, for which the believers have been treated and got cured.
History is a very interesting thing, and applying a little logic helps the unbiased mind to understand some things. Auto-immune illnesses were very rare 50-60 years ago, so was the use of antibiotics. Then a time came when doctors, considering them the wonder drug of the century started prescribing them for any kind of infection, without any testing at all. I dare anyone here to tell me how often when you or your kids had a sore throat, a fever, etc. and your doctor first ordered a lab test to "grow" the bacteria to identify the infection before he gave you that Rx for Amoxycilin...). In my own life it didn't happen not even ONCE! I was given antibiotics even for sinus infections, which today most have been proven to be of fungal origin (check the Mayo Clinic itself if you wish!).
I'm glad you mentioned stachybrotis, it is very common and pretty dangerous, so are several of the molds/fungi found in many homes, like penicillium, aspergillus, etc., again DO YOUR RESEARCH! While we can live with a little of everything (even potatoes contain some arsenic as do other common foods...) nobody would be stupid enough to consider it a "safe" substance past certain minute amounts, well, the same thing happens with mold. But you obviously took my post to an extreme, ignoring that there are people living in old houses that have it everywhere, and the people who live in them invariably have several health problems ranging from asthma to arthritis, cancer and heart disease, to name a few.
And you cite Quackwatch? OMG, that's hillarious! That man who calls himself a doctor is the WORST QUACK IMO! I've been observing that site and the man has opposed everything and anything that could possibly help people outside of the legal drugs that some so blindly protect. I read about him at one point of doubt years ago and there's nothing to support his credibility, to the contrary, I strongly believed that he is being paid to write all the nonsense he publishes there, and if you don't know any better because of the convoluted language he uses he'll convince you.
It's not to say that I haven't seen some "way-out" alternative therapies out there that I've raised an eyebrow at, but I have to say that even some of those work for some, perhaps because they believe in them (and I have a different theory that is not relevant to this post), after all, in every study the "placebo" effect has been found to be very real.
But you know what, let's stop this right here and let's just agree to disagree. If you keep this up everyone will notice that you're following my every post as if you'd had nothing better to do but I'm sure you do...
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