Archive for the ‘Mold’ Category

May: Lyme Disease Awareness Resources

Lyme Disease Awareness Month 2024

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, a time dedicated to increasing public knowledge about Lyme disease. This month emphasizes awareness on preventing tick bites, recognizing symptoms, and promoting early detection. 

Go here for nifty downloadable posters to share with others.

Go here for more prevention & printouts on how to identify and properly remove ticks, how to protect your pets and yard, learn about Lyme symptoms, as well as get guest blogs on various topics, a community action calendar, and Lyme statistics.

Go here for a free special issue of Lymetimes.

Topics within:

  • All things Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
  • Healing Guide for environmental toxins, Lyme, and EMF’s
  • Connection between mold illness and MCAS
  • Hidden ingredients in pills
  • History of LymeDisease.org

Go here for Upcoming Lyme Awareness Events.

Go here for tick prevention.

Category:

Activism, diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Lyme, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Mold, Supplements, Ticks, Treatment

Power Up Your Mighty Mitochondria

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/mitochondria-dysfunction-repair-lyme  Go here for Video

Power Up Your Mitochondria In Tick Borne Infections and Mold Toxicity Image

Major Update: 2/9/24

Marty Ross, MD Discusses Mitochondria Energy

Mitochondria Create Cell Energy

It is possible to improve your energy and fatigue in chronic Lyme disease, tick-borne infections, mold toxicity, and other illnesses by improving the function of the cell power factories called mitochondria. For many with fatiguing illnesses, the mitochondria get injured and do not produce enough energy. However, there are effective steps that fix the damage and give energy back.

Mitochondria are the energy factories found in every cell in the body. By some estimates, there are nearly 400 per cell. In chronic Lyme disease or in toxicity issues, due to oxidative stress the mitochondria can be injured, leading to fatigue that will not improve. In oxidative stress, chemicals build up that can damage membranes and even the DNA genetic material of mitochondria.

As power factories, mitochondria create a type of cell fuel called ATP. The fuel sources for mitochondria are fat and sugar, and both need to be transported to the inside of the mitochondria. ATP is created when fat and sugar are burned through several chemical reactions called the citric acid cycle and another process called oxidative phosphorylation.

Transport of fat and sugar into mitochondria requires a healthy mitochondria membrane. Oxidative phosphorylation also requires a healthy membrane. When the membranes are injured through oxidative stress, sugar and fat fuel sources for ATP cannot reach the inside of the mitochondria. Electron transfer in oxidative phosphorylation that leads to most ATP production is also blocked. Mitochondria membrane injury leads to low cell ATP and thus, fatigue. (See link for article and video)

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Category:

Activism, diet and nutrition, Lyme, Mold, Supplements, Treatment

Fixing Muscle Wasting in Tick-Borne Infections & Mold Toxicity

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/muscle-wasting-lyme-mold-toxicity-tick-borne-infections

How to Fix Muscle Wasting in Tick-Borne Infections and Mold Toxicity

Causes of Muscle Wasting in Lyme, Tick-borne Infections, & Mold Toxicity

By Dr. Marty Ross

Muscle wasting in tick-borne infections, like Lyme disease, and mold toxicity has a number of different causes.

  1. Increased cytokines from white blood cells fighting the infections or toxins, can lead to muscle wasting.
  2. Decreased physical activity leading to muscle atrophy and loss of muscle mass.
  3. Nerve injury from Lyme and Bartonella leads to muscle mass loss. In addition to sending electric signals that make muscles move, nerves also release chemicals that maintain muscle mass.
  4. Mitochondrial energy factory dysfunction can also lead to muscle mass loss. Mitochondria are the energy factories in each cell.

Fixes for Muscle Wasting

(See link for article)

Category:

Bartonella, Herbs, Inflammation, Lyme, Mold, Supplements, Treatment

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome in Infections & Mold Toxicity

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/mast-cell-activation-syndrome-lyme

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome in Infections & Mold Toxicity

Updated 1/8/24 with a new video and new information on

  • KPV peptide and
  • low dose naltrexone.

What is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome?

Are you reacting to a lot of things that you eat or take for your infections or toxicity? Are your environmental sensitivities or allergies getting worse? It could be Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

Mast cells are immune system cells found throughout the body. In the past, in medicine we thought they were only turned on to release histamines in allergic reactions. However we now know that they are turned on by a host of things like:

  • Lyme and other tick-borne infections,
  • Covid-19,
  • mold toxicity,
  • intestinal yeast overgrowth,
  • things that trigger allergies called allergens,
  • inflammation chemicals called cytokines,
  • drugs,
  • molds and fungae,
  • proteins,
  • toxins,
  • stress through an adrenal gland stimulating chemical called corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH),
  • and viruses.

(See link for article and video)

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Category:

Detoxing, diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Inflammation, Lyme, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Mold, Viruses

Is Your Home Making You Sick? How To Check For Mold

https://www.lymedisease.org/how-to-check-for-mold-iseai/

Is your home making you sick? Here’s how to check for mold.

The International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI) Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) Committee has released a Mold Testing Guide to educate patients with diagnosed or probable environmentally acquired illness.

It includes five common test types, do-it-yourself and professional approaches, and how to get help to assess and improve your home’s indoor air quality.

Environmentally acquired illness (EAI) refers to chronic health problems caused by exposure to unhealthy indoor air, mold and other biotoxins, Lyme disease and other persistent infections, and toxicants found in the environment.

Understanding Mold Exposure and Your Health

Awareness about mold’s effect on human health, and indoor air quality in general, has been increasing over the past few years. Several types of illnesses may be caused by exposure to mold and other toxins in damp buildings and they can often become complex and chronic, with symptoms similar to Lyme disease and its co-infections.

Mold exposure from damp buildings may lead to chronic inflammation and can be a primary exposure factor in the clinical presentation of individuals suffering from a variety of chronic health issues due to environmental exposures.

A medically-sound indoor environmental professional is often needed to help sensitive patients, but worth it. Some patients with Lyme disease may find it more difficult to heal in an unhealthy building that is affected by mold.

Unfortunately, there are currently no US Federal or State regulated levels set for indoor mold exposures and interpretation of environmental sample data can be very subjective and vary from one professional to another.

The Mold Testing Guide can help educate patients and physicians about this important topic.

A Healthy Indoor Environment

ISEAI feels that a healthy indoor environment is free of water damage, fungal and microbial growth, and byproducts of that growth (mycotoxins, mVOCs, fragments).

That said, there is no such thing as a truly “mold free” home, since fungal spores exist in the natural outdoor environment. A goal is to maintain an indoor environment that resembles the natural outdoor environment as much as possible, without undue elevations.

In addition to a thorough visual assessment by a professional, the results of environmental testing such as mold testing may allow sensitive patients to better understand their exposure levels, and take appropriate action if needed.

About ISEAI

ISEAI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization co-founded by 350+ clinician members to raise awareness about the environmental causes of complex chronic illness and to advance the care of patients through clinical practice, education and research. Their vision is a world where a wide range of clinicians have the knowledge and skills to diagnose and treat the root causes of debilitating complex chronic and inflammatory illnesses.

About the IEP Committee

ISEAI’s IEP Committee is a group of highly credentialed and experienced indoor environmental professionals who have specialized experience with medically-sensitive patients. The Committee reports to the ISEAI Board of Directors and provides education to clinicians and the public on topics of mold, indoor air quality and contaminants.

Additional Resources

ISEAI’s Resources Page includes other IEP Committee documents such as the Mold Remediation Factsheet and a directory of medically-sound IEPs and clinicians.

Also read: Finding the Right Indoor Environmental Professional to Assess Your Home.

SOURCE: The International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness

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Category:

Lyme, Mold, Testing, Uncategorized