Detection of Mycotoxins in Patients with CFS

[out2lunch]

@Ifish - which sauna do you use?

I have a tent version but Brewer was favoring the dome styles when I met with him a couple weeks ago. After looking into it a bit, it does seem the domes expose much more of the body to the FIR. My tent really just gets my back and shoulders leaving my legs, front torso, and head not even close to the heaters (I'm now understanding that you want the FIR heaters within a few inches of your skin). But shelling out the $2,000 for the dome recommended by Brewer isn't an option at this point....

Thanks and looking forward to your update!

I'm in the same boat, financially. The cost of the dome sauna is too prohibitive for me, given all the other costs for treating this disease (especially since my doc, like most ME/CFS docs, does not accept insurance).

Have you tried sitting on the floor of the tent, off the stool? I've read comments/reviews from others who have this tent and got better results that way. They kept the top part of the tent open to allow for adequate air, then turned every few minutes so their fronts and sides got better exposure from the FIR panels. Seems like that might be the way to go.

My sauna tent arrived the other day so I'll need to run it for awhile to outgas the nasty stuff before using it. But I don't know if I'll be able to use the sit-on-the-floor trick or not, because I've started to get rosacea symptoms from sauna use that I didn't have 15 years ago when I did Finnish saunas with my antibiotics for Lyme. Having my face turn bright red that lasts for an hour is not fun. Dermatologists warn rosacea patients about sauna use, so perhaps the full enclosure type of sauna is no longer an option for me.

Glad your new place is mold free! We have to move this summer and I don't think we're going to find something affordable in the greater Bay Area that isn't a mold fest. Landlords are blindingly greedy now and refuse to do regular maintenance let alone remediation from leaking roofs and aging water pipes. It's a wonder that more people aren't horrifically sick in the Pacific Northwest from this crap.

 

[JCamp]

Have you tried sitting on the floor of the tent, off the stool? I've read comments/reviews from others who have this tent and got better results that way. They kept the top part of the tent open to allow for adequate air, then turned every few minutes so their fronts and sides got better exposure from the FIR panels. Seems like that might be the way to go.

This is what I'm doing now. I sit on a stack of three towels on the floor of the sauna. I haven't tried rotating so my front torso gets the rays-- it's quite cramped in the tent since I'm so tall. But I may try to maneuver myseld around a bit going forward. I close the top part but leave the arm flaps open for ventilation. I definitely sweat a lot more than when I sit on the stool.

I seem to recall others on the Brewer protocol mentioning itching with the nystatin. This has popped up for me in the past two weeks as well...and in some unpleasant places to boot. I'm using coconut oil for it (my go to...) but it's persistent.

I'm not sure if this itching is die off or an allergic reaction. For those that have had the itching, did it subside?

 

[Forebearance]

I had a rash of tiny red bumps that itched and went away in about a week. Twice. I put some natural salve on it. It wasn't a big deal for me. Yours may be a different thing.

 

[Forebearance]

Six month report:
I still adore this treatment. It continues to actually make me feel better.
I am doing it very, very slowly. So there is not a lot of dramatic improvement. But my quality of life is so much better that it is totally worth doing this.

I love Dr. Brewer, and I appreciate Dr. Shoemaker for all his work figuring out the inflammatory response cascade in people. I will do whatever works to heal.

Incidentally, it is also my 25th anniversary of getting the mono that turned into ME/CFS/SEID.

 

[Ifish]

ONE YEAR

We have almost hit the one year mark on Brewer's protocol. Here is my one year report.

To give a little background, I have been married for 28 years and I have two daughters age 19 and 22. My wife and I moved into our home in 1991. My oldest was born in 1992 and my youngest in 1995. We all have significant CFS/ME health histories and clearly meet the CDC definition for CFS.

I became ill 4 months after moving into our home, but was not diagnosed with CFS until 1997. I went on disability in 1998 but I should have done it years earlier.

My wife became ill in 1995 and was diagnosed with CFS a few years later.

My two daughters both have had health issues since early childhood. My oldest clearly had CFS by the time she was in 8th grade.

My youngest battled chronic ear and sinus infections for nearly her whole life. She crashed completely over seven years ago when she was in sixth grade. With the exception of a five week part-time stint in 2010 she has never made it back to school. In fact, it has been 4 1/2 years since she has even been able to tutor at home.

The impact of Brewer's treatment has been great, but it is slow.

A year ago, my youngest daughter was almost homebound. She felt terrible all of the time and suffered from numerous neurological issues, including sensitivity to motion, sound and light. She also had significant issues with her gut and bladder. It was very, very difficult for her to leave the house, and she did so only after taking medications for anxiety and nausea and planning stops along the way. Daylight prevented her from sitting in the front seat of the car.. A 30 minute ride with one or two stops was the absolute maximum she could endure.

Her improvement has been very uneven and very gradual.

After five month on the treatment she was well enough to get her permit to start to learn to drive. At approximately the same time she was able to start therapy to address her severe anxiety.

At the 11 month mark she passed her driving test. Since then she has continued to move forward and now drives herself most places she needs to go. She leaves the house almost every day, most often on her own. She can go to appointments, stores, run errands and the like. She regularly drives herself to her therapist and doctors' offices.

She has improved in many other ways. She has dramatically reduced her medications. A year ago she lived a very isolated life. She had little ability to deal with the outside world. Now she speaks with people regularly, conducts her own transactions and is a regular functioning person.

Her cognitive function has improved and her anxiety is slowly getting better.

What holds her back the most still is fatigue, brain fog and anxiety. The windows of time she can get out and do things is still pretty small.

Now that she has improved physically, her mental outlook has also improved. She believes she can continue to get better. She is hoping to start work on her GED in the fall and has aspirations to eventually get her college degree.

The illness has been different for my oldest daughter. She was a very bouncy, energetic and happy child, but over the years the illness took hold of her and she lost her energy and bounce. Her main symptom is that she feels crummy all the time. It is like a case of the crud in wintertime that never goes away. She has been good enough to function close to normal, but never truly felt well. She never had to drop out of school and in fact obtained her college degree on time, but she hasn't been right for years.

Because of school she didn't start the protocol until last June. Although the rest of us showed small signs of improvement at around 2 to 3 months, my oldest went month after month without any signs of improvement at all.

My oldest is now in graduate school. After about 8 months on the protocol I was talking to her on the phone and I knew that she had turned the corner. I could hear it in her voice. She is becoming the person she used to be many years ago. My wife, youngest daughter and I can clearly see how much better she is every time we talk to her.

My wife and I are better as well. My wife has a very demanding job which I think makes improvement difficult but she is clearly feeling better. She often comments on how much improved she is mentally and now wonders how she survived her job in previous years.

As for me, I am a totally different person than I was a year ago. I have more energy. I think more clearly. I am much more stable. I feel a ton better. I am taking on projects I have wanted to do for years. Everything is significantly better.

I would describe this year as one big turn around. But it is also important to remember that we have not completely recovered. I would say my youngest is 1/3 of the way back. A year ago I was terrified that any further deterioration would mean that I wouldn't be able to care for her. I believe this is now in the past

There are a few other things I feel are noteworthy. It has been a learning process and I think we could possibly be further along if we knew then what we know now. Doing the right amount of treatment is a balancing act. Either using the wrong anti fungal or treating too often can cause a lack of progress. Inflammation in our sinuses due to the treatment caused my youngest and I to have a severe bacterial infections for at least 6 months. It is still hard to keep that under control. We are now better at balancing the treatment so we are doing enough to improve but not overdoing it to avoid other issues.

Overall, my family has reduced our reliance on fringe or alternative treatments for CFS. We are using fewer and fewer supplements. We now have the energy to refocus on more traditional medical therapies to enhance the recovery process.

We have also been using the sauna more and more and it seems to be a very important part of the process. In prior years the sauna would make my youngest and I feel worse so we didn't stay with it . Now it improves our energy levels and decreases body aches. On a bad day some time in the sauna can really turn things around

I have tried to just stick to the facts as best as I can, and neither understate nor overstate how we are doing. So far the treatment has impacted me and my family tremendously. I am getting back the wife and daughters I used to know. Hopefully things will continue in this direction. Time will tell.

 

[Forebearance]

Dear Ifish, I hope you and your family continue to get better until you are all well!

 

[andjo]

Very inspiring to hear Ifish! Just out of interest since you have responded to both of my posts about realtime labs - do you have near zero results on the mycotoxin panel now?

 

[mamakate]

Thanks so much for the update, Ifish! It was really encouraging to us.

 

[foxy loxy]

There are a few other things I feel are noteworthy. It has been a learning process and I think we could possibly be further along if we knew then what we know now. Doing the right amount of treatment is a balancing act. Either using the wrong anti fungal or treating too often can cause a lack of progress. Inflammation in our sinuses due to the treatment caused my youngest and I to have a severe bacterial infections for at least 6 months. It is still hard to keep that under control. We are now better at balancing the treatment so we are doing enough to improve but not overdoing it to avoid other issues.

Thanks so much for the update. It is ALWAYS encouraging to hear how people are doing on this. I feel like you all are the best evidence for this test/protocol. My dr. has me pushing the chelating PX, Nystatin, and an antibiotic called mupiricin TWICE a day. Is this too much? How often did you treat? I don't want to cause inflammation!!! Or get a bacterial infection!!!!! Would the antibiotic keep a bacterial infection from happening? THANK YOU for helping us "newbies" along!!! I. Do. Not. Want. Mold. anywhere in me, and I don't think my doc knows much. I am pretty much shooting off you guys and your advice! Thanks

 

[Ifish]

Very inspiring to hear Ifish! Just out of interest since you have responded to both of my posts about realtime labs - do you have near zero results on the mycotoxin panel now?

It has been well over two years since I've done a mycotoxin panel. I decided to do another and I have the order in hand. I will probably do it this week. I plan to do it about 30 minutes after a sauna.

I am actually hoping for a high level. For one thing, if I were at zero I'd have to consider changing course in some way and after 23 years of chasing this, I really don't want to rethink anything. I'd much rather just stay the course.

I have not felt there was any reason to repeat the test these last couple of years, but in retrospect I wish I would have. I think a lot could have been learned, not necessarily for my benefit, but for the benefit of others. For example, like a lot of other folks I went through a period of time when I had a lot of issues with rashes and itching. This lasted about four or five months but now it is finally almost gone. I really wonder if my mycotoxin levels were elevated during this time. If so, we would know that the rash and itching is a good thing.

I have a friend of mine that has been on the protocol for the last year or so but never had much faith in it. He is a very, very sick person. He did have a positive mycotoxin test at the beginning. Unfortunately I felt he was keeping himself off track by overdoing the antifungal treatment and mixing in an array of other things. I finally convinced him to do another mycotoxin panel after a sauna. I confidently told him he would have really high numbers (though I later was afraid I'd put too many eggs in one basket).

My gamble paid off. I was relieved when his Ochratoxin A came back four times higher than the original test and his Trichothecene came back forty times higher. He is now doing the protocol correctly. He is also starting to have some noticeable improvement.

I should also mention your concerns about the test are quite legitimate, in my opinion. My faith in the test rests with my faith in Brewer, along with how perfectly the test numbers coincide with the health of the patients.

 

[Ifish]

Thanks so much for the update. It is ALWAYS encouraging to hear how people are doing on this. I feel like you all are the best evidence for this test/protocol. My dr. has me pushing the chelating PX, Nystatin, and an antibiotic called mupiricin TWICE a day. Is this too much? How often did you treat? I don't want to cause inflammation!!! Or get a bacterial infection!!!!! Would the antibiotic keep a bacterial infection from happening? THANK YOU for helping us "newbies" along!!! I. Do. Not. Want. Mold. anywhere in me, and I don't think my doc knows much. I am pretty much shooting off you guys and your advice! Thanks

Roxanne,

I'm not qualified to advise you specifically about your treatment, but perhaps my experience (and Brewer's general advice and experience) can influence your discussions with your doctor in a positive way. I do know that Brewer tried mupiricin on some of his patients but he does not feel it is really helpful. My daughter and I used this medication but it never helped us.

It seems some patients struggle with bacterial infections and some do not. My wife has them on occasion but can generally treat them successfully. My youngest daughter and I have struggled with them for many many years and have a very difficult time getting over them. My oldest daughter has never had one.

I don't know whether mupuricin might help prevent sinus infections. I can say that my immunologist (and presumably other immunologists with a like mind) uses oral doxy or zithromax prophylactically to prevent sinus infections in patients like us.

As far as frequency of nasal antifungals, Brewer has almost all his patients treating once per day or once every other day. He has stated that once every other day is frequent enough. My oldest daughter does Ampho B daily. My wife does Nystantin daily. My daughter and I do Nystatin every other day. Otherwise, we have too much inflammation. We are all different.

Things get much more complicated for people with frequent bacterial infections. It has taken me a year to get it all under control. My current regimen is Chelating Px once every other day, Nystatin every other day and 250 mg oral zithromax on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. I also do a daily saline sinus rinse with a Grossan device and spray one per day with QNASL.

 

[JCamp]

@Ifish - it is so great to hear of your family's improvement. Thank you for sharing an honest look into your journey the past year.

You mentioned many months ago that you were able to start walking regularly - I think you said 30 minutes each day. Have you been able to keep this up? How is the rest of your family responding to exercise or any endurance activity?

It is also good to hear that the rashes and itchiness passed -- that is a stage I am experiencing right now.

Thanks again!

 

[foxy loxy]

T

I don't know whether mupuricin might help prevent sinus infections. I can say that my immunologist (and presumably other immunologists with a like mind) uses oral doxy or zithromax prophylactically to prevent sinus infections in patients like us.

Thanks a million for taking the time to answer, Ifish. It helps clear up some fog... Since I also have Lyme I am eating an antibiotic most of the time so I am thinking I could drop the mupiricin and save a little!

I am so excited for your family. Slow progress like that is actually probably a good sign. I am very cautious of "fast cures" and won't buy into any of them anymore! This one also makes sense, and (minus our friend Hooper) doesn't appear to be a money making scam!

Since mold supposedly depresses the immune system has anyone tested their immunity? I just tested mine and It was doing pretty good! That is confusing because I would have thought a fungal infection would pull it down? Anyone else have similar experiences? ( I mean come on, I had highly elevated tricothecenes!!!)

 

[Ifish]

@Ifish - it is so great to hear of your family's improvement. Thank you for sharing an honest look into your journey the past year.

You mentioned many months ago that you were able to start walking regularly - I think you said 30 minutes each day. Have you been able to keep this up? How is the rest of your family responding to exercise or any endurance activity?

It is also good to hear that the rashes and itchiness passed -- that is a stage I am experiencing right now.

Thanks again!

JCamp, When the bacterial infection set in last August it had a major effect on my ability to exercise. It was not until the last several weeks that I regained this again. I don't exercise every day, but I could on the great majority of days. On the days I don't exercise I usually use quite a bit of energy on various projects that I have been working on such as yard work, building shelves, etc.

We all get a fair amount of exercise and we don't crash from it. In fact we bought a weight machine recently and my wife and youngest daughter have been using it quite a bit. Hopefully when I stop working on projects obsessively, I will use the machine as well.

 

[JCamp]

JCamp, When the bacterial infection set in last August it had a major effect on my ability to exercise. It was not until the last several weeks that I regained this again. I don't exercise every day, but I could on the great majority of days. On the days I don't exercise I usually use quite a bit of energy on various projects that I have been working on such as yard work, building shelves, etc.

We all get a fair amount of exercise and we don't crash from it. In fact we bought a weight machine recently and my wife and youngest daughter have been using it quite a bit. Hopefully when I stop working on projects obsessively, I will use the machine as well.

Wow @Ifish - that's great. Just to make sure I understand, you attribute the increases in exercise to Brewer's protocol, right?

Walking, weight lifting, and yard work sound wonderful!

 

[Ifish]

Wow @Ifish - that's great. Just a to make sure I understand, you attribute the increases in exercise to Brewer's protocol, right?

Walking, weight lifting, and yard work sound wonderful!

There is no question that my increased ability to exercise is due exclusively to Brewer's protocol.

 

[switters]

Hi everyone,

I found this thread a couple of hours ago while searching for more information on the Brewer protocol, and I just finished reading all 45 pages. Whew!

Very long story as short as possible. Been sick for about 16 years. Started while traveling in Asia, never been the same since. Symptoms have morphed over the years, but currently consist of extremely depressed immune function (I am literally sick with colds/flus for the entire winter), muscle ache/fatigue, exercise intolerance, sinus congestion, IBS-like symptoms (though these are much better than before), non-restorative sleep, cold hands and feet/poor circulation, low libido and low energy.

Despite all of this, I've been able to maintain fairly high levels of function at work (though it has not been easy), and I am able to exercise several times a week (though not very hard, and not for very long).

The list of things I've been diagnosed with and treated for over the years is far too long, but matches what many of you have done: parasites/gut infections, Lyme, chronic viruses, methylation, etc. Nothing has ever helped much. The two exceptions are low-dose naltrexone and a fecal microbiota transplant I had a while back.

About eighteen months ago I became aware of Shoemaker's work on Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). The description of the syndrome and the list of symptoms matched me more perfectly than anything ever before. I took the VCS test and passed, but I failed his "multisystems / multisymptoms" questionnaire. I decided to go ahead and do the other testing with my doctor, who is very open-minded but not experienced with Shoemaker's protocol. Turned out I am 4-3-53 (x2). My initial C4a was 17,500 (very high), Tgfb1 was high (4,000), VEGF <31 (low), MSH undetectable (<8), and MARCoNS was positive. VIP and MMP were normal.

I tried Shoemaker's protocol for a while. I did 2-3 months of cholestryramine, but my symptoms didn't change. I already had a normal VCS so I couldn't use that to track. C4a and Tgfb1 didn't change either. I proceeded to 30 days of BEG spray. This made me worse (which I now think was die off; see below). I followed with another 60 days of cholestyramine and high-dose fish oil to reduce inflammation—which is part of Shoemaker's protocol. Still no improvement in any markers, and if anything my symptoms were significantly worse.

I had become aware of Dr. Brewer's work and had an RTL test a little while before starting the BEG spray. Ochratoxin and aflatoxin were zero, but trichothecene was positive at 0.38. However, when I retested the RTL after doing the BEG spray and CSM, ochratoxin had gone from 0 to 9.17! Trichothecene went down a little to 0.25.

I continued on for a while taking CSM as well as glutathione, methylation support, and some natural binders like pectin and charcoal. I had another RTL re-test about 3 months after the one above, and ochratoxin went down to 4.38 but trichothecene went up to 0.71.

At this point these test results made no sense to me. My doctor certainly couldn't explain them. So I decided to go ahead and start the Brewer protocol. Again my doctor prescribed it, but doesn't know much about it except for a brief conversation with ASL.

I started the protocol about three weeks ago, and I have felt worse than I have in years. I've developed what feels like bronchitis... hacking cough, horrible sinus congestion (which tends to be an issue for me anyways), flu-like symptoms, etc. I've tolerated some pretty intense symptoms over the years, and this has me at my edge.

Imagine my surprise when I found out from this thread that I've been dosing the protocol incorrectly. On the boxes from ASL, it says "take twice per day" on both the chelating agent and the ampho B. And no one bothered to tell me that I'm not supposed to take the chelating agent and ampho B separately. So, for three weeks, I've been taking the chelating agent and ampho B together, twice a day. Now I find out that some people have almost intolerable die-off taking ampho B only once every other day!

I feel like my sinuses are in a constant state of inflammation. My first step is obviously going to be reducing the dose, and taking them separately (after a 3-4 day break to give my body a rest). But I am also wondering if I should switch to Nystatin? If it really does work as well as ampho B, and it's possible that the inflammation caused by ampho B might actually interfere with the treatment, is there any reason I shouldn't just switch now?

I intend to continue to re-test the RTL every 30 or 60 days. I hope I start seeing a more predictable pattern than I was seeing before. I will share the results here in case they are helpful.

Thanks again to everyone here, especially lfish, for sharing your experience.

 

[detts]

@switters I wasn't clear whether you were doing the BEG spray at the same time as the ampho B and chelating agent? I did BEG alongside it and it was almost intolerable with the congestion and discomfort. Once the staph infection was cleared I was able to tolerate the ampho b etc and now use it every day with no inflammation really. I am also a lot better than I was 5 months ago on the protocol. I have experimented with scaling back to every day or every 3 days but I now feel better doing it every day. I also experimented with dropping down to once a day for binders but feel better doing that twice a day - bentonite clay and activated charcoal and sometimes apple pectin. ( I dropped the CSM after 4 months).

Twice a day with ampho b etc would be very hard on the sinus - I am not surprised you reacted that way.

Your tricothecene levels might have gone up second time around because your body was able to release more. That is one of the main issues with RTL testing for me, is it only measures what your body is able to dump - it cannot tell us what is locked up in tissues etc. When I first did the test I was very high in tricothecenes but nothing for ochratoxins. Next time I tested the reverse was the case. I had to do a provocation IV before the test of C, B and a glutathione push to aid in the dumping of the bio toxins.

You might find with scaling back with the protocol to every other day or every 3 days is doable for you. I don't have any experience of the Nystatin though.

Best of luck!

 

[Skiii]

@switters just jumping on real quick to say that it sounds like you finally found the right path, and glad you found this thread.

I have almost identical symptoms as you (except I can tolerate exercise but can't tolerate methylation support), including tons of sinus congestion. In fact, I haven't been on the protocol since January because I, too, have been sick with colds/flu all winter long. Just wanted to say that yes, without a doubt, switch to Nystatin! I've done both and if you already have congestion, you will like the Nystatin so much more, I'd just switch now. Ampho B was hell for me. Also, my doctor and ASL prescribed me betamethasone to do 2x a day in the atomizer, it's a nasal steroid but it reaches more of your sinus cavities by being atomized as opposed to a OTC spray.

Now I just need to be better about doing it 2x a day.....

 

[switters]

Thanks Skiii and detts. I was not taking the BEG spray at the same time as the ampho B + chelating agent. Timing was as follows:
— August: first RTL test. OTA = 0. AT = 0. MT = 0.38
— October: BEG spray; I also re-tested C4a in the middle of the BEG spray/CSM treatment, and it had gone up to 21,000!
— November: RTL re-test. OTA = 9.17. AT = 0. MT = 0.25; also MARCoNS re-test was negative for coag negative staph (though I did have bacillus species "large amount"); re-tested C4a and it was still quite high at 13,000. Tgfb1 had normalized at 1,832. Still doing CSM and other binders/methylation/GSH.
— January: had MARCoNS test again. Negative for MARCoNS but they found large amount of pseudomonas stuzeri. Not sure if this needs to be treated with mupirocin again? VEGF was re-tested and was still low (<31). Still doing CSM and other binders/methylation/GSH.
— February: RTL re-test. OTA = 4.68. AT = 0. MT = 0.71. Also had C3a which was low (is this significant? I'm only aware of indications for high C3a); C4a was down to 7,592, which is still high but the lowest it has ever been for me and the first time below 10,000. Still doing CSM and other binders/methylation/GSH, but took two week break from all of it at end of Feb/early March.
— March. RTL re-test. OTA = 3.74. AT = 0. MT = 0.34. Started ampho B treatment at the end of March. Still doing CSM 1-2x/d, citrus pectin 2x/d, activated charcoal 2x/d, as well as methylation support, GSH, and other nutrients supportive of detox.

Listing all of the test results in a time sequence does make it seem like there has been a trend of decrease (after the initial increase) for OTA, but the MT results seem to be just bouncing all over the place.

Of course that makes me wonder about ongoing exposure. I've had an ERMI test in our current home (renting), and also calculated a HERTSMI-2 score. The ERMI was 4.3. The HERTSMI-2 was 4. I'm somewhat confused about this. My understanding from reading Shoemaker's materials was that he originally proposed that patients should not be exposed to a building with ERMI of more than 2 if their MSH is <35 and C4a is >10,000. (That is me.) The HERTSMI score was used as a measure of whether a home is safe to re-enter after the patient has been successfully treated. However, apparently Shoemaker has changed his recommendation on this. He is now saying that as long as HERTSMI is <10, a home should be safe for someone with CIRS. So of course I am left wondering whether my home is indeed safe for me, and if I am getting re-exposed in some way.

FWIW, the only species of mold that triggered a positive score (4) on the HERTSMI-2 was Aspergillus penicilloides. Aspergillus does produce OTA, but does not (as I understand it) produce MT. However, as Brewer mentioned in his Toxins paper there are very small fungal fragments which produce MT that can be inhaled and deposited in the nasal cavity/sinuses, but cannot be detected by spore counts or even PCR. At this point I am wondering if I should also have air sample testing done; so far I have only done the ERMI test. We have only been in this house for 2 years, I didn't get worse when we moved in here, and I was sick long before we occupied this home.

I am going to talk to ASL to see what they recommend re: Nystatin, sinus rinse, nasal steroid, etc. given my experience.

I would also like to invest in a sauna at home. I am looking at two companies and wondering if anyone here knows anything about them (they both say they are the "Doctor's Choice" for detox FIR saunas): Sunlighten and Heavenly Heat. Sunlighten has an interesting "portable solo system". It's appealing because it doesn't take up a lot of space in the house, but I'd want to make sure it's as effective as the wood units like the Signature 1. Heavenly Heat doesn't have a portable system; they have a wood unit for one person called the FIR1-Eco. I'm new to saunas, but the Sunlighten Signature 1 has 9 heaters vs. only 4 for the FIR1-Eco. Apparently that makes a difference.

Thanks again.