Thanks for sharing Mamakate!
mallen- When did you start getting pain/cfs symptoms? The others on here have posted a lot of info about the best kinds of tests to know if you are currently being exposed. Other than that- have you traveled anywhere else for a week or two and seen improvement? If not you could be colonized, most of us are going on supposition since there isn't an easy way to culture it. As Mamakate mentioned, most of us are confirming our the theory by experiencing die-off when we do the treatment. Do you have a doctor who is current on these issues? I'm sorry you are dealing with this at a young age, I started getting my pain at 22, too (during my exposure).
Welcome, mamakate and mallen12132!
Wow, so Dr. Brewer's treatment works on chronic Lyme patients also?
You don't need your doctor to believe the treatment will work, mallen, as long as she is willing to let you try the protocol. My primary doctor doesn't know anything about CFS, but she is willing to let me try things, and that is good enough. I wish you the best in getting better health!
Now checking out the subreddit....
Welcome, mamakate and mallen12132!
Wow, so Dr. Brewer's treatment works on chronic Lyme patients also?
Thank you for the reply, I am going to read more thoroughly through the thread to try to figure out what test I can perform and figure out whether I am currently exposed or colonized. I have a doctor that I used to perform the test, but she said she doubted if I would have a positive result since my only real complaint was constant fatigue, feeling tired ALL the time.
In any event, my next step is to try living a week or two somewhere else and see if I feel better.. if I do, then it is time to move from this house. Is that the general belief of how I should handle the next step to assure that it isn't a past exposure giving me a positive reading?.
The other thing that we think really helps him is sauna. Often after sauna he feels better than he does before. He's also on a stict diet, taking quite a few supplements, and occasionally does epsom salt baths.
For about 9 weeks now.
Although I'm not being treated by Dr Brewer. Dr Greg Emerson, Brisbane, Australia prescribed my current treatment.
- its 100mg of Itraconazole (I asked him if I could raise it to 200mg so I've just started that amount)
-40 drops of Crypto-Plus (Researched Nutritionals)
-Cholestyramine
-Dr Ohhira's Probiotic forumula
-Glutathione (Researched Nutrionals) - this I've run out off and because of its cost I switched to NAC (1200-1800mg daily) in a complex with Alphal-Lipoic acid and Acetyl-Carnitine. These 3 seem to be the interest in a lot of medical research lately as they seem to synergize with each other significantly for enhancing detoxificaton, immune function, antioxidant status and blunting the effect of mycotoxin and inflammatory damage that is related in many disease processes. Research is also indicating that NAC also protects your cells & liver from adverse harm caused by antibiotic medicine.
-Gymnema which I've added in the last week
-Phase 1 diet; which involves avoiding sugar, grains, alcohol as much as possible and increase the consumption of carrots, leafy greens and purple vegetables to make the body less friendly to mold. Admittedly this has been a lot harder to keep, but it's more of a slow lifestyle change trying to adapt to a diet that is less based on refined nutrient-devoid empty calories and closer to our biological requirements.
Also a problem dietary wise is corn, peanuts, wheat and soy as these foods are laced with mycotoxins which may be causing far more long term health problems than we would dare to imagine. This relates to animal products like meat and dairy that are routinely fed mycotoxin contaminated feed such as corn & wheat for instance. The only real way to be sure is to consume meat from grass-fed animals & completely avoid foods that contain corn and peanuts etc. Coffee is a problem too but there are some brands now available that ensure the coffee is not contaminated by mycotoxins.
One thing regarding glutathione, research is showing that mycotoxins inhibit the enzymes that produce glutathione so that appears to be another pathway in which mold exposure & mycotoxins will gradually weaken the host. So for for seriously ill people I would be taking both NAC and glutathione until symptoms improve.
psz - which home sauna do you have? I'm interested in buying one of the collapsible tent ones but it seems there is a big difference in quality. I have a place to go for sunlighten saunas near where I live but it is $35 for 35 minutes. Thanks!I can confirm sauna works very well for me as well. I'm using a home FIR sauna. Brewer's protocol is long term and it takes a while to see results, however in my experience regular sauna is the #1 short term relief and I've tried many many things.
psz - which home sauna do you have? I'm interested in buying one of the collapsible tent ones but it seems there is a big difference in quality. I have a place to go for sunlighten saunas near where I live but it is $35 for 35 minutes. Thanks!
Technically my test came back negative for tricothecenes, but there was a number there- so we consider it a positive, I might just not have expelled that much during the test, or it was overshadowed by the high ochratoxin number.