Can you in a paragraph or two, making it simple.. explain why this it is thought that mold is more problematic then other toxins or reactions we may get to things??
It's seeming that it's time to start separating out the factors that might make us more likely to get ME/CFS (or to stay really sick with it) from those factors that seem like they are MUCH more likely to make that happen.
For instance, as Erik wrote, "In 1985, when I told Dr. Cheney about this weird effect, he said CFS was viral. I just replied that for some reason, mold had a specificity to it that made it worthy of investigation. That specificity is the reactivation of latent infections of almost any sort." (2007)
And also: "This one mold reactivity stood out as a specificity. I just concentrated on it - and much to my amazement, the other sensitivities just faded away." (2006)
If mold reactivates XMRV while other toxins do not, and if the reactivation of XMRV is the cause of the sensitivities to other toxins, then this is making a whole lot of sense.
Several of us have noticed that if we just avoid mold, all our reactivities to everything else - pesticides, air fresheners, gasoline, various foods, perfume, EMF's - fade away. Avoiding all those things (though granted I never tried "extreme pesticide avoidance") never helped make ANY of the other sensitivities diminish at all.
We know that (per Mikovits) the factors that cause XMRV to (re-) activate are: cortisol, inflammation, androgens and estrogens. Things that debilitate the immune system also would seem likely to contribute to that happening. And as Rich suggests, oxidative stress seems to be an issue too.
It seems to me that the specificity of mold (meaning trichothecenes) is that it fits into this paradigm really well. It exercises its toxicity almost solely through inflammation and oxidative stress; the systems of people exposed to it become cortisol-heavy; and it has big effects on the immune system.
Most toxins don't do any of those things.
(Another couple of relevant things the trichothecenes do especially well: make holes in the blood-brain barrier, cause intestinal permeability, and "eat up" reduced glutathione.)
So I think that when we're looking for other "primary" suspects that are at the core of ME/CFS, we should be considering how well they fit these factors.
Two chemicals that fit that description really well are phosphine and naphthalene. I did an experiment this past winter where I deliberately exposed myself to a touch of phosphine (by dissolving some rat poison pellets in vinegar), and it did give me the same "response" as the mold. (If this sounds stupid, please note that I regularly am affected more by the mold/cyanobacteria I encounter inadvertently on a daily basis.) Another person reports that naphthalene (a chemical present in old-fashioned mothballs) had similar effects to mold (for for him, more intense) as well.
Vaccines appear to have some of these characteristics, Cheney suggests. I need to find out more about how they work.
Certain infections (Lyme, colds/flus and - I think we will find - candida) seem to have the potential of doing this.
Interestingly, gluten seems to have the inflammatory and oxidative stress characteristics. Two days ago, I interviewed an Incline Village epidemic survivor who has mostly recovered as a result of extreme gluten avoidance, along with antivirals/antibiotics/detox. She knows that mold is a part of her history and says she's in a good residence now, but the gluten is key for her.
So there's a good starter list of substances that we might think of as CORE problems for us.
Do EMF's fit into this category, based on what we know of their mechanisms?
What other substances or stressors seems to be PARTICULARLY good candidates for placement on our list?
Thanks, Lisa