Have any of you read Dr Neil Nathan's book on mould & toxin illness?
Link here
I'd seen it mentioned a few times so decided to check it out. He seems to be highly regarded and he references Dr Brewer and his approach to mould a lot.
I've only read a short amount so far but a few interesting things to note:
1)
His approach is very much focused on FIRST using binders to aid the body to detoxify itself, and only then afterwards adding things like antifungals (or presumably antibiotics) to directly attack the offending pathogen. He says going at it immediately with the latter runs the risk of Herx reactions which are harmful to the patient, and do not help them recover. His mantra also seems to be to "go incredibly slowly" with everything, even binders, and suggests that even minor Herx reactions are counterproductive for the patient and a sign you should stop and reduce the amount of whatever you're taking.
He says that binders aren't 100% effective at absorbing toxins, so can "dislodge" more toxins on the way through the body and this is how they can cause a Herx if taken in too high a dose. Specifically the binders he advocates for mold seem to be things like Charcoal, Bentonite Clay, S Boullardi. I thought this might be of interest to some of you who've had bad Herx reactions
@Hip @seamyb
2) Another interesting thing he does, and this will probably be quite controversial here,
is advocate the use of "brain training" type exercises - DNRS is the one he specifically recommends but he also mentions the Gupta program. He says the former has significantly helped the vast majority of his patients (he says something like only 2 out of 150 didn't get any benefit).
Now, I'm on pretty high alert for people who peddle "brain retraining" type nonsense for ME/CFS, particularly those selling courses for hundreds of dollars that lack any clinical trials. But, I'm also in no fit state to rule anything out in regards to my health. And, there's apparently been a bunch of new findings recently on neuroplasticity, and on the brain's ability to heal the body from a number of seemingly unrelated illnesses. So, who knows. It certainly carries more weight for me that an - apparently - respected doctor in an unrelated field advocates these types of programs for his own patients, but I can't deny I'm still very skeptical about the whole thing given the lack of evidence.
One thing I should note is that Dr Nathan's patients often fit under the ME/CFS banner but more specifically they seem to be ones who are highly sensitive to everything, and he talks about using these DNRS type programs to reduce that sensitivity to a point whereby they can begin to take other treatments that can help, not necessarily that these things will cure patients. Well I am one of those patients - I am ridiculously sensitive to everything, food, medications - and I'm wondering whether there might be some sort of internal "communication" problem between my brain and my immune system that I might be able to help with some of these types of mental exercises? I have no idea whether that even makes any sense.
My sensitivities and reactions to things have gotten so much worse over time, in spite of feeling like I've improved my underlying health situation in regards to things like my gut health (proved by improving stool tests), and it does make me wonder whether some part of my recovery is being hindered by malfunctioning signals in my body or something I can maybe affect with my brain. I'd be interested to hear if anyone's tried something like this and if it's had an effect.
On a wider note I'd be keen to hear peoples' opinions on Dr Nathan, particularly in relation to detoxing from mould, the use of binders, any of that. Have you tried any of his methods? How have then gone?
