What does the effectiveness of mold avoidance tell us in light of the latest research?

[Jesse2233]

What can the well documented effectiveness (albeit anecdotal) of mold avoidance and the location effect teach us in light of new research on autoimmunity, microbiome, and hypometabolism?

1. Is it a case of reducing toxic load which allows the body to naturally correct downstream dysfunction?
   
   
2. Are mold cases (CIRS) that respond to mold avoidance fundamentally different from other CFS/ME cases?
   
   
3. Or is there something more complex at play in relation to mold (and bio-toxins generally), autoimmunity, microbiome, and mitochondrial dysfunction?

 

[fromstrawtomore]

1. Probably. Without stopping toxins coming in and their on-going inflammation, little or no healing of downstream issues will take place.
   
   
2. I believe that CIRS by itself can overlap with all symptoms of ME/CFS but can also trigger other ME/CFS states as the ongoing chronic inflammation and the genetic changes in CIRS may trigger various metabolic and immune dysfunction. So some people may have CIRS only, and thus their symptoms resolve with treatment, while others have additional issues including methylation pathway defects, hypometobolic states, calcium channel/NK cell dysfunction etc. Dr. Shoemaker is beginning to outline mitochrondial RNA issues in CIRS.
   
   
3. CIRS reduces the balance of Tregs (anti-inflammatory) / Th17 (inflammatory) ratios and can lead to autoimmune disorders. Also low MSH (melanocyte stimulating hormone) is found in almost all CIRS cases which protects mucous membranes including those found in the gut leading to intestinal permeability and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Probably the best resource of CIRS at present is Dr. Berndtson's Biotoxin Pathway 2.0 presentation: http://www.betterhealthguy.com/biotoxinpathway

 

[Forebearance]

I'm leaning towards 1.
As far as 2 goes, I have had an absolutely classic case of ME/CFS and it responded well to mold avoidance.

 

[Dufresne]

Paul Cheney gave a talk a few years ago in which he stated mold illness sufferers are indistinguishable from ME/CFS sufferers, and that he and Dr Shoemaker regularly trade patients. The one way they can be distinguished, and why they're identified differently, is that the mold patients see considerable improvement with avoidance.

One can assume Cheney's mold patients were subject to his regular workup, including his echo terrain mapping (ETM) testing. This is his empirical evidence that people with ME/CFS have an energy problem. I believe his finding is consistent with the recent studies. I think I recall the authors of the Naviaux study, the one associated with Dr Gordon's clinic, thanked Cheney for his insight and guidance. Perhaps suggesting they're work was relevant to his. So if Cheney's mold patients showed the typical energy problem when tested with his equipment then perhaps they would have presented just as the ME/CFS patients did in these recent metabolic studies.