A Fungus Among Us

Last fall we moved into a new house. We knew there had been a leaky roof that caused the addition to rot and required it to be completely redone. We didn't think much about it since the damage had been repaired. We also had a problem with the dryer vent backing up and allowing moist air from the dryer to come into the house. It bothered my allergies, but we finally got it fixed and thought that was the end of it.

A few weeks after moving in I was hospitalized with a case of pancreatitis. Although I don't drink or take drugs, I eat a healthy diet, and despite having every test in the world on my liver, gall bladder, upper and lower GI tract, they could find no cause for the pancreatitis. Then, a month later I was hospitalized for pancreatitis again, and they found ulcers in my upper stomach area. We assumed it was related to medication I was taking for narcolepsy with cataplexy, so I stopped the medications. After a couple months of eating a strict diet of soft foods and taking probiotics and L-glutamine, I seemed fine.

Then, a month ago, the painful symptoms of pancreatitis and stomach ulcers returned along with bleeding sores, Chron's-like symptoms, and the inability to eat solid food. That's when I realized this was my third GI flare since moving into this house. I knew there had to be a connection. So we did a home mold test kit. You can see the photo above of the mold spores that grew from our air samples in two different rooms. So I talked to my doctor and showed her this article about what inhaling mold can do to the body, which includes respiratory, digestive, cardiac, and even neurological symptoms. Scary stuff! She put me on a 10-day course of the antifungal medication Diflucan. After 4 days, I felt much better and was able to eat solid food for the first time in 3 weeks.

But now the medicine has worn off, and I am in agony again. We spent the last 3 days making huge batches of chicken stock and broccoli cheese soup in this huge 22-quart pot my husband found.

I spoke with someone at Healthy Perceptions an air and water purification company, and they told me that because I have a mold allergy, due to my symptoms since we moved in, and - based on the results of our mold test - since we have enough airborne mold to cause concern, they recommended their Zone Air Purification system. We purchased 3 of their Aclare Air Purifiers to treat the air in our home.

Because I am perfectly miserable and have been for over a month, I can't wait until the air purifiers get here and I can start feeling better. One of our dogs, Xander, has been very sick with respiratory issues as well. He has no bacterial or viral infections and allergy treatments have not helped. We believe the mold is affecting him as well. We're treating him with natural antifungals and assisting his congestion and inflammation with nettles and eyebright and using eucalyptus oil on his ears at night to help him breathe. I feel so badly for him!

I'll keep you updated on how we both feel after we get the air treatment units!

Guest Post - Deanna's Story

I am honored today to do a guest post for fellow- spoonie Ashley on her blog Searching for Health. Ashley resides in beautiful British Columbia with her husband and 2 dogs. She was diagnosed with juvenile hypothyroidism at the age of eight and then re-diagnosed with a thyroid conversion problem at the age of thirteen. In 2008 she was finally given a proper name for her illness; she is hypothyroid with partial peripheral thyroid resistance. Searching for Health is Ashley's forum for sharing information on thyroid resistance and empowering individuals with chronic illness to live their healthiest life.

Ashley shares the stories of others on Mondays for a series she calls "My Story Mondays." You can read my story by clicking here:

Memories

I have short term memory loss. I have short term memory loss. I have short term memory loss. I have short term memory loss. I have short term memory loss.

Or at least, that's what I tell people. Actually, I have narcolepsy. And one of the symptoms I experience from the disease is automatic behavior. The best way to describe that is my brain takes little naps throughout the day while my body is still able to function somewhat normally. You may be having a seemingly routine conversation with me, but I probably won't recall it later. There are entire blocks of time for which I have no memory. Family members and friends will refer to something I said or a fun activity we enjoyed, and I will have no idea what they're talking about. I once washed, dried, folded, and put away a load of laundry and spent hours the next day trying to find my pile of dirty clothes.

But lately it's just been getting scary. I've been leaving the stove burners on for hours, forgetting to shave one of my armpits, and forgetting to finish things I started - not knowing they weren't finished. I even answered a business call the other day where the person told me her name and I followed up immediately with, "May I ask who's calling, please?" I'm starting to feel like an elderly person with dementia that shouldn't be left alone.

But this morning I discovered a horrifying new aspect to my automatic behavior: sleep eating. When I walked into the living room this morning, there were crumbs all over the place - I walked through a big pile of what appeared to be chocolate cake crumbs, and there were crushed crackers all over the chaise lounge. While I was getting angry at my husband for making a mess I suddenly remembered a dream I had last night. I dreamed I had fallen asleep on the chaise and woke up with a piece of cheese stuck to my chest and crackers stuck to my thighs. *Light Bulb!*

So my next thought is, "How long has this been going on?" I drastically changed my diet last year to eliminate grains, sugar, and other foods that feed fungus in the body. I lost over 40lbs and greatly improved my chronic health conditions. But then the weight loss came to a crashing halt. I had my metabolism tested, I keep insisting to my doctor that my thyroid must still be off, and I've had some relapse in my health. Is it because I'm eating God-only-knows-what while I'm asleep? You've got to be kidding me.

I guess I need to put locks on the fridge and pantry at night. And get an alarm that warns my husband when I get out of bed. This is getting ridiculous! Anyone have any other ideas? P.S. If you give me a great idea, don't be offended if I don't remember it later. :) I wish I were joking.

We All Scream for Ice Cream

When it's hot and muggy outside, I like something cold and sweet. But I don't sacrifice my health for an ice cream treat, nor do I trade away "delicious" for "healthy". This yummy ice cream recipe is adapted from Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" cookbook for the Know the Cause Phase One Diet

Chocolate Raspberry Soft-Serve Ice Cream

3 cups heavy cream
3 egg yolks
6 T. unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup xylitol

Whisk together in a bowl.
Pour into ice cream maker (the kind with the bowl that you freeze. Mine is a Cuisinart model) and allow to mix for 25-30 minutes.
Add 1 pint fresh raspberries and mix another 5 minutes.

Best if served directly from ice cream maker, but can be stored in a sealed container and stored in the freezer. This will change the consistency, however, to something like you would have if you try to refreeze a Wendy's Frosty, for example. But it still tastes good!

Chicken Veggie Stir-Fry

It's been an adventure for me to find and create easy Phase One (www.knowthecause.com) recipes. Here's one I came up with tonight when I needed to find something quick, using the groceries we already had in the house. Enjoy...

Chicken Veggie Stir-Fry

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
Mrs. Dash Original
Salt & Pepper
Sesame Oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
Fresh broccoli florets
(or chunks of any other fresh veggies, i.e
carrots, bell peppers, cauliflower, zucchini, etc)
2 ice cubes

Saute onions on medium heat in generous amount of sesame oil, allowing onions to brown and carmelize (20 minutes) You may need to periodically add more sesame oil to keep them from sticking to the pan.
Cover chicken w/ salt, freshly-ground pepper, and generous amount of Mrs. Dash.
Add more sesame oil.
Brown chicken thoroughly, stirring often.
When chicken is cooked through, add fresh veggies and 2 cubes of ice.
Cover and turn on low heat. Allow veggies to steam for 15 minutes, soaking up flavor of onions)

This was delicious! And if you are on not on Phase One, you can add snow peas, which are yummy in stir-fry. You could also serve this over brown rice. But if you're grain-free like me, you will enjoy it just with the meat and veggies. Also, you could substitute pork, turkey, or beef for the chicken.

Roasted Cinnamon Almonds

People have asked me for some Know the Cause Phase One Diet recipes. The following is actually in the cookbook that you can order from knowthecause.com, but I'll post it here. It's one of my favorites because it's very simple and something I can take with me to the movies, on a road trip, or to a sports event so that I won't be tempted to eat something at one of the concessions:

Roasted Cinnamon Almonds

1 egg white
1 tsp cold water
4 cups whole, raw almonds
1/4 cup stevia powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 T. cinnamon
Coconut oil

Beat egg white and cold water until frothy.
Mix in nuts until all are moistened

Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl.
Sprinkle over nuts until coated.
Grease jelly roll pan (small cookie sheet) with coconut oil.
Spread nuts evenly over pan.
Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn nuts over and bake another 30 minutes

I've also used pecans for this recipe, and they were very good also.

To Make a Long Story Short...

The past month has been very eventful, and I know it's been a long time since I posted - shame on me! I thought it would be a good idea to give you an update on my life and health. Inquiring minds want to know, apparently. Where to begin? Well...it all began in the spring when a friend of a Facebook friend contacted me and referred me to this website. With all my health issues, the one thing I thought was under control was my thyroid disease. But I soon learned that I, like hundreds of thousands of thyroid patients, was on the wrong medication. I found a doctor in my area who prescribes natural thyroid hormone and also believes in taking elimination of symptoms into consideration when adjusting medication levels, rather than just thyroid lab tests. After 8 consecutive months of gaining up to 10lbs/month, I immediately stopped gaining weight. My new doc also started me on natural progesterone to treat my Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD).

Over the next few months, my doctor continued to monitor my symptoms and my hormone levels, adjusting my medicines accordingly. I almost immediately saw a major reduction in two symptoms I'd been plagued with for years: excessive sweating and severe digestive problems. However, I did develop some new heart symptoms which included an elevated heart rate, chest pain, and sudden drops in my blood pressure that caused me to pass out or fall down. I saw a cardiologist and had several tests done to determine the cause of this. We're still not 100% sure of the cause of these symptoms, and I continue to have episodes with my heart from time to time. I'm told there is nothing wrong with my heart, but that I have another condition that is affecting the functioning of my heart.

In August, a friend and I began following The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin, which is a way of eating that follows biblical principles concerning food. I lost a few pounds doing this but nothing major. But then, at the urging of my mom, I started watching a television show called "Know the Cause" on the Christian Television Network. The host, Doug Kaufmann, teaches that most diseases actually come from fungus, mold, and mildew rather than bacteria and viruses. He has authored several books on the subject and also has a website: www.knowthecause.com. The more information I heard and saw, the more I believed that this concept made a LOT of sense. I had been urging my doctors for years to find a commonality among all my diagnoses, believing firmly that one person could not have so many separate diseases without them being somehow related. I wanted to "know the cause" instead of just treating the symptoms with drugs, drugs, and more drugs. So I began the Phase One antifungal diet on September 1st.

In the past several weeks I have lost 25 pounds, I have gotten off 4 medications, and I have seen a reduction in the severity and frequency of my heart symptoms and my cataplexy attacks. This is a miracle! For the first time in my adult life I feel like I am getting better! I can see actual tangible evidence of an improvement in my health. That's not to say that I am cured, by any means. I have a LONG way to go before I could ever consider referring to myself as healthy. And there are still serious health issues involving my heart and liver that need to be addressed. But I believe I am on the right path. And that includes continuing to rid my body of mold, mildew, and fungus; getting off as many pharmaceutical drugs as possible, putting only the purest, natural substances into my body - whether it be food, beauty products, cleaning products, etc.; and supplementing with high quality vitamins and nutritional supplements, tailored to my particular conditions and symptoms.

This is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but I am convinced that I am doing the right thing. And I believe that anyone dealing with a chronic health issue can benefit from the information at Know the Cause and from Doug Kaufmann. Please continue to keep me and my husband in your prayers as this continues to be one of the most difficult times in our lives.

This I can say with 100% assurance, though: God's promises are true, and He is faithful. Take Him up on His offers:

"Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things,which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Construction Zone

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

You may have noticed that my blog is undergoing a facelift right now, so please try not to judge the content by the current layout. Not being an html wizard, I haven't figured out yet how to adjust Blogger's 2-column template to work with my new 3-column background. It makes it pretty difficult to read the blog content right now if you're actually viewing the blog itself, rather than reading it through your RSS feed, email, or Facebook. If anyone reading this takes pity on me and knows how to fix this, I welcome your assistance.

Actually, my entire body is also "under construction" right now. I'm doing a major detoxification of my gastrointestinal system, and I'm also following a very strict dietary protocol to rid my body of mold, mildew, and fungus. I know that probably sounds pretty bizarre - it did to me when I first started hearing about it - but I've begun to understand that most illness and disease comes from fungi infiltrating tissues and organs in the human body. The reason we don't know about it is simply that medical schools mostly focus on bacteria and viruses being the cause of disease. They simply do not teach doctors about mycology, the study of mold, mildew, and fungus. Don't believe me; research it for yourself. Read The Fungus Link by Doug Kaufmann, and check out his website and/or TV show, "Know The Cause." Go to http://www.knowthecause.com to find out where to watch his TV show in your area. You can also watch the show live on the website.

So, please don't judge MY content based on MY layout either. I'm a work in progress, and it's going to be a long, hard road. I believe God has lead me here and that His hand is guiding my steps. And I believe that this path leads to a healthier future for me. Please continue to pray for my healing and for deliverance from the oppressive world of medicine and pharmaceutical drugs. I can't wait to see what God has in store!