Something Missed?
When the tests say you're fine, but your body says otherwise.
Unseen Illness
When your partner's health is suffering, it can be debilitating, you can feel helpless. In early 2023 my wife's health was deteriorating, she didn’t feel like herself, but visits to the doctor came up fine. Where do you go when the experts tell you everything is fine?
History
This wasn’t the first time my wife had been unwell having to address IBS in the past. She had low iron, but supplements didn’t help and was referred to a dietician to identify what foods were causing irritations. She went on a gruelling elimination diet and found a few foods that seemed to be contributing to the condition.
But then she started losing weight quickly and was sent to see a gastroenterologist who put her on medication to clam down her bowel. When she visited our pharmacist he told her the medication would help, but not solve the issue, he happened to also be a naturopath. Sure enough she started feeling better, but about a year later conditions worsened even with the medication.
She has always been someone that likes to address issues at the source. So decided to turn to the naturopath to see what he could do. With his guidance over time she improved, cut out the medication and continued to avoid certain foods that didn’t agree.
Fast Forward
My background isn’t medicine so I felt like my hands were tied. All I had was lets see another doctor, but all the tests conducted didn't show any issue. How can there be no issue? Surely not having the energy to get up suggests something is wrong.
Fast forward and my wife was now feeling tired after a good night's sleep, the days being more of a struggle to get through. As the month continued her health continued to go down hill. She was now needing to take naps during the day and simple tasks around the house felt exhausting.
My partner isn’t the type of person to sit around so she started doing her own reading. She had reached the conclusion based on her symptoms that maybe she had a toxicity problem. With her research she found a group in the US that tested for a range of possible toxins. The testing wasn’t cheap, but we couldn’t find anything in Australia where we live that was comparable.
Results
When the test results come back they identified mould toxicity, sometimes referred to as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). Since we live in Australia she was only able to send urine samples for testing.
This blew our minds at first, it didn’t make sense. We live in a very dry climate in Australia, mould isn’t really an issue for us. But then she thought about it a bit more and remembered smelling a musty smell at her previous employer. About 20-25% of people are estimated to have a genetic variant (usually involving the HLA-DR gene group) making them vulnerable to toxic build up.
Mainstream
There is still debate within mainstream medicine about CIRS and the gut microbiome. However, it's widely accepted that a diverse microbiome is generally a healthier one and diet plays a major influence. Additionally, some studies have found links between the microbiome and conditions like IBS, though it is unclear if those changes cause the disease or are a result of it.
Treatment
For the next 2 years my wife stuck to a strict diet and supplement regimen. Within a very short period of time, months, she started feeling better and continued to improve until recently where she completed the course. She is now seeing someone locally that is helping her monitor her health to avoid going backwards.
One important step was for her to avoid mould as much as possible, noting it is everywhere. We spoke to a local expert and he gave us a lot of guidance of where to look in our home including, indoor heat exchanger, windows sills, washing machine seals and sink traps. More recently she found some on a shower cap and tea towel which we threw away.
We also now run a dehumidifier, especially when hanging anything up inside to dry during winter.
While mainstream medicine can be life saving, they don’t always have the answers. In no way am I suggesting to stop listening to your doctor, but when you have explored everything else with no result, it might be worth getting another opinion, it worked for my wife.
In case this helps someone else, she worked with Modern Holistic Health.
https://www.modernholistichealth.com
🎵 Stronger Skies
Listen below – Lyrics by me. Co-arranged and performed by a tone-generating gremlin from the cloud (they hum in binary). Mastered by me, powered entirely by snacks and stubbornness.
A moment, remembered.
