justinekno

We have just done a repeat of the labs for mold so I am waiting for the results to see if my son's numbers have decreased at all. We fixed our obvious mold problem (basement hatchway) but I want to do the ERMI to see if we have missed anything. Ironically, after doing the remediation, my son started with a new tic. If his bloodwork hasn't changed, then we need to look into other possibilities (KPU, etc).

I was planning to order the ERMI test kit but when I went on the Internet, I see that there is more than one company who sells it. For those who have done this test, which company did you use to order the kit? Thanks.

I have two sons, one with tics and the other does not. My son who does not have tics is in his senior year of college. In high school, he was an honors student and took Spanish with no problem. Then he took Latin in his sophomore year of high school, thinking it would be a useful language to learn. He loved the language and even went to Rome on a school trip. Then came college where he had to take a foreign langauge and he assumed taking Greek would be a good transition from Latin. Oh boy, was he wrong! It was the longest semester ever. No matter how much he studied or how many times he met with the professor, he just couldn't get it. He was frustrated, like you, because stuff had come pretty easily to him before this class. It was definitely a life lesson for him. He ended up going back to Spanish the following semester to meet his language requirement and I stopped getting daily texts about hard Greek was! My point in telling you our story is that it doesn't have to be about how smart you are or if you have TS or not, sometimes learning something new (in this case learning a foreign language) is just not for you. You've clearly proven how bright you are by the grades and choices you have made up to this point. Now it's time to prove your maturity by realizing that no one can "ace" everything and maybe it's time to look for other options or just buckle down (meet with you professor or advisor for suggestions, inquire about tutoring) and do the best you can and then move on. sorry that was unnecessary....I just tend to be very self-deprecating b/c I feel like If I try hard enough, I should be able understand whatever the subject may be...

Okay, thanks. I had it done at Labcorp: Ammonia, Plasma

What test checks for ammonia levels?

We submit our LLMD claims and our insurance company did ask for some of my son's file from the dr. It wasn't much and I only found out about it when I got a bill from the LLMD for a copying charge. Our insurance has paid all of our claims and prescriptions so I haven't really thought much about it. I think if I had known ahead of time, I might have questioned it but since we found out about it after the fact, there wasn't much to do. I think Michael is right, when you sign the claim form, you lose some control.

I don't want to hijack the thread but just wondering if either of you saw any new symptoms arise as a result of the remediation? We have recently done some remediation and my son is experiencing some new symptoms. We are stepping up the detox but our LLMD said this is common when remediation is done because the spores are so small they can travel even under the best of remediating processes. My son's C4a test came back at 5478 along with positive markers on the other related mold tests. He has also tested positive for MARCONS and Lyme. I second this comment about mold. I thought there was no way my house had mold because it was built recently, but it turned out to be completely contaminated with mold. Newer homes with less air movement and "air" systems for heat and AC often have worse mold problems than old farm houses. Keep mold in your considerations as I believe it is a likely cause if more than one person living in the enviroment is sick.

From what I understand, which numbers are high can help determine why they are high. My son's were high and it was due to puberty (bone growth) but we decided to pursue a more natural approach to treatment to be safe because my husband does have a non alcohol related liver disease. My husband's GI dr is pretty mainstream and not a big fan of supplements. Although, his dr is starting a "study" this month on taking vitamin A for liver disease so perhaps the mainstream Dr's are finally starting to investigate the benefits of supplements. Maybe LLM's suggestion of having the two Dr's speak could be helpful?

Has anyone found a good chlorella that does not come from Japan and therefore does not have the radiation issue? I was really feeling a difference while taking chlorella but I stopped it when it was mentioned on another board about the potential for radiation.

Laura - glad to hear you got the results. I think because it has some nutritional value to it, chlorella does not need to be treated the same as clay and charcoal. I was under the impression from our LLMD that it does not need to be spaced away from antibiotics and supplements.

What kinds of symptoms should this treatment help with?

We are going through the same thing. I would like to see some mention of it on a site other than the mold site. Just to kind of confirm the necessity to treat it. I haven't had any luck though.

I have been looking for information on MARCONS but don't see anything other than what is in the book. Has anyone read of any other research? I only see stuff on MRSA.

We have not had vomiting as part of a herx, only fevers and muscle aches but my son did have vomiting when he first started taking probiotics. We changed probiotics and he has been fine since (2 yes ago). Could there be something else that is bothering the both of you?

I think if you search EMF on this site, you will see some extensive talk about them.

I think the fact that the protocol for mold is showing some benefits coupled with our tests results just convinces me that mold is possibly a big issue for us. We didn't see these types of results when we were on a strictly Lyme path. Also, our LLMD took my son off of fish oil when we got our mold bloodwork back and put him on the salmon oil. Something about it being a better omega for people dealing with mold. I can't remember if he said that advice came from his conversation with Klinghardt or Shoemaker. My son is taking Neem Synergy for Lyme and I am taking FC-Cidal for Lyme/yeast. My son was also taking A-Bart but we stopped because I really saw no difference other than symptom flares that were causing issues for him. I plan on talking to our LLMD next week and seeing if we should tackle mold before Lyme. Chlorellla is a binder but my son would have to take 20 pills a day and so I opted for the clay. We've had a lot of constipation issues with the clay so I'm wondering if chlorella would be better. I will say that I am taking the clay also and have noticed that I don't seem to get as many headaches as I used too and my migraines go away pretty quickly when i do get them. Not sure if it's related.

Constipation was an issue for us but once we got that under control, my son's symptoms seemed to ease up. We use Tru-Fiber which you mix in a couple of ounces of juice. We also do lots of lettuce, pears, and lots of water. When things get really backed up, I bring out the dates and cut off dairy. My son also takes magnesium which is supposed to help. You can do all of the detox you want, but if you're not getting rid of it, then it's probably going to make things worse. I think apples are constipating but I did read that anything that begins with a p is good for constipation, i.e., pears, peaches.

My son and I are both taking herbs only for Lyme. We have also stumbled upon the mold issue and have had our home tested recently (remediation to start in 2 weeks) and our mold related bloodwork was very suggestive along with HLA results. We have added in bentonite clay to the mix but will be seeing our LLMD on Tuesday and I will be asking about changing to chlorella instead of the clay. We initially started with antibiotics but changed over after about 4 months on them (my ds had been on antibiotics for a few months before that when we thought he had PANDAS). I must say that our biggest improvement has come with using the clay and supplementing with salmon oil. That is probably more evidence that we have mold related illness in addition to Lyme.

Hmm. That's interesting. The dr also said since my other son and I both had Lyme, it increased the reasons to test him. I think his issue is more basketball related but he has an appt with our dr for a full blood work up next week, just to be sure.

I took my older son to an orthopedic dr the other day because he has been having pain in his knees (he plays college basketball) and the dr told us it was probably "jumper's knee" but that he wanted to do a Lyme test to rule Lyme out. Said he has recently stumbled upon a couple of patients with positive Lyme tests so now this is his standard for patients complaining of pain. It's not the best that he's relying on the CDC tests but I was encouraged that he is at least thinking Lyme. We've been to a lot of ortho Dr's and have never had Lyme suggested before.

Julia - Where did you buy the nebulizer? Also, which brand are you using for salmon oil? We just started using BioPure which is 1000 mg per capsule. They are huge! Not sure if I could get my son to take more than one! Justine

Haha, I figured as much. Just didn't want to take take juliafaith's kudos!! oops, you are right, that is what I meant!

I think that congrats goes to juliafaith! Hopefully we will be there soon

Any suggestions on a brand/model of a good air purifier? Maybe that can be my husband's Father's Day present

I'm trying to understand the difference in the ERMI test versus having an inspector search for mold. We had the latter done and did discover mold which is what we are now focusing on. Just wondering how the ERMI test would help if mold has already been located and identified. Our furnace (gas) is located in our basement. My son has had health problems since we moved into this house 10 years ago. His problems started within 2 months of living here. Almost makes us want to just sell the house - especially if it's going to cost thousands to fix it. Is there anything I can read that will give research based evidence that mold can potentially be my son's issues? He is being treated for Lyme but isn't really making progress and we have been treating for 8 months. It's almost like we are grasping at straws with the mold situation,