JuliaFaith

Do not know if your ERMI test is the same as mycometrics. How much did the test cost? How do you conduct the test itself? You may want to call the lab that you send it to and see if they can answer any of your questions. Maybe you can search for 'reviews' on others that used the same company. My test results were pretty easy to read but I still called the chemist and talked to him. He was very helpful and pointed out the molds that he would be most concerned about. You get a full page, 1/2 indoor molds - 1/2 outdoor molds, with the top 1/2 of indoor molds being the most important ones to look at. There is a # next to each type of mold which gives you an idea of whether it is high or not compared to others on the page. The actual chart, comparing your house to ones across the country, is also pretty simple to read. This is where you get an "ERMI" number.

You are an amazing mom if you have 3 children going thru this all at once! It has been difficult for me just to have one (and now DH). Are you thinking that a lyme doctor may be something to look at? Our ND also treats autism along with lyme, co-infection, mold illness, etc. When I was looking at our last choice for PANDAS as IVIG, I decided it could not hurt financially to see a good lyme doctor before doing an IVIG (since I figured insurance would not pay for it). Some people have benefitted from IVIG/PEX but looking at lyme before going this route first was one of the best decisions that I made (ds had minimal psycho symptoms). When I read your part about allergies, I wondered if 'mold' might be an issue (especially with so many ill in your family). Since we cleaned and removed mold from our house, I no longer need allergy or asthma meds. www.survivingmold.com is a good website for this. Also, I wondered if you were taking any supplements to detox, probiotics, and support damage to organs etc. After 16 months of allopathic/natureopathic/homeopathic treatment, my son is still being treated for Myco. along with viruses that have not been de-activated, and also still detoxing like crazy!

I believe muscle testing is a form of ART testing. The ERMI test was confusing to me at first, but found out that it is really easy to do yourself. www.mycometrics.com I finally called them and they sent me a 'dust cloth' since I have wood floors to just dust a few rooms and send it back to them. There is also another test they have where you vacuum carpet, if that is what you have in the rooms you're testing. #732-355-9018

Thought of you when reading this -- http://www.betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog/259-biomedical-tips-and-tricks-with-amy-derksen-nd MOLD ISSUES -- www.survivingmold.com to learn more about Ritchie Shoemaker’s protocols and testing Suspect with kids that have “yeast” issues within days of discontinuing anti-fungals This is more of an allergy and immune/inflammatory reaction Often allergic shiners and multiple small lymph nodes all the time in neck Snoring/sinus issues/generally very sensitive to smell and foods

Wow! How great and elegant the responses on this forum can be! How can our families not get better with all this great support!

The first indicator of mold, for my son, came thru the 'muscle testing'. We did some inexpensive tests first (petri dishes) and continued with other tests when his muscle testing showed it as still a problem. As of now, testing is not showing 'mold' as a problem just detoxing. In Dr. Shoemaker's book he highly recommends the following: MMP9 ADH VEGF C3a C4a TGF beta-1 VIP You can read about Dr. Shoemaker at www.Survivingmold.com. This is fairly recent material (2010) so there are plenty of doctors that probably do not know about all of this. It seems insurance companies do since I just got a new home insurance policy and it specifically excludes molds/fungus. There are training CD's on Dr. S site for doctors to purchase if they are interested in learning and/or treating patients. My son's doctor did the following tests: TSH (Per my notes -- thyroid) T4 (Affects levels of TSH) T3Free VIP MSH HLA DR (genetic types) TGF beta-1 (my dh tests just came back very high - said it is a 'mold indicator'-apparently, can stay in body for many years if body is unable to detox properly)

So sorry you are finding out all of this in such a short amount of time! The good side is it will allow you to heal faster. When I found out my son had PANDAS it was one thing to focus on, but with treatment, he never improved. That is when I decided to explore lyme and had our current dr. suggest getting the best dr. possible. It just happened that the lyme dr. that I found was an ND (Natureopathic dr.) in which a world-renowned dr. (MD) was also one of the dr. in the office. An LLMD may be a good starting point for researching and finding a doctor but you may find another "type" of doctor who is just as good. Our ND has been great because she uses prescription, natureopathic, & homeopathic meds, so we get the best of all '3' types of doctors. The natureopathic/homeopathic side helps tremendously, not only with treatment which can be amazing, but also healing other organs in the body that need support from all the illness, meds. etc. The down side is that it is expensive since insurance does not cover most natureopathic/homeo meds. The other part of my son's treatment that has been great is the 'muscle testing' done in this office. The dr. my son's sees is very high level in the technique, so she is able to start treatment before any tests are done and can treat things that tests may not even show (i.e. strain on the heart). Consistently, when she does do testing (blood work etc.), they have confirmed her treatment and diagnosis. Just wondering if you did the ERMI test (DNA-$300) for mold? This is the test that we did and received a very complete list of molds (both indoor ones and outdoor ones) in our home. We had already removed mold from our basement over a 13 year period (probably not all of it was done correctly) and thought we had tackled all of it so our ERMI test results were a shock! Since then, after being totally overwhelmed by it all, we completely cleaned the inside of our house and everything in it, remodeled some old areas (found a little bit of mold), and now will be doing the ERMI test again next month to make sure the mold levels are low. Our doctor recommended reading "Surviving Mold" by Dr. Shoemaker and did some of his recommended tests. Those tests came back with mold indicators which confirmed her diagnosis. My son (and now my husband) are detoxing big time. My Dh started detoxing 6 months ago because it made him feel so good. He is glad he started after having his first visit with my son's doctor last month and finding his 'mold' indicators high as well. They are both taking 20 little chlorella's 3xday and 3 salmon oils 3xday together before each meal. Sorry this is so long, but I had some very helpful information on this forum which really helped get us on the way to recovery much faster. Best wishes on continued healing.

So sorry for your frustration -have been there myself! It seems you may want to find an LLMD that treats based on symptoms and/or tests. That way you are, at least, starting treatment and seeing some improvement while tests are being done. This is what I did and it was the best decision I have made so far. Was just reading info. from this LLMD and thought you might like to see her slides from a recent conference: http://www.betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog/259-biomedical-tips-and-tricks-with-amy-derksen-nd Very interesting to read. Your frustration tells me you are on the right track and getting closer to healing! Mother's intuition is not to be underrated! Keep healing and posting.

Thanks S&S. He is looking forward to feeling better. Best wishes for your healing.

Blood tests for the TGF beta 1 show 40,000 (Refer. <2000). This is after taking chlorella/salmon oil for 6 months for detox. So this shows high mold! So, in addition to chlorella, he is taking Cholesyramine along with a Tbl. of ground flax seed followed by 12 oz. of water. Also, taking Sporanox for anti-fungal and suppositories for detox. Testing high on the same virus our son does, so taking Valtrex now as well. Wonder if this is causing 'flare-ups' with son? His CD57 is 90 which can be an indicator for lyme (ref. >100 is non-lyme?) so not focusing on that right now since number is not too low. Finally, dr. is recommending removal of tonsils and testing for MARCoN's with deep nasal swab. It makes me sick to think that our house may have caused all of this.

Forgot to mention that ds is getting the same blood tests done that his dad had done last week. Apparently, certain viruses (probably bacterial too) can run in families. It seems they both have had the HHV 6 virus show up as "High".

After 16 months of treatment and over 2 years of illness, I believe my son's immune system was compromised and this allowed all kinds of bacteria, viruses, lyme etc. to invade his body and re-activate things that were already there. With that said, I am not sure what started it all but I suspect it was 'mold' in my home that was removed (but maybe not properly) and genetic factors (i.e., methylation issues etc.). I believe lyme was only one of the many factors that eventually made him very ill where he could not recover on his own (or with any strictly allopathic [Western] dr.). Also, a Dr. suggested in his writing that a certain HLA halotype was also only going to 'get better' on something other than abx. Found this out after the fact but it makes sense since my son never responded to abx. Now after 16 months of treatment (allopathic, naturalpathic, & homeopathic), I can see some great improvement. His 'tic' in throat is gone. His 'herxing' is minimal (just missed his monthly 'herx' for the first time since starting all of this). His lungs are functioning better than ever but we are still working on myco per last dr. visit. Anxiety is getting less and less and energy is skyrocketing . Thyroid tests are improving with every test. His terrible 'stomach pain' is much less or sometimes, non-existent. His flu-like symptoms are slowly going away. At his visit yesterday, fungal was testing positive and I realized after we left we had forgot to mention his yeast returning. Dr. put him on anti-fungal without our mention of this - wow! quite surprising and thought it was related to viral die-off. Thyroid #'s are down but she wants them at < or = to '1' even tho Labcorp. indicates they are in the 'normal range.' With muscle testing, myco p. still is testing as something that needs treatment so continuing. Also, Valcyte, was testing 'strongly' so continuing with that and heavy detox with chlorella/salmon oil and now detox suppositories (not supposed to mention this per 14 yr. old ). Interestingly enough, the K-MAF that I ordered from EURO was testing just 'o.k.' so reduced that to once per day. This was the alternative to nagalase injections for the viruses. Dr. figured it was the Valcyte doing its' job. Son is continuing with minerals, vit. A & K2, as well as, 'cocktail of viressence/quintessence/lipo-health', desmospressin, and supernatant (probiotic). I am not sure about his reaction to others who are ill. Recently, his dad left town and he immediately came out of a 'flare-up', but he has also been on Valcyle for a week. So not sure what the triggers may have been (it was after a 2-week cold virus too which he came out of like everyone else in family). For the first time since treatment started, his dr. visit is in 6 weeks instead of 4! Finally (sorry so long), dh is going to the same dr. and we are finding some high 'mold' type numbers, so working on his health as well. Dr. said he tested for 'lyme' (muscle tested) but it does not seem to be a major problem in all of his health issues. So will see where all of this goes. Just not sure if we can pay for all the supplements so that will be a challenge . ERMI test for mold will be taken next month so will see what that says. Keep on healing!

Son was just put on D3 complete (D3, A, & K2 vitamins) and he is possibly done battling lyme/babesia and currently working on viruses/Mico. It is listed under 'nutrient and immune support' on Dr. sheet. Also, just read that K2 is good for brain inflammation.

So good to hear healing is progressing for you and your family, Susan. The way I see it, one month down (or 3 in your case), hopefully will never have to return there. Best continued healing wishes for everyone!

This puts everything we are doing in perspective - for a person without medical training: "Dealing with chronic infections is like a battlefield. You have to kill the enemy. Then you have to cut up the pieces of the bodies to take them away. Once complete, you have to make the meadow green and restore the environment such that the wildflowers can grow again." Can read it at the following website if you are interested: http://betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog/257-bioresource-2012-conference

Hope all is going well with your son. This month, my ds caught a cold that went thru the entire house. He was over the virus in about 10-14 days like everyone else which was great to see (after 14 months of treatment). He did have a 'flare' (increase in daily symptoms) for another 2 weeks after that and could not figure out why. Then his dad left town, along with him being on Valcyte for a week, and immediately the flare was gone and his was back to baseline (~70%)! So not sure if was his dad's swollen glands b/4 he left or the Valcyte that helped get him out of it - but we will take it! Then I got the swollen glands (no other symptoms) and he continued at baseline. Holding steady and everyone healthy (or back to baseline). This conference is very informative and mentions a bit of what you are talking about: http://betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog/257-bioresource-2012-conference "PANDAS in kids often turns out to be Bartonella plus Lyme with the Strep riding along like a co-infection." Do like the idea of going to a spa for the week too!

Artemisinin really affected my son whenever he was on it once it was above 300mg/day. Glad to see that you are pulsing and starting at 100 mg twice a day instead of the higher dosage as before. Doctor finally just took him off of it, maybe just temporarily. Before stopping she kept him at 200 mg/day then increased 2 days a week at 400 mg/day. Best wishes on continued healing!

Hello - its' been a while. My son's dr. kept asking him if he urinated frequently which did not think he did. But she put him on Desmopressin (prescription) and on-line it says it is for urinary frequency. On my list of things to ask her about. Best healing wishes!

My friend (who is going thru some of the same things as you) sent me this poem today - thought you might enjoy it: May Life's Greatest Gifts Always Be Yours Happiness. Deep down within. Serenity. With each sunrise. Success. In each facet of your life. Close and caring friends. Love. That never ends. Special memories. Of all the yesterdays. A bright today. With much to be thankful for. A path. That leads to beautiful tomorrows. And dreams. That do their best to come true Best wishes.

My son uses 'detox deodorant' at night around his neck and bottom of his feet, along with chlorella & clay in juice.

My son uses 'detox deodorant' at night around his neck and bottom of his feet, along with chlorella & clay in juice.

Do not know about pectin treatment, but something I read on Vitamin C treatment said to take it every hour (i.e., during a cold) until you had 'intestinal distress' then either stop at prior dosage or stop taking it, did not state in the article.

Best wishes on your full recovery from the cancer. A good friend of mine is going thru treatment right now. She is doing well and making plans to enjoy every day, express love to others, focus on what is good in her life. She is also looking forward to getting her new 'pillows' later this year. Best wishes on your treatment and recovery!

The heart palpitations would be something I would think about myself. After 6 months into treatment, my ds started on supplements for cardiovascular support as viruses/biofilm/low oxygen (mycos) intake etc. can mess with the heart and other organs. My ds had been on Valtrex and supplements for viruses for over a year with no progress, so we just started him on Valcyte. He has also been taking other viral supplements and still is.

Had another thought after thinking of your question for a few days. Heavy metals seem to play a role in all of this, so that is where eating organic and gluten-free (helps with inflammation) may be very helpful in starting to reduce this load so your body can concentrate more on healing. Also, just treatment for parasites/worms has helped many with brain fog and energy. My ds treatment was 6 weeks, I believe.