Comment by bflesch

I understand that one cannot expect a reddit hobbyist community to compensate for a medical system that has already "failed" the patients. But if you feel your disease is progressing despite the medications the doctors give you, you will desperately try every single thing that people post on social media.

The cycle of "long covid > mold > lyme > candida > parasites" can only be broken by clever people building better, cheaper analytical methods for detection of these diseases.

Doctors really should show some humility and remember that 200 years ago it was an innovation for them to wash and disinfect their hands, and the guy who told them, Ignaz Semmelweis, was "red herring" chased into psychiatric asylum.

Viel besser! I'm happy to hear you have recovered, thanks for sharing. You're correct, the mycotoxin contamination of food products is such an important but overlooked fact. Once your body starts reacting to them your life is turned upside down.

The kicker for me was IKEA furniture. I was literally allergic to IKEA furniture, and only against specific parts of that IKEA furniture. It was only happening with the newer models of IKEA furniture bought in the past ~5 years. I had to throw away so much IKEA furniture.

In their recent sustainability reports IKEA has proudly mentioned how they are saving both costs and the planet by increasingly using recycled materials. They are quite light on the details but you can put together the stories across several of their publications and promotional videos.

Basically IKEA uses fungal waste products from industrial processes such as aspergillus from citric acid production. These fungal waste products are used as packaging material but also as a novel fungal adhesive for their "recycled wood" materials. This novel IKEA material sigificantly reduces plastic use and is cheaper - the holy cow of sustainability. It is basically old wooden furniture shredded into wood chips and then the wood chips are throw onto a big pile where they outside in the rain (even in the official IKEA video). Then they glue the wood chips back together with the novel fungal-based adhesive. Then they put a big layer of plastic around it and use it in parts of their furniture which are a bit more hidden, like the side panels of the pull-out drawers. One can recognize it by the rugged surface.

So these things are basically mold time bombs. It is wet wood chips, wrapped in plastic, and laced with fungal adhesive. The problem was so bad for IKEA that they changed the color of all components made from this from WHITE to GREY because people kept posting pictures of the slight grey mold on top of the white paint to social media.

If you go on the IKEA website and look at furniture, they list the exact material name for every single part of the furniture - except for the recycled wood parts.

I am 99% convinced that a big part of what is reported as "long covid" is actually IKEA's mold-laced recycled wood time bombs shipped to people's apartments. If your immune system is wrecked by covid infection and lockdown-triggered vitamin D deficiency the mold really hits hard. I do not believe that IKEA sufficiently removed residual humidity from all shipments of this material, there are too many pictures on social media that show it.

The timing really coincides with IKEA's introduction of their sustainable wood material. Too many people reported the "gray dust" that was appearing on these white pieces so IKEA simply painted them gray.

If you are located in the US and have access to a lawyer and a microbiology lab, buy some IKEA drawers and do some experiments with the material of the pull-out drawers (left and right side panels). If you can document it for a court case, it might be a big class action lawsuit.

I just wanted to say: Be careful going down this rabbit hole. There is a lot of misinformation and pseudoscience on the internet regarding mold, fungus, and candida as an explanation for every vague illness. The candida forums are particularly bad at misinformation. You can find people on internet forums, Facebook, and TikTok confidently explaining how candida explains everything wrong with you and can cause any symptom, but it's not backed by reality. People can waste a lot of time arguing with doctors or trying different antifungals and supplements before realizing that their condition is not candida at all.

The following advice assumes that you went to your doctor, reported the symptoms, they did a full checkup incl. CT imaging and sent you home without finding anything (e.g. the famous conversation of "congratulations you don't have cancer!" - "yeah but why do I have these symptoms then?" - "We don't know!").

So from my personal experience your biggest priority should be to reduce exposure, e.g. mask up with an FFP3 mask that properly keeps the mold spores out. If your disease is really exaberated by mold then simply wearing the FFP3 for several hours will reduce your allergic respiratory symptoms so much that you feel it. Of course move places if you can, but be aware that the new place also very likely has some sort of mold, and the mycotoxins are spread out all throughout your stuff.

Trust your instincts, especially your nose to find indoor mold sources - unless you simply can't smell for several years like me. If you leave the house for some hours and come back then you have a short time frame of some minutes where you can literally smell the location of a mold source in your house before the nose swells up again. Youtube has many videos that explain how to find mold. Generally learn about diffusion in wall construction materials and figure out where organic material is used in your house. If organic material is next to something that limits diffusion (plastic, foam, metal, concrete, cement, paint) it is a possible point of water condensation and mold growth. Maybe there is a very obvious high-intensity source of mold like backside of a picture frame on the outside wall or moldy dust in an uncleaned ventilation system. But mold can also be invisible inside the wall, floor, ceilings, wallpaper or furniture. In any case buy or DIY a hepa filter for your home.

Then assess your immune system and support it as good as possible. This means go to a doctor and do all possible traditional bloodwork (Vitamin D, the B Vitamins, iron, minerals) and figure out what kind of supplements your immune system needs but does not get at the moment. Take these supplements and do monthly blood panels to track your progress and check if your symptoms improve. Once my vitamin D deficiency was resolved it was a big jump in life quality.

Do genetic testing to see if you have genetic metabolism issues such as MTHFR, and adapt supplementation of methylfolate / methyl-B12 accordingly. If you're curious you can use promethease to do deep dive into your genetic predispositions, but be aware that the symptoms they list are correlations and not causations.

Stop smoking, alcohol, sodas, fast food. Try to eat more healthy and drink enough water and eat an apple a day (Vitamin C!). If you have trouble quitting smoking/alcohol you need to recognize those as self-medication for underlying issues which should be medicated by a psychiatrist instead.

Please be aware that if your immune system is suppressed, the moment it "starts up" again will feel like your symptoms are getting worse. Suddenly there will be a pain in the sinus, or a light fever, or a weird tingling in some part of your body. Get familiar with the Herxheimer effect which is accepted by medical professionals for bacteria die-off symptoms where people get more sick after antibiotics because the bacteria release toxins when they die. Many argue that the same Herxheimer affect also applies to mold die-off or when the mycotoxins stored in your body are re-released into your bloodstream. Medicine lacks methods to validate any of these claims.

Try not to accept any treament that reduces your immune system (e.g. cortisone or monoclonal antibodies). You want to strengthen up your immune system, and not supress it. You really need to learn to listen to your body and notice when your nose starts tingling or allergic symptoms are starting to hit. Do not do any polyp removal surgery or FESS before blood panels show that your immune system has all needed supplements and your genetic metabolism defects are adequately addressed with things like methyl B12 shots etc. For all the traditional vitamin/mineral lab tests you should be at the upper end of the green range and not just barely on the start of the green range.

The one medication that helped me all along the way was desloratadine - an OTC anti-allergic medication. Coincidentially recent medical studies also showed that desloratadine is highly effective against covid by blocking ACE2 receptor. For me it deswelled my whole respiratory system the same way that monoclonal antibodies did, without killing my eosinophils along the way.

Do not take any anti-fungal medicine, they have significant side effects (some of them are classified as chemotherapy medications - you do not have cancer). If antifungals are adviced there will be a team of well-educated doctors that make you aware of the need because they found a fungal growth.

Do not take EDTA or NAC before your immune system is recovered. They re-release things into your bloodstream your body is not able to cope with and it can really harm your body and mental health.

Do not eat any clay or charcoal or buy salt baths before your immune system is recovered. It is a waste of time. Fix immune system first and track the improvements.

Really listen to your body. Eat healthy and drink plenty of water. Maybe check lead levels of your water supply just to be sure. Read labels of food and get an understanding of how much food is rotting with mold in the factories before it is mushed together and sold to us. If you have skin rashes then sulfur soap bars are a magic trick.

Go to communities such as r/moldtoxicity and read their stories and experiences, especially about finding and remediating the mold sources. Stay away from supposed wonder medications before you fix your immune system and the bloodwork shows that your immune system is fixed.

Finally, mold growth is seasonal and highly dependent on humidity. Every time after it has rained it is really bad. If your symptoms spike in wet season don't get fooled to think you are "healed" just because summer arrives. Mold can also grow outdoors. If you are allergic to indoor mold a hike in the woods can very well put you into the emergency room because your respiratory system simply swells shut. You might live next to some wetlands and the wind blows mold spores in your direction. These are all factors to consider.

Good luck!

PS: If after all this your eosinophils are still high your doctors should triple check you for parasitic infection.

The airborne mycotoxin I was exposed to is a scientifically proven carcinogen and class A indoor toxin, confirmed by an official lab. It was direct cause of my eosinophilia/asthma/sinusitis. It is the biggest gaslighting ever because two people share a place and both have emergency hospital visits and nearly die but from totally different diseases in different areas of the body.

All the communities suggest you throw away everything once you leave a mold-infested place, but most can't afford that. Many keep their furniture and regret it.

I truly wish this experience upon the denialists so they can use it to gather the evidence they need. A proper cancer would've been easier because there is at least a support network and hospitals have a damn handbook for it.