Lamentations 3

 ^1 [a] I am the man who has seen affliction 
       by the rod of his wrath.
 ² He has driven me away and made me walk 
       in darkness rather than light;
 ³ indeed, he has turned his hand against me 
       again and again, all day long.
 ⁴ He has made my skin and my flesh grow old 
       and has broken my bones.
 ⁵ He has besieged me and surrounded me 
       with bitterness and hardship.
 ⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness 
       like those long dead.
 ⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape; 
       he has weighed me down with chains.
 ⁸ Even when I call out or cry for help, 
       he shuts out my prayer.
 ⁹ He has barred my way with blocks of stone; 
       he has made my paths crooked.
 ¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait, 
       like a lion in hiding,
 ¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me 
       and left me without help.
 ¹² He drew his bow 
       and made me the target for his arrows.
 ¹³ He pierced my heart 
       with arrows from his quiver.
 ¹⁴ I became the laughingstock of all my people; 
       they mock me in song all day long.
 ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs 
       and sated me with gall.
 ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel; 
       he has trampled me in the dust.
 ¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace; 
       I have forgotten what prosperity is.
 ¹⁸ So I say, "My splendor is gone 
       and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
 ¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering, 
       the bitterness and the gall.
 ²⁰ I well remember them, 
       and my soul is downcast within me.
 ²¹ Yet this I call to mind 
       and therefore I have hope:
 ²² Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, 
       for his compassions never fail.
 ²³ They are new every morning; 
       great is your faithfulness.
 ²⁴ I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; 
       therefore I will wait for him."
 ²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, 
       to the one who seeks him;
 ²⁶ it is good to wait quietly 
       for the salvation of the LORD.
 ²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke 
       while he is young.
 ²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence, 
       for the LORD has laid it on him.
 ²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust— 
       there may yet be hope.
 ³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, 
       and let him be filled with disgrace.
 ³¹ For men are not cast off 
       by the Lord forever.
 ³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, 
       so great is his unfailing love.
 ³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction 
       or grief to the children of men.
 

A good connection

I received an email from a person today who has been struggling with mold exposure health issues for about 12 years now. I responded to her e-mail with a lot of information that I thought would be helpful to others, so I am posting my response. I am so glad that we can all connect with and learn from each other. This is a tough road, as many of you know who are sick out there... I am glad that we aren't alone and can walk together!

(e-mail response)

so glad you got in touch with me. This is exactly why I started this blog; for all of us to connect and help each other out. I have had a few other people get in touch with me as well...it has been very good. Ok here goes....

I do know of one other doctor, but from what I have heard, he is far behind Shoemaker, and even has some different opinions. I trust Shoemaker. He is THE person who is figuring most of this out and is at the forefront with newer treatments etc. If you haven't read his book, Mold Warriors, order it immediately. It was written four years ago or so, so some of it is out of date now  with how rapidly the info on this illness is growing, but virtually explains everything about the illness, the genetic links, the types of molds. how they make us ill  etc. Very excellent. i am reading it again and am grasping even more than the first time. The guy in Denver though, if you do want to seek him out is Mark Pringree, I believe. He is super hard to look up, but if you do want to contact him, I have some new "mold" friends who have been to see him. They live closer to the springs....but one of them just saw shoemaker 2 weeks ago also.

First off...I am sorry you are sick. I have been sick for about 14 years or so...since 1995, but just found out what I was dealing with last year. Here are some basics, so you can understand a bit about mold and Cholestyramine(CSM). Forgive me if any of this is insulting your current knowledge. I am not sure where you are at in your journey.

First off, CSM does help everybody, but not everybody is fully healed and/or feels better on CSM.  CSM is simply a binding agent that helps remove the mold mycotoxins that are in your system due to being in the moldy house. The other half of the puzzle depends on your genetics, and how much downstream damage the mold toxins have done to your body.

Some people can take the CSM and in 2 weeks or so they feel better and well, others...not so much, but CSM is still doing its job of binding and removing the toxins which is the first step besides for getting out of the unsafe environment. Have you seen the biotoxin illness flowchart? If not, go back to my blog and click the link... it will help you understand, in a nutshell, how these toxins are affecting your system.

25% of the population are genetically susceptible to get this illness if exposed to mold or other toxins. Our bodies just do not code the toxins as harmful and remove them from our body which most immune systems do. For us, the toxins remain in there and cause our immune systems to kick into overdrive as if fighting the flu or something......although it never stops fighting until the toxins are gone. (yours has been going for 12 years!)...here is where CSM comes in. CSM helps us remove those toxins so the immune system can calm down.  Now depending on what your genetics are though, there are certain genetic types that still have issues even after the toxins are gone.  With these people, Dr. Shoemaker treats each blood marker that is off, with different medications to bring things back into balance. I believe that he is one of the few in the world, who knows how to treat these other blood markers, if CSM alone doesn't do the trick.

As far as testing your home...they need to test for very specific things. I will copy my friend Tom, who has the same illness...he and I are helping people together and we are both on top of the latest info. He can recommend the same people that tested his home. I have not had my home tested, but believe it to be safe based upon Dr. Shoemaker's opinion and interpretation of my blood lab results. CSM has helped stabilize my energy among other things, but I have the worst of the worst genotypes and I have many other things wrong with me from the mold. VIP has helped as well, but there are still many things to correct from my blood draws. Mine is a long journey..much longer than most because of my genetics.

There is so much more to say ....but this is a lot for now. Please ask me any other questions that you have and we can go from there. The first step is understanding so you can be educated to get better.  The first step is definitely CSM though, so try to get on it as soon as you can!   4x a day for the first month....1 to 2x a day after that...but you really need to get your blood drawn to see where things are at, before and after.  We can talk about that later!  Hope this helps and please stay in touch. I welcome any other questions that you have!  ttys   -marc-

One week in

Well, it's a little after one week in on my VIP treatment. My friends, Tom and Christine Jarrett, hit the road with my wife and I to go to Pocomoke, Maryland to see Dr. Shoemaker. It was a great appointment. We had plenty of time to see the office staff, Dr. Shoemaker and our favorite lady in the there, Debbie Waidner! She always takes care of us!

We had our blood drawn, and got to spend lots of time with Dr. Shoemaker. We had lots of questions that got answered very thoroughly with lots of doctor talk :) We had out first administration of VIP and about 15 minutes later had our blood drawn again. Both Tom and I felt after those fifteen minutes like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. For me I could breath easier, my chest didn't feel as tight and I felt more calm than normal. It was a good feeling.

We left the office and ordered our VIP immediately. It arrived the day after we returned back to Indiana. We started our full on dosing of VIP that Thursday. The first couple days I felt better than I had felt in a long time. A few days later I felt miserable.... not sure why...

Things have started to mellow out and become more consistent. I have been feeling ok, but not great. I keep reminding myself that this is a 3 month process on this medication..not 1 week only. I will keep you posted.