Dr. Shoemaker thought I would be interested in one of his patients so he email introduced us. She is a Dr. of Psychiatry. Let's call her Gale.
Gale had a thriving practice with a few other docs. Her daughter got very ill and Gale finally traced her problems down to mold. Her daughter became a patient of Shoemaker. During the process of learning Shoemaker's approach to diagnosis, testing and treatment of mold illness, she realized that her own deteriorating health problems were likely related to mold as well. She discovered that the building where her practice was located was very moldy.
She was fascinated by Ritchie's discoveries. She reasoned, "If 25% of the population has a genotype that makes them very sensitive to mold toxin, I wonder how many of my own patients have that genotype." She set out to test 100 of her 500 or so patients. She was getting sicker every day though. She eventually could not work anymore especially in that building. So she was able to genotype only 21 of her patients.
Now lets do a little review here before I tell you her results.
The "dreaded genotype" of which there are 2, represents less than 1/2 of 1% of the population, or .005%. There are several other genotypes that are also sensitive to mold but less so than the "dreaded". In total, 25% of the population has one of those genotypes. It is more prevalent in people of Northern European descent.
All 21 had a genotype that was mold sensitive. Over 60% had one of the dreaded genotypes. Some had more than 1 moldy genotypes. These patients had psych issues ranging from severe depression to schizophrenia. Statistically, this is off the charts. It stunned Gale that 21 of 21 were likely ill with the neurotoxin produced by toxic mold that is common in homes and workplaces.
I asked her if she had been able to treat them with Shoemaker's protocols if they would get well? She said she did not know but could not help but think they would at least get a lot better. The problem is that when you are exposed to mold for a very long time and experience the inflammation and immune cascade that results, it is possible to have actual damage to certain brain areas, particularly the hypothalamus.
It has to make you wonder though how many people have a certain diagnosis who are really sick because they live or work in a moldy place. More and more, I am getting the opportunity to talk with people who are sick chronically. I am finding that a very high percentage are sick because of mold. Many can point to a certain time when they got sick when they moved into a new home, or changed jobs moving to a new office.
The trouble is, most often you can't see it or smell it. When you can smell it or see it you know it is VERY bad and has taken over. But it takes far less mold than you can see or smell to make you sick. And it being a new home or office doesn't assure you of it being safe. A brand new house right across the street from where I used to live in a very nice area was torn completely down within 2 years of being built because it was filled with Black Toxic Mold. And this is in AZ where it is VERY dry.
Almost 50% of the population has some kind of chronic illness. I think many of them are sick with mold and don't know it. How about you??
