Testing Your Home for Mold
Our goal is to identify your individual response to potential mold toxins by assessing your symptoms, exposure history in tandem with genetic and inflammatory markers.
Healing from Mold Illness involves Three Key Steps:
Eliminate Exposure:
This can be a challenging step, but is the most important step to initiate healing. Depending on your circumstances, this may involve moving and/or remediation. It is literally impossible for someone to get well from mold illness if they continue to reside in a water damaged home.
Reduce Mold Biotoxin Load:
In healthy individuals who are not genetically susceptible to mold illness, the immune system is capable of mounting a rapid antibody response to the toxins so that they can be promptly eliminated by the body.
However, in those that are genetically susceptible, as determined by HLA DRB/DQB blood testing, the immune system is incapable of generating this prompt antibody response.
As a result, these biotoxins persist in the body triggering uncontrolled inflammation eventually damaging the endocrine and immune systems. In such individuals the use of Cholestyramine (Questran) or Colesevelam (WelChol) is effective at binding to the biotoxins and removing them from the body.
This effectively reduces inflammation providing individuals with prompt relief of some of their symptoms.
Repair Endocrine and Immune Damage
Once the biotoxin load in the body has been reduced, we want to repair the damage left behind. The hypothalamus, one of the main control centers of the endocrine system in the brain, is often compromised as a result of this inflammation.
Deficiency of hypothalamic function can leave a individual feeling chronically fatigued, prone to chronic infections, insomnia, and a host of other symptoms.
In using VIP and other support modalities, we are able to restore hypothalamic function and help people gain a full recovery.
VIP Treatment:
Discovered in the 1970’s, Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) is a complex of amino acids that is responsible for a variety of functions in the body. Some of these include the following:
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Repair of gut inflammation (“leaky gut”)
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Restoration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
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Regulation of Vitamin D metabolism
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Restoration of normal testosterone levels
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Modulating immune function
Some of these functions are carried out by raising levels of Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone(MSH). MSH is often low in patients affected by Lyme and Mold Illness.
Administration of VIP assists in restoration of MSH and the subsequent reversal of the individual’s hyper-reactivity to water damaged buildings. VIP is administered once a patient is clearly out of moldy environments and/or no longer showing any signs of a chronic infection.
Some of these functions are carried out by raising levels of Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone(MSH). MSH is often low in patients affected by Lyme and Mold Illness.
Citations:
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https://www.survivingmold.com/Publications/VIP_AN_GALLEY_PROOF_3_20_2017.PDF
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https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1196/annals.1317.020
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https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-0348-7362-8_4
Shoemaker Protocol:
Dear Current and Future Patients,
The purpose of this letter is to communicate to all existing patients and future patients of the change regarding my certification for the Shoemaker protocol.
In December 2016, I did not meet Shoemaker’s criteria for re-certification due to the fact that I don’t always adhere exactly to his protocol. Therefore, you will no longer see my name on the list of those currently certified. To all of you who have put your trust in me to get well, as well as those who are contemplating coming in as a new patient, I feel you deserve an explanation, so that you can decide what you feel is best for you.
The Shoemaker protocol was originally designed for patients suffering from mold illness, and, in those cases, it works well. In my experience, for so many of my patients who suffer from Lyme disease, its many varied co-infections, and mold illness, strict adherence to the protocol does not work to the level that I feel would be optimal for my patient population. Central to the protocol is the goal of controlling inflammation and bringing inflammatory markers like C4a, TGFb1 and MMP9 down so that VIP can accomplish one of its key jobs, which is raising the patient’s MSH level. Rather than forcing these markers down with high dose fish oil, erythropoietin or Losartan (which do work to some extent), I have found that by first removing mold exposure and then eradicating these infections in our Lyme patients, these markers will automatically come down on their own. Besides mold exposure, we know many of these infections can cause elevations in these markers. Treating Lyme for 4 weeks as Shoemaker postulates has not proven to be effective in my patient population of chronically ill patients. Once these infections are eradicated and the markers have been confirmed to have come down, I am then able to place these patients on VIP and watch their MSH levels climb many times up to 70-80 pg/ml, thereby completely reversing the sensitivity to water damaged buildings.
While I respect Dr. Shoemaker for his contributions to the treatment of mold illness, our perspectives do not align in terms of how mold illness should be treated in the context of Lyme disease. Having survived both Lyme disease and mold illness personally, I have learned from my experience, as well as those of my patients, which treatments move my patients toward optimal health. I will continue to keep up with new advances in this field and incorporate them into an evolving protocol according to my best judgment. I hope this letter addresses any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Raj Patel, M.D.
Dr. Patel has been a Godsend for me. Over the years, I had been to see many doctors and had never come up with any "real" answers. I felt so grateful that, through him, I have finally learned the core reason for my symptoms...