Last week, I signed up for a free masterclass by two U.S.-based functional doctors, the famed (as a lyme expert) Dr Darin Ingel, and well-known practitioner-author (on lyme and herb-based treatments), Dr Bill Rawls.
This 1.5-hour deep dive was well worth the time.
I'll kick off by providing a rough sort-of transcript of their much-appreciated answer to my question on what herbs they'd use to treat mold illness. Prefacing the answer with the comment that my question could be the topic of a whole-day seminar in its own right, here are key points and quotes from their combined commentary:
- It's critical to get the mycotoxins mobilised out of the cells, and it requires more than a herbs-only approach. Infrared sauna is one of most effective ways to mobilise those toxins.
- As far as herbs go, their greatest contribution would be in the area of liver and kidney support, that is, the organs of elimination.
"Kidneys are the main way you get rid of most mycotoxins. For that, we'd use cornsilk, ziamase
(*that's what it sounded like but I very much doubt that's how it's spelled; an online search turns up nothing*),
dandelion root and dandelion leaf i.e. the whole plant . . . anything to get things out of kidneys. Chelodonium and yarrow are very good kidney tonics.
"Also, Dr Eric Yarnell has a series of tinctures for chronic kidney disease.
"A mix of botanicals works beautifully for chronic kidney disease, but the same thing can be used for general detox.
"Also, because herbs have very similar effects, when we use herbs together, we often get a synergistic effect. Some herbs are great for protecting kidney cells, for example, but they’re also doing other good things in the body.
"We'd support the liver with herbs like milk thistle, and burdock root for moving bile out of the liver and the gall blader . . . anything to move bile because that’s where the mycotoxins get dumped.
"Anyone that knows anything about milk thistle knows it protects liver cells, but there's a recent study that showed that it had a tremendously beneficial effect on post-menopausal osteoporosis. So, again, any herbs you use are going to have multiple beneficial effects in the body, othe thatn just the one thing you are specifically using it for.
Dr Rawls:
“But I like to dive deeper and start at the beginning. I would ask the question, when it comes to mycotoxins:
"Why does mold produce mycotoxins? They produce it as a defence mechanism against bacteria. Bacteria are mold’s arch enemy. And so, molds are producing mycotoxins to destroy bacterial cells.
"So these mycotoxins are invading the cells and destroying the cell membrane and they’re killing it . . . and they damage any cell they come into contact with.
"So when we get a load of mycotoxins in our bady, it’s harming our cells too, and
any
cells are vulnerable.
"If you have someone struggling with a chronic illness in a household in which others in the household aren’t, that's going to be because the affected individual's cells are already stressed to a high degree, and they are extra-sensitive to it and vulnerable.
"The first move is to reduce the load of mycotoxins . . . In short, get out of the mold. Or, if you have the money, get it professionally remediated.
“But if you are caught in a situation where you can’t get out of it immediately – then, while you’re trying to work on the logistics of getting away from your exposure, you need to focus on bringing up your cellular health in any way you can and also do whatever you can to minimise the mold spores circulating in your environment.
"For example, I got caught in that situation once, where I had inadvertently taken a lease on a building that turned out of have serious mold issues. While I worked on how to get out of it, I used an ozone generator (in a properly educated manner) on the weekends, some really high-grade filters; essential oils, and as I used herbs and improved my lifestyle, I became less vulnerable and my sensitivity to it decreased.
"So sometimes we get caught in frustrating situations that we can’t immediately get out of, so have to work on what we can do in the meantime. You do everything you can to reduce and minimise the toxicity of those things while you're working on the other logistical issues to solve the larger situation.
"With herbs, you can be working on building up cellular strength to help you gradually climb out of the hole you’ve find yourself in. Get your cellular health as optimal as possible, to build up your resilience.”
