How it went
Did it last?
- 4 of 65 said the benefit wore off (including the 2 who relapsed).
- 7 of 65 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 9 | 14% |
| Near-full | 6 | 9% |
| Substantial | 24 | 37% |
| Partial | 17 | 26% |
| Relapsed | 2 | 3% |
| No benefit | 7 | 11% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 7 | 14% | |
| Severe | 23 | 26% | |
| Very severe | 15 | 20% |
20 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
Right-hand number: share describing a full or near-full recovery. Pages that sell something, and advocacy sites, tend to publish only the successes.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention Mold avoidance / CIRS protocol, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2 | 184 | 10.9 |
| 2010 | 9 | 682 | 13.2 |
| 2011 | 4 | 704 | 5.7 |
| 2012 | 7 | 1,491 | 4.7 |
| 2013 | 7 | 1,708 | 4.1 |
| 2014 | 7 | 2,352 | 3.0 |
| 2015 | 5 | 2,158 | 2.3 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1,431 | 0.7 |
| 2017 | 25 | 3,110 | 8.0 |
| 2018 | 6 | 2,201 | 2.7 |
| 2019 | 4 | 1,075 | 3.7 |
| 2020 | 12 | 2,581 | 4.6 |
| 2021 | 9 | 1,867 | 4.8 |
| 2022 | 4 | 1,166 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 4 | 1,000 | 4.0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1,237 | 0.8 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1,019 | 4.9 |
| 2026 (so far) | 1 | 840 | 1.2 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 65 accounts
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Recovery Protocol Cheat Sheet
Christy's posted recovery protocol lists an extensive regimen: pre-protocol, three months of Eliquis 5 mg daily and clopidogrel 75 mg daily; from February 2024 a "foundation" of nutritional antivirals including matcha green tea, coconut oil, unpasteurized…
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162: She Tried Everything for Lupus, Mold & Chronic Fatigue... Only This Worked (Lori Clemmons' Story)
Credits brain retraining. Lori had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Comorbid lupus and mold illness.
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Pepcid and 1 month without an 'episode'
After 36 years with ME/CFS and a period of mold exposure and concussions, began a low-oxalate diet on top of an existing low-histamine diet, plus doctor-prescribed Pepcid and ketotifen fumarate. Describes feeling, before this, like dropping through layers of…
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Flo Stops the Leaks in Her Boat at Last
Flo became ill with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia after mold exposure roughly thirty-seven years before the post, at her worst unable to watch TV, read or follow conversations, with regular vertigo. Years of craniosacral therapy, PRP injections, hydrogen peroxide…
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Coffee, cocoa, tea, & mold
Black tea was reported by L'engle to make her feel much worse, alongside green tea, which she described as having a diuretic and generally problematic effect. Amount consumed, illness duration and severity were not specified beyond this brief forum comment.…
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Amber's Long MCAS, POTS, MCS, ME/CFS Recovery Story
Amber had digestive and allergy problems since childhood that became severe MCAS, POTS, MCS and ME/CFS after a marathon at thirty and a bad flu-shot reaction at thirty-one, leaving her homebound and fainting daily despite seeing more than a hundred doctors.…
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The Remission Biome Project: Two ME/CFS Patients Begin a Gut Reset Effort to Regain Their Health
Bifidobacteria: a multi-strain probiotic blend of Bifidobacterium breve, B. bifidum, B. infantis and B. longum together with Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Saccharomyces boulardii, given as one part of a wider protocol that also included mold avoidance, B…
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Very Severely Ill "ME/CFS" Patient Gets a New Diagnosis, New Treatment Approach & Major Improvement
A former ER doctor, was very severely ill with ME/CFS before being newly diagnosed with CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome, often mold-related) and starting a treatment protocol under Dr. Heyman's care. Specific drug names, doses and illness…
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Very Severely Ill ME/CFS Patient Gets a New Diagnosis and Major Improvement
James, a former fitness trainer, became mostly bedbound over 6 to 10 years despite seeing dozens of doctors. Testing eventually pointed to chronic inflammatory response syndrome rather than straightforward ME/CFS. Following a Shoemaker-based CIRS protocol he…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 4 discussion)
marlunette improved from moderate to mild with mold avoidance, then from mild to remission after adding B12 injections and a B-complex/micronutrient regimen, with a 25-year-old exercise-induced asthma resolving as a bonus. Separately, in the…
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ME/CFS in remission from Mold Avoidance
Despite comorbid craniocervical instability, mold avoidance "still helped" and affected symptoms like sound sensitivity and POTS, which he calls "the most impressive [treatment] I've done YET." He says he never achieved full remission from mold avoidance…
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ME/CFS in Remission from Mold Avoidance
After becoming severely ill with ME/CFS by late 2020 — to the point that even a shower risked triggering post-exertional malaise — he discarded all possessions, bought new clothes and a car, and relocated from a New York City apartment to a travel trailer in…
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Recovery stories: parasites cleanse
In 2006, took Paragone (an herbal antiparasitic supplement) for a couple of months alongside a very-low-carb diet, and reports it "cut the brain fog I'd grown up with by about 70%." Explicit that this did not touch the underlying ME/CFS, which they attribute…
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Cured of PEM
Tried black cumin seed, in both oil and seed form, after reading about cumin helping PEM in this thread. Has ME/CFS with MCAS and possible mold involvement. Reports each time she took it she felt horrible, describing a clearly negative reaction rather than…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 9 discussion)
Woof! moved from severe to moderate ME/CFS through strict avoidance of a long, specific list of dietary and environmental triggers rather than any single drug or supplement. No further detail on duration of illness or long-term durability beyond the…
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Zinc is reducing my hypersensitivity to smells!
After roughly 10 years of chemical/mold hypersensitivity following a copper IUD placement, she took zinc at 50mg/day for two months alongside magnesium. For the first time since her mold exposure, her "instant sense of inflammation and headache" from…
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Health Update #4: Recovery is a %*#*&$@!
Jennifer Brea had been managing severe ME for about 8 years with Valcyte, Valtrex, Mestinon, and fludrocortisone plus mold avoidance, which had only brought her from severe to moderate; in November 2018 she underwent three surgeries over six weeks — a…
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Speaking of the desert...who here has went there and how long did you stay for before improving?
He reports having "improved a lot" both in the desert and in very remote, wet temperate forests, theorizing that mold produces worse toxins when it contacts agricultural or industrial chemicals and that outdoor air quality matters more than climate type…
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Speaking of the desert...who here has went there and how long did you stay for before improving?
After becoming bedridden with ME/CFS in 1997, years in remote alternative housing and then two years under a carport next to a moldy house helped him go from bedridden to "somewhat functional," able to socialize and do light work. Moving into a newly built,…
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Need to delete this. [Deleted]
Started Bulletproof brand activated charcoal, prescribed by Dr. Vera at Dr. Klimas's clinic, for suspected CIRS on top of ME/CFS, for about 3.5 weeks by the time of this post. Was already dealing with loose stools and malabsorption concerns beforehand.…
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ANS Rewire Program Works For Bed Bound 11 Year ME/CFS/FM Patient
Used the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) program for ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and mold sensitivity that had at one point forced her to sleep outside on a back porch for over a year. Initially had mini-crashes but could sleep indoors again, and by a…
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My Brain Retraining Story
She practiced the Gupta Programme's limbic retraining for several months, including daily 20-minute breathing meditation, NLP-style hand motions, and "soften and flow" visualization. She had been severely ill with ME/CFS for about six years, housebound and…
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Charcoal increased my energy immediately - what does this mean?
Unable to tolerate charcoal at all, she instead used apple pectin with oats alongside a relocation and a broader medication protocol for MCAS and prior mold-related illness, reporting only "mild improvement" that can't be cleanly attributed to any one…
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Full Recovery of 27 Severe Mycotoxicosis Patients (O2 / FIR / Sups / Antifungal / AIET) + POLL
On cholestyramine and two months away from home while addressing a broad B-vitamin deficiency found on testing (which he attributes partly to cholestyramine binding nutrients), he reports improvement has been minimal, "without much improvement," and adjusted…
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Full Recovery of 27 Severe Mycotoxicosis Patients (O2 / FIR / Sups / Antifungal / AIET) + POLL
After testing positive for several mycotoxins, he moved out of his home for 10 weeks and took chlorophyll and activated charcoal, but "noticed no effect" on his ME. He had previously had two complete recoveries with full triathlon training and zero symptoms…
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Full Recovery of 27 Severe Mycotoxicosis Patients (O2 / FIR / Sups / Antifungal / AIET) + POLL
On a Shoemaker-based CIRS protocol built around cholestyramine (the only conventional medicine she tolerated), plus FIR sauna and liposomal glutathione, and after relocating to a house with an ERMI in the lowest 25th percentile, she reports now passing the…
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M.E., My Mold, and I: A Story of ME/CFS and Toxic Mold
Over nearly seven years of ME/CFS beginning in late summer 2010, she tried pacing with a heart-rate monitor and many supplements, including herbal antivirals, for about a year, then added neurotransmitter support (dopamine, GABA), an ATP Fuel supplement,…
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Need to delete this. [Deleted]
Was diagnosed with ME/CFS first, then four years later diagnosed with Lyme disease and treated with a combination of pharmaceutical and herbal antibiotics under a Lyme specialist, and separately started cholestyramine with EPA/DHA fish oil after also…
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Need to delete this. [Deleted]
Treated a combination of CIRS/mold illness, Lyme, Babesia and antibiotic-resistant MARCONS sinus infection with doxycycline plus Diflucan, then a rotating four-times-daily binder regimen (Takesumi charcoal, diatomaceous earth, zeoBind, citrus pectin), a BEG…
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Is Mold Making You Sick?
The article gives no specific drugs, supplements, binders, or formal medical protocol that Julie used; the one intervention described is behavioral — she spent two weeks in Death Valley with none of her own belongings to test whether mold exposure was…
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"Death Rider": A (Hopeful) Mold Illness Story
After moving into a moldy house around 2011, former endurance cyclist Chris Graber declined over several years into a wheelchair- and oxygen-dependent state with a central IV line, initially misdiagnosed as Lyme disease. Once Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker identified…
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After Spending 200K Joey Finds His Simple Solution
Joey, a high-functioning professional, became bedridden with ME/CFS after mononucleosis and spent over $200,000 on treatments across about six years with little benefit. He eventually pursued extreme mold avoidance, including desert camping and living in a…
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Julie Rehmeyer's Mold Avoidance Recovery Story
Took a two-week mold sabbatical in Tecopa, California, combined with a modified Pridgen Protocol of valtrex 500mg plus celebrex 200mg, for ME/CFS confirmed by two-day exercise testing (originally diagnosed as fibromyalgia). Had been unable to exercise…
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Serrapeptase gives me more energy and no brain fog, why?
One capsule of 40,000 SPU serrapeptase before meals produced, within 4-5 hours and lasting 2-3 days, a jump in energy, sharper focus, no brain fog, reduced depression, better skin and relief from sinusitis and mold/chemical itching, according to this poster;…
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Biotoxin Journey
Gregory Muske's account names few specifics, but he mentions taking binders and, more recently, VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide), without giving doses; a commenter asks whether he completed the Shoemaker protocol, which he doesn't clearly confirm. He…
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The Master Cleanse
Fourteen years into CFS and CIRS (also citing heavy metal toxicity, mold and Lyme disease), Eric documented a roughly 25-day Master Cleanse of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne, adding psyllium and bentonite shakes and continuing some supplements against…
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Success treating multiple infections with Chlorine Dioxide
Followed Kerri Rivera's MMS (chlorine dioxide) protocol for 4.5 months, combined with a raw vegan diet and daily castor oil packs, for CFS/ME diagnosed 15 years earlier and later found to involve Lyme, bartonella, babesia, EBV, mycoplasma and mold. Had been…
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Preventing Sleep Apnea Therapy was Miracle Cure for Me
After roughly 15 years of brain fog, mold sensitivity, daytime sleepiness and exhaustion she attributed to self-diagnosed ME, Mary Jane Reyes began using Provent, an adhesive nasal-valve device for sleep apnea. Within a few nights of use she reports "all of…
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News about mould. What helped you, can it help me …?
Combining Gupta Retraining, the DNRS/Hooper protocol, and a Klinghardt-style regimen of intranasal myrrh followed by propolis-cream nasal blocking, plus isopropanol spraying and frequent tissue changes for ongoing mould exposure at home, she describes nine…
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Julie Rehmeyer's Mold Avoidance Recovery Story
Tried a combined sauna-and-exercise bike protocol of the kind some environmental-illness patients use, after developing severe MCS about 15 years into his ME/CFS. Says he could not tolerate the combined bike/sauna protocol at all. Notably, the severe MCS he…
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Julie Rehmeyer's Mold Avoidance Recovery Story
Science journalist Julie Rehmeyer developed ME/CFS gradually from around 2006 and became mostly bedbound. A ten-day trip to Death Valley without her belongings led her to suspect mold sensitivity, and she recovered substantially through rigorous mold…
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Mike Dessin's Amazing Recovery Story
Started powdered amino acids at about a quarter teaspoon per day, alongside pregnenolone, vitamin D, methyl B12 with methylfolate, and a high-protein diet of about 100 grams a day kept up for more than five years. Had been ill with ME/CFS for 10 years and…
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Rambler's Mold Avoidance Experiments
After needing stimulants just to leave his moldy San Francisco house for four years, strict mold avoidance for about two weeks brought sleeping through the night, less brain fog, clearer vision, more morning energy and almost no tingling in his hands and…
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Feeling amazing after getting out of Mold/Mycotoxin home
After moving out of a mold/mycotoxin-contaminated home and combining methylation supplements, antifungals/antibiotics/antiparasitics, a bentonite clay binder and multiple hyperbaric oxygen sessions, she reports "amazing improvements" over the preceding month…
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Constant Vigilance: Julie Rehmeyer's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Recovery Story
Julie Rehmeyer, a science journalist, saw her health decline from 1999, had full-blown ME/CFS by 2006 and by 2011 could barely get from bed to the bathroom. She credits extreme mold avoidance, including a bare-bones retreat to Death Valley and discarding…
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From Despair to Life Again: HealClick Founder Joey's ME/CFS Story
Joey Tuan, founder of the patient site HealClick, had been so ill he sometimes needed a wheelchair and once could not walk ten minutes without two days of payback, with severe chemical sensitivities, after spending over $200,000 on treatments. He credits…
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Better Health Guy: My Story
This page does not name any specific drugs, doses, procedures, or protocols Scott Forsgren used, stating only that he worked with doctors and other practitioners over the years. He describes his chronic illness as lasting nearly thirty years, with a…
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Pat Gurnick Learned How to Get Well from CFS
Pat Gurnick's main treatment was the Guaifenesin Protocol (developed by Dr. Paul St. Amand), followed for 1.2 years, alongside the antiviral Kutapressin and pacing and self-regulation techniques from Dr. William Collinge's CFS book, plus staying within her…
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progess report..feeling almost normal
About 1.5 years into severe illness (bedridden, lightheaded, shaking, forced to leave her home), she combined cholestyramine and Valtrex for 4 months, methylB12 injections tapering from daily to every other day over 4 months, plus ongoing sublingual…
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CityChanger's Mold Avoidance Update
Continuing her mold-avoidance approach and testing many locations to map her own reactivity, she reports becoming progressively less reactive to most types of mold the longer she avoids exposure, saying "as time has gone on, I've become less reactive to most…
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CityChanger's Mold Avoidance Update
An 11-day open-ocean cruise with daily sea air brought him more energy, better sleep and the ability to work out vigorously every other day, which he describes as "significant and noticeable" but "not dramatic" — a modest, one-time observation rather than a…
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CityChanger's Mold Avoidance Update
Camping in a tent on a friend's remote mountain property over several weeks left her hiking, "full of energy" and mentally active, but a single outing into town (including a Whole Foods visit) "slammed" her within hours, triggering orthostatic intolerance,…
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Anyone recovered after discovering residential toxic mold exposure?
Living with severe mold-induced asthma and food sensitivities more than five years after her exposure, she pursued mold avoidance by living in a tent or van and discarding contaminated belongings. She reports improvement only when she manages to stay in…
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Anyone recovered after discovering residential toxic mold exposure?
After 12 years of mostly-disabling CFS, including a final year spent bedridden 18-22 hours a day, she relocated to avoid mold/biotoxin exposure (living in a tent, then an RV, in the desert) alongside neural therapy, detox and antivirals. She says classic…
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Anyone recovered after discovering residential toxic mold exposure?
A naturopath-supervised candida-free diet plus mold avoidance and herbal supplements left her "almost symptom free" for about two years, "though not cured." Major life stresses then triggered a relapse and she "became horribly ill again," so the substantial…
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Do CFS Patients Ever Get TRULY Well?
Combined a mold-avoidance protocol with cholestyramine taken in low-mold locations, three months of doxycycline for Lyme, Famvir, and then Valcyte started about three weeks before posting. Says she reached full wellness roughly a year before this post, with…
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Erik Johnson - Paradigm Change
Erik Johnson's treatment was a strict mold-avoidance protocol he refined in 1998, adapting bioweapons-decontamination techniques he had learned in the US Army to eliminate even trace cross-contamination from mold toxins; no drugs, supplements or devices are…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories
Doug, whose ME/CFS was linked to mold exposure, is listed as "more or less cured" on daily inosine and DMAE plus other supplements, per the compiled list.
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Connie's full recovery story from CFS and CIRS – and why grit is overrated
Credits brain retraining. Connie had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Comorbid CIRS/mold illness.
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Primal Trust testimonials: Lainie Glenn
Credits brain retraining. Lainie had ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Lyme, mold, CFS and TBI; 30-60% functionality under 2 months.
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Primal Trust testimonials: Tess Leander
Credits brain retraining. Tess had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. CFS, mold and Lyme; claims totally symptom-free.
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Maya's Story
She recovered through functional medicine (addressing mold exposure, liver toxicity and nutrient depletion), psychotherapy, physiotherapy, and a daily body-scan meditation practiced three times a day, later training as a Functional Medicine Certified Health…
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Cedar Brown's Story
She recovered from ME/CFS, alongside POTS, mold illness, IBS and anxiety, using a combination of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), the Edison Effect Program by Anj Garneri, Trauma Healing Accelerated and somatics work, pacing, IFS parts work and mold remediation,…
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Jeri's Amazing Discovery
Filed under the mold and environmental category, the page's title calls Jeri's discovery of mold avoidance amazing, but only a short excerpt could be retrieved. In it she argues that because mold avoidance has been a clue since the syndrome was first…
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Lisa Petrison - Paradigm Change
The page names no drugs, supplements, doses or devices for Lisa Petrison; the only treatment described is avoidance of mold toxins and other environmental exposures, a focus she adopted from 2008 onward. She had been ill with ME since before 1998, became…