Fungus malpractus

[Guest guest]

Fungus malpractus

Toxic mold treatment is still controversial and hard to find, but

for the Bells, it was the difference between health and illness

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A12652

By

and Bell take medication to reduce the amount of toxic

mold in their systems.

Larry Dalton

When the new blood test results came back, Bell of Sacramento

felt an ironic sense of relief. Although another patient might feel

differently if told he or she had abnormally elevated levels of

toxic blood contaminants, Bell felt vindicated.

For months, she and her 10-year-old son, , had been suffering

from persistent flu- and cold-like symptoms, intense aches and pains

in their joints, chronic fatigue, memory lapses, difficulty

concentrating, and coordination, equilibrium and respiratory

problems. also had recurring nosebleeds and nodule-like

growths in his throat. And said she would often stagger from

room to room, choking and vomiting.

They had both been to several doctors who, Bell said, all

misdiagnosed their conditions. She had been examined and her blood

tested, but nothing abnormal was found.

" When they did the tests and it showed nothing, I felt like, 'What

do you mean nothing's wrong with me?' " she said. Bell was told that

her symptoms were essentially all in her head. " They said everything

physically was OK. [They said] 'You're depressed' and they wanted to

put me on medication. "

One doctor prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft, which, she said,

made matters worse. Another suggested a powerful prescription

sleeping pill, which Bell felt was absurd. Sleeping was not a

problem. If anything, she slept too much: " It was as if I was in the

[poppies] from the Wizard of Oz. "

had also been examined and tested by a number of physicians.

According to Bell, she was told the growths in his throat would

clear up on their own, and a skin test for allergies indicated that

didn't have any. An allergist prescribed an inhaled steroid

medication for 's respiratory problems, which, Bell said, had

no effect on the symptoms.

But blood testing can be done in a number of ways, and will reveal

different information depending on the directions given to the lab

by the treating physician. The latest tests on Bell and her son were

conducted to the specifications of Dr. Marinkovich, a

Redwood City-based allergy and immunology physician, recognized

nationwide for his work with patients who have medical conditions

stemming from exposure to toxic mold (see " When Good Mold Goes Bad, "

SN & R February 7, 2002).

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A10767

The testing method, originally developed at Stanford University,

measures the specific antibodies produced by the immune response of

the body when it has been exposed to toxic mold. The new test

results indicated that and Bell had excessive,

unhealthy levels of several varieties of toxic mold in their

systems, levels that help to explain the array of incapacitating

physical and mental symptoms they had been enduring.

The Bells had already suspected their rented duplex had a mold

problem, particularly after some friends noted the musty smell in

their home and suggested it could have something to do with their

health problems. A lawsuit against the landlord is still pending,

but the Bells say their main concern has always been with feeling

better.

The identification of the cause of the Bells' maladies has enabled

seemingly effective treatment to begin, and their diminished health

to slowly improve. A follow-up blood test has shown significant

improvement. However, due to the severity of the condition--known as

systemic fungal disease--the treatment could take a year or more to

complete.

Toxic mold has emerged as a major political issue in the last year,

receiving some high-profile attention. It is usually caused by

construction defects that prevent proper drainage, something

exacerbated by airtight, energy-efficient construction methods. The

exponential growth of the toxic mold problem has affected

homeowners, renters, office workers and schoolchildren.

Yet Bell's ordeal illuminates an often-unacknowledged aspect of the

toxic mold problem: the physical and psychological trauma that many

toxic mold victims experience as a result of the misdiagnosis of the

illnesses caused by their exposure.

Another largely unpublicized aspect of the issue relates to

treatment. The same successful treatment regime that Bell is

convinced is saving her life, and that has helped many of

Marinkovich's other patients, has been questioned by a health

maintenance organization and other insurance companies.

Because she doesn't have health insurance, Bell has borne the cost

of her treatment. But Marinkovich said an HMO that many of his

patients belong to will often deny coverage for a key aspect of his

treatment, a relatively expensive anti-fungal pill known as

Sporanox. The veteran mold doctor is convinced that the HMO's

refusal to authorize the treatment is motivated solely by corporate

greed, and has encouraged his patients to contest the treatment

denials.

The dispute escalated last year when a malpractice complaint was

filed against Marinkovich with the California Medical Board.

Although the board will not disclose who submitted the complaint,

Marinkovich believes it originated from the same HMO that repeatedly

denies its members reimbursement for his treatment. As a result of

the complaint, two months ago Marinkovich was required to attend a

meeting with a California Medical Board representative to defend his

toxic mold treatment practices.

" They've got me defending myself against these allegations, " he

said, " these investigators and these insurance companies that don't

know the first thing about my patients and what I'm trying to do

with them here. "

In October 2000, talk radio medical authority Dr. Dean Edell made a

wish: " I hope this mold issue is nipped in the bud real soon because

I don't see how anyone can prove that a moldy work space or corner

of the home can cause an illness, " Edell wrote in a column for

HealthCentral.com, dismissing the mold issue as over-hyped by

lawyers intent on making money from mold litigation.

http://www.healthcentral.com/default.html

" only hope the scientific evidence will eventually win out over

lawyer scare tactics, " concluded Edell. But almost two years later,

excessive levels of mold in workplaces, homes and schools have been

shown to cause illnesses. And while some lawyers capable of taking

on complicated and expensive toxic mold litigation have made money,

blaming them for the problem is somewhat akin to shooting the

messenger.

Yet many doctors, like Edell, continue to be skeptical. While

Marinkovich on the West Coast and Dr. Eckhardt Johanning in New York

consistently and successfully treat toxic mold patients, most

doctors simply are not up to speed on the issue.

" These molds can play a very vicious role in that patient's life,

and [doctors] don't recognize it because there just isn't enough

awareness, " said Marinkovich. A diplomat of the American Board of

Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Marinkovich is anxious to get the

word out to other doctors and last year gave a lecture on mold

hypersensitivity to the American Academy of Allergy. " There aren't

many doctors in the country who understand mold hypersensitivity,

[but] I'm trying; I'd like to educate doctors about it, " he said.

But the extremely candid Marinkovich also opines that some doctors

may have a somewhat less than ethical motivation to remain ignorant.

In particular, he singles out his fellow allergist physicians as

responsible for much of the problem of misdiagnosis. According to

Marinkovich, one obstacle to accurate diagnosis is that allergists

often use unreliable skin testing instead of blood tests, and

utilize ineffective treatment regimes on mold patients in order to

maximize profits.

" [it's a] conspiracy the allergists of the United States have

against blood testing because it's such a lucrative paradigm that

they have, where they do skin testing on everybody and they give

shots twice a week, " he said. " And they earn incredible amounts of

money doing that. "

Because mold doesn't generally show up through skin testing,

allergists are prone to misdiagnose mold-related problems. " So

patients generally don't have any place to go because they go see an

allergist and a lot of the allergists just do skin testing and look

for pollen problems and miss the mold problem completely, " he said.

Which, among other things, is what happened to and

Bell.

Dr. Harold Ochsner, a Long Beach allergy physician and spokesman for

the California Medical Association, said he represents the viewpoint

of allergists in the mainline medical community. Ochsner concedes

that allergy testing can be less than accurate.

" In most cases, the allergy test doesn't tell you what is wrong with

the patient. " But he said his conclusion applies to both skin and

blood testing. " Allergy testing, by any means you choose to do it,

is somewhat of a shot in the dark, " he said.

Ochsner takes issue with the accusation that he is getting rich in

the allergy treatment business: " I would love to have [Marinkovich]

come down and show me where the money is. " Ochsner said he has not

seen enough scientific and clinical studies that establish the

alleged link between toxic mold exposure and serious illness. " I'm

not sure that the scientific data is there, but that doesn't mean

that [Marinkovich] is wrong. "

When the mold problem is missed, other doctors will often dismiss

the mold-related symptoms as psychological, prescribing an anti-

depressant or offering a referral to a psychiatrist. Marinkovich

said this scenario is also not uncommon: " What a lot of the doctors

are trained to believe is that if you can't fit the patient into

something easy that you know of, or if the symptoms are such that

you don't understand them, then you make it a mental problem. "

Marinkovich said dismissing symptoms as psychological can be hard on

the patient. " They think they're going crazy. 'What's the matter

with me, the doctors all say I'm going crazy?' It's pretty

disconcerting and makes it hard on a person. " And the broader issue

of trusting what a patient tells a doctor also concerns

Marinkovich. " [it] surprises me, this kind of disbelief in what the

patient [says]. I think it's not becoming to those doctors who take

the attitude that patients cannot be trusted, that patients are

malingerers, that kind of thing. "

Ochsner concurs with Marinkovich on this point: " I think he is

unquestionably correct [that we should] listen to patients better

than we sometimes listen to patients. I think we as allergists can

be tarred and feathered for that error on our part. "

Bell became so frustrated by the inability of her previous doctors

to diagnose what was wrong with her that she prepared to die.

" I wrote my will. I knew something was wrong and I couldn't figure

out what it was, " she said.

Because the doctors said her problems were not physical, her friends

and family also questioned her sanity. " They told my sister it

wasn't that big of a deal, and my sister went with that, because,

you know, everyone believes the doctor, " she said.

But then she ran into an old friend who had had a similar experience

with toxic mold in her home and was now under the care of

Marinkovich. She called his Redwood City office and was instructed

to undergo the blood test. When the test results came back, an

office visit was arranged. She immediately began to feel hopeful

when she was filling out the standard new patient paperwork in the

lobby.

She had been through this drill before, but this time it was

different. It was the questionnaire that has a list of possible

symptoms and asks the patient if they have experienced any. To Bell,

the list of symptoms was a revelation. " I was like YES, YES, YES!

How did he know that? " she recalled.

After reviewing Bell and her son's medical histories and prior

recommended treatments, including 's allergy medicine, Bell

said Marinkovich " threw out " their prescriptions, explaining the

medications could actually exacerbate their conditions. He also put

the mother and son on a strict diet free from any foods that could

contain mold, such as certain cheeses, breads, mushrooms and

anything that contains citric acid--derived from aspergillus, a

strain of mold--as a preservative. And when the second blood tests

done several months later showed that the treatment regime had

significantly lowered the levels of toxic mold in their bodies, they

were elated.

Bell says she is gradually becoming her old self, and that her son

has noticed the change. As they were leaving from their last

appointment from Marinkovich's office, Bell says took the

doctor aside.

" You know what? God's got a special place for you in heaven. He's

got a chair with your name on it, " she overheard her son say. " He

knew that that doctor made me better; he was so scared that I was

dying and he was feeling the sickness himself. It was his way of

saying 'You're helping me and I know it.' "

[Guest guest]

--Thank you so much KC, exactly what I've been trying to tell family

is that allergest are the main reason why this illness is

unknown.this is messed up and I agree that the main reason that

allergest have been fighting hard against us is because when this all

comes out theri allergy shots are going to be exposed as the

worthless garbage that it is.

, " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

>

> Fungus malpractus

>

>

> Toxic mold treatment is still controversial and hard to find, but

> for the Bells, it was the difference between health and illness

>

> http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A12652

>

>

> By

>

>

>

> and Bell take medication to reduce the amount of

toxic

> mold in their systems.

> Larry Dalton

>

>

> When the new blood test results came back, Bell of

Sacramento

> felt an ironic sense of relief. Although another patient might feel

> differently if told he or she had abnormally elevated levels of

> toxic blood contaminants, Bell felt vindicated.

>

> For months, she and her 10-year-old son, , had been suffering

> from persistent flu- and cold-like symptoms, intense aches and

pains

> in their joints, chronic fatigue, memory lapses, difficulty

> concentrating, and coordination, equilibrium and respiratory

> problems. also had recurring nosebleeds and nodule-like

> growths in his throat. And said she would often stagger from

> room to room, choking and vomiting.

>

> They had both been to several doctors who, Bell said, all

> misdiagnosed their conditions. She had been examined and her blood

> tested, but nothing abnormal was found.

>

> " When they did the tests and it showed nothing, I felt like, 'What

> do you mean nothing's wrong with me?' " she said. Bell was told

that

> her symptoms were essentially all in her head. " They said

everything

> physically was OK. [They said] 'You're depressed' and they wanted

to

> put me on medication. "

>

> One doctor prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft, which, she said,

> made matters worse. Another suggested a powerful prescription

> sleeping pill, which Bell felt was absurd. Sleeping was not a

> problem. If anything, she slept too much: " It was as if I was in

the

> [poppies] from the Wizard of Oz. "

>

> had also been examined and tested by a number of physicians.

> According to Bell, she was told the growths in his throat would

> clear up on their own, and a skin test for allergies indicated that

> didn't have any. An allergist prescribed an inhaled steroid

> medication for 's respiratory problems, which, Bell said, had

> no effect on the symptoms.

>

> But blood testing can be done in a number of ways, and will reveal

> different information depending on the directions given to the lab

> by the treating physician. The latest tests on Bell and her son

were

> conducted to the specifications of Dr. Marinkovich, a

> Redwood City-based allergy and immunology physician, recognized

> nationwide for his work with patients who have medical conditions

> stemming from exposure to toxic mold (see " When Good Mold Goes

Bad, "

> SN & R February 7, 2002).

> http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A10767

>

>

> The testing method, originally developed at Stanford University,

> measures the specific antibodies produced by the immune response of

> the body when it has been exposed to toxic mold. The new test

> results indicated that and Bell had excessive,

> unhealthy levels of several varieties of toxic mold in their

> systems, levels that help to explain the array of incapacitating

> physical and mental symptoms they had been enduring.

>

> The Bells had already suspected their rented duplex had a mold

> problem, particularly after some friends noted the musty smell in

> their home and suggested it could have something to do with their

> health problems. A lawsuit against the landlord is still pending,

> but the Bells say their main concern has always been with feeling

> better.

>

> The identification of the cause of the Bells' maladies has enabled

> seemingly effective treatment to begin, and their diminished health

> to slowly improve. A follow-up blood test has shown significant

> improvement. However, due to the severity of the condition--known

as

> systemic fungal disease--the treatment could take a year or more to

> complete.

>

> Toxic mold has emerged as a major political issue in the last year,

> receiving some high-profile attention. It is usually caused by

> construction defects that prevent proper drainage, something

> exacerbated by airtight, energy-efficient construction methods. The

> exponential growth of the toxic mold problem has affected

> homeowners, renters, office workers and schoolchildren.

>

> Yet Bell's ordeal illuminates an often-unacknowledged aspect of the

> toxic mold problem: the physical and psychological trauma that many

> toxic mold victims experience as a result of the misdiagnosis of

the

> illnesses caused by their exposure.

>

> Another largely unpublicized aspect of the issue relates to

> treatment. The same successful treatment regime that Bell is

> convinced is saving her life, and that has helped many of

> Marinkovich's other patients, has been questioned by a health

> maintenance organization and other insurance companies.

>

> Because she doesn't have health insurance, Bell has borne the cost

> of her treatment. But Marinkovich said an HMO that many of his

> patients belong to will often deny coverage for a key aspect of his

> treatment, a relatively expensive anti-fungal pill known as

> Sporanox. The veteran mold doctor is convinced that the HMO's

> refusal to authorize the treatment is motivated solely by corporate

> greed, and has encouraged his patients to contest the treatment

> denials.

>

> The dispute escalated last year when a malpractice complaint was

> filed against Marinkovich with the California Medical Board.

> Although the board will not disclose who submitted the complaint,

> Marinkovich believes it originated from the same HMO that

repeatedly

> denies its members reimbursement for his treatment. As a result of

> the complaint, two months ago Marinkovich was required to attend a

> meeting with a California Medical Board representative to defend

his

> toxic mold treatment practices.

>

> " They've got me defending myself against these allegations, " he

> said, " these investigators and these insurance companies that don't

> know the first thing about my patients and what I'm trying to do

> with them here. "

>

> In October 2000, talk radio medical authority Dr. Dean Edell made a

> wish: " I hope this mold issue is nipped in the bud real soon

because

> I don't see how anyone can prove that a moldy work space or corner

> of the home can cause an illness, " Edell wrote in a column for

> HealthCentral.com, dismissing the mold issue as over-hyped by

> lawyers intent on making money from mold litigation.

> http://www.healthcentral.com/default.html

>

> " only hope the scientific evidence will eventually win out over

> lawyer scare tactics, " concluded Edell. But almost two years later,

> excessive levels of mold in workplaces, homes and schools have been

> shown to cause illnesses. And while some lawyers capable of taking

> on complicated and expensive toxic mold litigation have made money,

> blaming them for the problem is somewhat akin to shooting the

> messenger.

>

> Yet many doctors, like Edell, continue to be skeptical. While

> Marinkovich on the West Coast and Dr. Eckhardt Johanning in New

York

> consistently and successfully treat toxic mold patients, most

> doctors simply are not up to speed on the issue.

>

> " These molds can play a very vicious role in that patient's life,

> and [doctors] don't recognize it because there just isn't enough

> awareness, " said Marinkovich. A diplomat of the American Board of

> Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Marinkovich is anxious to get the

> word out to other doctors and last year gave a lecture on mold

> hypersensitivity to the American Academy of Allergy. " There aren't

> many doctors in the country who understand mold hypersensitivity,

> [but] I'm trying; I'd like to educate doctors about it, " he said.

>

> But the extremely candid Marinkovich also opines that some doctors

> may have a somewhat less than ethical motivation to remain

ignorant.

> In particular, he singles out his fellow allergist physicians as

> responsible for much of the problem of misdiagnosis. According to

> Marinkovich, one obstacle to accurate diagnosis is that allergists

> often use unreliable skin testing instead of blood tests, and

> utilize ineffective treatment regimes on mold patients in order to

> maximize profits.

>

> " [it's a] conspiracy the allergists of the United States have

> against blood testing because it's such a lucrative paradigm that

> they have, where they do skin testing on everybody and they give

> shots twice a week, " he said. " And they earn incredible amounts of

> money doing that. "

>

> Because mold doesn't generally show up through skin testing,

> allergists are prone to misdiagnose mold-related problems. " So

> patients generally don't have any place to go because they go see

an

> allergist and a lot of the allergists just do skin testing and look

> for pollen problems and miss the mold problem completely, " he said.

> Which, among other things, is what happened to and

> Bell.

>

> Dr. Harold Ochsner, a Long Beach allergy physician and spokesman

for

> the California Medical Association, said he represents the

viewpoint

> of allergists in the mainline medical community. Ochsner concedes

> that allergy testing can be less than accurate.

>

> " In most cases, the allergy test doesn't tell you what is wrong

with

> the patient. " But he said his conclusion applies to both skin and

> blood testing. " Allergy testing, by any means you choose to do it,

> is somewhat of a shot in the dark, " he said.

>

> Ochsner takes issue with the accusation that he is getting rich in

> the allergy treatment business: " I would love to have [Marinkovich]

> come down and show me where the money is. " Ochsner said he has not

> seen enough scientific and clinical studies that establish the

> alleged link between toxic mold exposure and serious illness. " I'm

> not sure that the scientific data is there, but that doesn't mean

> that [Marinkovich] is wrong. "

>

> When the mold problem is missed, other doctors will often dismiss

> the mold-related symptoms as psychological, prescribing an anti-

> depressant or offering a referral to a psychiatrist. Marinkovich

> said this scenario is also not uncommon: " What a lot of the doctors

> are trained to believe is that if you can't fit the patient into

> something easy that you know of, or if the symptoms are such that

> you don't understand them, then you make it a mental problem. "

>

> Marinkovich said dismissing symptoms as psychological can be hard

on

> the patient. " They think they're going crazy. 'What's the matter

> with me, the doctors all say I'm going crazy?' It's pretty

> disconcerting and makes it hard on a person. " And the broader issue

> of trusting what a patient tells a doctor also concerns

> Marinkovich. " [it] surprises me, this kind of disbelief in what the

> patient [says]. I think it's not becoming to those doctors who take

> the attitude that patients cannot be trusted, that patients are

> malingerers, that kind of thing. "

>

> Ochsner concurs with Marinkovich on this point: " I think he is

> unquestionably correct [that we should] listen to patients better

> than we sometimes listen to patients. I think we as allergists can

> be tarred and feathered for that error on our part. "

>

> Bell became so frustrated by the inability of her previous doctors

> to diagnose what was wrong with her that she prepared to die.

>

> " I wrote my will. I knew something was wrong and I couldn't figure

> out what it was, " she said.

>

> Because the doctors said her problems were not physical, her

friends

> and family also questioned her sanity. " They told my sister it

> wasn't that big of a deal, and my sister went with that, because,

> you know, everyone believes the doctor, " she said.

>

> But then she ran into an old friend who had had a similar

experience

> with toxic mold in her home and was now under the care of

> Marinkovich. She called his Redwood City office and was instructed

> to undergo the blood test. When the test results came back, an

> office visit was arranged. She immediately began to feel hopeful

> when she was filling out the standard new patient paperwork in the

> lobby.

>

> She had been through this drill before, but this time it was

> different. It was the questionnaire that has a list of possible

> symptoms and asks the patient if they have experienced any. To

Bell,

> the list of symptoms was a revelation. " I was like YES, YES, YES!

> How did he know that? " she recalled.

>

> After reviewing Bell and her son's medical histories and prior

> recommended treatments, including 's allergy medicine, Bell

> said Marinkovich " threw out " their prescriptions, explaining the

> medications could actually exacerbate their conditions. He also put

> the mother and son on a strict diet free from any foods that could

> contain mold, such as certain cheeses, breads, mushrooms and

> anything that contains citric acid--derived from aspergillus, a

> strain of mold--as a preservative. And when the second blood tests

> done several months later showed that the treatment regime had

> significantly lowered the levels of toxic mold in their bodies,

they

> were elated.

>

> Bell says she is gradually becoming her old self, and that her son

> has noticed the change. As they were leaving from their last

> appointment from Marinkovich's office, Bell says took the

> doctor aside.

>

> " You know what? God's got a special place for you in heaven. He's

> got a chair with your name on it, " she overheard her son say. " He

> knew that that doctor made me better; he was so scared that I was

> dying and he was feeling the sickness himself. It was his way of

> saying 'You're helping me and I know it.' "

>

[Guest guest]

It's strange how the photo caption and article allude to

cholestyramine, but they don't actually mention it.

It's a shame as it seems cholestyramine seems to be acknowledged here

as the first-line treatment for mold illness for most people - it

certainly helped me more than anything else.. but you would never

guess that from reading the media.. its almost totally word-of-mouth..

Isn't it depressing how the healthcare system seems to stifle innovation?

[Guest guest]

Are they saying that immunosciences lab tests are baloney now???

LiveSimply <quackadillian@...> wrote:

It's strange how the photo caption and article allude to

cholestyramine, but they don't actually mention it.

It's a shame as it seems cholestyramine seems to be acknowledged here

as the first-line treatment for mold illness for most people - it

certainly helped me more than anything else.. but you would never

guess that from reading the media.. its almost totally word-of-mouth..

Isn't it depressing how the healthcare system seems to stifle innovation?

[Guest guest]

I particularly appreciate Dr Marinkovich's

statement below shaming doctors for disbelieving

their patients. This has been the most enraging

aspect of dealing with doctors and it is not rare

but common to my experience:

but Dr Marinkovich verbalizes this problem:

>

> .....And the broader issue

> of trusting what a patient tells a doctor also

> concerns

> Marinkovich. " [it] surprises me, this kind of

> disbelief in what the

> patient [says]. I think it's not becoming to

> those doctors who take

> the attitude that patients cannot be trusted,

> that patients are

> malingerers, that kind of thing. "

>

> <http://www.newsrevi ew.com/sacrament

> o/Content?

> oid=oid%3A12652>

--- tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

> Fungus malpractus

>

>

> Toxic mold treatment is still controversial and

> hard to find, but

> for the Bells, it was the difference between

>