Sneaky culprits and zebras

Sneaky culprits and zebras.

Dr Fi Dann Ray MSc Applied Toxicology, MSc Chiropractic.

Sometimes the key to a health issue turns out to be something out of the ordinary……..

As the saying indicates, for most of the time you hear hoof beats, they’ll be due to horses. Very very occasionally though, they may be zebras…… For many of the clients we see, the cause of the toxicity and symptoms they experience is fairly easy to determine and deal with. For others though, it can be quite a mystery, with nothing working as well as it should and an odd symptom pattern.   That’s when we need to look for the zebras.

We’ve had a case of a man who had persistent gut issues, who felt ‘toxic’ and had quite a degree of brain fog. He had tried many many therapies to support the gut, and had only limited success. He’d tried every variation on diet going, lifestyle changes to avoid stress, had done toxic metal detox and had no dental issues. He was stuck and so was his therapist. He saw Dr Ray who was similarly puzzled, he could identify a moulds issue but not the source, which despite everyone’s best efforts remained recurrent,  – until the client concerned had to call out a plumber due to a fault with the dishwasher. The dishwasher was diagnosed as ‘beyond repair’ and the mass of mould in it’s innards was pointed out. As soon as the dishwasher was gone, he started to improve rapidly, the mould issue responded to treatment and he recovered.

Several years ago I was convinced I was developing hay fever with increasing symptoms of eye and nose irritation, until I realised that the symptoms only occurred when I was indoors! A short investigation revealed that the wooden cupboard that was doing duty as a cigar humidor had a mouldy back panel. As soon as that was changed and the cigars relocated to more suitable accommodation, the hay fever went. The allergy to tobacco mould is still an issue though, and I’ve been left with an increased sensitivity to moulds, and have had to move house due to this on one occasion. When the paperback book you leave on the carpeted floor of a ground floor bedroom goes wrinkly, there is a heck of a damp issue! It was such a shame, the house was lovely otherwise.   One of my clients at the time told me she knew the next three lots of people to rent that house and they all moved out due to the damp problems. Some had their asthma exacerbated, others had constantly runny noses. Never underestimate the effects of a damp house.

We were reminded about these cases when we discovered (whilst removing toys) that the underneath of our couch was oily. Tipping the sofa over to take a look, a good portion of the underneath was oily and had crystalline deposits.

We checked the impact of the couch using kinesiology, and the entire household, various members of staff, a few patients and a random visitor all tested weak as soon as they sat on the couch. It was promptly relocated to the dump. We’ve no idea what got tipped on the sofa, but evidently it interacted with the materials of the sofa and additionally caused a mould issue. We all have clearer heads and feel better in ourselves and have reduced liver stress since removing the couch.

Moulds can cause a range of very weird and wonderful symptoms, and not just respiratory issues. We’ve seen a lot of mould cases where the issues have been more immune or neurologically based. Many cases have been more emotional issues than physical. Most of the time, mould issues are obvious – the damp house, smell, previous flooding, autumn hay fever issues etc., but the localised hidden moulds are the sneaky ones.

Once you’ve dealt with the obvious, if the results are not as you wish, it’s worth looking for the zebras.