How did I beat Mold (Ochratoxin A)?
How did I beat Mold (Ochratoxin A)? My Mold Toxicity Story! All of this started when I was 16 years old (back in year 2000), studying in a boarding school (India) and was severely Constipated. To treat my Constipation, Doctors put me on Laxatives (Yellow tablets by Homeopathy, Cremalax and Dulcolax by Allopathy) and my health started deteriorating day by day. My symptoms were – Loose/watery stools, Low energy, Sinusitis, Brain Fog, Feeling Lethargic, Chronic Fatigue, Breathing problem, Forgetfulness, Problems in reading Textbook, Irritation on silly things, Bone and Muscle weakness, Dry Cough, Unexplainable Weight Gain, Intensified Sugar Cravings, Brain feeling deprived of nutrition even if I ate 5 meals a day, Problem in waking up early, Mood Swings, Feeling Frustrated, Inflammation in the joints and gut, Binge eating and Emotional eating too, Heartburn, Gas/Acidity/GERD. I SERIOUSLY NEEDED HELP!! After going to numerous Allopathic, Ayurvedic and Naturopathic doctors for 18 years in vain – I finally decided to see a Functional Medicine Doctor at the age of 37 (I moved to America in 2009 at the age of 25). I had seen a few functional medicine doctors earlier but they could not help much. They could not diagnose what was going on with me exactly. Finally, after a lot of research, I found two great Functional Medicine (FM) Doctors that had all the answers for me. First FM Doctor diagnosed me with SIBO (Small Intestinal bacterial overgrowth (Methane and Hydrogen dominant), Leaky gut issues, deficiency of trace minerals, imbalance in gut flora, hiatal hernia and gastritis. Second FM doctor diagnosed me with SIFO (Small intestinal fungal overgrowth) also known as Candida overgrowth and Liver and Gallbladder Congestion. Now I knew I was in the right hands! I hope you all know that SIBO is a medical condition in which – bacteria starts to populate in your small intestine where all of your nutrients are absorbed – leading to chronic malabsorption of nutrients from food. The right place for the bacteria is to reside in the large intestine. Same goes with SIFO – which refers to small intestinal fungal overgrowth which is also very common. Now, the first FM doctor began a treatment for SIBO. Her approach was – biofilm disruption for two weeks with LOW FODMAP DIET followed by antibiotics for two weeks. But did it work? NOPE it didn’t! Why didn’t it work? I followed her protocol exactly as she recommended: 1. Took Interface plus – a biofilm disruptor for two weeks 2. Ate LOW FODMAP food during those two weeks – I had turned vegan by that time so it was kind of hard because that made my food choices more restrictive. So all I ate was tofu and black gram tortilla with some LOW FODMAP vegetables. I used to rotate between salads and vegetables. 3. Then in the third week I started my course of antibiotics (Rifaximin and Metronidazole) for two weeks. I saw the difference within first week. I lost some weight and was passing lot of gas which of course was a good sign of those bad bugs being killed. Didn’t put any sugar in my mouth. 4. However, in the second week of antibiotics, I started craving sugar. So I made myself some orange juice at home thinking it’s a LOW FODMAP food. BUT THAT TURNED OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE! 5. My SIBO relapsed immediately – flaring up a reaction instantly. I knew I had messed up. Sugar is what the bad bugs love. Also, another mistake I made was I didn’t add a binder and didn’t do enema daily. However, I was doing all other spiritual practices like – meditation, yoga and breath work since SIBO is supposed to be a cause of Stress and Fear. (I will talk more about on the spiritual aspect of SIBO and Candida in my next blog post) 6. Anyways, finally completed the course for two weeks with no long lasting results. Discussed with my FM doctor, told her I can’t eat tofu and the same vegetables anymore. My body had given up. My kidneys and liver were rejecting protein completely. Also, I had this complaint that whenever I ate sugar, especially, it came in my eyes like it made my eyes blurry. It also caused lot of congestion in my chest area underneath my rib cage specifically. 7. She just thought they were all signs of bloating due to SIBO. So, she came up with a new plan. She decided to put me on an elemental diet for two weeks. It’s a liquid diet which contains pre-digested nutrients which do not reach your small intestine so bad bugs never get to feed on them. The idea is to starve the bad bugs in the intestine and kill them. 8. I had a great experience with elemental diet. Lost 7 kgs of weight, gave rest to my liver and kidney, felt amazing in brain, had lot more energy and my concentration improved. But my chest pain was still there. It just won’t go away even with this diet. Another major side effect I had of this diet was infection in my ears. However, I ignored it thinking we will deal with this later. Let’s just focus on beating SIBO first. 9. In the second week of my elemental diet program, I accidentally put a piece of almond in my mouth and there it was again, the reaction flared up. I was like “you kidding me – it came back with just a piece of almond?” Told my doctor and she said it’s hard to do it. I was disappointed with this response. I knew there was something more going on in my body besides SIBO. 10. Well this time she tweaked the plan again and she put me on Herbal antimicrobials (Candibactin AR and BR) for 4 weeks. I started taking those coz they are easy on your stomach and liver. But also started doing my own research




