September 25, 2018

When it comes to mold, bathrooms are one of the places it often gets a foothold. I’m sure this is of no surprise given the multiple sources of water – sink, shower, tub, toilet, etc. However, once you read about how easy it is to prevent most of the water issues that typically arise, you’ll be in a much better position to find and prevent mold growth in your own bathroom.

I should mention that the inspiration for this article came when recently, I noticed an off smell in the bathroom on the second floor. As you’ve probably read, I use an IQAir HEPA air filter and frequently run my Air Oasis. As such, the air in our house is very clean and neutral smelling. Every time I stepped into the bathroom, my highly tuned CIRS nose picked up an off smell; my wife couldn’t detect the odor. I went through all the places I knew water is likely to be a problem and found nothing. Finally, with a bit of insight, I was able to find the source of the odor.

Drain Traps & Infrared

Let’s get started with drains and water supply lines. Given that I don’t use the shower stall in that bathroom much, the U-shaped pipe that holds a slug of water just below the floor drain (P-trap) can dry out too much. This slug of water forms an air-tight seal. When the water level in the U-shaped pipe drops due to evaporation, sewer gases enter into bathroom through the floor drain. This had been an issue in the past that I solved with a 6” round and flat silicone drain stopper to prevent evaporation. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the issue this time.

Next, I got out my infrared camera. Years back when I purchased a Flir infrared camera, it cost many hundreds of dollars. Nowadays, they make inexpensive versions that work with people’s smart phones. I’m saying this because I consider an infrared camera indispensible when it comes to mold detection.

With my infrared camera in hand, I went about looking at all the walls, floors, and ceilings of the entire area. Given that the camera can detect 1/10ths of a degree difference in temperature, even slight leaks will show up as cooler (blue) on the camera. I scanned well beyond the bathroom along with scanning the ceiling below the bathroom. After all, who knows what circuitous route the odor is taking through tiny crevices to eventually find it’s way into the bathroom.

To give you an idea of just how helpful an infrared camera can be, a few years back I wasn’t careful and overflowed a sink that caused water to cascade down two floors, A few hours after when the water had time to soak into the drywall, I went along with the camera and traced a pencil line on all the wet drywall that needed to be cut out and replaced. Without the camera, I’m sure we would have missed some wet areas as it’s impossible to discern the tiny little nooks and crannies that end up directing the water down unpredictable pathways.

Back to the bathroom, I didn’t find anything with infrared so I turned to cleaning out the drains. As mentioned, below every drain, there is a water trap. These traps invariable get lined with a somewhat thick and slimy coating. If the fixture isn’t used often enough, water in the trap evaporates exposing some of the particularly smelly nastiness that lurks below the normal water level. In addition, without regular cleaning, this slug will extend its reach above the water line so even when the sink is used often, it still stinks. As a consequence, I regularly clean out the tailpiece and upper portions of the trap. This is a 30-second job.

It’s also important to realize that bathroom sinks and tubs have “overflows”. An overflow consists of a hole near the top of the sink/tub that ties into the plumbing for that fixture. If a person closes the stopper in order to fill the sink/tub and forgets to shut off the water, the overflow is supposed to prevent water from overflowing the rim. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case as overflows are commonly undersized.

So if you think about this for a second, you can see how overflows can develop mold growth in them. I’m not saying this is a huge issue, but essentially the overflow is subject to high humidity as it ties in above the trap that is filled with water. Unlike the rest of the drain, the only time water flows through the overflow passageway is when the water line is very close to the rim.

So I got out my long and skinny Carboy brush and cleaned out the overflow passageways along with sink tail piece and traps. Yuck, it had been too long since the last cleaning so the traps were really slimy and stinky. Even the overflows were grimy. I made sure to keep the water running during the process so most of the smell and toxins got flushed down the drain. If you’re really sensitive, wear a mask. After cleaning the traps and overflows, the elusive smell remained.

Pipe Fittings

Next, I turned my attention to the plumbing under the sinks. I regularly reach under each sink and feel all the plumbing fittings for moisture. When it comes to the 1-1/2” PVC drain piping, it’s not uncommon for the joints to begin leaking after having been bumped moving items in and out of the cabinet. I always feel all around the slip/coupling nuts as water can collect on top of them too depending on where they are located.

During construction, I always coat the tapered nylon sealing rings (ferrules) in these joints with a light coating of PVC pipe dope. The dope helps to ensure that the joint doesn’t leak. If I’m building a new home, I like using 2” schedule 40 PVC for sink drains as it’s damn hard to cause a leak due to being bumped with this larger diameter piping.

For added protection, I’ll often cut a piece of Formica to fit perfectly into the base of the cabinet. The Formica gets glued down and then a larger bead of clear silicone is run around the entire perimeter. The waterproof Formica surrounded by a silicone bead acts as a shallow catch basin. If a leak develops, it will be more easily detected as the items inside the cabinet will get wet. Otherwise, it’s likely moisture from a slow leak would be absorbed by the cabinet wood and go undetected until it was too late to prevent mold growth. I double checked; there weren’t any leaks at the pipe joints.

Water Supply Lines and Shutoffs

It’s not uncommon for water supply lines and water shutoffs to develop leaks. In terms of water supply line tubing that connects the water shutoff to the faucet, all of the problems I’ve seen were with plastic supply lines. Contractors like them because they’re cheap and easier to install due to their flexibility. Unfortunately, they are also prone to leaking when bumped. Having said this, I have had good success with flexible braided stainless steel supply lines. I also like chrome coated copper tubing cut and bent to the exact length and shape with the cut end hand-flared.

Switching to sink shutoffs, they are all junk nowadays. To begin with, I don’t remember the last time I saw one that didn’t have a plastic stem/valve shaft. Are you kidding me? After a year or two of sitting without use, deposits build up on the stem and internals. Unknowing homeowners will crank on these stuck handles and snap them off. They don’t know that you have to very carefully work the valve handle back-and-forth ever so slowing increasing the amount of rotation. In so doing, the build-up is broken free and dislodged.

Furthermore, even if a person is successful in freeing up the valve, it may begin leaking at the stem. Cross your fingers and hope that by lightly tightening up the “packing nut” around the stem that the leak stops. Turning on the packing nut compresses the packing material around the stem and sometimes halts the leak – unless there is just too much build-up.

At a minimum, I always get “quarter turn” shutoffs as they use a ball valve and consequently tend to leak way less than the older compression valves – the ones where you have to turn the handle several rotations to open and close the valve. Better yet, if I’m building new or end up having to replace a shutoff, I’ll install a real brass bodied valve with a stainless ball, metal handle, and nylon seat. I’ve yet to see one of these ever jam up. Once I had a leak around the stem of one that went away with a quarter turn on the packing nut.

If your home has copper plumbing, you can get a good ball valve with compression fittings so there is no “sweating” with solder required. It’s a real treat when it comes time to replace that tired old faucet or when the toilet tank has sprung a leak to reach down and grab onto a steel handle knowing that with a quarter turn the water is going to turn off without any leaks. Needless to say, the shutoffs and supply lines weren’t the problem either.

Note: I’ll leave the newer push-on/shark-bite connectors for others to find out if the internal rubber o-rings will hold up to decades of exposure to chlorinated water without leaking.

Toilets – Flanges – Tanks

Unlike sink, shower, and tub tailpieces and traps, I’ve never seen a need for using a long brush to clean out the S-shaped passageway (trap) that starts at the bottom of a toilet bowel. The smooth porcelain and flushing water keep the toilet water trap relatively clean. On the other hand, I do regularly clean the inside of the tank and tank cover.

Regularly checking under the tank cover is important. A couple years back, I decided to clean a tank cover. It looked clean. I didn’t bother shinning a flashlight with the beam at a glancing angle to the underside of the cover (parallel to the plane of the cover) in order to check for any fuzzy mycelium (mold roots). This was a mistake. The moment my rag with QUAT on it hit the cover, I got a strong whiff of mold. Ugh. I fired up my Air Oasis and downed some CSM. It took a couple of days to recover.

If you think about it, every time you flush a toilet, the tank takes a big gulp of air. It has to. As the water rapidly leaves the tank, air must be allowed to flood in. Otherwise, it’d be like when you hold your finger over the end of a straw filled with liquid. Nothing comes out. If you look at the back of the lid and tank, you’ll see notches that allow air into the tank. In fact, I’ve found that in questionable homes, it’s not uncommon to find mold growth near the water line inside the tank and even on the cover.

In terms of properly installing a toilet, the comments I made about copper supply lines and solid shutoffs hold. In addition, it’s really important that the toilet doesn’t move at all and that a quality toilet flange and seal are properly installed where the toilet connects to the floor. It is a very common for leaks to develop at the floor seal over time.

If the toilet hasn’t been properly attached to the floor, over time it’ll begin to rock back-and-forth with use. Eventually, the wax seal will fail. Often, it is only a slight leak that remains hidden to the naked eye but nonetheless wreaks havoc on the inhabitant’s health due to mold growth.

Preventing the toilet from loosening up over time begins when the plumber shows up to cut the hole in the floor for the 3” diameter toilet PVC pipe. The hole should be just big enough for of collar of the toilet flange. If the plumber is a “hack” and chops out a bit hole in the floor because it’s faster and easier, then there will be little support for the toilet flange.

As the name implies, toilet flange makes the connection between the 3” PVC drain pipe sticking up through the floor and the underside of the toilet. A toilet flange consists of a round PVC collar that is glued to the 3” drain pipe and larger round ring (flange) that has holes in it. Some holes are for screwing the flange to the sub-floor and others are for the two flange bolts that stick up vertically from the flange. The flange bolts stick up through the base of the toilet and are used to bolt the toilet to the floor.

Given the importance of a strong flange, you can see why it’s really important that it’s well supported. Personally, I just don’t trust the PVC flanges. Instead, I prefer a metal flange with solid brass flange bolts and always use stainless steal screws to affix the flange to the floor.

In addition to cutting a small hole in a solid, well framed sub-floor and using good hardware, the plumber needs to make sure to set the flange up just enough for the finished flooring/tile to slip underneath. This not only ensures that wax seal makes good contact with the underside of the toilet but also provides solid support to the flange.

Just as important as making sure the flange is firmly attached to the floor, it’s important to make sure the base of the toilet makes solid contact all the way around its perimeter with the floor. I always set the toilet in place before installing the seal and check to make sure there are no gaps between the bottom of the toilet and the floor. One way to check this is by applying pressure from one side to another around the rim and see if the toilet rocks/tips at all. If it does, its essential to shim under the toilet to arrest all movement. For myself, I fill any voids with plastic strips cut from heavier empty plastic jugs and hold them in lace with a dab of silicone.

When it’s time to set the toilet and bolt it to the floor, I always use a wax seal with a rubber sleeve. The rubber sleeve helps to direct the waste water into the drain line and reduces the amount of water pressure against the actual wax seal. Of course, I’m sure to carefully mark out the toilet location on the floor so the hole in the base of the toilet lines up perfectly with the toilet flange. I’ve seen a leaking toilet due to the porcelain cone shaped hole on the bottom of the toilet crushing the rubber sleeve off to one side because it wasn’t aligned.

In terms of the tank installation, I like to set the toilet so there is at least 1” of an air-gap between the back of the tank and the wall. If the tank is too close and sweats during the humid months of the year when cold water refills the tank, mold can more easily develop in this narrow gap. I check the back of my tanks on a regular basis.

Also related to tanks, to prevent the rubber seal between the tank and toilet base from leaking due to folks leaning back against the tank, I always install a 1” wide wood filler strip cut to fit perfectly between the tank and the wall. I position the strip about 1/2″ below the rim of the tank out of the way of the tank cover. The strip itself is painted and held in place with a couple of dab of silicone. Once in place, and pressure against the tank will be resisted by the wall. Given all these precautions, my toilet was tight to the floor and my tank was mold free so I had to look elsewhere for the elusive aroma.

Shower & Tub Stalls

Let’s begin with the obvious. If you’re installing anything other than an all-in-one “modular” tub or shower unit, it’s critical to lap any joints so the water does not get into the walls. Take tiling for example. Both the plastic sheeting and cement board should lap well over the lip of the shower pan. There are of course newer systems like the Schluter Kerdi Shower Kit that create a nice watertight enclosure too.

With the obvious set aside, poorly executed joints are a significant source of mold. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the joint line between two neighboring walls, or a wall and the floor, improperly sealed. When it comes to tile, all too often, it’s filled with the same sandy-cement grout used between the tiles. Tile grout is not flexible. As the house moves with the changes in temperature and humidity, the joints between two perpendicular surfaces will crack when filled with grout. Tiny hairline cracks can wick quite a bit of water into the walls.

Granted, if you’ve done a good job with whatever method you’ve chosen for a water-tight underlayment then you should be OK, but that’s not a situation I’d be comfortable with. In the homes I’ve built, I always stuff these critical joints with a strip of cardboard while grouting to keep the grout out. After the grout hardens, I’ll go back a lay down a smooth bead of similarly colored silicone caulk making sure to completely fill these joints.

The other area of concern has to do with the shower/tub valves on the wall. If you’ve ever seen one being installed, generally the plumber cuts an approximately 6” diameter hole in the wall. This larger hole allows for repairs to valve like replacing the cartridge later on when the faucet begins to drop. With this design, the only thing preventing water from slipping behind the round trim plate (escutcheon) and the wall, or between the escutcheon plate and the decorative “stop” tube that covers the valve stem, is a thin foam gasket. Really, it’s just a thin strip of foam that keeps shower and tub plumbing walls from turning into breeding grounds for mold.

So we all know how much water is pours down shower walls. All there is between that cascade of water and a large 6” diameter hole right into the wall is a flimsy foam gasket. If the wall has an uneven tile job, or the tile joints haven’t been completely filled, we can only hope that the relative thin gasket was enough thickness to it to fill these voids. This never made sense to me.

As such, I like to cut a hole just big enough to allow for the stop-tube and for the replacement of the valve cartridge. This gives me the extra wall space needed under the escutcheon to lay down an upside-down horseshoe shaped bead of silicon caulk around the hole such that the escutcheon plate completely covers over it. Using a nail and before the silicone has set, I shape the bead creating a lip all along its curved length so water that gets behind the trim plate is channeled around the hole in the wall. Without the channel, water would simply flow over the bead and into the wall hole.

All escutcheon plates have a gap in the gasket at the bottom. This allows any water that gets behind the plate to escape – rather then build up until it eventually enters the hole in the wall. My upside-down U-shaped bead of caulks uses this weep hole at the bottom of the plate.

To finish, I use a clear bead of silicone between the escutcheon plate and the stop-tube. Yeah, I know. The plumber has to remove the bead if the valve ever needs to be worked on. If the plumber complains, tell him/her to “stop crying”.

Even with this added protection, the fittings between the water supply lines and the valve body can develop leaks. However, the most common joint to leak is at the shower head elbow (drop ear) buried inside the wall. This is the 90-degree joint underneath the wall behind the shower head. It’s what the decorative shower tube (arm) coming out of the wall attaches too.

All too often the plumber grabs whatever scrap piece of wood he/she can find and toenails it in place in order to provide a surface to mount the elbow. A couple of short, non-galvanized screws into the mounting holes of the elbow completes the carpentry. Based upon what I’ve seen, plumbers go out of their way to show that they don’t like to do carpentry. Later on when the shower head is hard to re-aim because of lime build-up, or when the homeowner decides to replace the shower arm, the brass elbow is subject to additional stress due to being poorly supported and this can result in a hidden leak.

Given that the shower and tub plumbing is notorious for leaking at some time during the life of the house, I always install an access panel on the opposite side of the wall. Often, this is the side of the short section of wall that is facing the toilet. As such, it is hidden from the main view into the bathroom. Even if it wasn’t, they make nice, easy to install, and paintable inspection panels. Being able to regularly remove the panel without any tools and take a peak inside easily outweighs any concerns about aesthetics. With all these added construction details built into our house, I needed to look elsewhere for the offensive bouquet.

DIY Moisture Sensor

By the way, if you ever do build a new home, you may want to consider the do-it-yourself sensor wiring like I installed at all the leak-prone areas in a home. This wiring consists of two stainless steel screws spaced about 2” apart that are screwed into the wood framing at each of the typical locations where leaks tend to develop. For examples, under the toilet flange, at the bottom of the shower valve wall, under the washing machine valve box, and below the kitchen sink cabinet.

Under the head of each screw I attached a small, inexpensive doorbell wire that I ran into an empty outlet box inside a centrally located closet on each floor. I carefully labeled each set of two wires so that once the wall were finished, I could install and label a custom trim plate. The trim plate consists of pairs of holes drilled into it in and has a screw and nut to which a wire is attached. I then neatly labeled the pairs of screw heads that are showing on the finished side of the plate.

The pairs of screw heads are spaced at the same distance as the probes on a typical moisture sensor. By placing the two probes of the moisture sensor in contact with the pairs of screw heads that are wired back to wood at a given location, I can detect even slight increases in moisture. This is a cool way of detecting any issues early.

In terms of installation details, the length of the wiring doesn’t matter (some of my runs were 30 feet). Also, given that it’s impossible to predict the pattern that water will be absorbed, I see no reason why more than one pairs of stainless screws couldn’t be tied together with addition screws installed at nearby locations. For example, placing four pairs of screws around the toilet flange hole that are all tied to the same 2-lead doorbell wire. In so doing, if a leak develops on one side or the other of the flange, there is a pair of screws to pick this up.

Moisture Measurement Guide for Building Envelope Applications

It’s Not Always Mold

So you’re probably wondering; where was the smell was coming from? Well, one night while meditating, it suddenly struck me where I’d smelled that odor. It was from paper products. Then I recalled that the insulation in the walls and ceilings is blown in cellulose (paper). From my research, much of the paper used in this type of insulation comes from newspapers and a lot of it is moldy. Furthermore, it’s 15% is flame retardants by mass.

• What’s in Blown in Cellulose Insulation
• Mold Infestation of Wet Spray-Applied Cellulose Insulation
• Assessment of Fungal Growth on Treated Cellulose Insulation

These aren’t’ necessarily problems given that the insulation is buried inside the walls and ceilings. However, in the closet adjacent to the bathroom, I never got around to applying a bead of caulk at the top inside edge where the top of the door jamb meets the ceiling. It’s an unusual situation wherein the half-wall in the bathroom meets up with a sloped ceiling. There was no room above the door jamb for trim and the typical wall to ceiling corner. As such, there was a gap right at the jamb to ceiling joint and this joint was not likely covered by the plastic vapor barrier that we use in our part of the country. As soon as the bead of caulk was applied, the odor went away.

Mold & Money

Making and keeping a mold-free bathroom requires a basic knowledge of how each fixture works along with the understanding that bad things (mold) will start to grow wherever higher moisture conditions exist. I liken this to the utter bedlam we see in politics today. Due to a lack of understanding, we have allowed moisture in the form of money to seep into every nook and cranny of our political system. As a consequence, the system has become filled with nasty characters (mold) whose influence ends up making the population at large very sick. It’s time to understand what’s going on and clean house.

Until we see through the deception and demand that money is drained from the political system, along with abolishing the absurd laws such as corporations having the same rights as real-live-people, the blackness that has infected our society will just continue to spread. As noted in Pine Spirits, our entire society has been flooded with debt from the privately run Federal Reserve bank. Over the centuries in various Nation States, each and every one of the many dozens of paper money systems (fiat), like the Federal Reserve Note (dollar), always ends up failing. Fiat currencies always lead to excessive lending and subsequent huge amounts of society-crushing mal investment before inevitably blowing up in the form of massive inflation, the collapse of commerce, and societal destitution and unrest.

We have not addressed the excessive leaks (money) into business (corporate personhood), politics (unfettered campaign contributions), or general commerce (Federal Reserve – central banking) for a very long time. As a result, the blackness that has infected each of these realms has gotten so bad that it seems like anything goes nowadays. A sense of fairness and decorum needs to be restored. This can only be done by shutting off the overflow of water (money).

Based upon many, many hours of study, limiting the flood of money is the key. In other words, you can rail against inequality in any of its many forms “until the cows come home” and nothing much will ever change until the flood of money is stopped. You can’t live in a moldy house and expect to thrive. You can’t expect to thrive if the Federal Reserve considers citizens of the United States to be nothing more than chattel (property) to be dispensed with as they see fit.

Anana Von Reitz

For all of our sakes, take the time to step outside of mainstream talking points and learn for yourself. The trouble we’re seeing today will not be solved by battling over whether Judge Kavanaugh is elected, decrying the election of President Trump, or discovering the extent to which the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and the like did or didn’t do their jobs regarding Russian collusion. The core problem is that few too many people understand how our money system works and why a sound money system is vital for the health of a society.

With an understanding of our money system, you’ll be able to see through mainstream media talking points on subjects like the trade wars and understand that what’s really happening is that the world’s countries are negotiating new trade arrangements in response to the ensuing global currency reset. There are reasons September was just recently declared the National Preparedness Month and they don’t all have to do with bad weather.

Health News

NeuroQuant

It has come to my attention that there is a group of ISEAI doctors that have given up on using Dr. Shoemaker’s NeuroQuant scoring system both in terms of quantifying the extent of shrunken/swollen (atrophy/edema) brain regions along with determining if a person is suffering from CIRS, Lyme, or both. Reportedly, the control group used by Dr. Shoemaker was quite limited. If this is in fact the case, I can see why some ISEAI doctors are reporting that they are not getting meaningful information from NeuroQuant scores.

To understand this a little better, consider the report The NeuroQuant Normative Database – Comparing Individual Brain Structures by the folks that developed NeuroQuant, Cortech Labs. One doesn’t have to look very hard to see that the size of the various brain regions can be quite different based upon gender and especially age – see also papers like Brain Volume Changes in Normal Aging. The fact that the existing NeuroQuant scoring system doesn’t include gender and age categories seems to give credence to the claim that the control group was rather narrow.

Having said this, even if the control group was limited, this does not necessarily mean that Dr. Shoemaker’s scoring system is useless. Who knows, maybe there is enough of a difference between moldy and non-moldy brains that age and gender differences aren’t as important – something like this. In terms of Dr. Shoemaker, my understanding is that he continues to stand behind his scoring system. This is corroborated by the fact that Surviving Mold has recently launched an Online NeuroQuant Analysis.

In any case, my point is that the current scoring system may not be as accurate as once believed. Perhaps, as some ISEAI doctors have suggested, the best approach is to look to the new Triage Report by Cortech Labs as it is both age and gender referenced. Hopefully with time, data from this newer gender and age referenced report can be analized by ISEAI doctors and a better scoring system introduced.

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)

My health still isn’t where I’d like it to be. Chronic illness doctors like Dr. Raj Patel seem to think this is due to having other hidden infections. A couple of months ago, I got the results back from an Epstein Barr Virus Panel and it was overwhelmingly positive.

Using Dr. Hedberg’s protocol, I started by supplementing with higher doses of zinc, along with vitamins D, C, E, and A. He also recommends a variety of antiviral herbs; Olive leaf, Coptis, Reishi, Cordicepts, Ginger. I didn’t take any of these. This supplementation is done in conjunction with taking Monolaurin starting with one 600mg capsule at each of the three mealtimes and working up to three 600mg capsule with each meal – 5.4 grams daily.You can read about this approach and how Monolaurin is effective at helping your body clear viruses in the links below provided to me by Sean, a reader, and Caleb from Toxic Mould Support – Australia.

In terms of my experience, for the first 2-3 weeks I noticed a nice little bump up in clarity and stamina. Unfortunately, around the 4th week, I started crashing. I got extremely tired. It’s the kind of tired where you can’t even get up off the couch to go have something to eat. I started sleeping all the time. I also started getting several mouth sores that didn’t go away.

There is only so much of this kind of pounding that I’m willing to tolerate. So about 6 weeks in, I quickly tapered off Monolaurin. Later, I tried taking smaller and smaller amounts. Each time, I noticed a quick return of fatigue that corresponded roughly with the dose. I found that even taking just 1 capsule in the morning was too much. After it was all said and done, I’d say my health was a bit worse for it.

So I don’t know what to conclude from this other than using Monolaurin causes me to crash to the extent that I’m not functional. I’m going to have to work on improving my health from a different tack.

1. Mapping Infections and Autoimmunity with Dr. Nikolas Hedberg
2. Autoimmune Disease: The Infection Connection
3. Epstein-Barr Virus and Hashimoto’s
4. Epstein-Barr Virus Infection and Steps to Autoimmunity: A Unifying Hypothesis
5. EBV Help – Dr. Kasia Kines
6. A Rational Approach to Viruses with Dr. Nick Hedberg
7. Epstein-Barr Virus: Part 1 with Dr Mark Donohoe
8. Epstein-Barr Virus: Part 2 with Dr Mark Donohoe

Clomid

A fellow moldy, mentioned a while back that he’d had some success taking small doses of Clomid to boost testosterone levels. Saliva testing that I’ve had done over the years has shown a steady decline in testosterone levels. Both men and women need testosterone for its myriad of health benefits.

Although I found the books of T.S. Wiley to be both compelling and deeply insightful, I going to wait on directly supplementing with testosterone. Really, her book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival was a such a treat. Saying this is rare for me. I laughed in delight upon hearing her describe how so much of our behavior is dictated by the microbes within. In addition to discussing hormones, much of what she has to say about the importance of minimizing exposure to unnatural light along with eating according to the seasons parallels Dr. Jack Kruses’ work.

For now, I’m going to see if I can’t encourage my body to both produce more testosterone along with making the testosterone I have more available. I’m going to try increasing levels by suppressing the luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) signals to the brain using Clomid. And I’m going to try to increase the levels of free testosterone with higher doses of Boron.

We’ll see how it goes. So far, I’ve been experimenting with Clomid. I started by taking 25mg twice daily for the first three weeks. By the end of the third week, I was very agitated and aggressive. I told my wife to just stay away from me because I couldn’t trust myself to not go off on a rant over essentially nothing.

I then tried 25mg daily in two divided doses. This was better but I was still agitated and couldn’t sleep well – very active and black dreams. Eventually, I found that 12.5mg the first thing in the morning improved my concentration and stamina in a nice and substantial way. I’m only on the first week of this lower dose but so far so good. I’m waiting on the Boron until I get the Clomid lined out.

Ozone

After my trial with Monolaurin, I had an increase in pressure change sensations in my head along with nausea when driving too fast around corners and brief loses in equilibrium wherein I literally would have fallen over if the sensation hadn’t stopped after a few seconds. Sitting in meditation and listening to my body, I got the strong impression that the infection in my sinuses is a very serious issue.

In response, I started flooding my sinuses with ozone. I started out taking too much at too strong of a concentration but eventually found that 1/4 l/min through my PlasmaFire generator yielding 28 ug/cc was just right. It’s helping to slowly clear my sinuses and the aforementioned symptoms. I lie on my back with my head tilted back while appling ozone to each nostril for 20 seconds once in the morning and that’s it. Naturally, I hold my breath followed by breath through my mouth only for the first minute after application

Old age, CIRS, awful dentistry, along with bad exposures working on cars, in a foundry, and the like haven’t done me any favors. I’ve been discovering that I’m a lot more sensitive to chemicals, especially fabric softener. Furthermore, the air quality just isn’t that good where I live in Wisconsin. Recently, I took a trip up north to visit some friends and the air quality was dramatically better. There’s just too much conventional farming around us. My dream is to move to New Mexico or the like. Be well everyone.

Home Building

For a long time, I’ve been thinking about writing everything I’ve learned over the years as a builder on how to prevent mold growth and build a quality home. As it turns out, my sister-in-law is having a home built and I’m helping to ensure the structure is well-made and the home is mold free. The hole has been excavated and the concrete footings have been poured. I filmed a clip where I discussed this phase of construction. I’m curious if people think this would be an interesting topic not only for moldies but anyone interested in home building. If you are interested, leave a comment on YouTube.

Foundation Footings & Waterproofing