Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Mold is a critical issue in today's world. With 25% of the population unable to neutralize and excrete the toxins produced by mold, that's a really high percentage. The majority of people can enter a musty building and shrug off the ill effects in an hour or day, but many cannot. And with repeated exposure, all kinds of illnesses and seemingly unrelated health problems can develop--including, but not limited to, allergies of all kinds, digestive issues (ranging from leaky gut to Crohn's disease to IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome), slow metabolism and weight gain, chronic fatigue, neurological problems including Multiple Sclerosis, exacerbation of cancers, infections that are slow to heal, miscellaneous chronic conditions, and much more. At the foundation of most of these disorders is chronic inflammation, which in a complex cascading cycle, makes the person more ill, even long after the source of the mold has been removed (or the person moves out of the moldy building). This is because in a sensitive person, the immune system is not equipped to eliminate the TOXINS produced by the mold. Exposure to mold is typically from water-damaged buildings. However, algae in stagnant bodies of water can also trigger symptoms. And water-damaged buildings don't always show either the mold or the damage, as often the mold is growing in the walls or near hidden plumbing pipes. Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker is obviously passionate and sincere about his mission: to help mold sufferers. He is (probably rightly) regarded as an expert in his field. Having benefited from Dr. Shoemaker's website, I really wanted to like this book. So why only two stars? (The only reason I didn't give it one star is that the information is valuable.) I regretfully cannot recommend Surviving Mold because the writing is barely adequate and the book is so disorganized that what valuable information it does contain, is virtually useless. As the author of a massive reference manual on medical and health issues, I know how important it is to be able to find information quickly and easily. The major--and deal-breaking--flaw of Surviving Mold is its complete and utter lack of organization. In one huge cauldron, Dr. Shoemaker combines politics with personal remarks and invaluable scientific and medical data. Now, the politics are certainly important to know, and Shoemaker's passion is laudable. However--and this is VERY important, especially for the mold-sensitive person whom Shoemaker acknowledges is brain-fogged--all the information is thrown together in one counter-intuitive stream-of-consciousness hodge-podge. The text skips from a blur of medical anecdotes and problems with government agencies to science and biology included almost incidentally, in no particular order or sequence. There are very few headings or sub-headings, and each chapter blends into the next, in repetitive sameness, without any clear direction as to where the author is going. I've been a writer in the medical and psychology fields for a long time, but even with my background, I found it extremely difficult to get a handle on (1) What's going on physiologically and biochemically when one is exposed to mold, (2) The various illnesses that ensue from mold exposure, and (3) Viable treatment protocols for mold exposure. There is no detailed table of contents/chapter outline, and no index, which makes it almost impossible to find anything in the book. I found it necessary to go through the book with a marker and highlight everything important. This is a lot of work, and the reader shouldn't have to work so hard--especially if s/he's ill, which I'm assuming a number of readers are! To make some constructive suggestions: It would have made much more sense to devote one chapter to the politics of resistance to mold issues from the medical establishment and the public, and legal concerns; one chapter devoted to the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of how mold affects people; one chapter devoted to discrete diseases/health conditions; one chapter devoted to mold abatement in buildings; and one chapter devoted to treatments. Case histories could have been put into a separate chapter, or dispersed throughout the book as sidebars. But regrettably, this book lacked good editing. Shoemaker also doesn't know (or advocate) holistic treatments for mold exposure. He prescribes Cholestyramine, a drug that is effective because it does bind to mold toxins in the gut. However, lots of people have negative reactions to this drug, including headaches, neurological impairment, intestinal cramping, nausea, and vomiting. UPDATE, August 2013: Based on this, to achieve the excretion of mold toxins much more safely I have combined the protocols of two medical colleagues that I am sharing here. One colleague uses Cholestepure from Pure Encapsulations instead of the drug, and suggests taking between two and four capsules 2-3X day. The other colleague recommends taking 1-2 TBS each of powdered zeolite and activated charcoal along with the Cholestepure. The Cholestepure binds to the toxins in the gut, and the powders help the body excrete the toxins out. Taking a bit of oil (but not coconut oil) along with this combination will cause the liver to secrete bile, which you want. It's always advised to drink at least two full glasses of water, as the powders expand and the water helps prevent constipation. You may want to subscribe to Dr. Shoemaker's newsletter (at least in March 2013 it was free, refreshingly concise, and contained lots of usable information) and take the mold test on his site (for a modest sum, well worth the price) to see if you have problems detoxifying from mold. UPDATE, March 2013: Shoemaker has retired his practice, and is now devoting his time to coaching other doctors to diagnose and treat mold problems. You may wish to go to his website and peruse what's available, while you have the chance. To summarize: if you don't have the patience for disorganized, chaotic writing, and especially if you are brain-fogged from mold exposure, you may want to reconsider buying this book. I eagerly await a revision of Surviving Mold, done properly, because I respect Dr. Shoemaker's knowledge and his commitment to getting the word out. Unfortunately, Surviving Mold is not the definitive word.