Tortoise, not the Hare.

Summer has come and gone; the fall has blown by, and we are finally in the cold season.
Fall was off the charts busy for me! I did it, I survived my wedding season while stinging.
I had back to back photo sessions, winterized five beehives, started an indoor observation hive, and I have begun to plan MY wedding. I just don’t know how to slow down; it's not in my soul.

How have I been feeling? Up and down with a few more ups than downs - like I had a few days of feeling pretty amazing- but still have some lows. I want to say to you… I’m a new woman. But no such luck yet. Light is leaking through the cracks, and I have started to feel a bit more like my old self in some ways. I have been more creative; I can enjoy music a bit more, and I can concentrate on things a bit easier.  And drumroll please....I have some great news on current labwork. It's concrete proof that the bee venom is working. I can feel it too, my muscle pain has been down! Although it’s more like the tortoise, not the hare.

There are leaves on the ground so let us talk mold, specifically because my labs relate to it.
Do you remember that I told you in past posts that this stuff is complicated? Let me remind you.
Mold is the catalyst for many many many of us with autoimmune issues. For some, it’s the tipping point and the sticking point on moving forward to healing.
It’s not the only sticking point but it's one big pain in the arse. It’s also a topic that keeps coming up over and over in my online groups because many of us are running into roadblocks and finding out we have mold issues, so let me try and explain this again without getting too deep.

The HLA gene, detoxing and so forth.
So I have the dreaded gene mutation: Double Mold. These are my specific numbers: 7-3-53 and 13-6-52A

I have a genetic mutation that doesn’t allow me to properly detox mold, therefore, causing inflammation and all kinds of other crappy issues in my body. Dizziness, brain fog and body pain are some of the specifics in my case.
The toxins put off by certain kinds of mold ( Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Stachybotrys) are types of mold that can send my system into overdrive and are further complicated by Lyme and those nagging co-infections. This my friend is a recipe for disaster. Now you will probably ask- well isn’t there mold everywhere? The answer- hell yeah there is. Leaves on the ground, plant matter, water damage in homes and even in the food we eat. Can you avoid them all? No. Can you navigate a handful? Yes. It gets tricky and can send you to the looney bin trying to figure it all out.

For a detailed explanation and FAQ’s read here because I cannot explain all of this myself.
http://www.survivingmold.com
 
Well, the hope is to get my immune system to stop freaking out. I feel that by getting the infections down, balancing the immune system and being careful about my environment are all ways to do it. The looming question is will bee venom bring and keep my immune system in balance? and how do I think Bee Venom is helping me. Let me share a few quotes.

"Bee Venom Therapy (BVT) is a classic example of the homeopathic principal, which states that a substance that produces the symptoms of a disease is a cure for that disease. Rheumatic diseases result in swelling, pain and inflammation. A bee sting causes the same symptoms. The sting stimulates the immune system to relieve the inflammation caused by the bee venom, while relieving the symptoms of the rheumatic disease at the same time. Bee Venom Therapy stimulates the immune system through the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. This therapeutic effect stimulates the immune system rather than suppressing it, completely contrary to the effects of many drugs."
~ Charles Mraz, Health and the Honeybee, Queen City Publications, 1995.

"HOW IT WORKS | Bee venom has a powerful stimulating effect on the circulatory system. Increased blood, lymph and oxygen are vital components in focusing the body’s healing attention to a particular somatic region. Besides, by opening the capillary walls, venom facilitates improved elimination of toxins and metabolic waste matter in the tissue as increased activation occurs at the sting site. This increased circulation and intensified oxygenation also helps to destroy bacterial growth enabling a return to greater balance and homeostasis."

Before starting BVT, my numbers were not in the normal range. Over and over I tested and NEVER within range. I'm in month eight of Bee Venom Therapy; it's the only protocol I'm doing along with binding toxins by using charcoal and clay and my numbers on specific lab tests for mold illness are normal now!!! Not all are normal, but they are inching their way there. Dear lord lets hope they hold!!! I have a feeling they will bounce around but I pray my body learns to calm itself down permanently through use of bee venom.

I also had a brain MRI called the NeuroQuant to see what role mold is playing vs. Lyme. A NeuroQuant links mold illness to structural changes in the brain. Mold is my main problem. This does not mean I don't have Lyme, it just means mold has caused more inflammation in my brain than Lyme. Can this be corrected? Yes.

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Here are my scores:

NeuroQuant: Mold 5 Lyme 0
MMP9: was 431 and now is 279 (Normal range is under 300)
CD57: was 78 and is now 92 (its getting better! * note this is not a test for mold but a test for chronic illness)
MSH: was 14.1 and now is 36 (normal is 35-81)
ECP: was 38 and now is 4 (Normal is 2-10)

See below for explanations on these labs and/or click links above.

MMP-9
Normal Range:  85-332 ng/mL
Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) is an enzyme that in humans, is encoded by the MMP9 gene.  Proteins of the MMP9 family are involved in the breakdown of extracellular matrix in normal physiological processes, such as embryonic development, reproduction, and tissue remodeling, as well as in disease processes.
It has been implicated in pathogenesis COPD by destruction of lung elastin, in rheumatoid arthritis, astherosclerosis, cardiomyopathy, and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
MMP-9 delivers inflammatory elements of of blood into subintimal spaces, where further delivery into solid organs (brain, lung, muscle, peripheral nerve and joint) is initiated.

MSH - Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone
Normal Range:  35-81 pg/mL
Alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) has multiple anti-inflammatory and neurohormonal regulatory functions, exerting regulatory control on peripheral cytokine release, as well as on both anterior and posterior pituitary function.In mold illness, MSH will be too low in over 95% of patients.  This means increased susceptibility to mold illness, ongoing fatigue, pain, hormone abnormalities, mood swings, and much more.  MSH is a hormone, called a regulatory neuropeptide, and it controls many other hormones, inflammation pathways, and basic defenses against invading microbes.  Without MSH, bad things happen; chronic sleep disorders with non-restful sleep develop, and endorphin production is reduced, so chronic pain follows.

ECP
These indirect tests also can show signs of effective killing of Babesia and Bartonella organisms. These labs are IL-6, IL-1B, TNF-A, VEGF and ECP—Eosinophil Cationic Protein. ECP is the substance used by eosinophils to literally kill large parasites.