In this Root Cause Solutions For You episode, we are joined by mold expert Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP.
Bridgit's health was deteriorating, this is when she turned to paleo eating, lab testing, and more, but her health hit a new low in late 2015. Soon after, she discovered a widespread toxic mold in her home.
In 2022 she published "The Ultimate Guide to Toxic Mold Recovery: Take Back Your Home, Health & Life," the first comprehensive guide to toxic mold on the market, covering everything from home testing to body system restoration after toxic mold.
If you've ever experienced mysterious health symptoms that no doctor can explain, you might find your elusive answer in this riveting conversation with Bridgit.
Mold, this seemingly innocuous part of our environment, could be silently wreaking havoc on your health. Tune in to our discussion as we peel back the layers of mold toxicity, its stealthy signs, and how it can insidiously invade your home and body.
Our conversation takes a deeper look into the detoxification process from mold toxicity. With Bridgit's rich body of knowledge, we navigate the importance of sturdy health foundations like diet, adequate sleep, and regular bowel movements before detoxifying the body. We unpack Bridget's favorite detox strategies and delve into the areas of the body where mold tends to accumulate. Mold toxicity is a complex and varied issue, but Bridget's insightful guidance can provide a starting point for understanding and combating it.
Lastly, we look hard at the impact of mycotoxins on our health and how they can disrupt hormonal balance, affect the thyroid and gut health, and even contribute to rapid weight gain. Plus, we touch on my experiences with perimenopause and how mold can interact with it.
Bridget's book, 'The Ultimate Toxic Mold Recovery Guide,' provides readers with a comprehensive approach to combating mold toxicity and takes center stage in our final discussion. This episode is more than a simple conversation; it's a treasure trove of knowledge and guidance on the often-overlooked health concern of mold toxicity.
Mold detox requires a comprehensive and personalized approach to manage. If you want to know about this, send me a message!
Disclaimer: THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT EVALUATED THESE STATEMENTS. This is not a medical service; our information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. The Root Cause Solutions For You, its practitioners, and employees make no warranties, express or implied, concerning this email's contents. You should never disregard medical advice or delay seeking it because of the contents of this episode.
In this Root Cause Solutions For You episode, we are joined by mold expert Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP.
Bridgit's health was deteriorating, this is when she turned to paleo eating, lab testing, and more, but her health hit a new low in late 2015. Soon after, she discovered a widespread toxic mold in her home.
In 2022 she published "The Ultimate Guide to Toxic Mold Recovery: Take Back Your Home, Health & Life," the first comprehensive guide to toxic mold on the market, covering everything from home testing to body system restoration after toxic mold.
If you've ever experienced mysterious health symptoms that no doctor can explain, you might find your elusive answer in this riveting conversation with Bridgit.
Mold, this seemingly innocuous part of our environment, could be silently wreaking havoc on your health. Tune in to our discussion as we peel back the layers of mold toxicity, its stealthy signs, and how it can insidiously invade your home and body.
Our conversation takes a deeper look into the detoxification process from mold toxicity. With Bridgit's rich body of knowledge, we navigate the importance of sturdy health foundations like diet, adequate sleep, and regular bowel movements before detoxifying the body. We unpack Bridget's favorite detox strategies and delve into the areas of the body where mold tends to accumulate. Mold toxicity is a complex and varied issue, but Bridget's insightful guidance can provide a starting point for understanding and combating it.
Lastly, we look hard at the impact of mycotoxins on our health and how they can disrupt hormonal balance, affect the thyroid and gut health, and even contribute to rapid weight gain. Plus, we touch on my experiences with perimenopause and how mold can interact with it.
Bridget's book, 'The Ultimate Toxic Mold Recovery Guide,' provides readers with a comprehensive approach to combating mold toxicity and takes center stage in our final discussion. This episode is more than a simple conversation; it's a treasure trove of knowledge and guidance on the often-overlooked health concern of mold toxicity.
Mold detox requires a comprehensive and personalized approach to manage. If you want to know about this, send me a message!
Disclaimer: THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT EVALUATED THESE STATEMENTS. This is not a medical service; our information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. The Root Cause Solutions For You, its practitioners, and employees make no warranties, express or implied, concerning this email's contents. You should never disregard medical advice or delay seeking it because of the contents of this episode.
Fabiola Reyes :
Oh, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today on the YouTube channel Root cause solutions for you. I am Fabiola, I am your host and I am very, very delighted to have Bridget with me. She's a mold expert and this interview was scheduled a while back and I just couldn't wait for today. So I'm so excited to hear what she has to say, and thank you so much for being here with us. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, thanks for having me always love to talk about mold, believe it or not. So I started my career as an acupuncturist. I was. I wasn't starting as a sick person, as many people do with the health field. I just was interested in natural medicine and natural living. So I Got into, I decided to go the route of Chinese medicine and then I started my career in Portland, oregon, which, as you know, is a very wet place and I ended up being exposed to mold for a long time without knowing it.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
So you know, as I was starting a family and starting my career, I was also really struggling with my own health and experimenting and learning a lot of things about Nutrition and functional medicine, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't get all the way better. It would be very up and down and then I got a lot worse and then finally discovered mold. So it definitely changed the course of my life and career. You know, we ended up spending a lot of money and selling that house and moving and and I just had I learned so much about detox in the process that I just really wanted to change my career in that direction. So that's that's all I do. Now is the online practice in now mold and detox.
Fabiola Reyes :
Well, that's awesome and you know, like you, you touch in a very important point where I think people who who suffer from old toxicity sometimes don't even know, but they are suffering from old toxicity and I was one of them, and so the more I learn about it, the more I'm like oh yeah, basement. Oh yeah, you know, living in a wet environment like you, like you mentioned, so could you tell us about, like what are some of them? The classic or not so classic mold symptoms, like what should someone be looking for that, may you know? Kind of like turn the light bulb on and say, hey, I should probably look into this.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, it's tough because there isn't one like smoking gun symptom, because it can affect anybody system. That could be really a big array of Symptoms like so, in one family who's perhaps exposed, you know, you could have a Child with breathing issues and another child with attention issues, another child with bedwitting, and then one person's not affected seemingly, and then another is exhausted. So that's adds to the mystery. I will say the two, I would say the two most common symptoms. Over time you'll see our brain fog and fatigue, probably followed by food sensitivities being really common and I'd say the the. The thing that is a smoking gun is the environmental component, right, so it's symptom.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
And plus you can test for a mold in your in your body if you like, and then Testing where you're living or working. Sometimes it is an older exposure, like you mentioned, it was in your background, so sometimes it you can't go back and test, but usually by the time you've learned about mold you're like oh yeah, that now that I know that was a situation. But also like, as you mentioned before we came on, like sometimes you just don't know most mold in a home is Is behind a wall or in a crawl space or an attic, so it's not like you walk in and it's like, oh, I see mold everywhere. You know mold. It's very small. It takes a lot of it to be visible and it needs to be somewhere you can see it, yeah, and then the the mycotoxins it releases are invisible, so they can be coming through the wall wherever circulating throughout the house and you just don't know. So we there are examples of people who are like literally in multi-million dollar homes and they have mold.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
So it's just a. You know it's can be a construction error Issue with managing humidity, you know, roof leak, something not installed correctly. So there's just you know so many ways that our buildings I mean pretty much people say, oh, don't a 50% of buildings affected by mold. If you think about the lifetime of a building, every single one is gonna have water damage. Yeah, really, will it always lead to toxic mold that affects your health? No, but literally every single. Unless you have a building with I don't know, in the middle of the Sahara Desert with no plumbing, you're gonna have Water Affecting it at some point. So if you think about it that way, it's really not so rare, yeah no, that total makes sense.
Fabiola Reyes :
And you know, sometimes I I go on through the outright and I'm like just curious about houses and and I see all this different houses that are, you know, for like super cheap, right, but they're all like need a lot of renovations and they show pictures and you can see the mold on the wall. Yeah, oh, my gosh. You know like here is somebody who's trying to get a house, gets the house, doesn't really know anything there is to know about mold, or very limited information about it by the house. It doesn't really get addressed properly and then you live there for the next whatever years. So it's a super hidden and ever since I started learning more about mold, I'm like, oh, is this place, you know? Like it makes me question right where I work, where I, where I have work, where I live, where I have lived and stuff like that. So are there any? So you mentioned testing. Is there any specific Home testing that you would recommend that we become familiar with?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah. So in this, at this stage, Testing the body is way easier than testing the home. You know, now we have a urinary test for my go toxins. You can get through a practitioner pretty straightforward, you know, not a lot of false negatives. The home is complex. There's a lot of rooms. You don't you know? Are you a renter? Are you an owner? What's your budget? There can be multiple sources of moisture too. So sometimes, you know, I actually had someone in my mold group who bought a home that knew had had some remediation or some issue when they moved in. There was actually multiple location issues. So the home is trickier.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
If you are a renter you may want to just do, like some plate tests, a sticky plate tests from a company called immunolytics. That's the cheapest way. If you want to spend a little more money, you could do a dust test where you collect dust all around and send that in. It won't tell you where Damage came from, but it will tell you the presence of mold and my go toxins. And then if you own a home, inevitably you know if you have a problem you're going to need an inspector because you need to know where it came from. It's like finding the root cause right in the body. Same thing the home. You're gonna just say, oh well, like let's you know, let's vacuum and then we're good. Like you need to know where it came from, so that I stress to people, like it's a construction project, a remodeling project, People aren't excited about the amount of money they're going to have to spend, so they want it to not be that, but it is that.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, no, that makes sense. I think, um, yeah, it's a, it's a huge monster, right? Because sometimes, if, if you concentrate on um, addressing or mitigating the home, like you said you can, you're gonna need money, right, it's definitely thousands of dollars to do that and sometimes, uh, people, just like you said they don't want to go through it. And who wants to move?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
right, like you've been there for a while and you're like I'm not going to sell my house, or um so, which I definitely had had clients who were like, uh, I'm not moving, so like okay, yeah, it kind of boggles me although I was probably the same kind of resistant person at one time that people are so sick they're just dumping money into renovation and this and that and it's like, why aren't you just moving? It's just a house, like there's millions of them out there. So I think part of that attachment is just your brain on mold and you know you're just not like at your best, frankly.
Fabiola Reyes :
That's true, yeah, especially if you're you know you're sick or you know like you're sometimes. Uh, you know, in my experience, people who, who are mold, who are experienced in mold toxicity, they have no energy and they can really get through their day and they're like, well, I still have to run a family, especially, we're talking about um, uh, working women, right, who there's a lot of us out there now and, uh, and it's not feasible to just like, hey, yeah, get up and move, so um to tell us about, like, what's um, some of this testing. You were talking about um to test the body, right, because you can, um, you're in test and does it test a lot of um, different species of mold, or how does that work?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, so there are only about 12 species of toxic mold Um, so that's not that many. Luckily, they do produce hundreds of different mycotoxins, so, depending on the testing company um, you know they're they're testing usually from mycotoxins and the mycotoxins do come in categories. So, even though there are hundreds, it's like you know the species is producing these types and the species is, so they've sort of tried to aggregate it so that you're covering all the bases. Basically, um, what I find people get a little hung up on is what type they have. It doesn't really matter that much, right? Any toxic mold, any mycotoxin is bad, and they produce different mycotoxins Depending on the time of year or the conditions or whatever, so that it's a very changing um number or result.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
So don't focus on that so much. Just focus is is it a yes or a no? And then perhaps the load. You know people don't really sometimes know how to read their test results, which is why we do that with them. You know there are people who are, you know, a little over normal. You can still definitely be symptomatic. And then there are people who are, you know, off the chart, you know, 20 times above Um and both those people could be sick. But yeah, I think I don't know something about our, our modern minds. Like we want to like, oh, I've got this. I got to get rid of this. It's not quite that. Just work on the whole big picture.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, no, that makes sense. And when you are working with someone with um more toxicity, other um any specific protocols, you you follow me and I realize everybody's different, so everybody's going to need something different as far as support and supplementation. But is there anything that you can tell us as to um general like, what could someone benefit from if they find they have more toxicity?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, so you know, just to quickly cover, like, the foundations, you know really you do need to be in a mold free or you know low mold safe space to heal, right, so you can't really detox when you keep putting them back in. Um, and then you need to make sure certain foundations are in place. Like you know, you're eating a nutritious diet, you're sleeping, you're pooping, right, like all the things you're. You're learning on this podcast, I'm sure, yes, uh, those are important foundations before you go into a detox, right, like, if you're, if you're only sleeping three hours a night or pooping every three days, this is not the moment to now stir the pot with a detox. So these things really are important and prevent you from having bad reactions. So let's say, all those things are in place. Uh, you know, what can you now add?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
I really love detox techniques. Those are mostly moving the lymph, but sometimes they're doing a few other things, that's, sporting the immune system in other ways. Um, so I love sauna, dry brushing, epsom salt baths, coffee enemas, using a rebounder, getting a lymphatic massage, getting a regular massage. Uh, there's a lot to do to move lymph. Uh, and that helped me a lot when I was sick. Um and then supplement wise. You know there is, there are all the options I would say foundations are. I've just been kind of working my theory on all this recently. I would say I give everyone antioxidants, finders and some gut support.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. Yeah, and you touch on something very unique Um, those drainage pathways, right? Uh, because it's, it's, um, it's hard to believe how many people are not pooping every day.
Fabiola Reyes :
Right, yeah, and I'm like, what do you mean? It's been three days and they're like, yeah, that's my normal. I'm like, right, it's not normal, so, but you're right, so it's so interesting. I want to be just like just give it to me, whatever it is, if this is what I have, just give it to me, without always sometimes thinking about like, but what are the pre steps to getting that done, to get, so that you can get the proper detoxification Right? And so I'm so happy you mentioned about like really making sure that those drainage pathways are open before you even begin a detox program. No, that's awesome. Are there any areas in the body where mold may hang out more than others that in your?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
experience? That's a good question. Yeah, so you know mold is mostly inhaled and so one place that it can go quickly, which is not good, is right through the brain. Yeah, and to the pituitary hypothalamus gland Not good. Microtoxins are very good at traveling because they're just small chemicals so they can exist in a water solution or pass through fats. So unfortunately, the brain can be very affected. Another area that's big is the gut, and this isn't necessarily because so much mold is coming from food. Some mold can come from food. It's just again another place like our body is processing and it's a moist environment with biofilms and mold spores can actually live in there. It's just a moist environment.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
I don't want people to feel like this is you're stuck with it, or that it's like everybody. But yeah, those places. But there have been a lot of studies about where else mold can be and it's kind of shocking. And so the little avioli of the lungs, they can just stay in there and that's not good. In the nasal cavity I think they've even talked about it, potentially like being in bone and like bone. I don't know if it's bone marrow, I can't remember. Don't quote me on that.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
I have a section in my book on some of the research where mold can be, and it's pretty, pretty shocking. But I think what you need to worry about more is the mycotoxins in circulation, and are you giving your liver enough support that it can neutralize them? And then are you again pooping, peeing, getting them to exit. So our body recycles bile and that can mean that mycotoxins go back into circulation and, as we mentioned, with constipation, people might think, oh well, that's no big deal if I haven't pooped, but things can start to reabsorb when we haven't pooped. So that's why the elimination piece is so important and really, if you're detoxing, you want to get to a point where you have more than one bowel movement a day.
Fabiola Reyes :
No, that totally makes sense and I work with mostly women who also want to lose weight and I was wondering what the relationship or the connection between weight loss resistance and mold? Because if it's mold or mycotoxins are having high affinity for different areas in the body which are responsible for weight loss management, like you mentioned, the hypothalamus and the pituitary, which are super important glands when it comes to and I'm sure that affects the thyroid and how it affects the liver. So all of that, have you, in your experience, found a relation between weight loss resistance and mold, toxicity and mycotoxins?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, and in a bunch of different mechanisms it can affect weight. So, yeah, right from the hypothalamus pituitary it can affect our brain's ability, or body's ability, to sense correct hormone levels and make the right hormones, make the right amount. It can inflame cell membranes where hormone receptors are, so that hormones aren't getting in. Since it can affect the gut and the microbiome there, it can affect how toxins are eliminated, letting estrogen recirculate. If we have too many toxins, we can just put them in fat cells and then gain weight. That way Mycotoxins overwhelm the liver, which is another area we're supposed to process out, used hormones. And then what was the other thing I was gonna say about? Oh, some mycotoxins are estrogenic, so to speak, like just like plastics and things are, you know, estrogen. So there's a little. And the thyroid, like you mentioned, is very sensitive to Mold toxicity. And since mold affects the gut, then you can develop autoimmune thyroid.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
So, yeah, gaining weight it's quickly can be one symptom of mold. Again, it's not everyone. Like I didn't really gain weight on mold, except when I was most sick. I was so tired that I really couldn't exercise and I was like craving carbs Just to get my brain to work. So I gained some weight there. Now I'm like entering perimenopause like in a big way, and now I'm like I'm like, oh, here's my trigger. Um, but I didn't really get that big. You know big hit of estrogen from mold, but some women do. I think it just depends on your, on your genotype and stuff.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, I know that's awesome and so that's why testing and I'm sure you would agree with this is so important, right? Because it's um, it's, it's test done, guess, right. And, like you mentioned, not everyone it's the same. We're all built differently, we're all gonna be reacting differently and, if I understand correctly, our bodies truly are designed through our immune system to fight off some of the small toxicity and this Mycotoxin toxicity, but I do feel like the, the chemical component, and being exposed to so many chemicals nowadays, it's sort of kind of like stumps, right, it kind of the immune system where the immune system may be Fluckish or not as fast as a response as it is meant to do fighting against this, this fungi and it's.
Fabiola Reyes :
You know I call them mold farts. You know, when people are like think of mycotoxin says mold farts, you know mold is farting and you know. You know you don't, you don't want that in your body, you don't want that in your house. And what's your? What's your take on that as far as like how Chemically oriented, unfortunately, we are nowadays and had that may suppress the immune system and potentially slow down someone's mold toxicity recovering.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, I mean, yeah, certainly, mold is not the only factor we're dealing with in modern life. So you know, unfortunately, usually by the time you get your mold diagnosis, there's you're gonna get a bunch of other diagnoses, either first or afterwards, right, like now you have Candida and, yeah, you know, you have heavy metals and parasites and so it, you know, these things all kind of Enable each other. So, yeah, I mean, having a low tox home for life, low tox diet for life. It's important for all of us and it's important for the person trying to get over mold. Because that goes back to that foundation, right, that's one of my like 10 foundations, I say is like Low tox living. So I'm fortunate in our practice that people generally come to us Having those foundations in place.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
They're very knowledgeable, right, because they went through all those stages, like just like I did. Like how do I feel better? Yeah, and they may not find the mold till a long time in. So that has made our lives a little easier. But there's still so many choices. Like I'm really learning about water lately. Like I already have a house filter, but now I may switch distilled water, probably something you've learned about too. So there, you know, you do have to kind of keep up with it, but some of it is simple, like keeping your house clean, HEPA vacuum, wet, dusting, changing your AC vents. Frankly, not being like a pack rat where you have a bunch of stuff and dust, you know, like doing some spring cleaning of what you own, I think is a lesson most of us multi people learn. Like we're, like we don't own a lot of stuff anymore, it's just a place that's just not needed, right.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, no, it's true, and you know like it's well, I'm an ups central New York and it's it's that time where, like winter stuff is now getting, you know, in bins in the basement and and spring, or you know, in summer, clothing are making it, you know, back upstairs and we always wash them right Good.
Fabiola Reyes :
I'm like, let's just cuz, even though we do whatever we can do to mitigate our Basement is still gonna be an environment where and everything is in plastic bags and bins and everything. But that wasn't always the case and I find myself in like, all right, this needs to be washed and you know, learning the signs right, like when you smell that mildew. You're like, hey, you know what's what's the deal with that, and it's starting to question about that. So sometimes you mention where clients come to you. You're they're already very, you know, educated and I think that nowadays More people are looking for solutions because, like you said, they've looked everywhere.
Fabiola Reyes :
They haven't found solutions. They're reading books, they're listening to podcasts defining experts like yourself and who have you know a similar, potentially similar story like them, and Do you find that people are becoming also like, more Driven about their health and really wanted to make a change because no one else is listening to them or because I felt like mold is what Many years ago it was, like it's all in your head. You know, like, just get over it. You're tired, just you know, get over it. Whereas now is even more acknowledged mold is an actual illness and we have the test to proven now and the studies to proven now. And so what's your when clients come to you, what? Yeah, you feel like there's more motivation about addressing their health.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
That's a good question. I mean, I feel like it's becoming more mainstreamed and more awareness. But if you, you know, and when you're working, like you and I, and with people, you're like, oh, everyone's interested. But you know, I'm just like looking out the window at my street and if I, you know, could say how many people are Eating well, exercising well, filtering their walk, you know, it's still the minority, you know. And do those people feel well, not Not necessarily right.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Look at, you know, all the health of epidemics going on. It's just some people aren't looking for answers in the right place or, like you said, just are like well, I'm getting older, so I'm supposed to be tired and gaining weight. You know, I was asked on One, I think, evan Brands podcast. He was like, how do you convince people that mold is Real? And I'm like I just don't like, if you want to come to me, it's fantastic. I'm not going to do the work to go out and find you and, frankly, I don't need to, because if someone is sick and curious, yeah and not finding answers elsewhere.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
You know they'll get to me eventually if they keep looking and since that was my own health Journey, I just encourage people to do that. Like you know, I went through years of not knowing and it's sucked, you know, and I could have, I guess, accepted this is my life, but I sure didn't want to, you know. So you do have to keep seeking answers and, yes, sometimes you spend money on a dead end or whatever. That's just sort of part of the process and I can tell you from where I was at my sickest To where I am now is a world of difference. So I am Very glad that you know. I can actually thank my ex-husband for this, because I was one of those ones, like with a foggy brain. I was like I don't want to test for mold, I don't want to move, like you know, and he was like I mean, we're doing this and we got to do this and like I'm very fortunate that I had that, because that doesn't happen in a lot of homes and couples. I'm very grateful. Yeah, so you know. You know I definitely lived the inconvenience of this story, but it's so worthwhile to do it. You know my future.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Somebody asked me on another podcast when do you think you'd be if he didn't find mold? And I almost started crying like I think I might be dead, like that's how sick I was getting. And I had like suicidal thoughts because I was just so exhausted that I just didn't want to have to wake up and keep doing it. And it wasn't like a Conscious thought, it was just this is how I know the mold and the you know it tricks you because I it wasn't like I Didn't, you know, value my life. I just was so tired that I just wanted some relief and it was almost just like this weird subconscious Question like, oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could just not wake up tomorrow? Like I would never think something like that now. But so, yeah, I kind of went on a little tangent there to just to encourage people to yes, keep exploring, keep trying. If you're not feeling how you want to feel and you're going the wrong direction, which was what I was doing, you've got to turn that around.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, be curious enough right and be like, yeah, hey, there's something going on. If you're working already with a practitioner, hey, I'm this, this treatment or this protocol or whatever. It's not working. I'm not feeling Any better and it's just so interesting how mold, definitely just. And I think, as as holistic practitioners and people who you know we're have experienced you know something like we've gone through and our own admission now about educating others and bringing that awareness. As you do the protocols and do and remove the bad diet, remove the bad Lifestyles and have good and pro survival and sustainable routines, you remove that thing that it is not you.
Fabiola Reyes :
And then you start to recover yourself or regain yourself first From before, when the toxicity was present. Wow, I like that and it's.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
I put that into perspective with clients and.
Fabiola Reyes :
I'm like, listen, it's not about Changing you, or if I'm asking you to do something, it's not about that.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
It's about removing that thing, that it is now you and they're like, oh okay, I, that is really what I'm gonna have to use that Because it's a great point, and even to come you know, by just example of, like, the thoughts going through my head, it wasn't, it wasn't really me, it wasn't, it wasn't really me. It's almost like you think about a toxic relationship, right, like you see fraud TV with celebrities. It's like, whoa, you know, you're just sucked into a pattern where you just you was. Can you, you know you later you want to believe your own choices. So yeah, that's, that's really well said.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, and then it also like empowers you, right, because it's having that support system. So I think, having practitioners like yourself, you know, you wrote a book, you're in the trenches, you're Are walking the walk, I walk the walk, and so I don't ask someone, hey, do this, if I haven't done it myself. It's part of that and you know, often I get asked well, how long, how long before I get better? And that's such a tough question to to answer, right, because one I think it depends on the degree of toxicity, how long a person has been or are they living in a toxic environment, not just mold, but you know, relationships and all that stuff. I think police a huge role and Without putting you on the spot and your experience, what, what would you say? You know, taking into consideration that people everybody's different, it's sort of like the average or Cases that you have worked with from the same.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, that's a great question. I remember asking that question to someone while I was going through mold and I think she told me like Three to six months and I was like, okay, you are lucky, if you move into a place, you find mold quickly, you respond quickly. Then you can maybe have three to six months, maybe. So if you're in a home for like eight years, like I was, plus who knows if I had other exposures before that I mean, you know, I'm almost going to give a rough one and I'll give more background, but you know, almost take how long you're exposed and cut it in half, and maybe that's how long. Yeah, that makes sense, yeah.
Fabiola Reyes :
I'm reading a book called Toxic by Dr Neil Nathan, which I'm totally loving, and he's so knowledgeable, right, and he's so great about not using too much technical words, or if he does, he gives you a warning about it. But he talks about how it can take years, right, and the different factors that can play on it. But when I think about you know, it's about honesty with clients and there's about honesty as a practitioner and people, because he's been willing to stick with the program long enough to achieve those maximum results and be willing to do the things that a practitioner may be recommending. And I know I had to. I didn't always like it, but I was like, okay, I do want to get better. So here I am, taking my supplements and changing my lifestyle.
Fabiola Reyes :
So no, that's, that's so awesome.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Well, I want to say one thing about that too. It's not like the whole time you're the same amount of thick, right, you're getting better and better and better. And then there's some ups and downs and better and better. So you know it's going towards better all the time. Right, there can be some big, big wins, just if you get out of your moldy home. Or you know, just you start a protocol that you, you know you get your. First you buy a sauna, like big, big wins. You know so.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
And it can be frustrating once you come down the road and you're like, oh, but why do I sell this or that? It takes a long time for cells to turn over and make healthier cells and you know systems have been really damaged. So maybe now you're not really detoxing anymore, but you are trying to bring your white blood cell count up and bring your hormone production up and fix your gut. So there's these later stages, which is really where people like you and me are specialized, because to me, like that's, you know, all this that we talked about is a lot. But that later stage of like, oh, but why am I still, why can't I lose these 20 pounds? Like that's the stuff that is more nuanced.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, yeah, no, that totally makes sense. So, um, could you tell us a little bit about your book? You've mentioned you wrote a book a couple of times. I'm curious about it.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, Well, I have to send it to you if you don't have it.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
This guy so it's a very like practical guide to mold. If you can't see, it's called the ultimate toxic mold recovery guide. It's on Amazon as an audio book, paper book and a Kindle book and it's really, you know, just a bigger version of everything we talked about today. What is mold symptoms? How to test your home. You know the foundations starting your detoxing and then like, what symptoms and problems are you left with later on. In it, you know how to get back to life without doing too much. So you know, I really took it as a practitioner and also someone who went through it, and now I've interviewed a lot of people too about mold, so there isn't much of any topic that isn't covered in there. So it's good to have as you go through the various stages.
Fabiola Reyes :
That's awesome, thank you, yes, so we'll make sure to add the adequate links so people can grab their copy and start learning about it, because that's where it begins, right. It's either you listen to a podcast, either watch the video, or you write a book and you're like huh, it just gets your brain thinking and in this about, like I said earlier, that curious mind to start connecting those dots and realizing that you don't have to live with illness, that that can definitely be addressed as long as you have that support, the correct support system, in your corner to be able to, to get better. So, before we leave, is there any client testimonial that you would like to share with us from someone you've worked in the past, from having worked with them?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Let's see. Thank you, well, I guess one client is coming to mind who moved back to her family's farmhouse or, you know, childhood home, moldy, ended up literally bedridden in her 40s. You know, very became very my amyramental, sensitive, like moving from place to place. No places were really fitting her. You know, I was just corresponding with her and she's doing great Like she's been consulting and like flying to clients to see them.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
She does find what she why she mentioned it was like if she she can still get exposed to mold and it still affects her, like she can't be in certain buildings.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
But just the fact that you know she's flying around the country working as an expert is a big change, right? So, you know, I love how you said you know getting, removing the thing and getting back to yourself. I think what's really touching as I interview different clients or meet clients is you know what they give back and how they show up afterwards and a lot of them actually go into like different health or mold advocacy type things, which is phenomenal. I mean, it's such a huge thing that you know most of us do want to, you know, give back after we've been through it. So, yeah, I think that's the thing as, as practitioners, that you probably love to see too, is like every individual on this planet has something to give as something special about them. Yeah, and when they can get back to that whether it's being a great mom or, you know, being a- vet or whatever it is.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
It's just so nice to see that they can come back to giving that to the world.
Fabiola Reyes :
Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome, I'm sure. Yeah, no, that's so great and, like you said, that's I feel like that's my real pay.
Fabiola Reyes :
You know when I get a text, or when I get an email and saying, hey, I went outside today and I could be out there for a couple hours and rent errands, Because I think a lot of people with more toxicity they're just like have no energy and when they are able to get through a day with you know, without feeling that they're dying, that's a good day. I'm like, yes, we're doing this, Keep doing what you're doing. So if someone wanted to work with you on their journey, their health journey, addressing their more toxicity, how would they go about finding you?
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, we have one website is just my name, bridget Danercom, and we have a bunch of freebies. If you're like curious about mold, but you're like I'm not sure you can just get like a freebie about. You know what is mold, right, you know it's always step by step, right, just being curious at first learning a little more. You can also schedule testing or consultations with us and then we sell different supplements for detoxification in the gut. So we just trying to be a resource to meet you where you're at. We find that, you know, many people have already tried a lot, learned a lot. So we don't, so to speak, force you into like a big expensive program with us, like you can just drop in for a case review or hey, can you look at this lab I ran and I think people really like that, so they're not, you know, forced into spending a huge chunk of money yet again.
Fabiola Reyes :
That's awesome. Yeah, so we'll make sure to include that information as well, because there might be, you know, people who watch this video listeners Once we get it on the podcast. If they're like, hey, that's me, I'm curious, let's make a consultation and then start their whole journey. You'll never know when you're going to change someone's life. That's awesome. Well, I really want to thank you today for spending some you know some of your time with us and educating us about the amazing things that you are doing, and I, as a fellow practitioner, I really want to thank you for being out there for people who are in need of help and, yeah, I really, like I said, I can't thank you enough for being here with us today.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP:
Yeah, it was great. I'm so glad we were able to meet through the internet. I know.
Fabiola Reyes :
Awesome, all right, well, thank you so much, bridget, until next time.
