Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome back to Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karl Felt.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: I am so excited about the show that we have ahead of us.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: We have some phenomenal information that could save lives. You're going to need to tune in.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: To what's going on today.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: The information is jam packed, so don't step away.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Thank you so much for joining Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karl Feldt. I am your host, Dr. Michael Karlfeld. I've been in clinical practice since 1987. I've seen pretty much everything under the sun, worked with so many different Lyme patients, and I know what a devastating disease this is. That's why I'm doing this podcast to make sure that you are armed with the information that you need in order to be able to be successful in your struggle with Lyme. We'll be featuring authors, doctors, professors, and also people like yourself that have gone through the journey that you're going through, that have been where you've been and is now on the other side. And they get to tell their victorious story as to how they battle Lyme so that you can implement that in your life as well. Be sure to like us and write a review on whichever platform that you're listening on. What that does is it enables other people to see us more so that they have access to this information as well. So I'm so excited that you're tuning in and get ready for this upcoming show. It is going to be amazing. Well, Brianne, I'm so excited to have you on this segment of Integrative Lime Solution. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for inviting me.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: So, Lyme, is that something was on your radar before? Is that something that you even thought about and that it was going to impact your life in some way?
[00:02:03] Speaker C: No, I had. I had really no idea that Lyme would be in our future, that it would be in the journey that we were going to take with our son.
I was actually very surprised when we received that diagnosis because it was not something that I even.
It didn't even occur to me. Many other things occurred to me. Are we dealing with add? Are we dealing with adhd? Are we dealing with some type of ocd? Are we dealing with outbursts? What is this? But Lyme was never, ever on the radar for myself or any of the doctors that we had seen leading up to a diagnosis.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: So tell me a little bit about the symptoms and signs. I mean, you were throwing out like 88 ADHD, OCD I mean, what, what did the kind of symptom picture look like, if you don't mind describing Nixon, what was going on?
[00:03:00] Speaker C: Absolutely. So when Nixon was. Nixon is now 10. When he was 3, 4 years old, we started to see behaviors, these, these really big emotions, lots of rage, lots of anger, lots of tears, some outburst issues at school, hard time focusing, very big defiance, a lot of defiance.
He would be sick a lot, he was very sick a lot, you know, run down.
But mostly his biggest symptom to me, where I went, hey, this isn't right, is that we just started seeing all of these big emotions, huge amounts of rage.
Where the daycare and the school, they said, hey, we might want to have to have you come in and see what's going on here.
I chalked it up to a new brother in the house. Right. We just had a brand new baby. And so maybe I thought this is all just due to being, adjusting to being a big brother.
That simply was not the case.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: And so prior to. Was this something that was just kind of a sudden onset? I mean, was, was he doing fine and then all of a sudden this started to happen, or was this something that kind of gradually started to creep in?
[00:04:25] Speaker C: Well, I started to see some things creep in that I questioned.
You know, poor sleep, night terrors. We had a lot of night terrors for a while, very picky eater, a lot of illness, you know, a lot of respiratory sickness. And I, I didn't understand that. But it was not a quick light switch. It was a little bit gradual. I saw many doctors for him. I was looking for answers. We did a lot with. He had ear tubes, he had an adenoidectomy. We were just trying to figure out what was going on. We did a full diet change. We cut out gluten, dairy, salicylates, food dyes.
I'm not really sure what we were eating during that phase of our life, to tell you the truth, but we never saw any improvements. And if we got a little improvement, we consistently had regression. And so I wasn't going to give up. I just knew something wasn't right. And it was a gradual onset, but once it was here, it was just here. There was no, it was a really big shift. Once the shift had started, it just was full on.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: And so. And you went to all these doctors and I mean, they threw diagnosis at you. I mean, what can you explain a little bit of the process? Can I deal with medical doctors and.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Absolutely. So I, at one point, I had mentioned this to you. Nixon was diagnosed with mumps. And he had these huge swollen lymph nodes. And our pediatrician said, absolutely, he has mumps. And I was a little bit surprised simply because from the time of birth until that moment, he was a fully vaccinated child. And so I. I was surprised by that.
And also we would get, you know, diagnosis nonstop, constant ear infections, which I was surprised by, too.
And so I would go to the pediatrician and they would say, here's an antibiotic. We're going to treat the mumps. Here's an antibiotic. We're going to treat the ear infection. And so finally, we got a referral to an ent.
And the ENT said, no way. This is not mumps. This is not. This is. His body's fighting an infection, and you need to figure out what it is. And we worked with an ENT who was wonderful and did sinus scans and ended up doing this adenoidectomy. And we saw some relief in Nixon, and we thought maybe his behaviors were just the uncomfortableness of having ear problems and throat problems and not sleeping well at night. In the process of trying to find out what was happening with Nixon, we had multiple therapists. I had him in therapy. I mean, at 3, 4, 5 years old, he was talking to the top doctor. We did parent child interaction therapy because I thought, well, maybe it's just the way I'm parenting. We did a sleep study. We did a neural psych exam.
And the neuropsych exam for me was a little bit eye opening. They said, you know, he's got some oppositional defiance. He's.
He's very smart, but he's. He's also. He's got a little defiance there. And so they said, we want to make sure you continue on with parent child interaction therapy and help get positive behaviors out of him.
And then we're going to finish the neuropsych exam and we'll come back to you with our diagnosis. And I remember the day he was five years old, and I got a phone call from the children's hospital that did the neuropsych exam. And they said, bri, we figured it out. We know what's going on, and we're going to get you the help that you need. Because I had been begging for someone to help me find out what is going on with him, because he was. He had just shifted so much. There were days we just couldn't control what was happening. There was so much rage and upset and emotions, and it was very stressful time. And they said, he has anxiety. We figured it out. He has anxiety.
And I was so mad. I was so mad because in that minute I heard, we figured it out, and I exhaled because finally someone is on my side and I'm going to get this help, right? As parents, we finally have this help. And then to hear the diagnosis was, he has anxiety and we will talk through medication options for the future.
And I hung up the phone and I felt so defeated because that, to me, that was my last chance, right? That was my last resort. I had the children's hospital team in my corner helping me find out what was wrong.
And the diagnosis was anxiety. And the answer was to give him a medication. No root cause, no explaining to me why this happened or what he's anxious about or where the anxiety came from. Nothing. And I had looked at this whole slew of things as a parent that I had done. Changed diet, changed our routines, made sure that we were eating clean. He's on supplements, I mean, you name it. I tried every therapy, occupational therapy, multiple times a week, so many things. And to hear them say we can talk through medication options. And I felt like the world just fell out from under me because I thought, if medication doesn't work, then what? Because he's only getting bigger and stronger and louder and I can't help him. And I felt absolutely defeated.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Hello, dear listeners, this is Dr. Michael Karlfeld, your host of integrative Lyme solutions. Today I'm excited to share an exclusive opportunity from the Carlfeld center, where we blend healing power of nature with groundbreaking therapies to combat Lyme disease and its associated challenges. At the Karlfeld center, we're not just fighting Lyme, we're revolutionizing the way it's treated with cutting edge therapies like photodynamic therapy, full body ozone IV therapy, silver IVs, brain rebalancing, autonomic response testing, laser energetic detoxification, and more. We aim to eradicate Lyme. Our approach is comprehensive, supporting your body's immune system, detoxification processes, hormonal balance and mitochondrial health, ensuring a holistic path to recovery. Understanding Lyme disease and its impact is complex, which is why we're offering a free 15 minute discovery call with one of our Lyme literate naturopathic doctors. This call is your first step towards understanding how we can personalize your healing journey, focusing on you as a whole person, not just your symptoms. Our team, led by myself, Dr. Michael Karlfields, is here to guide you through your recovery with the most advanced diagnostic tools, individualized treatment plans, and supportive therapies designed to restore your Health and vitality. Whether you're facing Lyme disease head on or seeking preventative strategies, we're committed to your wellness. Take the first step towards reclaiming your health. Visit us at thecarlfolcenter.com or call us at 208-338-8902 to schedule your free discovery call at the Karlfield Center. We believe in healing naturally, effectively and holistically. Thank you for tuning in into integrative lyme solution with Dr. Karlfeld. Remember, true health is not just the absence of disease. It's achieving the abundance of vitality. Let's discover yours together.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: It was a terrible day. It really was. Because you just what am I supposed to do now?
And I exhausted everything medically I could through insurance. I didn't know where else to turn or what to do. So I remember calling and talking to my grandma actually, and she made a suggestion to go see a nature pack. And I thought, well, I mean, at this point I have nothing to lose. I don't know what to do. And so we started down that journey and it was the best decision we ever made.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: And before we kind of go to that step. So. Yeah, because anxiety, I mean, that's such a catch all. So that just means that now we can give a medication to just kind of calm everything down. And he'll just be medicated for the rest of his life. And so we're just giving him antipsychotics and anti, you know, anti anxiety medication and. Yeah, he'll just be like a zombie. Yeah, that.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: And there was no answer. There was no. I literally remember saying, well, he's five.
What is he anxious about? Like, how do I figure that out? And their suggestion was to keep going to therapy to try to figure that out.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. That's outrageous. And how did. When you talk about rage, I mean, do you, do you mind kind of explaining what, what does that look like, you know, with him? I mean, how.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Sure he, he would get very emotional and he would, he would have these moments where he would get very emotional and then he would just get full of anger.
And I remember one day I came home, he was home with dad, and I ran an errand. And as I came in the house, I just remember seeing things flying across my living room. And I thought, well, what in the world is going on? And dad, Brandon said, I don't know what's going on. He's just so angry, I don't even know what to do.
And I watched. And here's this kid with literally hulk like strength in this moment, throwing toys. And at one point I saw a fan come flying out of his room. I mean, he pulled the mattress off his bed. It was, it was absolutely insane because it was so extreme in that moment.
But that was the rage even. You know, we have him in school and he's a kindergartener, and he has these moments where it's almost like a light switch in his brain. And he went from pretty much functioning right. Like a normal child. Normal, I use the term normal to screaming, throwing toys, melting down, crying, hitting somebody.
Terrible. Kindergarten for Nixon was a nightmare. He had a great teacher, great environment. Just couldn't handle every day.
And I'm sure it's because his brain was so inflamed, but he just couldn't handle the day to day things. All day, every day, to the point where they would clear the classroom multiple times because they couldn't console him enough to make him calm to get through the next part of the day. And so the rage. And it was like it would happen and he would be angry and he would be throwing stuff or scream, screaming or crying. He doesn't know why, he can't speak through it. And it was almost like he left his body for a minute, as strange as that sounds. But it was like he just wasn't there. And then after the rage subsides, you're like, buddy, what was that? He's like, I don't know. And he was just. He would cry because he would feel so bad about it and he was just not in control. But it was literally like he was not there.
Very bizarre. Nothing I've ever seen, you know, in my existence.
No big rage, big emotions.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: And. And then like you're saying, I mean, this is when he's five. You know, imagine when he's 15 or 16. Yeah. With that, having that strength, you know, throw Mattress. As a 5 year old. Can you imagine with. With that strength, you know, as a 16, 17 year old.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: Yeah. And many days in school, he could keep it together and he could get through the school day, but when he would come home, he would just fall apart. It was too hard for him to keep it together all the time. But as soon as we started seeing continual issues and it started being more apparent in school and it started to interrupt the classroom setting. You know, that's not exactly fair to all the kids that are there either. And so that we knew we had to do something, we had to. It just. What?
You know what, there's no answer. And the doctors you go to help you, they didn't have the Answer either. And so the big question was, well, now what? Yeah.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: It's not like you weren't trying.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:58] Speaker C: Yeah. Many sleepless nights trying to figure this kid out. That is for sure.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: So you're talking about sleep studies. So what did his sleep look like?
[00:17:09] Speaker C: You know, when we did the sleep study, we went to children's, and they hooked him up to all the monitors, and it was fine. There wasn't an issue for them.
To them, it wasn't an area of concern.
He was sleeping fine.
At one point, I remember thinking, there's something going on, because every night before bed, I saw an increase in OCD behaviors. He had to do the same routine every single night before bed. Same brush his teeth, same story, same pillow the same way, same pajamas. Everything had to be the same, and he would. I. I saw an increase in the need to go potty before bed. Right. We usually do a story. We tuck you in. Oh, mom, I have to go potty. Okay. And then it was like, five times. And I'm like, wait a minute. This is unbelievable. And that was scary to me because why is this happening so much? I brought it up to the doctor, and they said, just don't give them water before bed. And I'm like, I, I, I don't. You know, I'm trying to figure this out. There's something going on. Why is he triggering to go potty this many times before bed? I don't understand there. Just don't give them water. Okay.
You know, I tried that, and it doesn't work. There's something happening here. And why does he have to say his prayers the same way every night? And if they're not the same, he has to start them over. Like, why? Well, maybe he's just used to doing it a certain way. Okay, but why? You know, And I felt very unheard, unseen, unhelped, very frustrated, for sure.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: And how did this impact your relationship with your husband? I mean. I mean, this must have been stressful, because I know a lot of times these kind of situations really kind of put a burden on a relationship in itself.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Absolutely.
You know, at first, Brandon and also many other people in my family said, well, maybe you're just. Maybe you have anxiety. Maybe you are just, you know, more helicopter mom or too worried or as people started to see this themselves, went, whoa. And so, at first, yes, Brandon, you know, Bree, just take them into the pediatrician, see what's going on. If there's nothing, there's nothing.
Since the start of this until now, I would say that my relationship has evolved into a very strong place because now we both see what. What it was. Right. Like, we're. We're. We're so far in our healing journey to look back, it's like, wow, how did we do that? But it was hard at first because a. You have to convince someone that what you're seeing is. Is the real deal and not just that you're researching and finding random information. Right. Like, I'm truly researching this. I have a sick child.
Financially, it's something that you have to deal with because insurance doesn't cover that. And making sure that you're getting this help, it. It costs a ton. And so as we progress into this conversation, I mean, the amount of money and effort and convincing people to be on your side, it is a big undertaking.
Worth it. Yes. Looking back now, having everybody on the team, totally worth it, because the. Nixon has full support. Right. He's. He's just healed, and it's an incredible thing. But, yes, I would say the strain that comes along with it and trying to convince someone that there's something more, that is a big undertaking.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: And here you also had a little one. You had a younger one. I mean, how did that. Because here you have to focus so much on Nixon, and you have just a newborn at the same time.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: Well, thank goodness Fletch was a very good baby.
We got very lucky with our second child, and we were able to do a lot of focus, shift a lot of focus to Nixon. We have an incredible family, a lot of very helpful, amazing people.
There's no denying that there is a lot of stress that comes with it. Specifically being a mom who is. At the time I worked full time, I had, you know, these two children that required all of my. My attention. Right. But also one that was really sick and needed attention, that was in school. And school would call and say, hey, Bree, this happened today. Hey, Bre. This happened today. Many days I had to abruptly leave work because you're so worried.
You're just so worried that somebody else can't help him, because most times at home, I can't help him. So how is someone else going to do that?
That was a very high stress. I look back now, and sometimes I think, how did we survive that? You know, how did we do that?
But we did it.
We did it.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Yeah. You don't know the kind of strength you have until you have to have the strength. Almost. Absolutely. Yeah. Just do what you got to do. So you were referred then to this naturopathic doctor. Was it a specific one that your Grandmother then referred to or just kind of a general. You should see a naturopathic doctor.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: No, we went to see Dr. Otten. Dr. Jonathan Otten for us has been the most incredible beacon of hope.
He met with us.
It was the first appointment. I sat in with the doctor and I thought he listened to me. Like he did not think I was crazy or making symptoms up or making them more dramatic than they were. He listened to me and he asked questions that I hadn't been asked before, which made me think things differently because I always felt like nobody was listening. And so when he started asking some of these questions back and making suggestions, I literally had this moment of like exhale, where I went, yep, this is where we need to be. This is, this is right. This is going to be incredible. And we started our appointment with him.
We started right away. He ordered an organic acid test. He ordered an. Let's see. We did an organic acid test right off the bat just to get baseline. And he started Nixon on supplements and said, let's just get a baseline. Let's find out what's really going on. Let's get him on some good support. He encouraged us to go gluten free and dairy free just to get the inflammation down. And he said, let's start here. And just that small bit was so good because it's almost like we just, we just felt like we had a handle on it. And we started right away. We were gluten free and dairy free. Even though we had tried it multiple times, we stuck to it. We were waiting for the organic acid test results to come back. We started a score based probiotic. We did a lot of vitamin support. Nixon's vitamin D levels were crazy low.
And that's how we started. And we saw improvement a little bit at school. And that in that moment I thought, well, this is it. We're. This is as good as it's going to get. Okay. But it's better than it was. And so I'll take it.
And it. And then we continued on and it just got better.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: So it originally. Did he suspect something? Did he suspect Lyme or. He just started to. Let's just kind of start, lay the foundation and then let's investigate what was kind of the initial conversation initially he.
[00:25:18] Speaker C: Said, let's just get this baseline and I want to see where we are and I want to see what kind of improvements we're going to gain from this. But this is just the start.
And that was it. And so we, within like a week or two, we had the results Back, if I remember right. And Dr. Otten said, I would like to continue on with Lyme testing, because I. I just think there's more to the puzzle. He actually ran a whole gamut of testing because at one point, we didn't know if we were dealing with pans, pandas. We. We just didn't know what we were dealing with, truly, because there was just so many random symptoms, in my opinion.
And so he did a lot of testing. And I remember that day we sat in his office. Nixon was, you know, just maybe five and a half or something at this point, maybe six.
And he had a blood test done, and it was Nixon's first blood test. And so we had to convince him not to be afraid. We said, when we're done here, we'll go buy you a toy. It's going to be great. And I remember they took quite a few vials of blood that day for testing. And when we left, Nixon was like, so now I can pick out any toy, right? I can pick out any toy. And we went, oh, we didn't specify. So I remember that day. And we did do quite a few vials of blood, and we sent out testing. And then we just waited.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: And so. So when the results and came back, I mean, what. What. What did indicate. I mean, what was the conclusion of everything?
[00:26:49] Speaker C: So what I remember Dr. Otten saying to me was, there's line, there's bartonella, there's Babesia. And based on symptoms that we were seeing from Nixon, he wanted to make sure that we targeted Babesia because of how he was acting and what was happening. And so that was our first target. It was my ask that we didn't do pharmaceuticals because he had been on so many antibiotics as a child from all of these ear infections and respiratory infections. And his gut was such a mess, and we had finally made progress with the gut that I said, I don't want to mess with that if I don't have to. And so Dr. Otten was great. He said, no problem. And so the first thing we started him on was Byron White formula. We started him on Abab, and he did not like it, but he did it. We had a few tinctures we were on, and we were on vitamin support and this megaspore biotic. And that was where we started. And we saw improvement.
Like, holy cannoli, did we see improvements? And he was doing great in school. But then we'd have these times where we'd see regression and we couldn't figure that out. And then we'd see Improvements, and we'd see regression. And so Dr. Otten had suggested we try another treatment. And so we went to Lyme plus, an herbal regimen, right? Lyme Plus. And we tried that for a while because Nixon had finally learned to swallow pills. And it was great. Massive improvement. Great. We're moving on. It's great. And then we still saw these regressions and couldn't figure it out. And then one day, Nixon just refused all of his medication. He said, I'm done taking pills. And I said, you can't be. You're doing so good. You can't be. And he said, I'm done. I'm not doing it anymore, Mom. I don't want to do it. And he had improved, but not enough because we saw some improvement. I just felt like there was so much more improvement in there, and I didn't want him to give up.
But also, I can't force him to take pills, right? Like, it doesn't work that way. And so I had talked to Dr. Otten, and we talked through it, and he said, bri, I think we should test him for mold toxicity. And I said, I think you are way off base, but okay. You haven't steered us wrong this far. I don't. I don't think you're right, but okay. And so that's. That was our next step, because after he refused medication, I. You know, we had come so far, we couldn't stop. And so that's. That was our next step. We tested for mold.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: And what did you find?
[00:29:38] Speaker C: We found incredibly high mycotoxin counts, and I was floored. And I remember Dr. Otten called and said, bree, you will not believe this, but there's mold, there's mycotoxins there. We have to address this. And I said, that is not possible. And he said, well, the urine test tells me differently, and it is possible. And we're doing this like, this is where we are in our journey now. And so we need to address this because it's imperative that we do it. He said, you know, sometimes I think it's best for me as a doctor to do mycotoxin testing as a baseline. And this is just another reason why. And so I look forward. I mean, we have a 1980s built house. We've never had water in our house. There's no history of water in our house.
Our house is great. I said, no way. It's just not possible. And he said, I would like you to call and have a mold inspection on the home.
He definitely has mycotoxins. In his system, and we need to address it. And so I had a mold inspector at my house, and my house passed with flying colors. I had no mold in my house. None. All my ear testing was great. The whole house was perfect.
And so I thought, oh, man, now I have to take on the school. But that didn't make a lot of sense because he wasn't in school, you know, for part of this time, it was Covid. And so it didn't make sense. But if it's not here, it's got to be somewhere. Where was he exposed? I don't know. And so we had the mold inspector. She said it was great. And I found myself very frustrated because at this point, we started to see some regression from Nixon again, and I couldn't figure it out. And so I said to Brandon, we're ripping the carpet out of the house. Just rip all the carpet out. Maybe it's an allergen. Maybe it's in the carpet. Maybe. I don't know. But I was frustrated. We passed a mold test in our home, and we still have this problem. We have to do something.
And we had this incredible contractor who knows our son's history, and when he was here ripping out the carpet, he saw black on the tax strips in one of the basement rooms, which happens to be Nixon's bedroom. And he said, I'm going to open this wall. And I said, why? What's the deal? And he said, there's black on the tax strip. And I know you have. This is the reason we're doing this. We're just opening it, and if I'm wrong, I can close it back up. And thank God he opened it, because that wall had some black mold in it. And that was the start of, like, an aha moment. Like, wow, this is. This is it. Dr. Otten was right again, you know, And I was floored, because here we had had this kid in this room every single night. He's breathing his deepest, most healing breaths in this toxic room every single night.
His clothes are in here, his toys are in here. His whole world is in this toxic environment. And I.
I just couldn't believe it. And I thought, I mean, how do you even come back from that? How do you fix it? What do you do? You know, it was already a chore convincing Brandon that we have to find this mold. And then we passed the testing, but now we have it. It was just like, wow.
But once we went on that rabbit hole of mold, everything shifted. Every single thing for this kid shifted.
Mold was his trigger on Every single.
On every single issue. So it's pretty incredible.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: So how did they test your home? I mean, because, I mean, obviously, did they do kind of where they checked moisture behind walls? Did they or how did they test it? Because a lot of. A lot of people just kind of go and they do a little air sample in the middle of the room, and they saw there's nothing here.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: So that. That's always the.
I have so many patients say, come and they get it tested and it's perfectly fine. And still. The mold is still there.
[00:33:53] Speaker C: So we had a company come out that did inspection, visual inspection of the whole outside of the house, visual inspection of the inside of the house. And then they did swabbing, air sampling, thermal camera in parts of the home, moisture meter, and everything was fine. What's crazy to me about this is our mold was so well hidden. It was behind the sheetrock, behind plastic sheeting, behind insulation, and forming on the wall, the support of our. Of our basement foundation wall. So at one point, we had a failure in an expansion jam in the concrete outside.
At some point, when someone built this house or something, they poured the cement steps and it caused an issue. So over many years, a small amount of water had been leaking in and absorbing into the wood studs of this house in just one area. And it happened to be Nixon's bedroom.
And we were able to completely pull out the concrete, completely reside the home, completely rip out, obviously remediate the whole room. That whole room. There's no other issue in this home.
It was just that specific space. And it's because the water had been leaking in so slowly for so many years. It actually was absorbing into this wood. And when we opened it up, the wood was so black with mold that it was powder. It was powder. So. Yeah. And it. But that's why it wasn't detected that way. That's why there was no moisture, because it had a home to go to. It was absorbing into something for so long, and it was. I mean, the remediation wasn't like. We were very lucky. It wasn't our whole entire house. Right. But it was so concentrated. There was so much of it, and he was just so toxic. And that's why his body couldn't fight through any infection, because he just was toxically overloaded.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, mold is so insidious. I mean, it's not even funny. How do you. I mean. And then you have the clothes, the beddings, his toys, you know, how did he clean all of that up?
[00:36:13] Speaker C: Well, anything mattresses anything porous, anything in that room, for the most part was, we got rid of, we just. He was so sick that you couldn't risk keeping that clothes. We could triple wash. You know, there's a washing process that you can do. We used a lot of EC3 to wash through some things, but anything, mattress, pillows, toys, I, I had no problem getting rid of toys. And they did not. That is not a you donate situation. That is that you get rid of situation because you can't pass that on to anyone else.
And in that moment, they're just things. They're just things. Which is kind of hard when you're living through it because they're your things. But now, you know, he's so, he's doing so well that the things don't matter. The things are nothing. And so in the throes of it, it was overwhelming and emotional and hard. But when you look back, to go from where we were to where we are was worth every second.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: So how did you see him change? So here you starting with a remediation process. You started. Yeah. Is that all you did or did you also put in on supplements? I mean here he had said, no, I don't want to take any more supplements.
[00:37:32] Speaker C: Well, once we had an answer and we saw this mold and physically could say, hey, this is what making him feel sick because he saw it, Dr. Otten put us on a detox protocol. Basically, it mimics things that Dr. Neil Nathan would say in the book Toxic. If anybody hasn't read Toxic, it is a life changing book in my opinion. I have multiple copies. I reference it often. I think it's incredible.
Nixon went on a protocol, a binder protocol at night. And we, right when we started, we tried to do GI detox, we tried to do Saccharomyces boulardii. We tried these things and they failed. He was just too toxic. He couldn't handle it. So Dr. Otten said, no, we're going one binder at a time in pure form. We're going as slow as we need to. There's no rush in the mold race. And so that's what we had to do.
We tried Saccharomyces boulardi, let me tell you, for days. And that was a whole new world of issues.
If anyone ever says to me, do you recommend this? I instantly say no. Only because for my son, he was just too toxic to handle it.
We started him on charcoal and we saw some really incredible improvements from something so simple. I was floored.
It was easiest for us to build up on a charcoal, a full load, so to speak, of charcoal, fairly quickly. And we saw so many improvements, and he saw improvements, and he was proud of himself for that. And so it was easy for him to get in line with that. Then as we were on the full load of charcoal, we would add in the next binder. So for us, the next binder was chlorella. And so then we were on a full load of charcoal and a full load of chlorella, and we saw incredible improvement. It was amazing.
We tried clay fail. He could not handle clay. Not even the smallest bit of clay could he handle. And so Dr. Otten said, Scratch the clay. Just leave them on the charcoal and the chlorella. And Nixon has consistently been on Nystatin. That is just something Dr. Otten has had him on.
He is on, or he was on. He still is actually on nasal spray. He's on Argentin 23. That is awesome for him. Every night, he and his brother Fletch soak their feet in Epsom salt. We fill up the Tupperware bowls, and they sit in the living room and do that. But I'm just trying to keep detox pathways open.
We have a trampoline in the backyard, and so they do that, too. He was on. Is currently on charcoal, chlorella. We are finally able, after all this time, and I'm talking two and a half years of detox, we are finally able to add in clay, and we've seen great success with clay recently.
But think about how long that's taken. That's. That's quite a bit of time. He's been consistently on Nystatin, as I mentioned, and then we've done a few rounds of it, and that is a game changer for him.
We see great improvement when he has done that. And so we have done that a few times, and we check liver enzymes to make sure everything's okay. And if it's consistently okay, we would do another round.
And that's kind of just the regimen he's on. We were on a lot of supplements for a long time, and I think he got pill fatigue. And so we have switched him to just binders at night and a probiotic in the morning. And that's proven to be very successful for him at this point.
[00:41:12] Speaker B: That's amazing. And. And how would you describe him now? I mean, where. Where is he at symptom wise now?
[00:41:20] Speaker C: Well, we have. I mean, there's been some pretty incredible things that have happened, so Nixon was actually awarded a grant through the Limelight foundation, and so that has been incredible because that has been able to help us continue on with his treatment.
So that for him has been life changing.
We, we have him on his binders. He's basically symptom free. I would say, at this moment, minus your standard 10 year old boy stuff, he's doing wonderfully. And then I would say maybe about two months ago, I received a call from Dr. Otten after our last visit, and he was just elated because Nick's has successfully cleared Babesia and Lyme and he only has trace amounts of Bartonella left in his system. And I truly believe that once we addressed the mold that was holding him down and his body could finally function properly, it went, hey, I know what I'm doing.
And it helped clear it. And he's just doing incredible. And so we're trying to get rid of these trace amounts of Bartonella and, and obviously we're still working on getting through all of the mold toxicity. I hope we're there on our next mycotoxins test. I hope we see the shift. But going from where we were in 2020 when this started to where we are is night and day.
Absolutely. Night and day.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: That's so exciting.
How is he testing the Bartonella BC and all of that? Which test is he using?
[00:42:56] Speaker C: Dr. Ottenon? The last or the testing that we have is Infecto Lab. That's what he's using to test that.
And I remember our first Infecto Lab. I remember seeing the red boxes and I went, well, that can't be good. Right. But now when they come back and we are in the green zone, I'm elated. So, yes, it's Infecto Lab that he's using.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. Oh, what a journey. What a journey.
[00:43:23] Speaker C: It has been a journey.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And it really shows that by can I keep being persistent and not allowing roadblocks to kind of finish your journey, how you're then able to. Finally, solutions appear.
[00:43:42] Speaker C: Yeah. And we have both of these little boys. Right. And so Fletcher, we've actually tested him for mycotoxins too, because he's in the same house now. He doesn't exhibit the same symptoms, and I think that's important to mention.
Not everybody has the same symptom in mold toxicity or any of these illnesses. Right.
And so Fletcher's starting this detox too. But I do remember taking him to my pediatrician and I said, this is what's been going on in our family and we have this mold toxicity. And I'm hoping to not have to take two children to the nature path. And so can you help me identify the mycotoxins? And can you help me? And I remember my pediatrician took out his pen light. Excuse me. Took out his pen light and looked up Fletcher's nose and said, bree, there's no mold here. He's fine. And I thought, okay, back to Dr. Otten we go. Right? But once you address that, the amount of health and healing that the body can do is just astounding. And so I remember at one point, Dr. Otten told me, bre, he will not heal in a toxic environment. And he right now is the toxic environment. And that has stuck with me. And so our goal was just to always make him non toxic. Right. We didn't want him to be the toxic environment. And I, I truly think we're there now. I think just the amount of how well he's doing. You know, at one point, he was not creative. He was not singing. He was not playing like a normal kid. He just was very angry all the time. So now I have this kid who is, you know, he's an artist and he likes to play football and he sings and he, he dances and he's just in its enjoyment. And that is just the greatest thing.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: That's so beautiful. That's absolutely beautiful. Well, do you have any kind of suggestions for mothers out there that are dealing with the children? Battling Lyme is some kind of pearls of wisdom that you feel that you wish you had in the beginning of your journey?
[00:45:54] Speaker C: Well, pre Dr. Otten, I wish that somebody would have just made me feel heard. I really do, because I think it can be very lonely.
I know as a mother advocate, you feel like you can talk to people, but nobody really gets it. You know, nobody really understood what I was saying.
Post meeting Dr. Otten, I wish that mycotoxin testing would have been one of the very first tests that we did just as a significant right away baseline.
I see a lot of parents online talking through Lyme or, you know, pans. And my suggestion always is just do that as part of your base testing because if the body's overwhelmed, it's not going to respond to treatment anyway. And so that's my biggest suggestion is include that in a baseline testing. But also, you just, you simply cannot give up. I just think that a mother's intuition is never wrong and if something isn't right, it's. It's not right.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: I love it. Well, Brianne, this has been wonderful and thank you for being such a fighter and sharing your wisdom. And sharing your journey. Thank you so much.
[00:47:05] Speaker C: Yes, and thank you for inviting me.
[00:47:08] Speaker B: This is great. This is absolutely great. And it just brings hope to people recognizing that, you know, here you have a child that's in, in this very difficult situation and by doing these different changes and doing the investigation, identifying what it is, then you can then completely shift the mind of the child and just kind of seeing by addressing it at an early age, all the development that can then take place as a healthy child rather than struggling with this and then falling behind and school falling behind and in developing interpersonal relationship skills and so forth. So it's so important.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Well, thank you so much. Beyond thank you.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: Yes, thank you.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: The information this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not designed to diagnose or treat any disease. I hope this podcast impacted you as it did me. Please subscribe so that you can be notified when new episodes are released. There are some excellent shows coming up that you do not want to miss. If you are enjoying these podcasts, please take a moment to write a review. And please don't keep this information to yourself. Share them with your family and friends. You never know what piece of information information that will transform their lives. For past episodes and powerful information on how to conquer lyme, go to integrativelimesolutions.com and an additional powerful resource, limestream.com for lime support and group discussions. Join Lime Conquerors Mentoring Lime warriors on Facebook. If you'd like to know more about the cutting edge integrative Lyme therapies MyCenter offers, please visit thecarlfeldcenter.com thank you for spending this time with us and I hope to see you at our next episode of Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karl Feldt.
