Lyme Misdiagnosed As Mold
Ask The Experts
What kind of tests shall I do to check for mold exposure?
Doctor A- Two tests are available: Great Plains Labs - MycoTox urine test or Real Time Labs mycotoxin testing. Either should be preceded by glutathione twice per day for 7 days to mobilize the toxins in the body and get them moving through the kidneys so you can catch them in the urine.
Doctor B- Great Plains for patients who do not have Medicare; Real Time Labs for those with Medicare, since Medicare covers Real Time's testing. I do feel both labs give fairly accurate results. When I start positive patients from either lab on a treatment protocol, I typically see positive changes in the patients symptoms.
Doctor A- Neil Nathan MD writes in his recent book, "Toxic: Heal Your Body . . .", that he sometimes uses the two tests back and forth in case one test finds something the other may have missed.
Doctor C- Real Time- very satisfied with the results, however, they are expensive: $699
Doctor D- You're gonna get a lot of opinion on this question, but there are many parameters and nuances that need to be addressed to avoid confusion. It's really not so much of a gray area as that of competency and cost. I've learned that there are many confounders causing cross-sensitivities and reactions. Many of the Lyme patients have noses like bloodhounds. Sticking strictly to your base question, I recommend that an onsite inspection be made, then air sampling indoors against an outdoor reference sample, swab and tape lift of solid samples, and a mycotoxin panel run on a bulk sample, all sent to a competent analytical lab. Meaningful interpretation of the results is imperative, lest the association to illness gets lost in the data.
I also recommend collecting an indoor air sample and running a TVOC panel. It never ceases to amaze me what is found via the combination of these panels, often times not being mold at all triggering the symptoms and reactions.
Last Updated- March 2019
Lucy Barnes