Never Been Sicker

Michael Rubino

Since the release of his book, The Mold Medic, and with the continuing success of HomeCleanse, formally known as, All American Restoration, Michael Rubino continues to feature as a guest on podcasts looking to take a deeper dive into mold discussions. In our Mold Talks, Michael Rubino sits down for one-on-one conversations with people who are dealing with or have overcome toxic mold exposure, leading doctors, and experts. With these discussions, we strive to empower those who could be facing similar situations. Experiencing health issues you can’t seem to find a diagnosis for can leave you feeling hopeless and alone. How do you figure out what’s causing your symptoms and how do you fix them once you finally do? Mold Talks connects people who have experienced the challenges of mold exposure with other people who have faced or are facing similar problems. By discussing our different experiences, we create a better understanding of mold exposure. Once we know what’s happening, we can start a plan to do something about it. For more information, follow me @themichaelrubino on Instagram and check out www.themichaelrubino.com and www.homecleanse.com

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Health & FitnessHealth & Fitness

Episodes

Never Been Sicker #61 - From Fogging to Full Fixes, Interview with Brandon Faust
6d ago
Never Been Sicker #61 - From Fogging to Full Fixes, Interview with Brandon Faust
In this episode, Brandon shares how his son's health crisis transformed his career in mold remediation. He emphasizes the need for comprehensive solutions that address underlying issues, advocating for better industry practices and consumer education to restore health and peace of mind in homes.🔵 More episodes here: https://www.themichaelrubino.com/never-been-sicker-podcast/Discussion HighlightsInitial Attraction to Mold Remediation:00:00:00 - 00:05:00Brandon discusses how he initially joined the mold remediation industry due to a business opportunity but became deeply involved after his son's health issues related to mold.Personal Experience with Mold:00:05:01 - 00:10:00His son's severe respiratory symptoms just a month after birth led him to discover and address significant mold growth in his own home.Evolution of Remediation Practices:00:10:01 - 00:15:00Brandon talks about the shift from using fogging as a primary method to adopting more comprehensive remediation techniques after seeing its limitations firsthand.Technical Insights and Industry Challenges:00:15:01 - 00:20:00He elaborates on the technical challenges and common misconceptions in the mold remediation industry, particularly the over-reliance on fogging.Shift to Comprehensive Remediation:00:20:01 - 00:25:00The discussion focuses on Brandon's advocacy for thorough remediation that tackles the root causes of mold, not just the symptoms.Impact on Family and Career Focus:00:25:01 - 00:30:00Brandon reflects on how his personal experiences have shaped his career focus, driving him to push for better standards in the industry.Future Goals and Industry Influence:00:30:01 - 00:35:00Looking ahead, he shares his goals for influencing mold remediation practices to ensure healthier living environments.Conclusion and Advocacy for Change:00:35:01 - 00:39:00Brandon concludes by emphasizing the need for industry-wide change and better consumer education to prevent mold-related health issues.Final Call to Action and Personal Reflections:00:39:01 - 00:43:00The podcast wraps up with a call to action for viewers to educate themselves about mold and a personal reflection on the journey so far.Brandon’s Takeaway Message:"Empower yourself with knowledge about mold and its impacts. Don't settle for quick fixes; demand comprehensive solutions that address the underlying issues."Learn More:https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/Let’s Connect...Website: https://www.themichaelrubino.com/contact/IG: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelrubino/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelrubinoFB: https://www.facebook.com/themichaelrubino/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaelrubino/
Never Been Sicker #60 -  Jenna's Fight for Air Quality in Schools
May 1 2024
Never Been Sicker #60 - Jenna's Fight for Air Quality in Schools
Join Jenna as she shares her eye-opening journey through mold exposure in a mobile classroom, detailing the immediate health effects and the struggle for proper diagnosis. From misdiagnoses and dismissive doctors to finally finding validation with an allergist who recognized her mold allergies, Jenna's story is a powerful reminder of the often-overlooked impact of environmental factors on health.🔵 More episodes here: https://www.themichaelrubino.com/never-been-sicker-podcast/Discussion HighlightsDiscovery of Mold and Initial Symptoms:00:00:00 - 00:05:00Jenna discusses her initial experiences with mold exposure in her mobile classroom unit, describing the immediate health effects such as coughing and sinus pain.Struggle with Misdiagnosis and Lack of Awareness:00:05:01 - 00:10:00She details her medical journey, facing misdiagnoses and the dismissive attitudes of doctors who suggested her symptoms might be psychological rather than environmental.Pursuit for Answers and Validation:00:10:01 - 00:15:00Jenna's turning point comes when she finally finds an allergist who acknowledges her mold allergies, providing some validation though not solving her issues.Impact on Professional Life and Students:00:15:01 - 00:20:00She talks about the broader implications of mold exposure in her teaching environment, including how it affected her students, from frequent nosebleeds to potential learning disruptions.Challenges in Gaining Institutional Support:00:20:01 - 00:25:00Jenna discusses the resistance she faced from school administration when attempting to address the mold problem, highlighting the difficulties in getting the necessary testing and remediation.Holistic and Functional Medicine Approach:00:25:01 - 00:27:00Exploring her eventual turn to holistic and functional medicine in 2018, Jenna describes how a mold specialist finally began addressing her symptoms with targeted treatments.Jenna’s Takeaway Message:"Listen to your body’s whispers before they turn into screams. Advocate for your health, and don’t be afraid to seek help outside conventional channels if necessary."Learn More:https://www.themichaelrubino.com/ https://www.homecleanse.com/shopLet’s Connect...Website: https://www.themichaelrubino.com/contact/IG: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelrubino/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelrubinoFB: https://www.facebook.com/themichaelrubino/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaelrubino/
Never Been Sicker #59 - Dr. Ashley Beckham's Personal and Professional Battle with Mold
Apr 24 2024
Never Been Sicker #59 - Dr. Ashley Beckham's Personal and Professional Battle with Mold
In this interview, Dr. Ashley Beckham discusses her personal and professional journey with mold exposure after moving into a new home where early signs were initially overlooked. She shares how her health issues led to the discovery of high mold levels in her home and body, influencing her career to focus on environmental health. Dr. Beckham emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing the root causes of mold for overall health, and advocates for increased awareness and systemic changes in the health industry to better address environmental toxins.🔵 My favorite cleaning products: https://www.homecleanse.com/shop/🔵 The Dust Test: https://www.thedusttest.comLearn More:https://www.themichaelrubino.com/ https://www.homecleanse.com/Let’s Connect...Website: https://www.themichaelrubino.com/contact/IG: https://www.instagram.com/themichaelrubino/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelrubinoFB: https://www.facebook.com/themichaelrubino/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaelrubino/Initial Exposure and Misdiagnosis:00:00:00 - 00:06:00Dr. Ashley discusses her initial encounter with mold after moving into a beautiful new home and how a sudden ceiling collapse was an early, overlooked sign of moisture issues.Deepening Health Issues and Investigation:00:06:01 - 00:12:00She describes the onset of severe health symptoms that led her to utilize her professional expertise to run comprehensive tests for mold, Lyme disease, and other toxins.Diagnosis and Connection to Professional Work:00:12:01 - 00:18:00The discovery of high levels of mold in her body and home prompts a deeper investigation, paralleling the experiences of her clients and influencing her professional focus on environmental health.Understanding and Responding to Mold Exposure:00:18:01 - 00:24:00Dr. Ashley details her response to finding mold in her home, including the challenges of remediating a visually perfect but internally compromised environment.Educational Journey and Advocacy:00:24:01 - 00:30:00She discusses how her personal experience with mold led her to deepen her professional expertise in environmental health, particularly focusing on educating others about the risks and solutions.Expanding Professional Focus and Outreach:00:30:01 - 00:36:00Dr. Ashley talks about the impact of her experiences on expanding her professional services to include more comprehensive environmental assessments and treatments.Reflections on Health Industry and Mold Awareness:00:36:01 - 00:42:00She reflects on the need for greater awareness within the health industry regarding mold and environmental toxins, advocating for systemic changes to address these issues more effectively.Closing Thoughts and Future Directions:00:42:01 - 00:54:24The conversation concludes with Dr. Ashley sharing her hopes for future advancements in environmental health awareness and her continued commitment to helping others understand and combat mold exposure.Dr. Ashley Beckham’s Takeaway Message:"Educate yourself about the potential health impacts of your environment, especially hidden threats like mold. Understanding and addressing these issues is crucial for long-term health and wellness."Find Ashley here:Website: https://drashley.com/Instagram: @drashleybeckman
Never Been Sicker #58 - Living in a Toxic Dorm Room, with Taylor Hogan
Aug 20 2023
Never Been Sicker #58 - Living in a Toxic Dorm Room, with Taylor Hogan
Today’s guest is Taylor Hogan, a college student and mold survivor. Her unfortunate experience with mold happened after she moved into her dorm at Arizona State University. The experience completely upended her life, causing significant mental and physical illness. Two years later, she’s still dealing with the repercussions of the two months she spent in the contaminated dorm. Taylor bravely describes her experience of living in a dorm with mold while trying to start her college career. Instead of excelling in school, meeting new people, and creating lasting memories, she began feeling increasingly unwell. As a naturally talented student, she knew that something was incredibly wrong when she suddenly developed mental issues such as memory loss that led to her failing school.While she tried to work with her school, they pushed back and told her that nothing was wrong. Combined with the lack of assistance she received from the doctors, it quickly became one of the worst experiences of her life. With the encouragement and support of her mother, she eventually medically withdrew from school and began her journey to healing. Now she is working to rebuild her life, find a new major, and create greater awareness about this worldwide health epidemic. Otherwise, the future generation will continue to suffer from exposure to toxic living spaces.In this episode:0:45: Taylor shares how her story began with experiencing mold exposure. She had just graduated high school and was beginning her college journey. Within a month, her entire life changed. After two months, she and her mother decided she had to leave for her own safety.3:45: Taylor begins to describe the symptoms she experienced after her exposure, ranging from respiratory infections, reactivation of EVV, sinus infections, and more. 7:15: Taylor details her experience working with doctors and the struggle she had finding individuals who would listen and work with her instead of just putting her on antibiotics. 8:30: Taylor shares how difficult the mental health aspect of the entire experience is. On top of feeling unwell, she was also struggling with depression, suicide ideation, memory loss, fatigue, and more. 12:15: Taylor further explains her personal experience with the mental health struggles she faced as a result of exposure. Looking back, she mourns the college experience she missed out on and the drastic impact it had on her life. As a naturally talented student, the exposure impacted her brain so much that she was failing classes, forcing her to medically withdraw from college. 18:00: Taylor opens up about her thoughts of not wanting to be here anymore and the suicide ideation she faced. But she details how she continued to fight and work to feel better, and she’s so glad that she did because she’s happier than she’s ever been, even though she’s still working on healing. 20:00: Taylor describes how greatly this event upended her life. Instead of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon thanks to her grades during the two months she was in college, she’s now working to find a new path. She also shares how difficult it was working with her college after alerting them to the mold issue, to the point that she considered getting a lawyer.27:00: Taylor explains how important it is that we raise awareness about mold in dorms and the impact it’s having on the future generation. 33:30: Taylor shares how upset she is about the conditions of the dorm she lived in. "No university is trying to make the change needed for safer living situations. I really hope that at some point this will change.38:00: Taylor offers one piece of advice she would give to anyone suffering from a similar situation.Reach out to Taylor at:IG: @tayylormhoganhttps://www.homecleanse.com/https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #57 - How Mold in Breast Implants Can Impact Health, Interview with Tammy Dean
May 16 2023
Never Been Sicker #57 - How Mold in Breast Implants Can Impact Health, Interview with Tammy Dean
Today’s guest is Tammy Dean, a realtor, breast implant illness survivor, and awareness advocate. During this eye-opening interview, Tammy shines a light on a little-discussed issue a growing number of individuals are beginning to face: breast implant illness caused by mold. It took decades of chronic symptoms before she was finally able to determine that toxins slowly leaching into her body were the root cause of her health issues.Tammy continued to battle chronic symptoms ranging from fatigue and hypersensitivity to a litany of skin issues. Then, after finding a doctor who would listen and work with her, she was forced to make the difficult decision to have explant surgery. Now, Tammy is working on her healing journey and detoxing the toxins from her body. As she explains, it’s been a long journey, but she’s so thankful to be feeling better already. Choosing to look at the positives, Tammy shares how this experience changed her life and showed her the power of finding a supportive and encouraging community of individuals. She’s now focusing on helping others going through similar situations and advocating for greater awareness about this growing issue.In this episode:1:00: Tammy describes her experience that led to her awareness of mold exposure and the impact it has on health. After getting breast implants 30 years ago, her health slowly began to take a drastic downward turn. It took her years before she found a doctor who would listen to her and work on figuring out what was going wrong with her body. 4:00: Tammy begins to touch on her healing journey and the struggles she’s faced. "To say it’s been easy is putting it nicely…"4:45: Tammy details the process of removing the breast implants that contained mold. She also explains the proper way to successfully deal with this issue.7:30: Tammy explains that, as a real estate agent, she’s now familiar with what it feels like to walk into a building that has a current mold problem. 10:30: Tammy shares how difficult the "die-off" part of detoxing was and the steps she’s been taking to flush her body of toxins. "I felt exhausted. I was fatigued all day. I really felt like I had the flu."13:15: Tammy explains her experience finding others who are going through the same situation and how it helped her get through the entire process. She goes through some of the research she’s performed and what she’s learned about the implant industry. 20:00: Tammy shares how she found that it’s not just environmental; she found that food can also be a source of exposure.22:45: Tammy suggests that individuals steer clear of implants completely to avoid this harmful situation. 28:00: Tammy touches on how she wishes she would have gotten the explant surgery sooner so that she wasn’t dealing with her litany of symptoms for so long. At one point, she even developed a sensitivity to chemicals. 33:15: Tammy describes the support and feedback from others during her journey. 39:45: Tammy shares the struggles she’s faced while trying to heal and how her religion helped her get through them.42:00: Tammy promotes being true to oneself, especially when going through this difficult process and not getting the social support they’d want. "Stay true to yourself."47:00: Tammy shares advice that she hopes will help others who are going through similar experiences. Reach out to Tammy at:Instagram: @tammydean.realtorhttps://www.homecleanse.com/https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #56 - Coming Into the Fold With Mold, Interview with Veronica Sitterding
Apr 14 2023
Never Been Sicker #56 - Coming Into the Fold With Mold, Interview with Veronica Sitterding
Today’s guest is Emily Stollman, a mold exposure survivor and advocate for healthier indoor spaces. Emily shares her unique and ongoing journey of navigating the wide-ranging impact environmental exposure can have on the body. Like many, though, it took some time for her to find the root cause of the problem and the assistance needed to give her body the support it needed to heal.Emily suffered from chronic symptoms for quite some time and eventually developed the Epstein-Barr virus before figuring out that mold was the culprit behind her persistently feeling unwell. Even after moving into a new home, she still felt sick and ended up developing even more symptoms. It wasn’t until her previous roommates alerted her to mold growing on the walls in her old apartment that she finally pinpointed what was causing her body to sound the alarm.From there, she dealt with the time-consuming healing process that she’s still working through to this day. She also battled the PTSD and mental hurdles that often come along with dealing with an issue like environmental exposure in the home. Still, she’s choosing to focus on the positives and, instead, is using her newfound knowledge to live a healthier life and be more aware of her surrounding indoor environments. She’s also using her experience to help as many of those around her become more cognizant of the impact these exposures can have, the importance of looking to our indoor environments as potential root causes, and the importance of finding professionals that are equipped to help resolve these issues.In this episode:0:30: Emily details what events in her life led up to her realizing the importance of indoor air quality and the impact it has on our health. Initially, she and her roommates began suffering from different symptoms, but they all chalked it up to outside factors. 2:00: Emily touches on how many doctors it took to help steer her in the right direction to heal from her exposure. 3:30: Emily explains how mold triggered her Epstein-Barr virus and how her symptoms continued even after moving into a newly renovated home. "Renovated places and newer places seem safer than an old building…" but that’s not always the case.5:00: Emily lists a large number of wide-ranging symptoms she experienced while battling exposure. 9:30: Emily touches on her healing journey and the PTSD she faced after struggling with the negative health impact exposure causes.12:30: Emily describes her initial reaction to her chronic symptoms and how she had no idea what could be making her feel so unwell. "I don’t know what I thought it was. I just kept thinking, "What is wrong with me?" She had to really dig to find information and realized, after navigating quite a few Facebook groups, that dealing with this issue and figuring out how to heal is not common knowledge.16:45: Emily touches on the lack of understanding she’s experienced while talking to others about her journey with mold exposure. 28:30: Emily describes the lack of acceptance she’s noticed in society when it comes to mold and the extent to which it can impact health.32:30: Emily explains the importance of gathering knowledge and information to create a toolkit to navigate any future situations that could involve exposure. "You will not be able to avoid exposure completely. The best thing you can do is control your home and then have tools you can rely on when you do find yourself in that situation (dealing with exposure). 37:45: Emily shares one thing she wishes she could have told herself at the beginning of her journey dealing with exposure.42:10: Emily provides one piece of advice she would give to anyone going through a similar experience as the one she faced.My siteshttps://www.homecleanse.com/https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #55 - Sounding the Alarm, Interview with Emily Stollman
Apr 5 2023
Never Been Sicker #55 - Sounding the Alarm, Interview with Emily Stollman
Today’s guest is Emily Stollman, a mold exposure survivor and advocate for healthier indoor spaces. Emily shares her unique and ongoing journey of navigating the wide-ranging impact environmental exposure can have on the body. Like many, though, it took some time for her to find the root cause of the problem and the assistance needed to give her body the support it needed to heal.Emily suffered from chronic symptoms for quite some time and eventually developed the Epstein-Barr virus before figuring out that mold was the culprit behind her persistently feeling unwell. Even after moving into a new home, she still felt sick and ended up developing even more symptoms. It wasn’t until her previous roommates alerted her to mold growing on the walls in her old apartment that she finally pinpointed what was causing her body to sound the alarm.From there, she dealt with the time-consuming healing process that she’s still working through to this day. She also battled the PTSD and mental hurdles that often come along with dealing with an issue like environmental exposure in the home. Still, she’s choosing to focus on the positives and, instead, is using her newfound knowledge to live a healthier life and be more aware of her surrounding indoor environments. She’s also using her experience to help as many of those around her become more cognizant of the impact these exposures can have, the importance of looking to our indoor environments as potential root causes, and the importance of finding professionals that are equipped to help resolve these issues.In this episode:0:30: Emily details what events in her life led up to her realizing the importance of indoor air quality and the impact it has on our health. Initially, she and her roommates began suffering from different symptoms, but they all chalked it up to outside factors. 2:00: Emily touches on how many doctors it took to help steer her in the right direction to heal from her exposure. "I was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus, but I wanted to find someone who was an expert in dealing with mold."3:30: Emily explains how mold triggered her Epstein-Barr virus and how her symptoms continued even after moving into a newly renovated home.5:00: Emily lists a large number of wide-ranging symptoms she experienced while battling exposure. 9:30: Emily touches on her healing journey and the PTSD she faced after struggling with the negative health impact exposure causes. 12:30: Emily describes her initial reaction to her chronic symptoms and how she had no idea what could be making her feel so unwell. "I don’t know what I thought it was. I just kept thinking, "What is wrong with me?" She had to really dig to find information and realized, after navigating quite a few Facebook groups, that dealing with this issue and figuring out how to heal is not common knowledge.16:45: Emily touches on the lack of understanding she’s experienced while talking to others about her journey with mold exposure. 28:30: Emily describes the lack of acceptance she’s noticed in society when it comes to mold and the extent to which it can impact health.32:30: Emily explains the importance of gathering knowledge and information to create a toolkit to navigate any future situations that could involve exposure.37:45: Emily shares one thing she wishes she could have told herself at the beginning of her journey dealing with exposure. 42:10: Emily provides one piece of advice she would give to anyone going through a similar experience as the one she faced.https://www.homecleanse.com/https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #54 - Making a Positive Impact, Interview with Vinny Lobdell
Feb 22 2023
Never Been Sicker #54 - Making a Positive Impact, Interview with Vinny Lobdell
Today’s guest is Vinny Lobdell, an American entrepreneur, businessman, awareness advocate, and philanthropist. He is the founder and past president of HealthWay and Intellipure Inc., the global president of Pure Wellness, and the owner of the Kallet Theater. He’s a passionate individual who is pushing towards bettering the world through improved air quality and a safer space for people with mental health issues.Vince Lobdell started his journey of searching, developing, and perfecting air purification systems in 1981. He tested every technology, from UV to HEPA. In 2010, through a United States Military grant, he developed HealthWay’s patented DFS Technology. Developing a passion for and expertise in Indoor Air Quality over the past two decades, Lobdell has traveled to fifty countries, speaking to industry leaders, governments, and medical professionals on air pollution and the harmful effects of occupying the built environments.As the head of Heathway, Vinny expanded the company exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic and sold it to a private equity firm for an undisclosed amount in 2019. The family still maintains a minority stake in the company. Lobdell took on a leadership role as President at HealthWay Family of Brands in 2008, after which the company was named to the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing companies in America. In 2017, Lobdell co-founded Intellipure, a B2C brand emphasizing customer experience through handcrafted, high-efficiency, and individually certified air cleaning systems.In this episode:0:45: Vinny explains how and why he created HealthWay, a company dedicated to providing air purification solutions, and details the products they provide. "Our goal at Healthway was to provide real solutions to the number one health epidemic of our time: air quality… Every building with a door needed what we had, it was just getting people to understand that."4:45: Vinny details the driving factors behind the success of the companies he and his father have created. "If we’re not making a positive impact, we’re wasting our time."6:00: Vinny shares why he’s so passionate about giving back and supporting foundations that work to improve mental health for struggling people. "We wanted to memorialize my brother and celebrate my mom’s perseverance and all that she’s done to keep our family together."9:30: Vinny shares his thoughts on the stigma behind mental health. He provides suggestions on how to address this problem and provides support for those who require it. "What you find with mental illness is that there is no discrimination… It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have. It touches all of our lives in one way or another."12:30: Vinny provides his insights on the current state of mental health and what needs to change to create a healthier space. "I think we need to educate at a much younger age that it’s okay to talk about problems… We put too much stress on our youth."15:45: Vinny describes his thoughts on how to invest in helping those struggling with poor mental health and the need for more research. 17:00: Vinny shares how others can help push this movement forward to help those who are suffering from mental health issues. "As a culture and as a society, we have to focus on being kinder."19:30: Vinny explains his next steps for the future and the opportunities he’s excited to embark on.Learn more about Vinny at:https://www.healthway.com/Michael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #52 - Listening to Our Body’s Clues, Interview with Jessica Rauscher
Dec 9 2022
Never Been Sicker #52 - Listening to Our Body’s Clues, Interview with Jessica Rauscher
Today’s guest is Jessica Rauscher, a financial advisor, exposure survivor, and awareness advocate. Jessica shares her unique story of discovering that mold exposure was affecting both her and her husband’s lives and the impact this awareness has had. Unwilling to accept that her husband would be forced to live with and manage Sarcoidosis, she began to investigate what could be the root cause of his condition.Fast-forward through an intensive research phase, and she finally stumbled upon what she thought could be an underlying cause: mold. After intensive testing, she finally had an answer. Both she and her husband were suffering from mold toxicity. From there, all the puzzle pieces began clicking together as to why they were experiencing a list of random symptoms that affected their daily lives. Like many individuals, they normalized these reactions, and it wasn’t until the positive test results that they understood that those were their bodies' way of saying something was wrong. Now they’re working towards healing and using their awareness to ensure their indoor environments are safe. In this episode:0:30: Jessica details how her journey with mold began. After her husband was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, she took a deep dive into trying to determine the root cause. "If it wasn’t for his diagnosis, I probably never would have known we had mold toxicity."1:30: Jessica explains how they determined mold toxicity was the problem and the tests they underwent to find answers. She also hypothesizes where she thinks their exposure occurred throughout their lives. "We still don’t fully know where it came from."3:45: Jessica describes the steps she and her husband take to assess if there’s a problem where they’re staying while they’re traveling for work. "It is challenging because my husband’s employer pays for us to live, so we don’t have much of a say in where we go."7:00: Jessica shares what symptoms she and her husband experienced, ranging from chronic fatigue, brain fog, dry mouth, and anemia. Her symptoms have become so debilitating that they've started affecting her job and daily life. "Both of us had completely different symptoms, which I found interesting."12:30: Jessica describes how she and her husband are dealing with the mold in their bodies and the steps they’re taking to heal. While she started her personalized detox protocol, her husband hasn’t decided to jump into one quite yet. "My husband is more on the western medicine side of things, whereas I’m on the functional medicine side."18:00: Jessica shares what some of their future plans are now that she knows about mold and the impact it has had and can have on their health. "I know when we start the homebuyer process, our realtor is going to have to have grace with us because I’m going to be testing every home."22:45: Jessica shares what she would tell her younger, unaware self now that she’s gotten answers to her ongoing health issues and is conscious of the impact mold can have on the body. "A lot of times we fight the symptoms that our bodies show us and try to medicate those symptoms instead of realizing that it’s our bodies sending us clues…"24:00: Jessica gives one piece of advice for anyone else who may be suffering from mold exposure.Reach out to Jessica at:Instagram: @kingdom_or_nothing_Michael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #53 - Harnessing the Health Benefits of Coffee, Interview with Andrew Salisbury of Purity Coffee
Dec 9 2022
Never Been Sicker #53 - Harnessing the Health Benefits of Coffee, Interview with Andrew Salisbury of Purity Coffee
Today’s guest is Andrew Salisbury, founder of companies including Purity Coffee, CEO, and awareness advocate. After his wife began experiencing chronic health issues, they eventually discovered that mold exposure was triggering her body to sound the alarm that something wasn’t quite right. During their process of eliminating her exposure and getting her body back on track, Andrew stumbled into the world of coffee.Initially, he believed that coffee, in general, was something that his wife should avoid to help her better heal after her mold exposure. After being tasked with providing serious proof before she gave up her bean water, he discovered that this caffeinated beverage could be beneficial to health if the brand followed certain protocols for their coffee. One such bad thing that he discovered in unhealthy coffee was mold and mycotoxins.Through extensive research, Andrew and a team he established developed a signature process to increase the health benefits of coffee and decrease its side effects like caffeine jitters and gastric distress. Now they’re focusing on continuing to provide healthy coffee to individuals around the world and pushing the needle forward on changing the industry as a whole.In this episode:0:45: Andrew describes how he became aware of mold and its impact on health. His wife began developing health issues in 2012, and they dove into figuring out what was causing her to feel unwell. One of the issues that came up was her coffee consumption.2:50: Andrew details the research he found on how coffee can be both good and bad for you. 5:00: Andrew explains his response to all the answers he uncovered about coffee and the importance of ensuring that drinkers get the benefits of this caffeinated beverage without dealing with issues like pesticides and mold. Working with coffee experts, including Dr. Adriana Farah, he developed a protocol on what to look for when deciding which coffee varieties were safe for consumption. From there, Andrew began the long journey of using this information to create a safe brand.6:50: Andrew lists the issues he went through while trying to find coffee that actually fit the brief of being healthy, including a type of coffee fraud. 8:50: Andrew explains how mold can be introduced into coffee in the first place. There are a few routes, including picking and storing coffee beans. 12:45: Andrew describes the future steps he’s taking now that he knows everything he knows about what it takes to make a healthy coffee. "We’re trying to create best practices for what we believe is a new segment of coffee and health."14:30: Andrew details why pesticides are used and the farmers he’s found that work with nature to find alternative measures to protect their crops.18:45: Andrew explains what future steps the coffee industry at large should be taking, better testing methods that should be employed, and what consumers should be considering when purchasing. "Every consumer should be demanding good, clean coffee."24:00: Andrew describes the difficulties he and his wife faced while trying to deal with the mold that was causing her exposure and the need for change that he’s seen. **For 20% off your first Purity Coffee order, use the code: MOLDTALKS**Learn more about Andrew at:https://puritycoffee.com/Instagram: @purity_coffeeMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #51 - Bridging the Gap Between Health and Home, Interview with Andy Pace
Nov 30 2022
Never Been Sicker #51 - Bridging the Gap Between Health and Home, Interview with Andy Pace
Today’s guest is Andy Pace, author, founder, advocate, and health expert. During this episode, Andy shares his wealth of knowledge after spending decades in the home health industry. From construction practices to common errors, he touches on a wide range of topics that can be used to create a safer and healthier indoor environment.Andy Pace is a nationally recognized expert on green and healthy building products. As founder of the oldest healthy building supply company in the United States, Andrew has become one of the single most helpful and educational experts dealing with the day-to-day concerns of those individuals who suffer from allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities. As the leading expert on the topic of Human Health vs Environmental Health, Andrew launched a new green building product rating system called Degree of Green, which is being used by consumers to eliminate the confusion within the green building realm and to help guide consumers to what they truly need.Andrew has lent his expertise in the field of technical product knowledge to the National Healthy Homes Conference, Paint and Decorating Contractors Association, the Construction Specifications Institute, and the National Hardware Manufacturers Association, as well as numerous regional conferences and presentations.In today’s episode:0:30: Andy explains who he is and what he does. After seeing individuals get sick after being exposed to paints and coatings, he created a company that could supply non-toxic options for sensitive individuals. At first, his company targeted commercial spaces, but after noticing a lack of interest, he realized that homeowners would be more inclined to use their products to create a safe indoor space.5:15: Andy details his thoughts on the reluctance of commercial spaces to use non-toxic paint. “In their eyes, it increases cost, decreases aesthetics, and increases the stress factor of the construction team. None of this is true, of course.”6:45: Andy describes the patterns he’s seen in government regulations regarding air quality and pollutants such as VOCs. “Let’s not wait for what they tell us to do. Let's do what makes sense.”11:30: Andy lists current building and construction practices he has seen that are helping create toxic indoor environments. One of his company's goals is to figure out ways to practice safer building strategies to avoid future issues like mold growth.17:15: Andy explains the importance of reducing moisture in a home during certain construction phases to reduce the opportunity for contaminants like mold to grow. “I don't understand how they can say, ‘Don’t worry, it will dry out,’ when it won't.”22:20: Andy describes his client's current situation and the indoor mold growth they’re battling due to structural issues. The client, Ashley, shares her story further on Mold Talks Heroes. 30:00: Andy explains the importance of testing a home to determine what types of contaminants may be present. "I’m a big believer in test results and understanding that the results are in the hands of whoever is conducting the tests and reading them."33:30: Andy details other contaminants besides mold that he’s seen in homes and the steps he takes to assist these people as they work to create a healthier environment. 40:00: Andy describes the expectations individuals should have regarding how long it will take for chemical emissions like formaldehyde to continue off-gassing into an environment. He also goes through steps we can take to avoid this situation in our homes. Andy:https://www.thegreendesigncenter.com/https://www.thegreendesigncenter.com/non-toxic-environments/Michael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #50 - Living Underwater With an Anchor, Interview with Ashley Brockinton
Nov 25 2022
Never Been Sicker #50 - Living Underwater With an Anchor, Interview with Ashley Brockinton
Today’s guest is Ashley Brockinton, a mother of five, mold survivor, and awareness advocate. Ashley shares her story of how intense mold exposure impacted her family’s lives, from anxiety and chronic fatigue to intense PANS/PANDAS symptoms. After five years of suffering, they were barely getting by day-to-day.In this episode:1:00: Ashley explains how she began realizing that mold was an issue in her life. As a mother of five, one of her children began developing a series of symptoms related to PANS/PANDAS and they dove into testing to determine what was exacerbating his condition. 3:00: Ashley details a failed inspection she initially had done in her home, which only used an air inspection. As a result, her child continued to suffer from PANS/PANDAS. “That false sense of security cost us two years of happiness and health.”5:30: Ashley describes how one sign of mold that she missed at the time was a huge amount of dust.9:00: Ashley explains how dealing with the fallout of mold exposure and her sick children led to her husband taking time off work to help her deal with the family. After seeing how intense the issues were, he began pushing to figure out what was wrong, which led to their discovery of mold. 11:15: Ashley details how she and her family went to a hotel, and she immediately ordered an ERMI. The results of the test showed high levels of multiple species of mold. 12:45: Ashley explains how mold exposure affects the brain and causes inflammation, which exacerbated her child’s PANS/PANDAS. She goes through several symptoms her child experienced and the struggles they faced. She also lists a few symptoms she and the rest of her family experienced. “Mold is very sneaky, and it’s very slow.20:00: Ashley describes her experience with remediation and the struggles she’s faced with her insurance company not paying for the process. However, they knew that it was worth the work because they wanted to heal, they didn’t want another family to suffer, and knew they could potentially move into a different house with a contamination problem.25:30: Ashley goes through how her family is healing and the detox processes underway. 30:00: Ashley describes the cost and amount of loss they faced, but she’s choosing to focus on the positives. “If you can’t find positives in your health, look elsewhere and find something… I wouldn’t have known the quality of people around me if I never experienced this loss.”39:30: Ashley reveals how she later found out that the home they bought was a sight unseen foreclosure, which she believed had water damage that was handled improperly. That’s why she’s a huge advocate of having a new home tested before moving in and properly handling any water damage. 46:45: Ashley explains the lack of compassion and resources out there regarding indoor mold growth.51:15: Ashley details her current feelings on mold and what her experience has taught her. “I’m not afraid of mold anymore because knowledge is power. Now I’m afraid for other people.”53:15: Ashley shares advice with others going through a similar situation with mold that she wishes she had at the beginning of her journey. “Hire people that are informed on the health aspects of this.”Reach out to Ashley at:Instagram: @ashbrockintonMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #49 - The Path of Mold, Interview with Laura Knight
Nov 18 2022
Never Been Sicker #49 - The Path of Mold, Interview with Laura Knight
Today’s guest is Laura Knight, a parenting educator, author, mom of two, and mold survivor. During the episode, Laura explains how mold exposure impacted her children and herself and how she came to realize that this fungus was the root cause of their chronic health issues. While she never would have expected their home to be struggling with a mold issue, it turned out to be highly contaminated and had been for years. Over a year later, their home has now been remediated, and they are all working towards detoxing. She’s now using all of her knowledge and experience to help others who are suffering through similar experiences. As a parenting educator, she helps parents bring calm into their homes and quell the chaos with practical, easy-to-use parenting tools that are effective and yield lasting results. But her mission as a parenting educator doesn't stop there: she wants to raise awareness and provide support for major issues and problems that many people are unaware of, such as mold toxicity.In this episode:0:30: Laura explains how she was impacted by mold and the effect it had on her young child. At first, doctors thought it was PANS, but Laura felt this wasn’t the right answer. “I can kind of chuckle now because we’re passed it now, but the truth is that it was traumatizing.”2:30: Laura details how she and her family were tested for mold, leading to them testing their home. “It didn’t smell. It wasn’t what you think of when you picture a moldy home. There was nothing that looked wrong with our house at all. 3:45: Laura describes her first thoughts when the functional medicine doctor first suggested that mold might be the underlying cause of her child’s health conditions. 8:15: Laura goes through the remediation process and the extensive amount of decontamination that was required. “Our house required over a year’s worth of remediation.” 10:30: Laura details how quickly her child recovered after moving out of the toxic environment and the detoxing process they adhered to. She also explains how she and other members of the family recovered and the processes they followed. “Mold is tricky because it needs to bind to something.”16:15: Laura explains how she practices mindfulness to help get through traumatic events like mold toxicity and how she uses her knowledge to help others going through similar situations. 18:15: Laura details how situations like mold exposure can impact parenting and the effect it can have on a child’s mental state. "I always try to answer children's questions as age-appropriately as possible while also sticking to the facts as much as possible... giving them hope and light at the end of the tunnel."22:30: Laura describes the resources she’s created for others to help with parenting techniques and potential contamination situations in their home. “The website is a home for tools and resources that I wish I would have known then, but I know now and can share.”26:00: Laura explains how difficult she found it to be to find proper testing to help analyze a home before moving into a new space. Reach out to Laura at:https://www.hopefrommold.com/https://lauralinnknight.com/Instagram: @lauralinnknightMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #48 - Educating To Advocate, Interview with Alexis Manning
Oct 26 2022
Never Been Sicker #48 - Educating To Advocate, Interview with Alexis Manning
Today’s guest is Alexis Manning, an exposure survivor, awareness advocate, and Diagnostic Practitioner in training. Alexis shares her story of being exposed to mold in a variety of ways throughout her entire life, from childhood all the way through adulthood. It wasn’t until she began to experience overwhelming chronic symptoms that she began to realize something wasn’t quite right. Like many other individuals suffering through exposure, it took some time and multiple doctors before the topic of mold came on her radar. Luckily, she read a book that introduced her to Neil Nathan, who suggested that she was suffering from mold exposure. As an overly-sensitive individual, it took over two years of retraining her lymphatic system before she was able to begin detox protocols. Thankfully, she’s now cruising along her healing journey and pushing to get back to feeling like herself. While the journey may have been long, the ability to get back to her normal life made the struggles worth it. Now, Alexis is dedicated to proactively working to maintain a healthy home environment. She’s also committed to helping others who are suffering from similar experiences and bringing greater awareness to this topic. Creating more education about this topic will help it become more accepted and understood throughout society as a whole. Reach out to Alexis at:www.atpfunctionalhealth.com (coming soon)atpfunctionalhealth@gmail.comInstagram: allthingshealthmtMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #47 - Demanding a Win, Interview with Emma Chesmore
Oct 26 2022
Never Been Sicker #47 - Demanding a Win, Interview with Emma Chesmore
Today’s guest is Emma Chesmore, a self-love advocate, lifestyle and fitness coach, and mold survivor. Emma is a mother of four whose mission is to help women feel their best, from the inside out, through mindset coaching, accountability groups, spiritual growth, and health and fitness. She specializes in helping mamas create a morning routine that they run instead of their mornings running them.In this episode:0:45: Emma explains how her journey began with mold exposure and figuring out that this fungus was the root cause of her chronic illness. She and her four children all had an array of seemingly random symptoms that never seemed to go away.2:00: She described how she would never have guessed that this brand-new apartment they moved into had a contamination problem. “We figured we would be safe in this new space.” 4:00: Emma goes through her process of dealing with the toxic environment while also struggling with brain fog and postpartum. At the same time that she found the issue, her fiance was getting hernia surgery, and luckily, she knew that he could not recover in a mold-infested environment. Unfortunately, her rental management did not handle the situation properly, extending the amount of time the water damage and contamination were present. This led to her continuing to experience chronic illness.8:45: She explains how she hired her own inspector who came in and found high levels of mold in their environment, showing that the apartment complex did not handle the issue properly. They immediately decided to move out of that space so that she and her family could begin to heal.14:15: She describes her time of healing with her family while away from that toxic environment. 15:30: Emma explains her interactions with family and friends and how a friend of hers actually suggested mold as the culprit. From there, she had several other friends help her with the legal aspects of dealing with the apartment complex.19:30: Emma details her and her family’s healing journey and how a chiropractor helped them with getting those toxins out. They eventually relocated to Texas, and Emma is continuing to work on detoxing her body. 25:00: Emma explains how her experience with mold has helped her assist others during her health coaching sessions. 30:30: Emma describes what she thinks the biggest barriers are to the acceptance of mold exposure and the drastic impact it can have on health. 42:00: Emma explains that not just homes can have contamination problems. Any indoor environment, including places of work, can also lead to things like mold exposure. 46:00: Emma describes how mold exposure can cause massive weight fluctuations. While she lost significant weight, her fiance had the opposite effect and gained weight. 51:00: Emma explains the importance of testing. While it may be expensive, it shows what’s actually going on so that individuals can have a roadmap of what needs to be done to heal.55:00: Emma highlights how anyone dealing with infertility should always double-check their environment to ensure the air they’re breathing is clean.56:00: Emma shares the main things she learned during this journey that she hopes everyone can learn from if they’re going through a similar situation.Reach out to Emma at:https://www.emmachesmore.com/my-storyInstagram: emma_chesmoreMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #46 - Fighting to Heal, Interview with Sandi and Kyle
Oct 19 2022
Never Been Sicker #46 - Fighting to Heal, Interview with Sandi and Kyle
Today’s guests are Sandi and Kyle, a married couple whose family was devastated by mold exposure. Their story details how difficult it can be to find answers to chronic illness and the lack of awareness given to this indoor contaminant. It took a lucky encounter with a neurologist to finally get the explanation they deserved.In this episode:1:15: Sandi discusses how their journey with mold exposure began. Sandi and their son were experiencing a range of symptoms in 2017: from brain fog, numbness, and anger to the inability to speak. It wasn’t until they found a neurologist for their son that they were introduced to the idea of mold.4:00: Kyle explains how they struggled to determine where the mold was in the home and the improper testing they experienced while searching for the issue. While he didn’t experience any symptoms, he details the diagnoses his family members began to face.7:00: Kyle details how eventually he decided to assess their kitchen sink and found a small leak that he decided to investigate further.8:00: Sandi explains her first thoughts after hearing that it could have been mold as the underlying cause of the chronic medical issues. "I was open to it. My intuition just said, 'That’s got to be it.'"13:00: Kyle explains the difficulties they faced finding answers initially and how he learned to not trust everyone right off the bat. While he didn’t know what their root cause could be, their main goal was to find the right professionals. Sandi, meanwhile, said that after being aware of mold as a potential, she knew that it was the answer.15:30: Sandi and Kyle detail how many doctors their families have seen, especially for their children. They were bumped from professional to professional, who all had different ideas, but nothing actually worked. "For seven years, we were searching for something."21:00: Sandi and Kyle go through their initial experience with a mold inspection that only took an air sample from the center of the room. As expected, the results incorrectly pointed to no contamination in the home, making them question whether or not the home was the problem.27:00: Sandi and Kyle describe how, after finding the mold, they began to take steps to resolve the mold they found underneath the sink. Unfortunately, their first remediation experience in 2020 was not successful for a variety of reasons, as they explain. They didn’t realize it, though, until their son continued to show high levels of mold in his body. From there, they embarked on their second mold remediation. 33:00: Even after the second remediation, they continued to experience chronic symptoms. Their daughter and son, in particular, began to get worse over time. Eventually, they found out that there was massive mold growth in their shower. After a much more thorough assessment, there were three other locations around their home with mold growth. While he didn’t make a plan, they opted for another remediation company that spent a month decontaminating their home. 38:30: Sandi and Kyle describe their third remediation and the long list of issues they saw throughout the entire process. 42:00: Sandi and Kyle explain how much this experience has absolutely devastated their lives. From the loss of jobs and money spent to the vast impact it has had on their children’s childhood. 46:15: Sandi and Kyle detail lessons they’ve learned throughout their journey that they hope will help others. From listening to intuition and advocating for your own health to helping others suffering from mold exposure, this situation brought a list of lessons to their lives. Reach out to Sandi and Kyle at:sandi_kyle@yahoo.comhttps://www.homecleanse.com/https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #45 - Looking to Data, Interview with Melissa Bolona
Oct 12 2022
Never Been Sicker #45 - Looking to Data, Interview with Melissa Bolona
Melissa spent years in front of the camera as a model and actress, gracing magazine covers and starring in more than 20 films. She’s worked with the world’s best makeup artists and sampled every top beauty product there is, yet still credits bone broth as her #1 beauty secret. After finding herself in an unexpected wellness rut, actress and model Melissa Boloña turned to her sister for advice. The answer was simple: bone broth. Melissa noticed an immediate difference ranging from better gut health and fewer cravings to beautiful, glowing skin. The problem? She couldn’t find any local spots with tasty or convenient options. She then spent over 6 months testing out recipes in her own kitchen to create the flavorful and shelf-stable products you now know, Beauty & the Broth’s gut-healthy, broth concentrates. Rich in naturally-occurring collagen and made with convenience in mind— just for you. Now she’s drinking two cups daily and doing all she can to spread the word about this whole-body, total-beauty elixir in a cup.After falling in love with broth and wishing there were more local spots to grab a mug of it, Melissa knew this was the business she had always wanted to create.In this episode: 1:00: Melissa describes how many doctors she saw and the difficulties that she faced in figuring out what was causing her chronic illness. 1:30: She explains her experience working with Dr. Will Cole to help treat her hyperthyroidism and what led her to realize mold was the underlying cause. 4:45: Melissa shares where she had mold exposure. “I remember getting an email from the building maintenance saying that there was an emergency water shutoff because of a leak in the basement. I thought nothing of it at the time. I said, ‘The apartment’s got it.’” Two months later, she was about to return home but her maid found the place covered in mold. 7:15: She describes her experience with several doctors after being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, her fear of being on medication, and a slow decline in health for the rest of her life. It wasn’t until she found Dr. Will Cole that she saw the light at the end of the path. “I think they saved my life.” 12:15: Melissa goes into how this experience changed her perception of what’s in her environment and how it affects the body. 15:30: She describes how she thinks her exposure came from contaminated belongings as she shipped all of her things to California. While the remediation company HEPA vacuumed them, she now realizes that this was not enough. 20:45: Melissa explains the next steps she’s taking to help improve her indoor environment so that it’s a safe space to heal. 22:45: Michael explains how to properly clean belongings in a home so that cross-contamination is not an issue. 27:00: She shares her healing process and the steps she’s taking to improve her health. She also mentions her struggles with chronic fatigue and other symptoms. 34:00: Melissa details how she’s trying to increase awareness among those around her. 36:00: She describes the healing protocols that she’s been working on and the effectiveness of changing her lifestyle.47:00: Melissa explains her company, Beauty & the Broth, and what led her to start this health-based company. @melissabolona@thebeautyandthebrothMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #44 - Disrupting the Status Quo, Interview with Rachel Varga
Sep 7 2022
Never Been Sicker #44 - Disrupting the Status Quo, Interview with Rachel Varga
In this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Rachel Varga to discuss how mold exposure can impact the body including triggering skin issues. She’s been helping her clients for years struggling with this issue and is a huge part of the community advocating for change and increased awareness across the world about how our indoor environments affect health.Rachel Varga BScN, RN, CANS is a Double Board Certified Aesthetic Nurse Specialist since 2011 with over 20,000 procedures performed, an international clinical trainer for other Physicians and Nurses, celebrity skin expert featured by Dave Asprey, JJ Virgin, Wade Lightheart, Naveen Jain, Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, America’s Holistic Plastic Surgeon Dr. Tony Youn and more! Rachel is an international speaker and a 5 time academically published award-winning author in the field of regenerative and aesthetic nursing as well as an executive board member and peer reviewer for USA-based Plastic and Aesthetic Nursing Journal, a regular contributor to the UK-based Journal of Aesthetic Nursing and monthly contributor to the Best Holistic Life Magazine.In this episode, they dive into:1:45: Vargas explains her history with mold, including how her dad used to be a carpenter. Her prior knowledge is what started her down the path of healing clients who are experiencing skin issues related to mold exposure.5:15: She details how she determines whether or not she should bring up mold as a possible underlying trigger for skin issues and other chronic symptoms. As a friend of Dave Asprey, she also has a wealth of knowledge to pull from in helping clients who are suffering from exposure. 8:15: Vargas goes through the "toxic bucket" theory and why she thinks it’s a great analogy for explaining why exposure to things like mold can cause problems. As she explains, the toxins entering the body can tip the bucket, triggering a wide range of symptoms. She goes through a few common symptoms she’s seen regarding the skin. 15:00: She shares how important it is to find practitioners that include environmental exposure in their medical decisions while attempting to help clients. With all of the things that can impact health, including mold, air quality, water, and EMFs, it’s incredibly important to include these in the wellness conversation.23:15: Varga explains that it’s not all doom and gloom. There are industries and individuals evolving and bringing this issue to the table so that individuals worldwide can get the help that they need and deserve. 33:45: She shares how her views have been received and the increase in individuals looking to learn this new information and ideology regarding toxic buckets and chronic issues.43:50: Varga explains the importance of taking care of your health and focusing on wellness. One aspect of this is removing contaminants like mold and mycotoxins from the skin through exfoliation and cleansing and maintaining healthy air quality while sleeping. 49:45: She details the lack of awareness and conversations regarding skincare for men and how important it is for everyone to take care of their skin. She goes through her experience treating men and the issues they come to her with.58:00: Varga shares her personal experience of helping her husband, who is an athlete, live a healthier life and avoid toxic exposures, and how it has helped improve his performance. Learn more about Rachel Vargas at:https://rachelvarga.ca/https://rachelvarga.ca/podcast/Michael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/
Never Been Sicker #43 - Becoming a Guiding Light, Interview with Dr. Lauren Tessier
Aug 24 2022
Never Been Sicker #43 - Becoming a Guiding Light, Interview with Dr. Lauren Tessier
In this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Dr. Lauren Tessier, a Naturopathic Physician, mold illness specialist, and awareness advocate to discuss her experience in the field and her passion for helping people who are suffering from chronic illnesses due to toxic environments.Dr. Lauren Tessier is a Naturopathic Physician licensed by the state of Vermont. Her practice, Life After Mold, uses a patient-centered approach to help those suffering from mold-related illness recover. Her approach is informed by her Naturopathic Medical education, in combination with Functional and Integrative Medicine.As a Shoemaker Certified Physician, she specializes in the treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) as a result of exposure to mold and water-damaged buildings. She also specializes in the treatment of non-CIRS mold-related illness: mycotoxicosis, mold allergy and etc.She travels around the United States, giving lectures regarding mold illness, and she operates as an indoor environmental health advisor for various companies. Additionally, she is the current President of ISEAI; a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of medical knowledge surrounding Environmentally Acquired Illness, or EAI.In this episode, they dive into:1:30: Dr. Tessier explains how she got into the realm of medicine and treating mold illness. Her journey took her through the Shoemaker process, noticing how prevalent this issue is, creating treatments geared towards these affected patients, and joining ISEAI.5:15: Dr. Tessier reveals how close mold toxicity is to her heart, including personal experiences and negative reactions from family members.7:40: Dr. Tessier details how prevalent she believes mold toxicity and exposure are, and the growing awareness people are beginning to have about this issue. As she said, even the CDC is shining a light on how much this can negatively impact the health of those living in toxic spaces that have water damage and contamination.12:00: Dr. Tessier explains how a paradigm shift is needed to bring greater awareness to water-damaged buildings, toxic environments, and chronic illness. From science to insurance coverage, the lack of representation and evidence is directly impacting affected individuals. One of the main issues, she said, is the difficulty in analyzing and creating scientific studies because no one wants to make individuals sick.18:00: Dr. Tessier details a few literature pieces that go against the idea of why mold exposure can impact autoimmunity and the flaws in their argument.23:30: Dr. Tessier goes through what it will take for change to occur and for the impact of mold exposure to be taken seriously. Insurance companies, in particular, have a fantastic opportunity to spearhead the initiative to provide better protection for individuals impacted by mold growth. 28:30: ​​Dr. Tessier explains why individuals cannot heal in the environment that’s making them sick in the first place. For those who can’t, she details a few things people can do to help reduce exposure and the importance of not trying to seek perfection.34:00: Dr. Tessier goes through the steps an individual should take if they’re suffering from mold exposure and toxicity. She said that you should document all of your symptoms so that a medical professional will have a more clear picture of what’s going on in your body and use this to help determine a diagnosis. She then further explains how she helps treat her clients and the steps she takes to detox their bodies.48:00: Dr. Tessier explains one main thing she hopes people will take away from this discussion.Learn more about Dr. Lauren Tessier:https://www.lifeaftermold.com/dr-lauren-tessierInstagram: @lifeaftermoldMichael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
Never Been Sicker #42 - Eyes Wide Open, Interview with Kali Poulos from Kali Wellness
Aug 10 2022
Never Been Sicker #42 - Eyes Wide Open, Interview with Kali Poulos from Kali Wellness
Today’s guest is Katherine Poulos, Licensed Cosmetologist, Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach, founder, and exposure survivor. Kali's experience with mold exposure has been a long and painful journey, but one that has opened her eyes to how dangerous this indoor contaminant can be. While she was previously familiar with mold illness and some of the effects exposure can have, she never considered that it was her environment affecting her body so greatly. After moving into an apartment, Kali began to experience a range of seemingly random symptoms but thought that it was a result of her Hashimoto’s. As her condition continued to worsen, she eventually ended up at the hospital and was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. That’s when the conversation turned to bone-marrow transplants, blood transfusions, and survival rates.It wasn’t until her business partner mentioned her drastic health change immediately following moving into the new indoor space that she decided to take a look at what was in her environment. The results showed astronomical levels of chaetomium, the root cause of her degrading health. After the discovery, she immediately left the environment and began to feel her body slowly improving. It took years, but she’s now well on the path to healing and is using this experience to help others who are suffering from exposure. After her experience in the cosmetology industry, she’s also focusing on helping these professionals who are suffering from various exposures, including mold. She's working on navigating healthy beauty products as well. Kali’s journey shows how seriously environmental exposures can affect health and the need for greater awareness and research. She experienced firsthand just how little the medical world is aware of contaminants such as mold, leaving it up to those who are suffering to be their own health advocates. We’ve got a long way to go, but sharing stories like Kali’s will help shine a light on this issue and bring about the change that is needed worldwide. "It’s crazy when you think back that your home can make you sick." "I do believe that every healer and those in service go through things in order to learn and be of service to others, and I know that this was part of my journey for that.""Start with what you can. Don’t overwhelm yourself and don’t become a perfectionist because that will just inhibit you from making progress. Do the best you can with what you have and start with what you can do at home now. Even if it’s just drinking pure water."Michael Rubino https://www.themichaelrubino.com/https://www.homecleanse.com/Learn more about Kali at:https://www.kaliwellness.com/about-us/our-storyhttps://www.kaliwellness.com/lowtoxbeautyacademyhttps://www.instagram.com/lowtoxbeautyacademy/https://www.instagram.com/kaliwellness/