Mold Warriors: Fighting America's Hidden Health Threat

The chapter in this book on 'CFS' is appalling. It denigrates Cheney and others for not seeing how 'obvious' it supposedly was that 'CFS' was entirely a problem caused entirely or almost entirely by mould.Of course some patients misdiagnosed with 'CFS' have mould-related diseases, but to say the main cause of 'CFS' misdiagnosed disease is mould, or that the outbreaks of M.E. were caused by mould is just utterly ridiculous. This theory is contradicted by a mountain of factual evidence compiled over 70 years and by genuine M.E. experts. This book is not written by an M.E. expert.Yes, M.E. patients can often react badly to mould as well as to some chemicals, and extremes of temperature and drugs and so on. And the same is true of some patients misdiagnosed as 'CFS' that have non-M.E. diseases. But this is one symptom of these diseases, which is very different from saying it is the sole cause or that the illness could be cured merely by removal of mould in the environment.For a start, we know that M.E. and 'CFS' are not the same and that M.E. occurs in epidemic and sporadic form and is causes by a virus with a 4 - 7 day incubation period. None of the facts fit mould causation.To clarify:-------M.E. patients were treated appropriately and correctly diagnosed until around 1988, when there was an increase in the number of M.E. patients and outbreaks in the US. Some medical insurance companies (and others) decided that they would prefer not to lose many millions of dollars on so many new claims and so they created a new vague fictional disease category called 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' to try to confuse the issue of M.E. and to hide M.E. in plain sight.Under the cover of 'CFS' certain vested interest groups have assiduously attempted to obliterate recorded medical history of M.E.; even though the existing evidence has been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals around the world and spans over 70 years.M.E. is a distinct, scientifically verifiable and measurable, acute onset, organic neurological disease. 'CFS' in contrast, is not a distinct disease. 'CFS' doesn't exist. Every diagnosis of CFS - based on any of the CFS definitions - can only ever be a misdiagnosis. A watebasket diagnosis.The fact that a person qualifies for a diagnosis of 'CFS' (a) does not mean that the patient has M.E., and (b) does not mean that the patient has any other distinct illness named CFS.' M.E. and 'CFS' are not the same.Far fewer than 0.5% of the population has the distinct neurological disease known since 1956 as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is an artificial construct created in the US in 1988 for the benefit of various political and financial vested interest groups. It is a mere diagnosis of exclusion based on the presence of gradual or acute onset fatigue lasting 6 months. If tests show serious abnormalities, a person no longer qualifies for the diagnosis, as 'CFS' is 'medically unexplained.' A diagnosis of 'CFS' does not mean that a person has any distinct disease (including M.E.). According to the latest CDC estimates, 2.54% of the population qualify for a 'CFS' (mis)diagnosis.The patient population diagnosed with 'CFS' is made up of people with a vast array of unrelated illnesses, or with no detectable illness. However, while 'CFS' is not a genuine diagnosis, those given this misdiagnosis are in many cases significantly or even severely ill and disabled. 'CFS' is made up of people with cancer, MS, Lyme disease, depression and hundreds of other unrelated conditions.Sub-grouping different types of 'CFS,' refining the bogus 'CFS' definitions further or renaming 'CFS' with some variation on the term M.E. (such as 'ME/CFS') would achieve nothing and only create yet more confusion and help to continue and further entrench the mistreatment and abuse.The problem is not that 'CFS' patients are being mistreated as psychiatric patients; some of those patients misdiagnosed with CFS actually do have psychological illnesses. There is no such distinct disease/s as 'CFS' - that is the entire issue.Due to outrageous political influences on medicine and govermnent policy, the vast majority of M.E. patients will not be able to be correctly diagnosed with M.E. Most M.E. patients will unfortunately be misdiagnosed with 'CFS.' It is extremely important to note, however, that only a very tiny percentage of those told they have 'CFS' will be M.E. patients. The overwhelming majority of those misdiagnosed with 'CFS' do NOT have M.E. 'CFS' is NOT just another term for M.E.The name Myalgic Encephalomyelitis must be fully restored (to the exclusion of all others) and the World Health Organization classification of M.E. (as a distinct neurological disease) must be accepted and adhered to in all official documentations and government policy. M.E. patients must again be diagnosed with M.E. and treated appropriately for M.E. based on actual M.E. research. For this to happen, there is a real need for patients (and others) to participate in genuine advocacy and activism.The bogus disease category of 'CFS' must be abandoned. All those misdiagnosed with 'CFS' must immediately reject this harmful misdiagnosis and begin the search to find their correct diagnosis whether this be M.E., PVFS, depression, cancer, or any other disease. Correct diagnosis is vital in obtaining the correct treatment.-------Mould taxes or stresses the system as do excessive environmental chemcial exposures, overexertion and lack of rest, food allergies, antibiotics and other drugs and many other things. These factors can all play a role in causing illness or predisposing one to different viruses and other issues. They are part of the 'total load.'The chapter on 'CFS' was so self aggrandising it was hard to read. It tried to paint the author as a genius that saw things that nobody else saw. But he has his facts completely and utterly wrong and denigrated unfairly Dr Cheney, a man that knows far more about M.E. and the cardiac insufficiency it causes than the author of this book.This book could easily cause harm by convincing readers that anyone who has M.E. or a 'CFS' misdiagnosis can be cured by mere mould removal.This book is not recommended, unless you genuinely do have a mould related illness (it may well be a high quality book in that context) and you ignore totally the chapter on 'CFS.' It is such a shame the auther had to so extremely overstate the case for mould causing so many diseases which we know have other causes. Mould IS an issue if you are ill, but it is not true that it is the number one causative issue for everyone. It is just one part of the mix.Jodi Bassett, HFME

People who write reviews of books like these tend to wind up writing reviews of their own health struggles. Suffice to say that I suffered chronic, un- or mis-diagnosed health problems for most of my childhood which escalated in college until I had to drop out of school because my ability to think was so damaged. After reading this book in June 2006, I got the bloodwork, took the VCS, and sure enough (as my screen name indicates), my birth into the ranks of the mold warriors began.From that perspective, the book was life-changing. I got my life back, and I credit this book, and reading it about 6 times to teaching me most of what I know about the topic. One of my two copies is all marked up, it's pretty cool. Shoemaker & Co. do a fine job of explaining the problem in a way that educates both doctor and patient--and really puts them on the same level, in a way, because neither is likely to know more than the other about chronic innate, inflammatory illnesses before reading this book. In that regard, the book, while comprehensive (a euphemism for long), is effective.Also, Shoemaker adds in little elements of his own philosophy that really make one pause and consider. This is good, because people who are sick with these sorts of problems often pause but rarely consider--and consideration (and sometimes self-restraint) are key elements of desperation medicine, and should be learned by Mold Warriors.While the page-numbering is a problem (one that was fixed in the most recent publication, Surviving Mold, by not publishing an index), the real reason for my not giving it a fifth star is more of a general difficulty locating information. Although I've literally mined this book from cover to cover, I'm a graduate student who is used to harvesting information, and the average person (not to mention the average person with high C4a and associated confusion and recall problems) would probably find scouring through the near 600 pages to be a gargantuan task.Despite the plethora of new information in the nearly 800-page Surviving Mold, I still recommend Mold Warriors, as it has a level of specificity that will be appropriate to new people battling this that is lost, I think, in the breadth of topics covered in Surviving Mold. Hard to say one without recommending the other, but if you're starting, I'd probably say Mold Warriors is the place to start. I also highly recommend reading it with a pen, highlighter, and a notepad, so you can annotate as you read.