Episode 22
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
I am so happy to be talking with Bridgit Danner, licensed acupuncturist and Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner. After losing everything to toxic mold, Bridgit now educates about toxins and how to detoxify through a functional approach. Brigit is also the author of an incredible resource, The Ultimate Toxic Mold Recovery Guide. Today we dive into what you need to know about toxic mold and discuss how to determine if mold toxicity might be contributing to your illness. Most importantly, Bridgit tells guides us on how to recover your health if it is.
Other Resources:
Connect with Bridgit Danner
Episode Transcript
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with auto-immunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson. And today I'm so happy to be talking with Bridget Danner, licensed acupuncturist and certified functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner. But most importantly, because after losing everything to toxic mold, Bridget now educates about toxins and how to detoxify through a functional [00:01:00] approach.
[00:01:00] Bridget is also the author of an incredible resource, the ultimate toxic mold recovery guide. And today we dive into what you need to know about toxic mold and discuss how to determine if mold toxicity might be contributing to your illness and how to recover your health if it is.
[00:01:18] Bridget welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:22] Bridgit Danner: Hi, Julie. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:24] Julie Michelson: I am so excited. You're here. You know, this is one of my very favorite topics because it's, it is part of my personal journey. And I know so many of my clients that I work with struggle with mold toxicity. So I always love to start with. How did you shift into this world? How is it that you now spend your time helping people recover from multiplicity?
[00:01:53] Bridgit Danner: I know it's a weird thing to, you know, I wasn't thinking when I was a little girl that I would get this Sunday.[00:02:00] But I feel like I have a really nice full circle story, actually, because as a little girl, I was environmentalist, like from a very young age, like giving my allowance to environments per groups.
[00:02:10] And then I went on. Study art in college because they said, you know, do something you enjoy. And, but by the end of college, I was like, you know, this isn't really fitting, like the change I want to see in the world. I think I should go into some environmental law or natural medicine was also an option.
[00:02:28] So I ended up studying Chinese medicine and kind of having this idea that when I graduated, I would teach some environmental awareness and things like that. While at least my. But I moved to Portland, Oregon. It's very environmentally aware. So I never really happened. I just was doing my, doing my work, learning my craft as an acupuncturist.
[00:02:49] And meanwhile, I didn't know it, but I was living in a moldy house and I just couldn't recover my health. It was kind of just up and down, up and down. And then I really hit a low [00:03:00] point around the time I found out about the mold. So then it does operate in my whole life, you know, remediate, remediate that house, moved out of that house, eventually sold that clinic and moved to Arizona.
[00:03:11] And now I really did have a chance to restart and focus my career on environment. So I kinda moved from this women's health focus to detoxification and like slowly focusing more on. Mold detox. Cause I just knew so much about it. And I didn't realize there's still a big gap out there. And people learning about toxins in the home and you know, here in Phoenix, Arizona, there's much less awareness than in Portland, Oregon.
[00:03:38] So I, I do teach about other toxins and have done some certification in that, but really I just have so much experience with mold from my own life and being a practitioner going through. I studied super hard. And you know, then we started off from mold testing to our clients and hearing their stories and creating resources.
[00:03:58] So it's kind of [00:04:00] nice that I really got to get back into what, since I was a child, I thought was most important in life. So I'm pretty happy. I landed here ultimately,
[00:04:12] Julie Michelson: Well, you know, the universe does work in mysterious ways. I'm sure though, even relating to that, you probably weren't thinking about toxins and molds as a youngster with your environmental support. So many parts of your story. I want to circle back to I want to dig in if you're willing to share, and it doesn't even have.
[00:04:34] Your personal symptoms? I do think, and sometimes I'm fooled because as we were saying before, we turned the camera on sometimes I think things are more widely known and appreciated because of the circles I spend my time in, and then I get out into the, into public and realize, you know, the McDonald's line is around the corner and there things haven't quite shifted [00:05:00] as.
[00:05:00] As I presume they have. So of course I'm very familiar with mold issues and challenges. I love, you know, I remember when I moved from moldy Florida to Colorado, I was told, and this was almost 20 years ago. I was told, you know, oh, we don't have mold in Colorado. You know, because it's dry here. And so would, there is no more, you don't have to worry about mold in your home in Colorado.
[00:05:27] It's not a thing. Not true,
[00:05:30] Bridgit Danner: Not true. Yeah. I have a couple of friends. Yeah.
[00:05:34] Julie Michelson: you
[00:05:35] Bridgit Danner: Last but not, not a blanket statement.
[00:05:38] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. So it, it is interesting. So that has evolved even since I've been here. For listeners, you know, why, why should they care? What are some of those symptoms symptoms? Because I think so many people, when they think of mold, they think of like visible black mold that they [00:06:00] could see that was maybe like over their bed.
[00:06:02] And they knew they had, you know, like. There there's a misconception about what mold exposure can look like, but also what does it feel like? How, what kind of symptoms did you have? I know there's a range.
[00:06:15] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, that's a great question. And I, I know I kind of skirted through that in my story. So I I'll, I can tell you about, more about my home, which yeah. You know, you walked in and. This is this is a moldy riding down, even though it was up beneath the walls. But yeah, I mean, I think for a while, you know, it's, it started kind of slowly, which it often does.
[00:06:39] So I moved into this home when I got engaged and we pretty quickly got married, got pregnant. I opened. Clinics. So a lot was going on. I had a lot of causes for the fact that I wasn't sleeping well at night and was getting more anxious. Right. So I thought it was really first because I had had a baby.
[00:06:57] So I was working on things like with a coach [00:07:00] life coach, I was working on my diet. So yeah, I was anxious. Insomnia. I was having breakthrough bleeding. I was having a lot of colds and flus in the winter, which wasn't completely new to me, which makes me kind of wonder about some of my background, but it just got really bad.
[00:07:15] Like I got, I got pink eye, like who gets pink eye
[00:07:18] Julie Michelson: That's an adult.
[00:07:20] Bridgit Danner: as an adult, like in my immune system. Tanked and especially in the winter and I would just be Chile all the time, but again, I lived in a cold climate, but like literal chills. And it's like, sometimes you look back and you remember certain moments. And I remember one where we're supposed to go to this parade and I just was too, like sick to go.
[00:07:40] The whole, everybody went without me. And I was just like in the bathtub, like shivering for like the 200th time, just like crying. Cause I was just like, what is wrong with me? You know? And and I kept doing more stuff. Like I think it did help, but not really ultimately helped cause I was in a moldy house, but [00:08:00] like, you know, I was making my own bone broth.
[00:08:02] Totally detoxing my home from chemicals. I was doing detoxes. I was like, I found out I had EBV and I started work treating that. I started studying functional medicine and a lot of what I do now is to figure out my own self. And then when it got to my, to the worst part, Okay. So I went through a functional medicine training.
[00:08:23] I did some testing and I found out I had leaky gut and various things. So I was working on that. And then, but then the weather turned and I switched to working at home more because I wanted to be online more. We had some flooding, not flooding, but just like wetness in our basement. I got strep throat.
[00:08:40] I got like bad. I quit. I wasn't recovering. Well, I was exhausted. I needed a detox. It didn't work. I was just more tired than, than I ever had been. And I actually had just like around then found out I had some Hashimoto's antibodies for the first time. And, and then I was going to then [00:09:00] snatch for about the clinic getting IVs.
[00:09:01] Like I was just not doing well. And I, I said to them like, there's really nothing else I can do with my lifestyle. W can you test me for some other things? So they tested me for even more auto-immunity and they asked me about my home and that's like, was the first time I really considered it? And I said, well, yeah, we do have this Mosty basement.
[00:09:21] And it just caught some wetness coming in. It was carpeted, so stupid. So I mentioned. To my husband at the time. And we decided to get a mold inspection for really, he, he was the impetus. I didn't really want to know to be honest. Cause I knew what a mess it would be if we had it. And we had it, you know, we had a lot of different problems.
[00:09:40] Yeah. I didn't know. Just finally gotten home. And now that now we're ripping up the whole home while I was in it, which made me even sicker. So really my lowest of the low was one. Once they started to rip up the home and made mistakes, like major, we made major mistakes. I was in the home almost all the time, moving, [00:10:00] moldy things into the main floor.
[00:10:02] And at this point I had like, no short-term memory. Like I could open a tab on the internet and I have. Look at it and like ask myself like six times, what did you open it up for? What did you open up for? Like, that was all day long. I would lose my phone. And then I literally was like God to suicidal ideation.
[00:10:21] Cause I was so tired. Like I would just fantasize about something happening, so I wouldn't have to wake up in the morning and that scared me, you know, so I really think it was just on a cellular level. How tired I was that that happened. My eyelid was twitching. My gut was racked. You're pretty much our guts going to be wrecked.
[00:10:40] So lots of symptoms and they're not always so obvious, you know, it can just be troubles with your menstrual cycle or anxiety. I definitely had chronic pain, which. Could really help me with so some of them, I would say the most common ones are brain fog and fatigue, but it can also be skin rashes, ADHD and [00:11:00] kids, you know, depression, weight gain.
[00:11:03] It's a tough one, much like Hashimoto's, because there's so many ways it can affect you.
[00:11:09] Julie Michelson: Sure. Sure. And for listeners in most of my listeners have auto immune illness and so they they're probably going, huh? I have half those symptoms. She just rattled off. There is such a crossover that it, it can be hard to dig deeper. Somebody with mold toxicity that has an autoimmune diagnosis. I can explain those symptoms away with their auto-immune diagnosis and doesn't necessarily dig deeper to find the cause.
[00:11:35] And this is one of the most common causes that I see, or at least contributors. So thank you for sharing that part of your story, because especially when all of that is going on, as anxiety is going up and mental health is being affected. I can only imagine the, when w when the doctors don't know what's wrong, that whole cycle of then, you know, they're [00:12:00] like, well, maybe it's in your head, you know?
[00:12:03] So that sounds incredibly. It's sad, but at the same time, I'm so grateful that you do what you do now. And that's how we all get here really is through our journey. And so I know that anybody that works with you is, is so fortunate that you ha you have not only, you know, that experience as the practitioner, but also you've lived it.
[00:12:25] You understand what it feels like.
[00:12:29] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think it really gave me like a thirst for knowledge and research that I can share all these little tidbits on people who, you know, feel like they tried everything and I'm like, well, you haven't done your glucose monitor and you haven't done this. Like, I always have more ideas for them
[00:12:48] Julie Michelson: as I mentioned, I'm sure so many listeners are hearing this right now and thinking, you know, I have that I'm this, should I look under this auto-immune [00:13:00] diagnosis? Maybe I have what kind of testing do you recommend if, if people are, what does that process look like? Or the process that you use?
[00:13:08] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. You know, I, I, a hundred percent think you should all, you know, I'm sure you agree. Julie always look under your auto immune diagnosis, right? I mean, that's how, what happened for me in my right? Yeah. It's where it CA it came from somewhere. And an interesting thing from this mold master class that I just recorded the, you know, a couple like themes came up and one.
[00:13:30] That multiple food sensitivities are a symptom of mold often. And so, so many people are out there seeking people like you are going online and they're like concerned about their gut as well. They should be. But what broke down? Good. Now it could just be your poor diet and stress, certainly. But it can definitely be mold, especially if you have been trying to eat.
[00:13:54] Right. And it's just not working. So yeah, I think it's really interesting. Luckily, it's a pretty simple [00:14:00] at-home urine test, right? It's pretty easy to interpret. I have personally have only seen one false negative, you know, occasionally you could be not pushing the mycotoxins out to the urine, but I've only seen it once.
[00:14:15] I think a lot of people are positive, frankly. And I think it affects all of us differently, like in our family. Much later I had my son tested pretty late in the process and he was positive, but he didn't really ever display symptoms that I could tell. And it's hard to get kids to do a bunch of detox stuff.
[00:14:35] I mean, if he was sick, Been working at hard, but I think you think people are often going to see positive. So especially if you have a lot of symptoms and you feel like you're doing the right things in psych and getting better. And then if you couple that with any suspicion about your home or your office now, sometimes you, you can't find things or recall things, but I just.
[00:14:59] Client [00:15:00] yesterday, actually, Julie, who did finally test, she was breast cancer positive some years back, maybe five years back. So she had a positive on her micro talks and we started to talk about it and it seems to, I'm having a plate test where she works. She's worked there for 10 years in the same hospital, the same room, and there have been.
[00:15:23] Water leaks from the toilet and from the ceiling. And they didn't, you know, they don't really get repaired correctly. So yeah, I
[00:15:32] Julie Michelson: are another big one hospitals and schools,
[00:15:35] Bridgit Danner: yeah, yeah. So, yeah, and, and I could, you know, she was having her resistant. It's just like I did in my house. Cause she was like, well, I like where I work. And I was like, well, you're not really enjoying, like, worrying that precancer is going to come up for you again.
[00:15:52] That's not fun. So, you know, it's like, let's get more information because it can contribute to things like [00:16:00] cancer and lots of other things. So, yeah, I think it's worth the investment. You know, there's so many tests you can do because it's broken down other body systems. I think it can be helpful to get other.
[00:16:12] But they don't have to be all at once. It can be per your budget or what you're focused on because for some people, fertility or hormone stuff might be really forefront in another person and really working on their gut. So, you know, if you blank check, you can do all a bunch of testing at once. Or you can just kind of go in phase disease because frankly mold and recovery.
[00:16:34] Going to be slow no matter how you slice it. So it's yeah. So you can start with potentially that, that urine test for mold at this wherever you're at in your journey, and then let that information lead you to the next step.
[00:16:49] Julie Michelson: I love that. And we often do that. We're playing detective and figuring out what, what tests makes the most sense. It's always like. You know, I was going to say [00:17:00] Christmas, which is kind of funny cause I'm Jewish, but maybe my birthday when I have a plan that does give me that one, like is like, no, I want all the answers.
[00:17:07] Now look under every rock we can immediately. I don't care what it costs. That's a rarity. Usually we're doing exactly what you said. It's one step at a time. What makes the most sense if I have, you know, somebody who. I don't know, you know, knows they had a tick bite and lives in somewhere like Arizona.
[00:17:28] I'm probably going to start with line before mold, you know, we're, we're going to take into account your history and, and the, and let that guide as well. So I, I love that. So testing is, is important to really be able to, I like what you said about the, getting the baseline to. You know, it's, I am a data geek and I know from my own mold journey, I love seeing numbers come down.
[00:17:51] I'm the same with, with my clients. I don't test often. It is a slow process. Once in a while for myself though, I'm like, I want to see, you know, how am I [00:18:00] now? So I love this is a huge, as you mentioned, even just the remediation process is a huge undertaking. So I also have run into people that know they have multi-axis city and really haven't done anything about.
[00:18:17] And I narrow, I know that you have your masterclass and I know you have your amazing book coming out soon, which is both such amazing resources for people because it is so overwhelming. Sometimes people just don't even know where to start. And, and so share with us kind of, I know it's too much to get into in under three hours.
[00:18:41] But how can people recover their health? It almost sounds hopeless if we're saying, you know, oh look, it could be in the home. It could be in the workplace. It's a big, it's a big undertaking. How do you recover your health?
[00:18:54] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I mean, it is an environmental illness, so you do need to change or [00:19:00] move or whatever. So yeah, we can talk more about that. And I, that's why I included in my book and in the masterclass that piece, because I know if I say I'm only going to talk about health, I'm going to be like, but, but, but like, what about my book?
[00:19:12] So what about this? So I, you know, I do. To cover that, that piece. And, and when to start, but yeah, you know, it's a lot to learn before I get in the health piece. I'll just say, cause you, some people might be listening and being like, oh my gosh, this is a lot to take on. I don't even know if I have it. I would just say, do yourself a favor with becoming familiar with some of this stuff, right?
[00:19:36] Like for one, and you'll learn this through the book and the masterclass be a better home. Or home liver, if you're a renter, because you know, we're just neglecting things, right? Like our home didn't have the drainage. Wasn't right. And we didn't run a dehumidifier in the basement. There were some other things we didn't know about, but You know, even just those two things, we could have been doing a better job.
[00:19:58] So just [00:20:00] know that you live in a home and just like your listeners, like want to take good care of their health with their eating take good care of your health with your home. You know, wet mop, don't use fragrance candles, like open windows. So do all those things, keep it mold free, right? So like at least learn a little bit.
[00:20:20] Prevention, like don't, don't move into a home where you could have seen, huh? There's some issues here, you know? Cause that'll, that'll cost you so you can learn for that reason. And then the other kind of timeless thing is like, learn about detoxification in general because we all need it. I, when I got into detox, I didn't realize that I would get the question like, well, do we really need to detox?
[00:20:43] Doesn't our body do that? Yes. Our body is designed to do that, but our body wasn't really doing. To live in 20, 22.
[00:20:51] Julie Michelson: Not even close.
[00:20:52] Bridgit Danner: Not even close. So all the chemicals that we put it in at all, all the stress we expose ourselves, all the blue light, all this changes, [00:21:00] you know, it's just stressful on our buyer, our food, even organic food isn't nutritious as it used to be.
[00:21:05] So there's just so many factors going against us. And now I'm, you know, I'm well out of mold, but. Detox all the time. You know, I own a sauna. I Castro, I do Castro packs. I drive rush to this morning. I saw ended last night. I literally did a coffee enema yesterday morning because it's just part of my lifestyle.
[00:21:25] So whether it's just like lemon water or other things like that, I think it's good to learn about. So let's sort of the people who aren't sure for the people who are dealing with mold. Firstly for me. Things that move to lymph where like some of the biggest needle movers in, in my health, like when I was at my sickest, if I would do a sauna, do a coffee enema, I would dry brush every day back then I got lymphatic massage.
[00:21:50] I got a rebounder. I got outside and walked every day. That helped me a lot. So I'm a big proponent of keeping it moving [00:22:00] basically. But you have to make sure as you're. You are also eliminating, so you have to make sure you're having bowel movements. And I have a section in my book about how to support that.
[00:22:10] A lot of people have trouble with having bowel movements. And if your brain is inflamed, that can be one more reason from mold. One more reason you could be having trouble with bowel movements and, and like motility. So you have to make sure you're eliminating. People could do a sauna and feel worse because they, they couldn't handle those toxins.
[00:22:27] It came out. So there are some things to get into place, but generally I find mobilizing really, really helpful. And then as far as eliminating, not only make sure you have a bowel movement, but one key supplement in this world, our binders, which people may have not heard of, but I think you will more, so your body likes to recycle bile that has toxins in it.
[00:22:51] Just cause that's normal, you know, we didn't use to have so many toxins, so it would just recycle it back. But we don't want those detoxes to recycle back, which is why some people [00:23:00] still have the same toxins years after the molding home. So you want to use a binder so that when you're pooping out, you're also the binders physically or chemically bind up the toxins.
[00:23:13] So they removed in the stool. So that's like one kind of key supplement. I kind of listed five of my. There's so many supplements you could take, obviously. But binders key one with that.
[00:23:25] Julie Michelson: You have a favorite binder?
[00:23:27] Bridgit Danner: Oh, I actually informed I have one in contract, so that will be my favorite. It's called my toxin binder and it'll be out in like may and it's a blend, so yeah, it's you know, some binders are individual and you can rotate and some are blends.
[00:23:43] And so ours is a blend to catch several categories of mycotoxins and keep the balance moving. So it's kind of like a two for one. Yeah. And it's a little soothing because binders can be constipating as well. So yeah, I'm super excited to get that one [00:24:00] out. And that if you are more supplement sensitive, you may want enterprise single agree ingredient, binder and go slower.
[00:24:06] I think I'm lucky that I can tolerate most, any thing I throw in my body. But yeah, we, you know, we definitely have clients that are sensitive to, and you may want to just start with like a pectin pectin. A citrus pectin is a really gentle binder you can do in a powder. You can do that with kids as well.
[00:24:25] Julie Michelson: That's fantastic. I remember when I first started to see, because I, I call myself a collector because I really, it's not just mycotoxins and mold it's metals and. Toxins. I am like the poster child or an insufficient detoxer. And so I was shocked, but I T and I have so many sensitivities fragrance, all the things, you know, typical, typical, somebody asked me the other day, we've been diagnosed with SIRS.
[00:24:55] I said, no. And they said, well, do you think you had it? I'm like, yeah, like I just, I. [00:25:00] Well, it wasn't that wasn't part of my journey, but I am that sensitive person except for when it comes to supplements and binders and glutathione and all the things to support detox. I now know how fortunate I was to.
[00:25:15] Yeah, with a handle. All of that makes me feel great. Like I when I first started working with people that were sent really sensitive, you know, you know, what do you mean this really gentle binder made you feel terrible? I don't understand.
[00:25:29] Bridgit Danner: Oh, I
[00:25:30] Julie Michelson: It just was really eye opening for me. So, you know, that's the case of where we really are all different and it depends on, you know, how your detox pathways are working.
[00:25:41] I love that you have something in your binder coming out for motility, because it is such a common problem with people. And
[00:25:49] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. Yeah. It's actually a pretty strong ingredient, but I was like, this is too much, but you know, you can certainly [00:26:00] do. I think we only, the we're deciding to do like a smaller bottle, smaller dosage, because you can always go up, but I don't want people to think, oh, I have to take four a day or I'm doing something wrong and it's too much.
[00:26:12] So yeah. It's Chinese rhubarb as much. Secret ingredient. Well, yeah,
[00:26:18] Julie Michelson: Let's see, we did a little bit of a deep dive into binders. How do you recommend, I just want to throw out there for people that aren't familiar and may run out and be like, oh, I think I need a binder. You know, we
[00:26:29] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, run out. I'm going to say, run out, go get it. Activated charcoal is the cheapest, probably one you can get it's good to have for hangovers and or for overeating for food poisoning. So it's a nice thing to have in your medicine cabinet. That's a nice one to start with.
[00:26:45] Julie Michelson: It is a good one. That one I find in particular, at least in higher doses can be extremely binding. I. Don't eat out a lot because I'm so particular. But when I travel and I do eat out, I always take activated charcoal just as like a [00:27:00] preemptive to stick capture. But talk a little bit about timing of binders.
[00:27:04] If it's somebody, if you're
[00:27:05] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. That's the one like a gold trick. Yeah. Generally, unless you just feel like you have food poisoning, then take the minder right away. But generally you take it. Let's see one hour before or two hours after food medication or supplements. 'cause they can mind things that you trying to benefit. I will say they don't bind perfectly.
[00:27:31] So I, I think people can get a little to worry that, oh gosh. Well now I can't lie still. I think many times at night I take a binder and then I was like, crap, I'm having trouble falling asleep. Let me take some melatonin or something. It's still worked. So I know that my under. Perfectly bind everything, but you definitely don't want to on purpose.
[00:27:53] Take them all together.
[00:27:55] Julie Michelson: Sure. Perfect. I just wanted to kind of to hit on that one. So [00:28:00] we've got the tech thing. We have this focus on detox, you, and you did touch on, you know, which is a whole, we were talking earlier. That's a whole nother podcast interview with the remediation specialists on all
[00:28:15] Bridgit Danner: have a couple, if you want some names. Yeah.
[00:28:18] Julie Michelson: All of the things and it is important. Well, I, you are the expert. I shouldn't, I, in my opinion, it is important. Tell me how you feel about kind of the D I Y approach to mold in your home.
[00:28:33] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I recently had like PTSD from one of my good friends, ne neighbor in her duplex had a leak in a base in the bath bathroom they didn't know about. And I guess there must've been some old starting come through the wall or somehow they found out. So her husband just forgot. Sledgehammered it, no mask, no plastic sheeting, no air scrubber.
[00:28:57] And she's sending me the pictures in my mind. And [00:29:00] then they went to home Depot and they're like, just put bleach on it, which is absolutely not what you're supposed to do. So I will say like, you're going to pay our pain later in this field, like a hundred percent. So if you are going to DIY. Be as knowledgeable as a real remediating pro.
[00:29:20] And that's going to take time for you to figure out and hope. You know, you probably have a background in some home stuff. I mean, really it's better to hire a mediator. And one that you've really vetted because like ours, you know, He did physically the stuff to take out drywall and all that, but he recommended we take everything out of our basement and put it in the main floor of the house.
[00:29:43] It's like horrible advice. So yeah, you're definitely, yeah, you gotta like, I mean, there's a great, there's a book called Mo the mold medic that a friend of mine wrote. My book has some sections in, in this there's different blogs. I got a new friend from gotten mold.com. He's [00:30:00] got a bunch of articles, so.
[00:30:02] You know, unfortunately it's time to learn right. When, when you're not feeling great. So you may, you know, learn at least a little bit. If you can maybe get a, one of those home loans, whatever they were called line of credit, like you may be better to use something like that.
[00:30:15] Julie Michelson: Yeah, it is so important. And this is why I wanted you to weigh in. I literally had a conversation with a client. Who's also a friend last week because I just did a panel on her and she and her husband had the identical. Panel. It's the same, the same exposure, you know? And I'm like, okay, this is a no brainer.
[00:30:38] This is definitely, you know, it may not. Do you think it's in your current home? Oh yeah, I know it is. And she was arguing with me. No, they can do it themselves. And he's an engineer and they have bleach. It was almost like I was talking to the same person you are. So.
[00:30:55] Bridgit Danner: Who knows?
[00:30:58] Julie Michelson: let's, this isn't really where I [00:31:00] planned on going.
[00:31:00] But, but since we both mentioned bleach, let's talk about people. Think, you know, you bleach mold and you don't see it again. We're back to that thinking that black mold is what we're always talking about, but does bleach kill mold?
[00:31:16] Bridgit Danner: So it can kill some spores, but there's like a big asterisk, right? So for one thing, bleach is takes away color. So that's makes it looks
[00:31:27] Julie Michelson: What looks
[00:31:27] Bridgit Danner: It can kill spores, but it can also drive them deeper. And it's moist. Like it's like 99% water, 95. You don't ever want to put more moisture on dry wall and a super toxic, and it's going to leave behind.
[00:31:42] All the toxic debris from the spores, which is really what makes you sick. You know, you may have some allergy or sensitivity the spores, but it's the VOC and the mycotoxins and the, all the little things coming off that you just bombed. And now they're coming [00:32:00] off again. So no it's short answer is no,
[00:32:04] Julie Michelson: Which is also why you don't want to take a sledgehammer to moldy drywall and release all of it, or why you were talking about bringing the moldy stuff up onto your clean level. You just now exposed your clean levels. So. Stuff is airborne. And this is why the DIY approach is really, really not a good idea.
[00:32:26] I would say I'm a little more hardcore than you, even if you really research, I mean, you need things sealed off. You need to be protected. You need to know what you're doing. But yeah, the very, very,
[00:32:39] Bridgit Danner: while it's going on. Yeah. I mean, there's so many, we ruined two cars. I feel like I can speak strongly about it because we made all the mistakes and I'm like, go ahead. You can do, you can make all the same mistakes, but it's going to cost you. Yeah, or you're going to put your household back together and then a month later, you're like, [00:33:00] why am I still sick?
[00:33:01] Well, cause you didn't do it. Right. And you know, I'm being kind of flipping right now, but you know, it's yeah. It's almost just better to get some of the hard truth because yeah. Nobody chooses this. Nobody chooses to spend 40 grand on their home.
[00:33:17] Julie Michelson: no.
[00:33:18] Bridgit Danner: It's like, I don't know, like say your house got hit by like an astronaut.
[00:33:24] He wouldn't be like, well, I don't want to spend the money. You would just, you know, get it done. But somehow with mold, because it's a different type of problem. We, some, we try to justify waiting and there's different solutions. So yeah, something we just have to be really like, tough love. On ourselves and say, I love myself enough to do this.
[00:33:46] Oncomfort I mean, you and I were talking before we came on, I'm doing something very uncomfortable in business right now, but I want the thing. Right? So sometimes we have to go through that discomfort and to know like the [00:34:00] result we want is worth it. And sometimes that's going to take testing or urine testing or some research to be like, okay, I get how serious this is.
[00:34:09] Julie Michelson: I love that. That's so true through the discomfort comes the growth, everybody, so, okay. We've tested, we've hopefully identified and removed the source. Here's the other thing, guys, it's really. Hard, you don't say, well, I'm just going to pick up Bridget's book when it comes out and I'm going to do all the other things and I'm, I'm just gonna, you know, leave the mold in the home.
[00:34:31] It's not that bad, really, really, really difficult, if not impossible to heal when you're still being exposed. So you've got to handle the home exposure.
[00:34:43] Bridgit Danner: Yes, you do. I mean, you can like, you know, say you're sorting out the house, so you're waiting on a new lease. You know, you can take your binders, open windows, do some things, but don't think that's gonna carry you two years or anything like that.
[00:34:59] Julie Michelson: That's [00:35:00] such good advice. So I know you have this amazing masterclass, you touched on some of the things that people would learn in the masterclass, some of the content that you cover. What else, you know, if people are curious about you know, I cannot encourage you guys enough to get the ultimate toxic mold recovery guide when it comes out, which will be
[00:35:23] Bridgit Danner: I got a picture. I don't have a book, but I have a picture.
[00:35:26] Julie Michelson: I'm inside. I so wish I had this book, you know, 10 years ago. So I'm excited
[00:35:31] Bridgit Danner: Yeah,
[00:35:32] Julie Michelson: for it to come out. Well, what else? You know, why should, if somebody's curious or if they know they have mold and they just don't know what to do, you know, tell us a little bit about the MasterCard.
[00:35:44] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I mean, I there's two whole days really on the home, so that's awesome. You know, testing remediation, living a nontoxic life, moving forward, stuff like that. So I think that's really great. We have lots of different experts in this field. Like Jill [00:36:00] Carnahan. Mary accurately whose name you don't hear enough?
[00:36:03] Who's amazing is reviewed like thousands of brain scans of people who've gone through mold. So interesting. So you know, and a lot of our speakers have been through it too. And so we cover some basic things, so to speak like shifts you can do in your diet, getting outside, doing sauna. And, and when we get a little more technical with things like how it's related to parasites and lines auto immunity, stuff like that.
[00:36:29] So it's just kind of a smattering. You can show up for whatever you want, you can own it. So you have it forever. If you find this podcast much later, it will be like an evergreen event. So you can always get some free access. But yeah, I would love for people to check it out. If it gets kinda lost in the shuffle.
[00:36:47] You can always go back to my website, which is Bridgit danner.com. You know, if you find this a year from now, we'll, we'll still have more resources on there. We have a lot of blogs. So even if you're just interested in one thing, I said, like coffee, enemas, like, [00:37:00] you know, come over and, and search it and take a look.
[00:37:03] Julie Michelson: I love that. And I loved your list by the way of the, just supporting that. Detox pathways and Lim system, the coffee enemas, the sauna, the dry brushing. I know there's more that you didn't share the binders. The, I mentioned the glutathione. I know you, you were in favor of that as well. So, so many things that we can do.
[00:37:25] And like you said, even, even those without mold toxicity, we do all, we all need to detox and to. Support those pathways on a regular basis. So there's just so much value. I can't encourage you guys enough to check out the masterclass. Because as I said in the beginning, there is crossover. I don't know many people that only have mold toxicity and that's their only thing.
[00:37:51] It hasn't led to any other. You know, it's all like that. It's the gut is the auto-immune and the co-infections with the lime and the, I mean, [00:38:00] so check it out, you guys, and we'll put a link in the show notes for that as well. I I know that you gave us your website. Is that the best place for listeners to go to find you.
[00:38:11] Bridgit Danner: I think it's the easiest, since it's just my name and that'll stay that way. So yeah, if later you can't find a certain thing, you're always welcome to ask my team. And we'll have a bunch of resources up there as well. I just wanted to mention too, because I think a lot of my clients and I'm in the same boat we're also like wanting to anti-age.
[00:38:32] Stuff helps that as well. So I was just saying, thinking about why I get, so did you use to still do all these techniques? They just make me feel good. You know, they make me have energy. You know, they help balance your weight. And so I think they're just great pride if you're like, well, why do I have to detox all the time?
[00:38:49] You will get benefits that you actually see that people are going to be like, wow, you don't look like your age. So there's a little, a little, hopefully a motivator
[00:38:59] Julie Michelson: it or not [00:39:00] bridge, it's not 12 we'll need it.
[00:39:03] Bridgit Danner: I'm 85 and I still look this way.
[00:39:07] Julie Michelson: And I say to people all the time, I'm, I'm about to turn 53 and I feel so much better than I felt in my thirties. And yes, I was not well, but I think even. Had a, well it's tricky. I was going to say, had I not been that sick? I would still feel better, although I wouldn't be doing all the things. So see how that works.
[00:39:28] But the there's, all of these supportive things are anti-aging as well. And so somebody doesn't need to be down and out, head on the pillow. To benefit from really, you know, protecting their body and supporting their detox pathways and living cleanly to Uplevel. So sometimes Uplevel is literally just getting up and sometimes up level is what you're about to do, which is the next breakthrough level.
[00:39:56] Bridgit Danner: Well, thank you, Julie, for all the support. I really appreciate it.
[00:39:59] Julie Michelson: Oh, I'm [00:40:00] so glad you guys, I cannot encourage you enough. Aye. Aye. Aye. Bridget. Is always giving out so much information. She's such an amazing resource. And so I know we covered a lot and I always ask this question so you can pick from something we already covered or give another, another tip. But if somebody was to listen to this and do one thing, take one step starting a day to move that needle on their health, what would it be?
[00:40:29] Bridgit Danner: I'm going to say, get outside more.
[00:40:31] Julie Michelson: Ah,
[00:40:32] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, get out in nature. It's so good for your nervous system and your air. The air is cleaner. That's like the sunshine is good for you. So that's so simple. So even just take a, to add a 10 minute walk after dinner, you know, whatever it is. But yeah, just call a girlfriends, get your
[00:40:52] Julie Michelson: I love it.
[00:40:53] Bridgit Danner: outside.
[00:40:56] Julie Michelson: Bridget. Thank you so much. You've shared some amazing [00:41:00] gold with us today.
[00:41:02] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah. If anybody has a follow-up, you're welcome to reach out to us.
[00:41:07] Julie Michelson: Yes, all of the links will be in the show notes. And again, I can't wait for the book to come out in the spring and you guys check out that masterclass for everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspiredliving.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
[00:41:28] I'll see you all next week.
[00:01:00] Bridget is also the author of an incredible resource, the ultimate toxic mold recovery guide. And today we dive into what you need to know about toxic mold and discuss how to determine if mold toxicity might be contributing to your illness and how to recover your health if it is.
[00:01:18] Bridget welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:22] Bridgit Danner: Hi, Julie. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:24] Julie Michelson: I am so excited. You're here. You know, this is one of my very favorite topics because it's, it is part of my personal journey. And I know so many of my clients that I work with struggle with mold toxicity. So I always love to start with. How did you shift into this world? How is it that you now spend your time helping people recover from multiplicity?
[00:01:53] Bridgit Danner: I know it's a weird thing to, you know, I wasn't thinking when I was a little girl that I would get this Sunday.[00:02:00] But I feel like I have a really nice full circle story, actually, because as a little girl, I was environmentalist, like from a very young age, like giving my allowance to environments per groups.
[00:02:10] And then I went on. Study art in college because they said, you know, do something you enjoy. And, but by the end of college, I was like, you know, this isn't really fitting, like the change I want to see in the world. I think I should go into some environmental law or natural medicine was also an option.
[00:02:28] So I ended up studying Chinese medicine and kind of having this idea that when I graduated, I would teach some environmental awareness and things like that. While at least my. But I moved to Portland, Oregon. It's very environmentally aware. So I never really happened. I just was doing my, doing my work, learning my craft as an acupuncturist.
[00:02:49] And meanwhile, I didn't know it, but I was living in a moldy house and I just couldn't recover my health. It was kind of just up and down, up and down. And then I really hit a low [00:03:00] point around the time I found out about the mold. So then it does operate in my whole life, you know, remediate, remediate that house, moved out of that house, eventually sold that clinic and moved to Arizona.
[00:03:11] And now I really did have a chance to restart and focus my career on environment. So I kinda moved from this women's health focus to detoxification and like slowly focusing more on. Mold detox. Cause I just knew so much about it. And I didn't realize there's still a big gap out there. And people learning about toxins in the home and you know, here in Phoenix, Arizona, there's much less awareness than in Portland, Oregon.
[00:03:38] So I, I do teach about other toxins and have done some certification in that, but really I just have so much experience with mold from my own life and being a practitioner going through. I studied super hard. And you know, then we started off from mold testing to our clients and hearing their stories and creating resources.
[00:03:58] So it's kind of [00:04:00] nice that I really got to get back into what, since I was a child, I thought was most important in life. So I'm pretty happy. I landed here ultimately,
[00:04:12] Julie Michelson: Well, you know, the universe does work in mysterious ways. I'm sure though, even relating to that, you probably weren't thinking about toxins and molds as a youngster with your environmental support. So many parts of your story. I want to circle back to I want to dig in if you're willing to share, and it doesn't even have.
[00:04:34] Your personal symptoms? I do think, and sometimes I'm fooled because as we were saying before, we turned the camera on sometimes I think things are more widely known and appreciated because of the circles I spend my time in, and then I get out into the, into public and realize, you know, the McDonald's line is around the corner and there things haven't quite shifted [00:05:00] as.
[00:05:00] As I presume they have. So of course I'm very familiar with mold issues and challenges. I love, you know, I remember when I moved from moldy Florida to Colorado, I was told, and this was almost 20 years ago. I was told, you know, oh, we don't have mold in Colorado. You know, because it's dry here. And so would, there is no more, you don't have to worry about mold in your home in Colorado.
[00:05:27] It's not a thing. Not true,
[00:05:30] Bridgit Danner: Not true. Yeah. I have a couple of friends. Yeah.
[00:05:34] Julie Michelson: you
[00:05:35] Bridgit Danner: Last but not, not a blanket statement.
[00:05:38] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. So it, it is interesting. So that has evolved even since I've been here. For listeners, you know, why, why should they care? What are some of those symptoms symptoms? Because I think so many people, when they think of mold, they think of like visible black mold that they [00:06:00] could see that was maybe like over their bed.
[00:06:02] And they knew they had, you know, like. There there's a misconception about what mold exposure can look like, but also what does it feel like? How, what kind of symptoms did you have? I know there's a range.
[00:06:15] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, that's a great question. And I, I know I kind of skirted through that in my story. So I I'll, I can tell you about, more about my home, which yeah. You know, you walked in and. This is this is a moldy riding down, even though it was up beneath the walls. But yeah, I mean, I think for a while, you know, it's, it started kind of slowly, which it often does.
[00:06:39] So I moved into this home when I got engaged and we pretty quickly got married, got pregnant. I opened. Clinics. So a lot was going on. I had a lot of causes for the fact that I wasn't sleeping well at night and was getting more anxious. Right. So I thought it was really first because I had had a baby.
[00:06:57] So I was working on things like with a coach [00:07:00] life coach, I was working on my diet. So yeah, I was anxious. Insomnia. I was having breakthrough bleeding. I was having a lot of colds and flus in the winter, which wasn't completely new to me, which makes me kind of wonder about some of my background, but it just got really bad.
[00:07:15] Like I got, I got pink eye, like who gets pink eye
[00:07:18] Julie Michelson: That's an adult.
[00:07:20] Bridgit Danner: as an adult, like in my immune system. Tanked and especially in the winter and I would just be Chile all the time, but again, I lived in a cold climate, but like literal chills. And it's like, sometimes you look back and you remember certain moments. And I remember one where we're supposed to go to this parade and I just was too, like sick to go.
[00:07:40] The whole, everybody went without me. And I was just like in the bathtub, like shivering for like the 200th time, just like crying. Cause I was just like, what is wrong with me? You know? And and I kept doing more stuff. Like I think it did help, but not really ultimately helped cause I was in a moldy house, but [00:08:00] like, you know, I was making my own bone broth.
[00:08:02] Totally detoxing my home from chemicals. I was doing detoxes. I was like, I found out I had EBV and I started work treating that. I started studying functional medicine and a lot of what I do now is to figure out my own self. And then when it got to my, to the worst part, Okay. So I went through a functional medicine training.
[00:08:23] I did some testing and I found out I had leaky gut and various things. So I was working on that. And then, but then the weather turned and I switched to working at home more because I wanted to be online more. We had some flooding, not flooding, but just like wetness in our basement. I got strep throat.
[00:08:40] I got like bad. I quit. I wasn't recovering. Well, I was exhausted. I needed a detox. It didn't work. I was just more tired than, than I ever had been. And I actually had just like around then found out I had some Hashimoto's antibodies for the first time. And, and then I was going to then [00:09:00] snatch for about the clinic getting IVs.
[00:09:01] Like I was just not doing well. And I, I said to them like, there's really nothing else I can do with my lifestyle. W can you test me for some other things? So they tested me for even more auto-immunity and they asked me about my home and that's like, was the first time I really considered it? And I said, well, yeah, we do have this Mosty basement.
[00:09:21] And it just caught some wetness coming in. It was carpeted, so stupid. So I mentioned. To my husband at the time. And we decided to get a mold inspection for really, he, he was the impetus. I didn't really want to know to be honest. Cause I knew what a mess it would be if we had it. And we had it, you know, we had a lot of different problems.
[00:09:40] Yeah. I didn't know. Just finally gotten home. And now that now we're ripping up the whole home while I was in it, which made me even sicker. So really my lowest of the low was one. Once they started to rip up the home and made mistakes, like major, we made major mistakes. I was in the home almost all the time, moving, [00:10:00] moldy things into the main floor.
[00:10:02] And at this point I had like, no short-term memory. Like I could open a tab on the internet and I have. Look at it and like ask myself like six times, what did you open it up for? What did you open up for? Like, that was all day long. I would lose my phone. And then I literally was like God to suicidal ideation.
[00:10:21] Cause I was so tired. Like I would just fantasize about something happening, so I wouldn't have to wake up in the morning and that scared me, you know, so I really think it was just on a cellular level. How tired I was that that happened. My eyelid was twitching. My gut was racked. You're pretty much our guts going to be wrecked.
[00:10:40] So lots of symptoms and they're not always so obvious, you know, it can just be troubles with your menstrual cycle or anxiety. I definitely had chronic pain, which. Could really help me with so some of them, I would say the most common ones are brain fog and fatigue, but it can also be skin rashes, ADHD and [00:11:00] kids, you know, depression, weight gain.
[00:11:03] It's a tough one, much like Hashimoto's, because there's so many ways it can affect you.
[00:11:09] Julie Michelson: Sure. Sure. And for listeners in most of my listeners have auto immune illness and so they they're probably going, huh? I have half those symptoms. She just rattled off. There is such a crossover that it, it can be hard to dig deeper. Somebody with mold toxicity that has an autoimmune diagnosis. I can explain those symptoms away with their auto-immune diagnosis and doesn't necessarily dig deeper to find the cause.
[00:11:35] And this is one of the most common causes that I see, or at least contributors. So thank you for sharing that part of your story, because especially when all of that is going on, as anxiety is going up and mental health is being affected. I can only imagine the, when w when the doctors don't know what's wrong, that whole cycle of then, you know, they're [00:12:00] like, well, maybe it's in your head, you know?
[00:12:03] So that sounds incredibly. It's sad, but at the same time, I'm so grateful that you do what you do now. And that's how we all get here really is through our journey. And so I know that anybody that works with you is, is so fortunate that you ha you have not only, you know, that experience as the practitioner, but also you've lived it.
[00:12:25] You understand what it feels like.
[00:12:29] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think it really gave me like a thirst for knowledge and research that I can share all these little tidbits on people who, you know, feel like they tried everything and I'm like, well, you haven't done your glucose monitor and you haven't done this. Like, I always have more ideas for them
[00:12:48] Julie Michelson: as I mentioned, I'm sure so many listeners are hearing this right now and thinking, you know, I have that I'm this, should I look under this auto-immune [00:13:00] diagnosis? Maybe I have what kind of testing do you recommend if, if people are, what does that process look like? Or the process that you use?
[00:13:08] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. You know, I, I, a hundred percent think you should all, you know, I'm sure you agree. Julie always look under your auto immune diagnosis, right? I mean, that's how, what happened for me in my right? Yeah. It's where it CA it came from somewhere. And an interesting thing from this mold master class that I just recorded the, you know, a couple like themes came up and one.
[00:13:30] That multiple food sensitivities are a symptom of mold often. And so, so many people are out there seeking people like you are going online and they're like concerned about their gut as well. They should be. But what broke down? Good. Now it could just be your poor diet and stress, certainly. But it can definitely be mold, especially if you have been trying to eat.
[00:13:54] Right. And it's just not working. So yeah, I think it's really interesting. Luckily, it's a pretty simple [00:14:00] at-home urine test, right? It's pretty easy to interpret. I have personally have only seen one false negative, you know, occasionally you could be not pushing the mycotoxins out to the urine, but I've only seen it once.
[00:14:15] I think a lot of people are positive, frankly. And I think it affects all of us differently, like in our family. Much later I had my son tested pretty late in the process and he was positive, but he didn't really ever display symptoms that I could tell. And it's hard to get kids to do a bunch of detox stuff.
[00:14:35] I mean, if he was sick, Been working at hard, but I think you think people are often going to see positive. So especially if you have a lot of symptoms and you feel like you're doing the right things in psych and getting better. And then if you couple that with any suspicion about your home or your office now, sometimes you, you can't find things or recall things, but I just.
[00:14:59] Client [00:15:00] yesterday, actually, Julie, who did finally test, she was breast cancer positive some years back, maybe five years back. So she had a positive on her micro talks and we started to talk about it and it seems to, I'm having a plate test where she works. She's worked there for 10 years in the same hospital, the same room, and there have been.
[00:15:23] Water leaks from the toilet and from the ceiling. And they didn't, you know, they don't really get repaired correctly. So yeah, I
[00:15:32] Julie Michelson: are another big one hospitals and schools,
[00:15:35] Bridgit Danner: yeah, yeah. So, yeah, and, and I could, you know, she was having her resistant. It's just like I did in my house. Cause she was like, well, I like where I work. And I was like, well, you're not really enjoying, like, worrying that precancer is going to come up for you again.
[00:15:52] That's not fun. So, you know, it's like, let's get more information because it can contribute to things like [00:16:00] cancer and lots of other things. So, yeah, I think it's worth the investment. You know, there's so many tests you can do because it's broken down other body systems. I think it can be helpful to get other.
[00:16:12] But they don't have to be all at once. It can be per your budget or what you're focused on because for some people, fertility or hormone stuff might be really forefront in another person and really working on their gut. So, you know, if you blank check, you can do all a bunch of testing at once. Or you can just kind of go in phase disease because frankly mold and recovery.
[00:16:34] Going to be slow no matter how you slice it. So it's yeah. So you can start with potentially that, that urine test for mold at this wherever you're at in your journey, and then let that information lead you to the next step.
[00:16:49] Julie Michelson: I love that. And we often do that. We're playing detective and figuring out what, what tests makes the most sense. It's always like. You know, I was going to say [00:17:00] Christmas, which is kind of funny cause I'm Jewish, but maybe my birthday when I have a plan that does give me that one, like is like, no, I want all the answers.
[00:17:07] Now look under every rock we can immediately. I don't care what it costs. That's a rarity. Usually we're doing exactly what you said. It's one step at a time. What makes the most sense if I have, you know, somebody who. I don't know, you know, knows they had a tick bite and lives in somewhere like Arizona.
[00:17:28] I'm probably going to start with line before mold, you know, we're, we're going to take into account your history and, and the, and let that guide as well. So I, I love that. So testing is, is important to really be able to, I like what you said about the, getting the baseline to. You know, it's, I am a data geek and I know from my own mold journey, I love seeing numbers come down.
[00:17:51] I'm the same with, with my clients. I don't test often. It is a slow process. Once in a while for myself though, I'm like, I want to see, you know, how am I [00:18:00] now? So I love this is a huge, as you mentioned, even just the remediation process is a huge undertaking. So I also have run into people that know they have multi-axis city and really haven't done anything about.
[00:18:17] And I narrow, I know that you have your masterclass and I know you have your amazing book coming out soon, which is both such amazing resources for people because it is so overwhelming. Sometimes people just don't even know where to start. And, and so share with us kind of, I know it's too much to get into in under three hours.
[00:18:41] But how can people recover their health? It almost sounds hopeless if we're saying, you know, oh look, it could be in the home. It could be in the workplace. It's a big, it's a big undertaking. How do you recover your health?
[00:18:54] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I mean, it is an environmental illness, so you do need to change or [00:19:00] move or whatever. So yeah, we can talk more about that. And I, that's why I included in my book and in the masterclass that piece, because I know if I say I'm only going to talk about health, I'm going to be like, but, but, but like, what about my book?
[00:19:12] So what about this? So I, you know, I do. To cover that, that piece. And, and when to start, but yeah, you know, it's a lot to learn before I get in the health piece. I'll just say, cause you, some people might be listening and being like, oh my gosh, this is a lot to take on. I don't even know if I have it. I would just say, do yourself a favor with becoming familiar with some of this stuff, right?
[00:19:36] Like for one, and you'll learn this through the book and the masterclass be a better home. Or home liver, if you're a renter, because you know, we're just neglecting things, right? Like our home didn't have the drainage. Wasn't right. And we didn't run a dehumidifier in the basement. There were some other things we didn't know about, but You know, even just those two things, we could have been doing a better job.
[00:19:58] So just [00:20:00] know that you live in a home and just like your listeners, like want to take good care of their health with their eating take good care of your health with your home. You know, wet mop, don't use fragrance candles, like open windows. So do all those things, keep it mold free, right? So like at least learn a little bit.
[00:20:20] Prevention, like don't, don't move into a home where you could have seen, huh? There's some issues here, you know? Cause that'll, that'll cost you so you can learn for that reason. And then the other kind of timeless thing is like, learn about detoxification in general because we all need it. I, when I got into detox, I didn't realize that I would get the question like, well, do we really need to detox?
[00:20:43] Doesn't our body do that? Yes. Our body is designed to do that, but our body wasn't really doing. To live in 20, 22.
[00:20:51] Julie Michelson: Not even close.
[00:20:52] Bridgit Danner: Not even close. So all the chemicals that we put it in at all, all the stress we expose ourselves, all the blue light, all this changes, [00:21:00] you know, it's just stressful on our buyer, our food, even organic food isn't nutritious as it used to be.
[00:21:05] So there's just so many factors going against us. And now I'm, you know, I'm well out of mold, but. Detox all the time. You know, I own a sauna. I Castro, I do Castro packs. I drive rush to this morning. I saw ended last night. I literally did a coffee enema yesterday morning because it's just part of my lifestyle.
[00:21:25] So whether it's just like lemon water or other things like that, I think it's good to learn about. So let's sort of the people who aren't sure for the people who are dealing with mold. Firstly for me. Things that move to lymph where like some of the biggest needle movers in, in my health, like when I was at my sickest, if I would do a sauna, do a coffee enema, I would dry brush every day back then I got lymphatic massage.
[00:21:50] I got a rebounder. I got outside and walked every day. That helped me a lot. So I'm a big proponent of keeping it moving [00:22:00] basically. But you have to make sure as you're. You are also eliminating, so you have to make sure you're having bowel movements. And I have a section in my book about how to support that.
[00:22:10] A lot of people have trouble with having bowel movements. And if your brain is inflamed, that can be one more reason from mold. One more reason you could be having trouble with bowel movements and, and like motility. So you have to make sure you're eliminating. People could do a sauna and feel worse because they, they couldn't handle those toxins.
[00:22:27] It came out. So there are some things to get into place, but generally I find mobilizing really, really helpful. And then as far as eliminating, not only make sure you have a bowel movement, but one key supplement in this world, our binders, which people may have not heard of, but I think you will more, so your body likes to recycle bile that has toxins in it.
[00:22:51] Just cause that's normal, you know, we didn't use to have so many toxins, so it would just recycle it back. But we don't want those detoxes to recycle back, which is why some people [00:23:00] still have the same toxins years after the molding home. So you want to use a binder so that when you're pooping out, you're also the binders physically or chemically bind up the toxins.
[00:23:13] So they removed in the stool. So that's like one kind of key supplement. I kind of listed five of my. There's so many supplements you could take, obviously. But binders key one with that.
[00:23:25] Julie Michelson: You have a favorite binder?
[00:23:27] Bridgit Danner: Oh, I actually informed I have one in contract, so that will be my favorite. It's called my toxin binder and it'll be out in like may and it's a blend, so yeah, it's you know, some binders are individual and you can rotate and some are blends.
[00:23:43] And so ours is a blend to catch several categories of mycotoxins and keep the balance moving. So it's kind of like a two for one. Yeah. And it's a little soothing because binders can be constipating as well. So yeah, I'm super excited to get that one [00:24:00] out. And that if you are more supplement sensitive, you may want enterprise single agree ingredient, binder and go slower.
[00:24:06] I think I'm lucky that I can tolerate most, any thing I throw in my body. But yeah, we, you know, we definitely have clients that are sensitive to, and you may want to just start with like a pectin pectin. A citrus pectin is a really gentle binder you can do in a powder. You can do that with kids as well.
[00:24:25] Julie Michelson: That's fantastic. I remember when I first started to see, because I, I call myself a collector because I really, it's not just mycotoxins and mold it's metals and. Toxins. I am like the poster child or an insufficient detoxer. And so I was shocked, but I T and I have so many sensitivities fragrance, all the things, you know, typical, typical, somebody asked me the other day, we've been diagnosed with SIRS.
[00:24:55] I said, no. And they said, well, do you think you had it? I'm like, yeah, like I just, I. [00:25:00] Well, it wasn't that wasn't part of my journey, but I am that sensitive person except for when it comes to supplements and binders and glutathione and all the things to support detox. I now know how fortunate I was to.
[00:25:15] Yeah, with a handle. All of that makes me feel great. Like I when I first started working with people that were sent really sensitive, you know, you know, what do you mean this really gentle binder made you feel terrible? I don't understand.
[00:25:29] Bridgit Danner: Oh, I
[00:25:30] Julie Michelson: It just was really eye opening for me. So, you know, that's the case of where we really are all different and it depends on, you know, how your detox pathways are working.
[00:25:41] I love that you have something in your binder coming out for motility, because it is such a common problem with people. And
[00:25:49] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. Yeah. It's actually a pretty strong ingredient, but I was like, this is too much, but you know, you can certainly [00:26:00] do. I think we only, the we're deciding to do like a smaller bottle, smaller dosage, because you can always go up, but I don't want people to think, oh, I have to take four a day or I'm doing something wrong and it's too much.
[00:26:12] So yeah. It's Chinese rhubarb as much. Secret ingredient. Well, yeah,
[00:26:18] Julie Michelson: Let's see, we did a little bit of a deep dive into binders. How do you recommend, I just want to throw out there for people that aren't familiar and may run out and be like, oh, I think I need a binder. You know, we
[00:26:29] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, run out. I'm going to say, run out, go get it. Activated charcoal is the cheapest, probably one you can get it's good to have for hangovers and or for overeating for food poisoning. So it's a nice thing to have in your medicine cabinet. That's a nice one to start with.
[00:26:45] Julie Michelson: It is a good one. That one I find in particular, at least in higher doses can be extremely binding. I. Don't eat out a lot because I'm so particular. But when I travel and I do eat out, I always take activated charcoal just as like a [00:27:00] preemptive to stick capture. But talk a little bit about timing of binders.
[00:27:04] If it's somebody, if you're
[00:27:05] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. That's the one like a gold trick. Yeah. Generally, unless you just feel like you have food poisoning, then take the minder right away. But generally you take it. Let's see one hour before or two hours after food medication or supplements. 'cause they can mind things that you trying to benefit. I will say they don't bind perfectly.
[00:27:31] So I, I think people can get a little to worry that, oh gosh. Well now I can't lie still. I think many times at night I take a binder and then I was like, crap, I'm having trouble falling asleep. Let me take some melatonin or something. It's still worked. So I know that my under. Perfectly bind everything, but you definitely don't want to on purpose.
[00:27:53] Take them all together.
[00:27:55] Julie Michelson: Sure. Perfect. I just wanted to kind of to hit on that one. So [00:28:00] we've got the tech thing. We have this focus on detox, you, and you did touch on, you know, which is a whole, we were talking earlier. That's a whole nother podcast interview with the remediation specialists on all
[00:28:15] Bridgit Danner: have a couple, if you want some names. Yeah.
[00:28:18] Julie Michelson: All of the things and it is important. Well, I, you are the expert. I shouldn't, I, in my opinion, it is important. Tell me how you feel about kind of the D I Y approach to mold in your home.
[00:28:33] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I recently had like PTSD from one of my good friends, ne neighbor in her duplex had a leak in a base in the bath bathroom they didn't know about. And I guess there must've been some old starting come through the wall or somehow they found out. So her husband just forgot. Sledgehammered it, no mask, no plastic sheeting, no air scrubber.
[00:28:57] And she's sending me the pictures in my mind. And [00:29:00] then they went to home Depot and they're like, just put bleach on it, which is absolutely not what you're supposed to do. So I will say like, you're going to pay our pain later in this field, like a hundred percent. So if you are going to DIY. Be as knowledgeable as a real remediating pro.
[00:29:20] And that's going to take time for you to figure out and hope. You know, you probably have a background in some home stuff. I mean, really it's better to hire a mediator. And one that you've really vetted because like ours, you know, He did physically the stuff to take out drywall and all that, but he recommended we take everything out of our basement and put it in the main floor of the house.
[00:29:43] It's like horrible advice. So yeah, you're definitely, yeah, you gotta like, I mean, there's a great, there's a book called Mo the mold medic that a friend of mine wrote. My book has some sections in, in this there's different blogs. I got a new friend from gotten mold.com. He's [00:30:00] got a bunch of articles, so.
[00:30:02] You know, unfortunately it's time to learn right. When, when you're not feeling great. So you may, you know, learn at least a little bit. If you can maybe get a, one of those home loans, whatever they were called line of credit, like you may be better to use something like that.
[00:30:15] Julie Michelson: Yeah, it is so important. And this is why I wanted you to weigh in. I literally had a conversation with a client. Who's also a friend last week because I just did a panel on her and she and her husband had the identical. Panel. It's the same, the same exposure, you know? And I'm like, okay, this is a no brainer.
[00:30:38] This is definitely, you know, it may not. Do you think it's in your current home? Oh yeah, I know it is. And she was arguing with me. No, they can do it themselves. And he's an engineer and they have bleach. It was almost like I was talking to the same person you are. So.
[00:30:55] Bridgit Danner: Who knows?
[00:30:58] Julie Michelson: let's, this isn't really where I [00:31:00] planned on going.
[00:31:00] But, but since we both mentioned bleach, let's talk about people. Think, you know, you bleach mold and you don't see it again. We're back to that thinking that black mold is what we're always talking about, but does bleach kill mold?
[00:31:16] Bridgit Danner: So it can kill some spores, but there's like a big asterisk, right? So for one thing, bleach is takes away color. So that's makes it looks
[00:31:27] Julie Michelson: What looks
[00:31:27] Bridgit Danner: It can kill spores, but it can also drive them deeper. And it's moist. Like it's like 99% water, 95. You don't ever want to put more moisture on dry wall and a super toxic, and it's going to leave behind.
[00:31:42] All the toxic debris from the spores, which is really what makes you sick. You know, you may have some allergy or sensitivity the spores, but it's the VOC and the mycotoxins and the, all the little things coming off that you just bombed. And now they're coming [00:32:00] off again. So no it's short answer is no,
[00:32:04] Julie Michelson: Which is also why you don't want to take a sledgehammer to moldy drywall and release all of it, or why you were talking about bringing the moldy stuff up onto your clean level. You just now exposed your clean levels. So. Stuff is airborne. And this is why the DIY approach is really, really not a good idea.
[00:32:26] I would say I'm a little more hardcore than you, even if you really research, I mean, you need things sealed off. You need to be protected. You need to know what you're doing. But yeah, the very, very,
[00:32:39] Bridgit Danner: while it's going on. Yeah. I mean, there's so many, we ruined two cars. I feel like I can speak strongly about it because we made all the mistakes and I'm like, go ahead. You can do, you can make all the same mistakes, but it's going to cost you. Yeah, or you're going to put your household back together and then a month later, you're like, [00:33:00] why am I still sick?
[00:33:01] Well, cause you didn't do it. Right. And you know, I'm being kind of flipping right now, but you know, it's yeah. It's almost just better to get some of the hard truth because yeah. Nobody chooses this. Nobody chooses to spend 40 grand on their home.
[00:33:17] Julie Michelson: no.
[00:33:18] Bridgit Danner: It's like, I don't know, like say your house got hit by like an astronaut.
[00:33:24] He wouldn't be like, well, I don't want to spend the money. You would just, you know, get it done. But somehow with mold, because it's a different type of problem. We, some, we try to justify waiting and there's different solutions. So yeah, something we just have to be really like, tough love. On ourselves and say, I love myself enough to do this.
[00:33:46] Oncomfort I mean, you and I were talking before we came on, I'm doing something very uncomfortable in business right now, but I want the thing. Right? So sometimes we have to go through that discomfort and to know like the [00:34:00] result we want is worth it. And sometimes that's going to take testing or urine testing or some research to be like, okay, I get how serious this is.
[00:34:09] Julie Michelson: I love that. That's so true through the discomfort comes the growth, everybody, so, okay. We've tested, we've hopefully identified and removed the source. Here's the other thing, guys, it's really. Hard, you don't say, well, I'm just going to pick up Bridget's book when it comes out and I'm going to do all the other things and I'm, I'm just gonna, you know, leave the mold in the home.
[00:34:31] It's not that bad, really, really, really difficult, if not impossible to heal when you're still being exposed. So you've got to handle the home exposure.
[00:34:43] Bridgit Danner: Yes, you do. I mean, you can like, you know, say you're sorting out the house, so you're waiting on a new lease. You know, you can take your binders, open windows, do some things, but don't think that's gonna carry you two years or anything like that.
[00:34:59] Julie Michelson: That's [00:35:00] such good advice. So I know you have this amazing masterclass, you touched on some of the things that people would learn in the masterclass, some of the content that you cover. What else, you know, if people are curious about you know, I cannot encourage you guys enough to get the ultimate toxic mold recovery guide when it comes out, which will be
[00:35:23] Bridgit Danner: I got a picture. I don't have a book, but I have a picture.
[00:35:26] Julie Michelson: I'm inside. I so wish I had this book, you know, 10 years ago. So I'm excited
[00:35:31] Bridgit Danner: Yeah,
[00:35:32] Julie Michelson: for it to come out. Well, what else? You know, why should, if somebody's curious or if they know they have mold and they just don't know what to do, you know, tell us a little bit about the MasterCard.
[00:35:44] Bridgit Danner: Yeah. I mean, I there's two whole days really on the home, so that's awesome. You know, testing remediation, living a nontoxic life, moving forward, stuff like that. So I think that's really great. We have lots of different experts in this field. Like Jill [00:36:00] Carnahan. Mary accurately whose name you don't hear enough?
[00:36:03] Who's amazing is reviewed like thousands of brain scans of people who've gone through mold. So interesting. So you know, and a lot of our speakers have been through it too. And so we cover some basic things, so to speak like shifts you can do in your diet, getting outside, doing sauna. And, and when we get a little more technical with things like how it's related to parasites and lines auto immunity, stuff like that.
[00:36:29] So it's just kind of a smattering. You can show up for whatever you want, you can own it. So you have it forever. If you find this podcast much later, it will be like an evergreen event. So you can always get some free access. But yeah, I would love for people to check it out. If it gets kinda lost in the shuffle.
[00:36:47] You can always go back to my website, which is Bridgit danner.com. You know, if you find this a year from now, we'll, we'll still have more resources on there. We have a lot of blogs. So even if you're just interested in one thing, I said, like coffee, enemas, like, [00:37:00] you know, come over and, and search it and take a look.
[00:37:03] Julie Michelson: I love that. And I loved your list by the way of the, just supporting that. Detox pathways and Lim system, the coffee enemas, the sauna, the dry brushing. I know there's more that you didn't share the binders. The, I mentioned the glutathione. I know you, you were in favor of that as well. So, so many things that we can do.
[00:37:25] And like you said, even, even those without mold toxicity, we do all, we all need to detox and to. Support those pathways on a regular basis. So there's just so much value. I can't encourage you guys enough to check out the masterclass. Because as I said in the beginning, there is crossover. I don't know many people that only have mold toxicity and that's their only thing.
[00:37:51] It hasn't led to any other. You know, it's all like that. It's the gut is the auto-immune and the co-infections with the lime and the, I mean, [00:38:00] so check it out, you guys, and we'll put a link in the show notes for that as well. I I know that you gave us your website. Is that the best place for listeners to go to find you.
[00:38:11] Bridgit Danner: I think it's the easiest, since it's just my name and that'll stay that way. So yeah, if later you can't find a certain thing, you're always welcome to ask my team. And we'll have a bunch of resources up there as well. I just wanted to mention too, because I think a lot of my clients and I'm in the same boat we're also like wanting to anti-age.
[00:38:32] Stuff helps that as well. So I was just saying, thinking about why I get, so did you use to still do all these techniques? They just make me feel good. You know, they make me have energy. You know, they help balance your weight. And so I think they're just great pride if you're like, well, why do I have to detox all the time?
[00:38:49] You will get benefits that you actually see that people are going to be like, wow, you don't look like your age. So there's a little, a little, hopefully a motivator
[00:38:59] Julie Michelson: it or not [00:39:00] bridge, it's not 12 we'll need it.
[00:39:03] Bridgit Danner: I'm 85 and I still look this way.
[00:39:07] Julie Michelson: And I say to people all the time, I'm, I'm about to turn 53 and I feel so much better than I felt in my thirties. And yes, I was not well, but I think even. Had a, well it's tricky. I was going to say, had I not been that sick? I would still feel better, although I wouldn't be doing all the things. So see how that works.
[00:39:28] But the there's, all of these supportive things are anti-aging as well. And so somebody doesn't need to be down and out, head on the pillow. To benefit from really, you know, protecting their body and supporting their detox pathways and living cleanly to Uplevel. So sometimes Uplevel is literally just getting up and sometimes up level is what you're about to do, which is the next breakthrough level.
[00:39:56] Bridgit Danner: Well, thank you, Julie, for all the support. I really appreciate it.
[00:39:59] Julie Michelson: Oh, I'm [00:40:00] so glad you guys, I cannot encourage you enough. Aye. Aye. Aye. Bridget. Is always giving out so much information. She's such an amazing resource. And so I know we covered a lot and I always ask this question so you can pick from something we already covered or give another, another tip. But if somebody was to listen to this and do one thing, take one step starting a day to move that needle on their health, what would it be?
[00:40:29] Bridgit Danner: I'm going to say, get outside more.
[00:40:31] Julie Michelson: Ah,
[00:40:32] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, get out in nature. It's so good for your nervous system and your air. The air is cleaner. That's like the sunshine is good for you. So that's so simple. So even just take a, to add a 10 minute walk after dinner, you know, whatever it is. But yeah, just call a girlfriends, get your
[00:40:52] Julie Michelson: I love it.
[00:40:53] Bridgit Danner: outside.
[00:40:56] Julie Michelson: Bridget. Thank you so much. You've shared some amazing [00:41:00] gold with us today.
[00:41:02] Bridgit Danner: Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah. If anybody has a follow-up, you're welcome to reach out to us.
[00:41:07] Julie Michelson: Yes, all of the links will be in the show notes. And again, I can't wait for the book to come out in the spring and you guys check out that masterclass for everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspiredliving.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
[00:41:28] I'll see you all next week.
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Bridgit Danner
Acupuncture & FDN practitioner
Bridgit Danner has been a licensed acupuncturist since 2004 and a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner since 2015.
After losing everything to toxic mold, Bridgit now educates about toxins and how to detoxify through a functional approach.
After losing everything to toxic mold, Bridgit now educates about toxins and how to detoxify through a functional approach.
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