First, a sad letter with a happy ending.
This spring, we received a very nice letter from a woman who had a horrible experience, but got relief with the help of BioBalance. I wanted to share this letter with you and also share some of the big takeaways. First, here is the letter in full:
Thank you for all of your guidance and wealth of information on how to treat and recover from the devastation of mold illness. I have provided my story below and hope it helps in some way to show the great service you are rendering to the ailing population.
“By coincidence I tuned into a podcast featuring Jeff on Dr. Jill Carnahan’s YouTube channel and immediately realized the source of my health issue – mold in my home.
I had previously fled a water damaged home to move into a newly built apartment complex that was yet again contaminated by mold and I had no idea that I was slowly dying from the effects of toxic mold. I called Jeff the next day to inquire and he literally saved my life by offering guidance and asking questions regarding my tiny studio apartment. He went out of his way to direct me on how to test my space and treated me like a family member.
The testing only confirmed what he suspected and needless to say, I would have never thought much about it or been galvanized to saving my life had it not been for Jeff and his direction. He recommended how I could use BioBalance once I moved out into a better, cleaner space and how to maintain it so it would be mold free. I got the BioBalance HavenMister and treated my new apartment with it and all I can say is wow. I felt an immediate difference in air quality and my place even stayed cleaner than normal for a much longer period of time and there was so much less dust than I have ever experienced. I even used HavenMist to treat my personal items in case of mold contamination at my old place. If I ever own a home of my own, the first thing I would do before moving in, is to call Jeff to come out and inspect/treat it. Your health is worth it.
My sincere hope is that all property managers and owners should be trained on how to maintain rental properties as well as private homes free from mold using Jeff’s products and being guided by him on how to do it properly. If it was not for him, I would have probably not made it out of my old place. I am now working on rebuilding my health one step at a time thanks to Jeff and keeping my space free of mold. If you or a loved one has been mold poisoned in their home or elsewhere, I would highly recommend connecting with Jeff to find out more. I am grateful for the new possibilities in my life thanks to his guidance.”
Wishing you the utmost success in your business and service of helping people to finally heal from mold.
With warm regards,
— Mariam
5 helpful takeaways from this letter.
It was a great encouragement to receive this letter, and a joy to see how people are benefiting from BioBalance products. Let me explore a few details from the letter to make this helpful for all of us.
1. Mold might be only a part of health issues.
“You literally saved my life”
This is why I love what I do. I’m just your average ordinary guy who just happens to know a lot about mold. I deal with some very sick people, and it is a joy to help someone feel better.
However, sometimes dealing with a mold source helps someone get better quickly, other times, mold is just a component of a larger health issue. For those with Lyme disease, MRSA, and other autoimmune issues, mold is a piece of the puzzle that needs to be dealt with first.
2. When we don’t see mold, we don’t think it is a problem.
“I would never have thought much about it”
In my inspection business, homeowners often insist their home is clean. And it often is. The house is nice. It is beautiful. There is no visible black mold anywhere, but, I will still often find hidden mold behind a wall, or under a shower.
The mold in Miriam’s apartment was especially sneaky because it was new construction. This actually happened to me when I had a new home built. Less than a week after we moved in I saw some discoloration in one of my half-baths. Being a mold inspector, I grabbed my $10,000 infrared camera, and low and behold it was completely wet behind that wall. It turned out a condensation line for the HVAC system in the attic became clogged with insulation during my home inspection and that resulted in significant amount of water behind my wall. Mold was a problem in my newly constructed home, just 6 days after we moved in.
3. Haven is effective, but you still need to deal with the mold source.
“wow, I felt an immediate difference in air quality”
This is great to hear. However, I want to encourage you to not use Haven products or any other products as a bandaid without taking care of the source of the mold, because it can come back.
However, it is appropriate to use Haven products in temporary situations. You might be in the process of finding the water or mold source, or perhaps you’ve found it but can’t remove it because you are in a rental or you are going to be moving soon. In cases like these, use HavenMist or HavenFog to buy you some time.
4. Haven can treat some items, but others need to be replaced.
“I even used HavenMist to treat my personal items“
What do you do with your belongings after discovering mold? These are some helpful guidelines.
Items to discard:
- Visible mold on an item
- Visible water damage
- Smells funky
- You have a reaction whenever you are near it
Items to treat or replace:
- Books
- Papers
- Mattresses
If books, papers or mattresses are contaminated with mycotoxins, it’s best to replace them. What about keepsakes like wedding albums and important papers? Put those in a sealed plastic container and get them out of your breatheable air. You might be able to physically treat books and papers with HavenMist or HavenWipe, but it could damage them, so be careful. Mattresses can be treated with HavenMist and will be better, but most of the people I talk with replace their mattresses.
More Items to treat:
- Clothing
Wash all your clothes in a mold treatment laundry detergent. I use Remedy Laundry Detergent from CitriSafe.
- Everything Else
For everything else, treat with Haven. Either use HavenMist, or HavenWipes, or to get down deep, HavenFog.
As you can see you don’t need to throw away all of your belongings, but you want to ensure any of the items that you bring into a new environment or house are not contaminated.
5. BioBalance is available to help make your space healthy.
“the first thing I would do before moving in, is to call Jeff”
We are happy to offer in-person inspections in Oklahoma, Denver, CO, and the Albuquerque, NM area.. We are also able to do virtual inspections. Contact us if you are interested.
If you need advice before purchasing a home we are happy to help, but I would also recommend this article from my friends at ImmunoLytics.
“My sincere hope is that all property managers and owners should be trained”
Typically, money is what it comes down to with property managers and rental properties. I would be delighted to have property managers call me so I can guide and help them, but many times it comes down to a financial cost that they’re not willing to take on.
Additional related resources
Following are some other articles on this topic, as well as the podcast that prompted the letter. Please feel free to reach out to us at BioBalance for any questions you have.
Dr. Carnahan podcast episode mentioned in the letter.
