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Today’s guest is Emily Rachal, owner of Texas Mold Inspectors, founder of Malachi's Message, and mold survivor. Emily’s heartbreaking experience shows just how much a family can be devastated by mold. From the loss of a child’s life to chronic health issues with every family member, including pets, this indoor contaminant completely changed Emily’s life. 

Yet, even with the immense pain and suffering her family went through, Emily and her husband decided to use this experience to push for change. They created their own mold inspection company as well as a nonprofit foundation to help others get through similar situations. Continuing to advocate for change, she hopes that in the future, no one will have to go through the agony she and her family experienced. 

Today’s Talk: 

In this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Emily Rachal to hear how her family was devastated by mold. Their journey with mold began with a life-changing transition. Wanting a slower pace of life so they could enjoy time with their son, they moved away from Austin, Texas, to a smaller town a few hours away.

Within the first week of moving, Emily, her husband, their son, and their two dogs all started to experience a range of symptoms, including sinus issues, hormone imbalance, incessant itching (for the dogs), and debilitating anxiety. A friend in Austin suggested it might be mold, but Emily was skeptical, and unfortunately, a doctor told her that this indoor contaminant couldn’t cause any health issues. 

It wasn’t until they left their house a year later for an extended time that they realized their indoor environment was to blame and how much their family had been devastated by mold. Immediately, their symptoms began to ease, and their son seemed to transform back to life in front of their eyes. A chance encounter with another family who had previously suffered from mold sealed the deal; they knew they had to get their home tested. As it turns out, their home was contaminated with toxic mold. They immediately moved out and requested that their landlord remediate their space.

Their struggle didn’t stop there, though. Over the next few months, they experienced issues with their landlord, remediation, inspections, insurance companies, and a host of other problems. Choosing to use this as fuel for the fire, her husband immediately took a class to become a Texas licensed mold inspector and learned that various individuals had broken the law while attempting to "remediate" the mold in Emily’s home. While dealing with problem after problem, Emily was also struggling with pregnancy complications triggered by her failing health. While they were able to spend some time with their newborn son, Malachi, he passed away from a terminal birth defect due to Emily’s toxic mold exposure.

After the heartbreaking experience of their family being devastated by mold, Emily and her husband established their own mold inspection company and nonprofit. They’re dedicated to helping ensure no one has to go through a similar situation and can get the help and answers they deserve. 

“So we decided to go out there and help people the way that we wish somebody would have helped us back then.”

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Learn more about Emily Rachal at: 

https://malachismessage.org/

https://www.texasmoldinspectors.com/

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Today’s guest is Rain Holten, a licensed esthetician, integrative health practitioner student, and chronic mold survivor. Rain’s experience with mold over the years has been all-consuming. Over the years, she’s realized first-hand that this fungus among us is everywhere and often works alongside other conditions like Lyme disease. 

Rain’s not completely sure when her initial experience with mold began. Over the years, she’s realized that exposure occurred at her job, in her home, and even in her car, but there was never a sudden instance of, "Oh, that’s mold." In fact, it took years for her to figure out that this fungus was affecting her life so drastically. This long and tumultuous timeline is what pushed Rain to become a mold advocate. 

Today’s Talk: 

In this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Rain Holten to discuss her long journey with mold illness. While she’s still debating on exactly how long mold has played a role in her health, she believes her place of work sparked the most drastic change in her body- it was a salon located in a basement that had a musty smell, but Rain never considered that mold might be a problem. She just thought she was overwhelmed with starting her new business. Eventually, though, her toxicity got so bad that it began affecting her everyday life. 

Over the years of working in the contamination (and she’d later find out, living in it as well), Rain developed a lengthy list of symptoms and conditions often related to mold. Doctor after doctor steered her in a multitude of directions, but no one could pinpoint why her persistent symptoms wouldn’t abate. It wasn’t until a friend suggested that she see a naturopath for her ongoing Lyme disease symptoms that mold popped up on Rain’s radar. At first, she pushed back at the idea that this fungus could be the culprit, but she eventually agreed to give the idea merit. 

As it turned out, the testing revealed that she did have mold in her body. That’s when she began connecting the dots. She’d later find out that mold was in her home and her car as well. Armed with the answers, she started down the road to removing the mold from her life and her body. Unfortunately, the lack of moldy information in society led to a bumpy road of failed remediations and detoxes that weren’t successful. Luckily, she’s worked hard to build her mold awareness and, while her body is still not fully back to normal, she’s feeling much healthier and mold-free. 

Now, she’s focused on continuing to heal and helping to spread awareness so that others don’t have to continue to suffer from mold toxicity. 

"My recommendation would be to make sure that you always listen to your body. Don't let a person, don't let 50 people, don't let your husband, don't let your mother, and don't let a stranger tell you that it's not real because it is. Especially if you're feeling it."

https://www.themoldmedic.com/

https://www.allamericanrestoration.com/

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Instagram: @clandestinerain

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Today’s guest is Lisa Christensen, an artist, art teacher, mold exposure survivor, and mold advocate. Her experience with mold has been a long and difficult road, with exposure occurring both in her home and at her place of work. From dealing with apartment complex managers to insurance companies and school boards, Lisa now knows just how difficult handling mold can be.

Even with all of the pain, obstacles, and discouraging situations she's faced, she’s using her experience to help others as much as possible. From advocacy to pushing for change, Lisa is pushing for mold awareness, acceptance, and proper removal so that no one has to suffer as she has suffered. In particular, she said, students and teachers who attend mold-filled schools. 

Today’s Talk: 

During this episode, Michael Rubino chats with Lisa Christensen, who opens up about her ongoing battle with mold illness and sensitivity. Lisa’s journey with mold began in 2019 after she moved into what she considered a fairly new apartment building. Over time, she began developing symptom after symptom that began altering her normal life, but she couldn’t pinpoint what the problem actually was. While her brother suffered from toxic mold issues and organ failure years before, she just never considered that this fungus could be in her new apartment. Luckily, a random event and intuition led her to discover an existing mold issue. 

What followed were months of going back and forth with her complex, hiring a lawyer, battling the insurance company, and dealing with the financial burden that comes along with indoor mold growth. Eventually, she moved out of the apartment complex, which finally allowed her body to detox. Nine months later, she finally began to feel like her normal self again. 

Unfortunately, Lisa’s journey with mold didn’t stop there. After moving back to Washington, D.C., she took a job as an art teacher but made the mistake of not checking out the building before accepting the position. During her first day touring the school, she immediately began experiencing symptoms of exposure. This sparked another obstacle-filled experience of attempting to circumnavigate her contract, not being able to work, finding a doctor, dealing with insurance again, getting on disability, and just trying to stay healthy. 

Now, she’s using her experience to provide advice to others and to advocate for change, particularly in schools. It’s especially important, she said, for children to learn in environments that aren’t making them sick so that they can be successful later on in life. 

“The sad part of all of this is that… these are kids that are like not fully developed, where they'll get brain damage or it might mimic them having a learning disability and they don't even have one and it actually mold. I want them to be successful in life and this is poisoning their bodies. Then the sad part is, a lot of these low-income kids probably already even have it in their homes.” 

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Instagram: @radienteart

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Today’s guest is Alicia Swamy, a thought leader in health and wellness, a mold illness advocate, and co-founder of the Exposing Mold Podcast, among other titles. Since her battle began with mold years ago, she’s dedicated her life to pushing the conversation forward about indoor mold growth, exposure, and mold illness. As she says, society rarely considers our indoor environments when thinking about health, and that needs to change. 

Her journey with mold shows exactly why. Alicia suffered from mold toxicity and the symptoms that went along with it for over a year before she even considered the possibility of an environmental contaminant being the culprit. By refusing to stop searching for answers and trusting that she was indeed mentally sane, she finally discovered the newly renovated home she and her husband recently purchased before the COVID-19 shutdown was to blame. 

Today’s Talk: 

During this episode, Michael Rubino sat down with podcast host Alicia Swamy to discuss her heartbreaking story of living with mold. Her journey started after moving into a new home in Oregon with her husband three months before the Coronavirus lockdown began. Throughout her life, she often found herself battling one sickness or another, but her health always bounced back. Using her educational training, she kept her life full of healthy actions and gave her body as many beneficial things as possible to remain well. 

As the lockdown wore on, though, Alicia’s health began to deteriorate with no end in sight. Even while she was doing the right thing, she had a "scroll" of symptoms that seemed to get longer and longer as the days progressed. While she attempted to go to doctor after doctor, no one could pinpoint what exactly was wrong with her. They either said she was fine or suggested she try a Benzo (benzodiazepines) to help with her "anxiety." Even her own family thought she might be a little crazy.

It wasn’t until she did her own research and joined social media communities, like Facebook groups, that she began to suspect mold. Low and behold, when her home was tested, there was in fact mold existing within the home. What followed were several failed remediation attempts and her equally failing health, all of which caused Alicia and her husband to vacate their new home. 

She has now dedicated her life to helping others suffering from mold exposure find the answers they need. She hopes to change the way society views mold in every affiliated industry, from the medical world to insurance and construction. Alicia believes that changing the narrative and the perspective will vastly decrease the number of people that will suffer from mold exposure in the future.

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Learn more about Alicia Swamy at:

https://exposingmold.com/

https://www.instagram.com/exposingmold/

https://www.facebook.com/exposingmold

https://www.facebook.com/alicia.swamy23

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Today’s guest is Shannon, a health coach and mother of two. Shannon’s unique experience with indoor mold growth began in 2018 and has continued on until the present day. Her search for the root cause of her family’s ongoing issues didn’t start with her own health, though. Continuing to struggle to find a diagnosis for her son is what led her to start looking closely at their indoor environment.

By continuing to ask questions and persistently searching for answers, she eventually realized that all of the symptoms she and her family continued to suffer through were attributed to mold. But the journey to healing wasn’t the smooth ride she was hoping for. From failed remediation projects to misdiagnosis, she and her family’s exposure journey have been long and fraught with issues.

Today’s Talk:
During this episode, Michael Rubino chats with Shannon to discuss her long and bumpy journey of dealing with indoor mold growth and exposure. Her battle began while attempting to find the cause of her young son’s ongoing and seemingly random symptoms. After visiting with a pediatrician, she learned that her son was actually suffering from PANS/PANDAS, but then struggled to find someone who could help manage this neurological condition and determine if he randomly developed it or if there was an underlying trigger.

Luckily, as she was studying to become a health coach, she remembered watching a documentary about the effects mold exposure can have on the body. A few months later, she saw a functional medicine doctor, hired a mold inspector, and realized the answer to her son’s problems was in fact indoor mold growth. Given the proof that mold toxicity was at play, she quickly recognized that it wasn’t just her son who was suffering from exposure. She and her daughter were also experiencing a range of symptoms as well. It wasn’t just "mom brain" and a toddler’s ongoing temper-tantrum problem.

Unfortunately, what followed were several years of failed remediation attempts as she lived with her in-laws. From fogging disasters to improper protocols, the mold in her home continued to be mistreated and therefore remained in the home. When she and her family returned, not only did their symptoms come back, but they also flared to life more predominantly than before. Now, she’s searching for the right remediation company for her family and, in the interim, is using her knowledge to help others detox from environmental toxins like mold.

"If you don't know what's causing your issues, you're never going to fix it. And I just think that a lot a lot of people need to be more aware of that."

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Learn more about Shannon at:
https://linktr.ee/shannon_bewellandgreen
https://www.instagram.com/toxsick_podcast/

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Today’s guest is Atoosa Rubenstein, former editor-in-chief of Seventeen Magazine, founder of CosmoGirl, and content creator for the substack Atoosa Unedited. Before Atoosa’s personal experience with mold, she admitted that she knew 0.000 percent about the fungus. Like anyone suffering from the effects of exposure, though, her awareness of and concern for indoor mold growth has changed drastically over the last few years.

Atoosa’s awareness of mold came years after moving into a brand new apartment in Manhattan. She and her family continued to experience ongoing symptoms and chronic conditions, but mold exposure never crossed her mind as a possible culprit. A chance discovery finally gave her the answers she was looking for and started her down the path to healing both her and her children. Now, she is focused on telling her story and bringing more awareness to this health hazard. 

Today’s Talk: 

During this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Atoosa to discuss her long journey of suffering through mold exposure. After moving into a brand new Manhattan apartment, she couldn’t pinpoint why she and her family continued to experience a wide range of symptoms and illnesses. She went to doctor after doctor, but no one could give her the answers as to what was triggering these adverse health reactions. 

Luckily, a chance conversation led her to consider getting her HVAC ducts cleaned out. The worker immediately spotted the mold, which triggered Atoosa’s immediate response of moving her family out of the apartment. What followed was a long process of figuring out where the mold problem was so that they could work on getting their apartment back in order and safe for their family. 

Eventually, they unearthed the mold and got to work removing it from their home. Their path to healing took much longer to accomplish and highlighted just how much the exposure had affected her family. From an autism diagnosis to the constant need for a nebulizer and significant weight gain, it had slowly chipped away at all of their health and their normal, everyday lives. Thankfully, with the mold removed, she and her family were finally able to heal and get their bodies back into balance.

“I really do consider mold to have been my teacher… It definitely is like a fire that you have to walk through. And in walking through it, there is a level of initiation and maturity that you gain.”

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Learn more about Atoosa Rubenstein at:

atoosa.substack.com

Instagram: @atoosarubenstein

TikTok: @atoosarubenstein

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Today’s guest is Dasha Agoulnik, a registered dietician and fitness and gut health coach. Dasha’s career involves helping athletes solve their gut problems, often which has to do with imbalances from mold exposure. Even though she was familiar with the effects of mold, it wasn’t the first thing she thought of when she began developing health issues. 

Luckily, as a practitioner herself, she was all-too-familiar with the medical realm and began the lengthy process of narrowing down what was causing her symptoms. It’s safe to say she was thoroughly surprised when, instead of helping heal her clients from mold exposure, she was now going to have to focus on healing her own body. 

Today’s Talk:

During this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Dasha Agoulnik to discuss her journey with mold exposure and how it affected her life. Her journey with mold began about a year ago, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, she had no idea what was triggering her list of digestive issues. As a registered dietician who specializes in optimizing the performance of athletes, she knew exactly how to maintain her health and manage her Celiac disease. The symptoms she was experiencing just didn’t add up.

Determined to find the answer, Dasha dove into running labs, conducting tests, and changing her diet to figure out what was going on inside of her body. Eventually, she realized that mold exposure, oftentimes what she helps her own clients with, was the culprit. Having just moved into a brand new apartment, her results were extremely unexpected.  

Armed with the answers, she combed through her apartment and discovered that her AC system was the root of her mold problem. What followed was a back-and-forth battle with her apartment complex on how to properly remove the mold. She experienced a failed remediation and the process of proving the mold presence to the apartment complex managers, all while suffering through the symptoms of mold exposure. Now, she’s starting her journey to healing and getting her body back into balance. 

“So it's been… I'm very blessed in the sense that I've been able to pinpoint a lot of the damages to prevent them from getting worse. But the experience definitely is not easy.”

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Learn more about Dasha Agoulnik at:

@dashafitness

https://coreperform.com/

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Today’s guest is Vivian Rowan, a mother, certified nutritionist, businesswoman, and mold survivor. At first, Vivian was stumped as to what was causing her to continuously feel unwell. She was a fitness enthusiast and an active mother who hadn’t experienced any health problems prior to moving into a new home with her family. When her kids began experiencing symptoms as well, though, she knew something in her environment was harming her family. 

Her intuition led her to discover a severe mold problem in the new home. Unfortunately, Vivian’s journey to recovery took far longer than she would have hoped, but she’s now using her knowledge and passion to help others recover from the illness that mold exposure can cause. 

Today’s Talk: 

In this episode, Michael Rubino chats with Vivian Rowan to discuss her traumatizing experience with indoor mold exposure. Her journey began in 2018 when she moved into a new house with her family. She began feeling unwell gradually but eventually developed over 30 different symptoms that completely altered her way of life. When her children started to experience symptoms as well, she knew something had to be done. 

Her lightbulb moment came when she realized it must be their environment triggering the symptoms. Thinking back, she remembered a massive flooding event as soon as they moved in. After checking her basement, she was horrified when she found mold everywhere throughout the space. A remediation professional came to assess her home and suggested she immediately move her family out of the contaminated space. 

What followed was a long journey of healing, months spent in hotels, intensive remediation, and starting over in a new home. She also noticed a serious lack of consideration for environmental exposures while attempting to find a diagnosis. After seeing 25 to 30 doctors, she realized how big of a discrepancy exists in how Western medicine doctors were trained to treat those suffering from mold exposure. In short, they weren’t. Luckily, she found a functional medicine doctor who helped heal both Vivian and her children. Her experience led her to become a certified nutritionist, and she’s now using her knowledge to help others who are healing from mold exposure.

"It scars you and you're constantly looking for mold because you're in self-defense mode 24/7. And, you do have to learn how to trust because your body cannot heal unless it lets go of the danger like you have to trust that you're safe again. If you stay, like, in this flight or fight and you're constantly worried and you're constantly afraid that you're going to see mold… You're never going to heal." 

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Learn more about Vivian Rowan at: 

https://www.thepuremomma.com/

@thepuremomma

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Today’s guest is Michelle Todd, a wife, mom of four, and a nanny. Her mold experience started with a bang and continued on for quite some time before she was able to find the answers to her problem. Being an incredibly busy woman made her encounter with mold exposure that much more jarring.

Her journey with mold lasted over the course of six years, through different homes and across state lines. Luckily, she found the resources and help she needed to mitigate her symptoms and give her body the chance to heal so that she could return to her normal self.

Today’s Talk:
In this episode, Michael Rubino chats with Michelle Todd to discuss her long journey with mold exposure. Michelle’s experience began with a move to a different state for her husband’s new job. On the first day of living in their rented townhome, her reaction to mold sparked and began causing a list of symptoms, including loss of taste and smell, like those suffering from COVID-19. Some of these symptoms she still suffers through to this day. Eventually, they moved out of the apartment that was affecting her health, but it would be some time before she realized how much mold exposure had impacted and was continuing to impact her health.

Looking back, Michelle said the hardest part of her journey was her loss of trust in the medical system. For six years, she went to doctor after doctor, and most continued to gaslight her about the cause of her symptoms. From female problems to age, she received an encyclopedia of answers, and not one considered mold exposure as the culprit.

Eventually, she found a few doctors she trusted who helped her get her body back into balance, and she’s feeling more and more like herself every day. Her only regret is not thinking of mold exposure’s effect on her body sooner.

"The whole being pushed around has really caused a distrust for me with physicians, and it's really sad because that's the place that you're supposed to go and there's they're supposed to listen and they're supposed to help."

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Find Michelle on Instagram at: big_momma_swizzle

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Today’s guest is Sara Gerbracht, a health coach and mold exposure survivor! A fitness enthusiast at heart, Sara’s been involved in the health industry for over 12 years. When she started to not feel quite like herself, she was at a loss as to what was causing her body and mind to become unbalanced. 

A chance connection helped her to find the root cause of her problems quickly and allowed her to start down the path to healing. Now she’s using her experience to help her clients on their health journey and to ensure others never feel alone as they’re battling through mold exposure. 

Today’s Talk: 

In this episode, Michael Rubino chats with Sara Gerbracht to discuss her unique experience with mold and mycotoxin exposure. Sarah’s mold journey began about two years ago when she experienced her first-ever anxiety attack at her son’s hockey game. 

As her forgetfulness, anxiety, and fatigue wore on over the months and began to heavily affect her everyday life, she knew something had to be done. She needed an answer as to what was going on inside of her body. Luckily, she was friends with someone who knew a functional medicine doctor who immediately pinpointed the root cause of her problems: mold! 

Sara started on her journey to healing straight away and while it took some time, she’s finally feeling the relief of detoxing mold and mycotoxins from her body. For those experiencing similar situations, Sara recommends trusting yourself, never stop looking for the answers, and finding a doctor that will listen. 

"You know, you have to keep digging and taking things like this seriously. Share your story, even if it's scary and hard and you feel really vulnerable. It helps to help other people know that they're not alone."

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Chat with Sara Gerbracht at: 

@saragerbracht