The CIRS Group Podcast

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Uncover the truth behind chronic illnesses that are often misdiagnosed for years. If you’ve been told your symptoms are anxiety, IBS, or autoimmune, this episode explores a groundbreaking approach that could change everything. Learn how the Shoemaker Protocol, backed by clinical research, helps identify and treat CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) caused by biotoxin exposure like mold.

In this episode, Barbara and Jacie walk through the first phase of the Shoemaker Protocol: determining whether CIRS is the root cause of your symptoms. You’ll learn how to recognize key symptom patterns, use the validated VCS (Visual Contrast Sensitivity) test, and identify common exposure sources such as water-damaged buildings and tick bites.

What you’ll learn:

CIRS can create widespread disruption in the body, from immune dysfunction to neurological symptoms, and is frequently mistaken for other conditions. This episode helps you connect the dots so you can move toward targeted, effective healing.

Whether you’re just starting your health journey or searching for answers after years of confusion, this is part one of a five-part series designed to bring clarity, direction, and hope.

Explore more resources and support at https://thecirsgroup.com

TIMESTAMPS

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Jacie and Barbara discuss chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), emphasizing it as a real, multisystem illness rather than “just being tired,” and describe hallmark symptoms like post-exertional malaise (PEM), unrefreshing sleep, brain fog/word-finding issues, orthostatic intolerance, sensory sensitivity, pain, headaches, and the push-crash cycle. They explain how ME/CFS is often hard to diagnose due to lack of a single definitive test, the use of exclusionary testing and symptom criteria, and how cardiopulmonary exercise testing can objectively demonstrate impaired recovery and reduced oxygen utilization, which is useful for disability or legal documentation. They argue the diagnosis is a label, not a root cause, and propose chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) from biotoxin exposure (often water-damaged buildings/mold) as a potential driver, citing Dr. Ming Dooley’s review comparing ME/CFS research to CIRS treatment outcomes. They outline next steps: assess exposure history and symptom patterns, take symptom clusters and the VCS test, find a CIRS-literate practitioner, address current environments before protocols, and explore resources and their community membership. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

TIMESTAMPS

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

In this episode, Barbara and Jacie discuss how CIRS patients can tell when they’re ready to move to the next step of the Shoemaker Protocol or “graduate,." As always, healing is gradual and should be guided by a CIRS-literate practitioner. They recommend tracking symptoms over time and checking three key questions: whether symptoms are improving, whether labs support improvement, and whether ongoing exposure is still occurring. The Shoemaker Protocol can be divided into three phases: (1) getting out of exposure by identifying and removing biotoxins, (2) clearing biotoxins with binders like cholestyramine (often causing temporary fatigue/constipation) and treating MARCoNS; and (3) repairing immune and hormonal dysfunction with supportive therapies, diet, and lifestyle supports. They also cover what “graduation” means, and common side quests if stalled, including Lyme, gut issues, dental problems, microbiome disruptions, spike protein, and autoimmune-related damage. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Timestamps

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

In their 150th The CIRS Group podcast episode(!!), Jacie and Barbara share practical guidance for reducing actinos in the home, emphasizing that consistent removal matters because a CIRS patient can react whether actinos are dead or alive. This is NOT medical advice: Actinos guidance is leading-edge in the CIRS space, but they share what has worked for them and members of The CIRS Group.  For skin, they discuss Defense soap, lava soap, Selsun Blue, Lume acidifying wash, and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo (noting dryness/irritation tradeoffs), plus probiotic lotion for localized issues. For laundry, they recommend washing clothing after one wear, and frequently washing bedding, pillows, and towels. For the home, they advise using a sealed HEPA vacuum broadly (walls, furniture, mattress, woven items), dry and damp dusting (including walls with a wet Swiffer), and using masks. If you feel overwhelmed, try breaking cleaning into manageable chunks, and consider help from cleaners, friends, or family. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

TIMESTAMPS

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

To check out the actinos cleaning protocol class Barbara just recorded, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Barbara and Jacie discuss actinos (actinobacteria) in the context of CIRS and how they can drive illness. Notably, Genie Test research suggests 42% of CIRS patients react to Actinos versus 30% to endotoxins and about 10% to mycotoxins. Today's episode covers testing strategies, and if human-derived actino scores are high, they suggest testing your skin with test swabs behind the ear after showering, with a goal of under 10,000 per species and good diversity. They also discuss cyanobacteria and water testing, soil-related sources, sinus microbiome testing (SinusKey), gut testing, and highlight CIRSLab’s Christian Navarro Torres and Dr. Andrea Jordheim's important research in this field. SUBSCRIBE because part two will cover cleaning and removal! To check out the actinos cleaning protocol class Barbara just recorded, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

TIMESTAMPS

HELPFUL LINKS:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Jacie and Barbara return from an unexpected break, caused by Jacie's autoimmune flare after moving into an apartment with a high actino score. Today's episode outlines what to do during a CIRS “flare” or symptom backslide. Some tips covered inclide: defining early warning signs, using objective tracking tools like the VCS test, symptom logs, and wearables, and scheduling periodic bloodwork (including MSH, MMP-9, and TGF beta-1). Their step-by-step approach emphasizes testing the environment (HERTSMI-2 or ERMI, plus endotoxins and actino), getting on waitlists for CIRS providers and Indoor Environmental Professionals, and addressing root cause through remediation, cleaning, and restarting the protocol. They'll also cover how to reduce inflammation with supportive measures while waiting for care. Once healed from CIRS, many patients build long-term resilience by investigating “side quests” like co-infections and keeping a clean environment. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Timestamps:

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

HELPFUL LINKS:

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Jacie and Barbara discuss why unlimited money and access to extreme treatments doesn’t usually lead to better or faster healing. Wealth can remove “financial friction,” which inadvertently encourages fear-based, urgent, and uncoordinated decision-making, including fringe or unregulated therapies, constant protocol switching, and symptom-focused biohacking without tracking or testing. They emphasize the importance of strategy, sequencing, and objective measurement, highlighting the Shoemaker Protocol as a foundational, ordered approach for CIRS treatment. They'll also cover how you can evaluate treatments and doctors, and why discernment and thoughtful pacing often matter more than money. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Timestamps

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Watch our first reaction video to Chris Williamson's health updates: https://youtu.be/5uTs5B6ySHQ?si=qLdsrLLbzmWkiOWK

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

In this week's episode, Barbara and Jacie explain why people with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) or mold illness should test their home (and workplaces) and when. They'll dig into why multiple tests are better to understand the full picture rather than relying on a single score, and recommend working with an IEP (Indoor Environmental Professional) for interpretation and creating an action plan. They cover MSQPCR dust testing (ERMI/HERTSMI-2), best sampling practices, testing per room/floor, separate testing for basements/crawl spaces/attics, and using an outdoor control sample as well. They discuss why the mold species matter, where to get tests (LisBiotech), and some other methods your IEP may use to test your home: spore traps/air sampling, tape lifts, swabs, bulk sampling, and cultures. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Timestamps

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

HELPFUL LINKS:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

Jacie and Barbara discuss how CIRS commonly affects body weight: often causing weight gain and resistance to fat loss, though some people experience extreme weight loss. They'll dig into why weight changes are driven by chronic, multi-system inflammation from biotoxin exposure (such as mold or Lyme), impacting hormones, metabolism, detox pathways, the brain, and the nervous system. It’s not simply “calories in, calories out,” and listeners are encouraged to stop blaming themselves. Key contributors to weight gain include elevated cortisol, hormone disruption (leptin resistance, insulin resistance, altered thyroid signaling even with normal labs, and sex hormone imbalance), nervous system stuck in survival mode, why calorie restriction can reinforce danger signals, and how toxin storage in fat tissue can slow fat loss during detox. They emphasize supportive strategies aligned with the Shoemaker protocol: reduce exposure, calm inflammation, use binders and support detox (including daily bowel movements, sleep, gentle movement, sweating, and lymphatic support), prioritize blood sugar stability, eat adequate protein, sleep, and nervous system regulation. They caution that trying harder through calorie restriction, excessive cardio, and weight cycling can worsen stress signals, and raise concerns about GLP-1s. Focus on healing first: weight often shifts as a side effect of recovery. For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

HELPFUL LINKS

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

In this week's episode, Barbara and Jacie discuss how anxiety and depression commonly show up in CIRS, and why these symptoms are often driven by biology and NOT personal weakness. Brain and body inflammation can disrupt neurotransmitters, increase inflammatory cytokines, affect mood regulation, and contribute to blood-brain barrier dysfunction and limbic system hypervigilance, leading to depression, anxiety, cognitive issues, and difficulty word-finding. They share personal experiences with OCD, suicidal ideation, and severe anxiety. They emphasize a “bottom-up” approach (reducing inflammation, treating CIRS/co-infections, addressing environment and exposures like mold) alongside “top-down” supports (therapy, limbic retraining, and community), noting therapy may be less effective without addressing root inflammation. They also highlight how mood improves with treatment, and suggest support options including The CIRS Group community and small group coaching through Untamed Iona (Dr. Lauren Sparks and Dr. Brenda Stewart). Check out our helpful links below the time stamps.

For more information and support, join us at https://thecirsgroup.com

TIMESTAMPS

HELPFUL LINKS:

Order Jacie's book! The 30 Day Carnivore Bootcamp: https://a.co/d/7MgHrRs

The CIRS Group:

Find Jacie for carnivore, lifestyle and limbic resources:

Find Barbara for business/finance tips and coaching:

Jacie is a Shoemaker certified Proficiency Partner, NASM certified nutrition coach, author, and carnivore recipe developer determined to share the life changing information of carnivore and CIRS to anyone who will listen. Barbara is a business and fitness coach, CIRS and ADHD advocate, writer, speaker, and a big fan of health and freedom. Together, they co-founded The CIRS Group, an online support community to help people that are struggling with their CIRS diagnosis and treatment.