2019 Helpful People Poll: Which Individuals Do Mold Group Members Believe Helped Them?
February 27, 2020
By Lisa Petrison, Ph.D.
For each of the past four years, I have conducted a poll in the most active mold-oriented Facebook groups asking participants which medical practitioners had been helpful to them in terms of facilitating health improvements.
This year, however, many participants stated that other individuals had been much more helpful to them than any medical practitioners had, and requested that make an effort to recognize those individuals as well.
I therefore conducted a poll in six large mold-oriented Facebook groups asking the following question:
Since starting mold avoidance (of whatever sort), has there been anyone who has been helpful to you in addressing your mold-related illness symptoms?
Please check only those individuals who have been at least moderately helpful to you in terms of addressing your own chronic illness issues.
The help provided may have been with regard to avoidance issues, adjunctive healing issues, or anything else that has made a significant difference in your health.
If you have been a patient of a healthcare practitioner, please do not mention that person here (since those individuals are covered by a recently conducted separate poll). However, please feel free to list healthcare practitioners that have been helpful to you in other ways (such as by writing books or articles), as well as anyone else who has been helpful to you in any way.
This poll is being shared in a number of different mold groups. Please participate in the poll only one time total.
The results of this poll will be summarized in an upcoming Paradigm Change blog article.
Thanks much for your participation in this poll!
The poll was first shared in the Mold Avoiders group on December 26, 2019.
It then was shared a week later in the same other five groups as were used for the 2019 Medical Practitioners Poll.
A total of 200 individuals participated.
The participating groups were Mold Avoiders (88 participants); Practical Mold Avoidance (52 participants); Toxic Mold, CIRS & Lyme Disease Support Group (21 participants); Surviving Toxic Mold (14 participants); Toxic Mold – Rediscovering Health and Wellness (13 respondents); and Toxic Mold Support Group (12 respondents).
Mold group members were instructed to participate in the poll only one time, and participant names were checked across groups to make sure that no one had participated more than once.
Participants were not permitted to vote for themselves.
A total of 161 individuals were mentioned by at least one respondent, and 52 individuals received at least three mentions.
A total of 12 respondents (6% of the total) checked the following option in the poll: “I have not had anyone (including any medical practitioner) be at least moderately helpful to me since starting mold avoidance.”
Although the instructions stated that participants should not vote for practitioners who had treated them, cross-checking the responses against those of the 2019 Practitioner Poll suggested that almost all mold group members participating in both polls had checked practitioners who had treated them in this poll as well as the other one.
Therefore, for those individuals who had mentioned practitioners in the other poll, I made sure that those practitioners also were given credit for that mention in this poll even in the small number of cases where no mention of the practitioner had been made in this poll.
Although I am very honored to have been reported as having helped so many people in this poll, I would like to point out that I acquired virtually all of my own knowledge about mold avoidance and much of my knowledge about other topics from Erik Johnson.
And that therefore, insofar as people have been helped by me, they have been helped by Erik as well.
Following is a summary of the poll results, along with some additional information about the individuals receiving the most mentions.
1. Lisa Petrison (154 mentions)
Lisa Petrison is the founder of Paradigm Change and Mold Avoiders.
She is the author or co-author of the books A Beginner’s Guide to Mold Avoidance and Back From the Edge, and the editor of the book Erik on Avoidance.
She has written a number of articles on mold-related illness issues.
She appeared in the movie Moldy, produced by Dave Asprey.
She runs the Mold Avoiders standalone forum and Mold Avoiders Facebook group.
2. Erik Johnson (113 mentions)
Erik Johnson is a survivor of the Lake Tahoe epidemic during the 1980’s of the disease that went on to be called “chronic fatigue syndrome.”
He developed an approach to healing that he called “extreme mold avoidance” and that now has been used by thousands of people to move toward recovery from serious chronic illness issues.
He is the author of full chapters in the books Mold Warriors and Surviving Mold by Ritchie Shoemaker.
He also is the author of the book Erik on Avoidance and the co-author of the book A Beginner’s Guide to Mold Avoidance.
His story is summarized in the book Back From The Edge.
He was featured in the film What About ME?
3. Ritchie Shoemaker (79 mentions)
Ritchie Shoemaker is a physician who pioneered the treatment of mold illness more than 20 years ago.
He is the author of a number of books, including Surviving Mold and Mold Warriors.
His newest book is State of the Art Answers to 500 Mold Questions.
He has written a number of academic research papers and participated in many interviews on the topic, and trained many other physicians in how to treat the disease.
His website is called Surviving Mold.
4. Bryan Rosner (68 mentions)
Bryan Rosner is the owner of BioMed Publishing, which publishes books on Lyme disease and related topics written by doctors and other experts.
He also has written five books on Lyme disease himself.
His latest book is Lyme Disease Supercharge, discussing his adventures with mold avoidance.
His website – Mold Avoidance Diary with Bryan Rosner – includes links to his articles, videos, podcasts and books.
He is an administrator of the Practical Mold Avoidance Facebook group.
5. Dave Asprey (66 mentions)
Dave Asprey discusses how he has returned from mold-related illness to a high level of health in his blog and video series at DaveAsprey.com.
He has written several books, including Head Strong.
He produced the movie Moldy, which discusses health effects of toxic mold.
He sells coffee and other products that are stated as being low in mycotoxins through his company Bulletproof.
6. Neil Nathan (55 mentions)
Neil Nathan is a physician focusing on complex medical conditions who has been treating mold illness patients for more than a decade.
He is the author of a book called Mold and Mycotoxins: Current Evaluation and Treatment 2016.
His newest book is called Toxic: Heal Your Body from Mold Toxicity, Lyme Disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Chronic Environmental Illness.
7. Daniel Cagua-Koo (51 mentions)
Daniel Cagua-Koo is a physician incorporating integrative, functional and environmental medicine approaches into his practice.
He has experienced severe mold hyperreactivity himself and spent most of 2015 seeking out pristine locations in the western half of the United States while living in a converted cargo trailer.
He works in private practice in Massachusetts treating mold illness patients.
8. Jill Carnahan (47 mentions)
Jill Carnahan is a functional medicine doctor with a particular focus on mold toxicity, other types of environmental toxicity, and gut-related issues.
She has written frequently about using functional medicine to address various health challenges and has participated in numerous interviews on the topic.
One of her more recent articles was for the Townsend Letter, called “Mold-Related Illness and Mycotoxins – A Unique Opportunity for Functional Medicine Practitioners.”
9 (tie). Dietrich Klinghardt (44 mentions)
Dietrich Klinghardt is a U.S. physician who frequently discusses Lyme-related health issues in articles, speeches and interviews.
He appeared in the film Under Our Skin about Lyme disease issues.
9 (tie). Simcha MacGregor (44 mentions)
Simcha MacGregor is an administrator of the Practical Mold Avoidance Facebook group.
11. Christa Upton (43 mentions)
Christa Upton is the author of the book Building a House For Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and the blog Black Hills Picture Books.
She is an administrator of the Practical Mold Avoidance Facebook group.
12 (tie). Corinne Segura (37 mentions)
Corinne Segura is the author of the blog My Chemical-Free House.
She also has created a large number of videos on the topic of healthy living environments.
12 (tie). Joseph Mercola (37 mentions)
Joseph Mercola is a D.O. and the founder of the Mercola.com website.
14. Carl Grimes (36 mentions)
Carl Grimes is an indoor air quality professional and the owner of Healthy Habitats.
15. Kim Goodwin (31 mentions)
Kim Goodwin is the author of the blog Little By Little, One Travels Far.
She also shared her story on Honey Colony website.
16 (tie). Andrea Fabry (27 mentions)
Andrea Fabry is the author of the book Is Your House Making You Sick?
Her natural living blog is It Takes Time.
She also runs the toxicity-oriented website momsAWARE.
Her personal-care products company is called Just So.
16 (tie). Kristina Hines (27 mentions)
Kristina Hines is a member of the online mold community.
17. Ana Harris (25 mentions)
Ana Harris is the author of the blog Ana Harris Writes.
18 (tie). Mary Ackerley (23 mentions)
Mary Ackerley is an integrative psychiatrist specializing in treating mold-related illness.
She is the author of the popular Paradigm Change blog article “Brain on Fire: The Role of Toxic Mold in Triggering Psychiatric Symptoms.”
She is the current president of the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI).
18 (tie). Julie Weber (23 mentions)
Julie Weber is a member of the online mold community.
20. Jay Davidson (21 mentions)
Jay Davidson is a chiropractor and natural medicine practitioner who has created many articles and videos about treating chronic illness issues.
His supplement company, Microbe Formulas, focuses on addressing parasites and related issues.
21. Sara Riley Mattson (18 mentions)
Sara Riley Mattson is the author of the book Camp Like A Girl.
She also wrote a Paradigm Change blog article, Following in Erik Johnson’s Footsteps.
22. Jack Kruse (16 mentions)
Jack Kruse is a neurosurgeon focusing on aging issues.
His website is called Reversing Disease for Optimal Health.
23 (tie). Karen Dean (14 mentions)
Karen Dean is a member of the online mold community.
She recently shared information about some of her experiences in a podcast interview.
23 (tie). Andrew Huang (14 mentions)
Andrew Huang is the author of the blog Age of Enlivenment.
23 (tie). Chris Shade (14 mentions)
Chris Shade is a scientist and head of the company Quicksilver Scientific.
He has participated in many interviews on the topic of mercury detoxification.
23 (tie). Claudia Starkey (14 mentions)
Claudia Starkey is a member of the online mold community.
23 (tie). Todd Watts (14 mentions)
Todd Watts is a chiropractor focusing on issues related to parasites.
He is one of the founders of the supplement company Microbe Formulas.
28 (tie). Jennifer Cannon (13 mentions)
Jennifer Cannon is the founder of the website Surviving Toxic Mold.
She is an administrator of the Surviving Toxic Mold Facebook group.
28 (tie). Sandeep Gupta (13 mentions)
Sandeep Gupta is an Australian physician who focuses on nutritional, environmental and Ayurvedic medicine with a particular emphasis on mold-related illness.
He also provides basic information about chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) to patients in an online training course, called Mold Illness Made Simple.
He was interviewed in a podcast by Better Health Guy and also spoke in a brief video about his holistic approach to medicine.
30 (tie). Betsy Anderson (12 mentions)
Betsy Anderson is a member of the online mold community.
30 (tie). Annie Hopper (12 mentions)
Annie Hopper runs the company Dynamic Neural Retraining System.
32. Greg Muske (11 mentions)
Greg Muske writes a blog called Biotoxin Journey.
33 (tie). Jeanette DeVita (9 mentions)
Jeanette De Vita is a member of the online mold community.
33 (tie). Joseph Salowitz (9 mentions)
Joseph Salowitz is a member of the online mold community.
33 (tie). Rich van Konynenburg (9 mentions)
The late Rich van Konynenburg (“Rich van K”) was a retired physicist interested in the potential of helping ME/CFS patients by improving methylation.
36 (tie). Jennifer Brea (7 mentions)
Jennifer Brea is the director of the movie Unrest.
She recently has shared information on her recovery experiences as a result of addressing CCI issues.
36 (tie). Cheryl Ciecko (7 mentions)
Cheryl Ciecko runs an integrative architectural wellness-consulting company.
36 (tie). Ginger Marth (7 mentions)
Ginger Marth is a member of the online mold community.
36 (tie). Julie Rehmeyer (7 mentions)
Julie Rehmeyer is the author of the book Through the Shadowlands.
She also has written about her experiences with mold avoidance in a number of articles and participated in many interviews on the topic.
36 (tie). Christina Steiger (7 mentions)
Christina Steiger is a member of the online mold community.
36 (tie). Brian Welsh (7 mentions)
Brian Welsh is a member of the online mold community.
42 (tie). Jill Crista (6 mentions)
Jill Crista is a naturopathic physician and the author of the book Break the Mold.
42 (tie). Doug Kaufmann (6 mentions)
Doug Kaufmann is the founder of the television show and website Know the Cause.
42 (tie). Kenyon Keily (6 mentions)
Kenyon Keily is an herbalist specializing in “mystery diseases” and other difficult-to-treat chronic conditions.
45. Jordan Garner (5 mentions)
Jordan Garner is a member of the online mold community.
46 (tie). Aah Bah (4 mentions)
Aah Bah is a member of the online mold community.
46 (tie). Joe Cohen (4 mentions)
Joe Cohen is the founder of the website Self Hacked.
46 (tie). Sheera Goldman (4 mentions)
Sheera Goldman is a member of the online mold community.
46 (tie). Janette Hope (4 mentions)
Janette Hope is a physician specializing in the treatment of mold illness.
Her peer-reviewed papers on the topic of mold illness include a overview article on clinical treatment and a review article on the health effects of ochratoxin.
She was featured in Dave Asprey’s 2015 film Moldy.
50 (tie). Beatrice Latherings (3 mentions)
Beatrice Latherings is a member of the online mold community.
50 (tie). Jane Lim (3 mentions)
Jane Lim is the author of The Silent War Within.
50 (tie). Werner Vosloo (3 mentions)
Werner Vosloo is a naturopathic and homeopathic physician located in Portland, Oregon.
Two Mentions
Rowyn Bakwin
Keith Berndtson
David Brownstein
Tara Christman
Jennifer Dickman Daigle
Jennifer Daniels
Tia Demure
Sonia Di Capo
Evelyn Dixon
Amy Fisher
Leslie Robson Gompf
Debra Graff
Andrew Heyman
Neil Hirschenbeinm
Laurie Ledbetter
Amber Mehresh
Steve Nelson
Laurie Patrick
Lori Roop
Laurie Rossi
Darren Schmidt
Lily Silver
Emily Snelling
Bill Syrjala
One Mention
Scott Amour
Wayne Anderson
John Banta
Sean Bean
Steve Beddingfield
Burton Berkson
Darya Boland
David Buescher
Travis Burch
Jaclyn Carty
Bela Chheda
Jeffrey Chow
Margaret Christensen
Sterling Cooley
Tatiana Corcoran
Chris Couri
Gordon Crozier
Raina Merriott Cunningham
Bridgit Danner
Corey Deacon
Hugh Denham
Lauren DeVille
Joe Dispenza
Thalia Farshchian
Nancy Fisher
Timothy For
Julie Genser
Irene Grant
Ashtok Gupta
Dale Guyer
PJ Harlow
Susie Healy
Sterling Hill
Laura Holland
Don Huber
Douglas Husbands
Carrie Brown Ibbetson
Kathy Ingellman
Stephen Irestone
Daniella Irish
Jessica Jellison
Lysander Jim
Jen Joseph
Kim Kalman
Wendy Kearley
Allan Lieberman
Linda Lofton
Shauna Long
Ben Lynch
Dean Mahlstedt
Aileen Vigo Mayo
Michael McEvoy
Scott McMahon
Kellyn Milani
Bob Miller
Roby Mitchel
Anna Mitcov
Justice Naccarato
Stephen Nitz
Barbara O’Neill
Raj Patel
Kathryn Palser
Stephen Porges
Sara Orenstein Porten
Heather Plude
Terry Pfau
Thomas Price
Mary Ray
Torea Rodriguez
Tamara Rubin
AM Runyan
“Dr. Sebi”
Linda Sepp
Oscar Serrallach
Mary Ellen Shannon
Roland Solensky
Amanda Stiegler
Kam Tacaya
Sara Tamames
Susan Tanner
Robin Thomson
Joey Tuan
Andrea Vik
William Weirs
Bob Wells
About the Author
Lisa Petrison is the executive director of Paradigm Change. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing and social psychology from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
About Paradigm Change
Paradigm Change is an organization with the goal of providing information about the role of mold toxins in chronic illness.
Those signing up for the Paradigm Change newsletter will receive a free PDF copy of the popular book about the remarkable life of mold avoidance pioneer Erik Johnson, called Back from the Edge.
An introduction to a variety of mold avoidance topics is provided in the book A Beginner’s Guide to Mold Avoidance, written by Lisa Petrison and Erik Johnson.
The book is available for free to those signing up for occasional emails on mold avoidance topics from Mold Avoiders and also is sold on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.
Those interested in pursuing the approach to mold avoidance discussed in the Beginner’s Guide may want to consider joining the Mold Avoiders standalone forum as well as the Mold Avoiders Facebook group.
Questions about mold avoidance may be asked only in the standalone forum (not in the Facebook group), and members must be approved participants in order to post or comment there.
The Mold Avoiders Facebook group is designed for more casual discussions of new articles and videos; sharing of participant stories and photos; and member polls.
This article includes Amazon affiliate links. A small portion of the money from purchases resulting from clicking on these links may be directed to Paradigm Change and will be used to provide more information on mold-related illness through the Paradigm Change websites.
Individuals mentioned on this page who would like to have information about themselves added, changed or deleted may feel free to send an email to: info at paradigmchange dot me
Thanks very much for reading this blog.
Links on this page are in orange (no underlining).
Rate this article: