Sealing works well if there is not visible mold growth on the item. So like think about sealing an art canvas in a home that had mold in it, but the art canvas was in the living room and the mold colony was in the bathroom under the shower. In that case, any sort of light sealant would trap any possible residual mycotoxins on the canvas so they will no longer float around the air in the home.
But if you have mold growing on unpainted wood joists, for example, because of a plumbing leak, you can't just paint over the mold colony on those joists with a sealant, because it may not penetrate deep enough into the wood, and you can't paint the backside of that joist where it touches the floor / ceiling, and so the mold often will just continue to grow and grow around your sealant. Many paints marketed as mold killers and sealers are totally ineffective at stopping the problem in scenarios like this.
Killing the mold isn't the problem. That's the easy part. Denaturing or removing the mycotoxins is the problem. The mold doesn't make you sick, it's the mycotoxins that some molds excrete that make you sick.
Look at this study that used gamma irradiation, detergent / bleach wash, and steam cleaning to test as ways to remove mold mycotoxins on paper, cloth, wood, and carpet. Unfortunately none of these techniques worked to inactivate mycotoxins, with two exceptions. A detergent / bleach wash worked to inactivate the mycotoxins on paper and cloth, but not on carpet or untreated wood. So porous surfaces must by physically removed and trashed to get rid of the mycotoxins. If you cannot physically remove it (like untreated wood that is a part of your houses' foundation), you must physically sand the mold off while using a HEPA vacuum to clean it all up.
HERTSMI-2 is the most accurate. Often houses will pass air spore tests but HERTSMI-2 will catch the problem. It isn't necessary to do an ERMI - that tests for ALL molds in your house. You only need to test for Mycotoxin producing molds, which the HERTSMI-2 does.
Only costs $130. Buy the Swiffer kit. Vacuum is not as accurate. Clean the whole house, then wait 2-4 weeks, then use the Swiffer kit to collect dust that has settled in the bedrooms and living room. Don't do kitchen or bathrooms.
Interpreting a HERTSMI-2:
0-8: Excellent
9-10: Good
11-15: Possibly dangerous. Deep clean the whole house, especially locations that are rarely cleaned and have settled dust like the tops of ceiling fans, door frames, blinds, etc. Wait 2-4 weeks and retest. If the score is still 11 or above, you have a significant mold problem that needs to be found and remediated by professionals.
16-50: Dangerous. You have a significant mold problem that needs to be found and remediated by professionals.
If anyone is reading this and you think you have mold illness, lyme disease, or fibromyalgia, read Toxic, by Neil Nathan MD. This doctor has been treating patients for decades, and it is the gold standard for how to diagnose and treat the complex health issues that arise from mold exposure.
And, I will say that they have numerous tests by independent labs. They did do some testing with their own lab and with a lab affiliated with them, but this is far from all the testing they have done. So to say that all their tests were tainted or affiliated with them is simply not true. See: https://molekule.com/papers
2) It will not clean the room just as fast, it will take longer to clean the room.
4) COVID-19 particles do travel on water molecules, but they are also airborne. The CDC has admitted this and there is a growing body of research proving this to be true as well.
I love the enthusiasm and DIY ingenuity here. That said, the post is tagged with COVID-19. The COVID virus particles are .1 to .5 microns in size, and these MERV-14 filters, while certainly better than nothing, are not going to capture a significant amount of these virus particles. A better approach is to not filter the particles, but actually rip them apart at a molecular level. This has the added benefit of destroying all sorts of other contaminents that even high grade HEPA filters will miss, such as mold mycotoxins. A system like the Molekule is a good example of this approach.
I had a similar problem with chronic stuffy nose, recurring sinus infections, and a deviated septum. But Buteyko breathing practice was a big part in me getting better. There were other things I did too, but paradoxically, breathing through the nose (and the uncomfortable "suffocating" feeling that happens when you do this while having a stuffy nose) causes the CO2 in the body to rise, and if you keep this up for a little while, it causes your nasal passageways to expand and the mucus to thin and drain, which actually allows you to keep breathing out of the nose. Breathing out of the mouth on the other hand, has the opposite effect, which perpetuates the vicious cycle.
So, you just have to stick with it and study the exercises and tape your mouth shut if necessary at night. Things will get better, it just takes practice.
You're absolutely right. 'Close Your Mouth' by Patrick McKeown was revolutionary for me. Buteyko breathing is the real deal, unfortunately it is largely unknown in the modern American medical community.
Sorry to hear about your peripheral neuropathy. Check out some of the treatments for dysautonomia. There are some cutting edge treatments that have been developed over the past few years, they just haven't become mainstream knowledge or trickled down to the medical schools yet.
Essentially you have got to get the brain producing the proper amount and type of brain waves again, and then once you have that, slowly work back into exercising while trying to avoid triggers and push / crash cycles.
If you're interested in Biomarkers for Long Covid and ME/CFS, look up Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). MMP-9, MSH, ACTH, TGF-beta 1, Cortisol, Glutathione, and Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide are a few of them. Lots of research here that was started by illnesses triggered by mold mycotoxins and lyme disease - the initial trigger is different than Covid - but the end result in terms of biomarkers and dysregulation in the body is the same. Doctors have been using these protocols to successfully treat patients for a few years now, but it just hasn't trickled down to the mainstream medical community or the medical schools yet.
Tell your friend to look into dysautonomia. There are some cutting edge treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome, they just haven't become mainstream knowledge yet.
Essentially you have got to get the brain producing the proper amount and type of brain waves again, and then once you have that, slowly work back into exercising while trying to avoid triggers and push / crash cycles.
> In mentoring relationships, usually the mentee sets the agenda. In a coaching relationship, usually the coach sets the agenda... Code review is a pervasive example of coaching being confused with mentoring.