July 27, 2022 • 42 mins
In today's episode, I am speaking with Sven Hosford. Sven shares his story about mold exposure, living in a horribly contaminated house, and ultimately suffering a heart attack from it. This is his story of near death to recovering and helping others suffering from mold toxicity.
Sven recently launched Freedom From Mold, a website that provides education, resources, and individual coaching for anyone affected by mold exposure. From detection to mitigation, Sven helps others avoid the pitfalls of the current medical system and remediation processes. The study of mold and its effects on health is constantly advancing. There are some really good resources and some not-so-great ones too. Learn how to navigate to better health.
So if you want to discover more, head over to the page and visit The Freedom From Mold YouTube Channel or FreedomFromMold.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh Meeder (00:00):
Welcome to the great things LLC podcast. The
show celebrating inspiringpeople who are making an impact
in the world, creating consciousbusinesses that are in alignment
with their own personal values.
Each episode shares the wisdom,experience and intention of
those that are following theirdream. Visionaries that have
chosen a different path foundtheir purpose and create joy and
abundance while helping others.
(00:23):
Whether you're already atrailblazer, or still searching
for your own path, these storieswill inspire you towards being
the best version of yourself.
Welcome to the third episode ofthe second season of the great
things LLC podcast. I am trulyexcited to have my friend and
today's guests Ben Hosford. Onand span it took me five years
to meet for the previous fiveyears before meetings then his
(00:46):
name came up at least two tofour times a month we ran in the
same circles in the Pittsburghwellness in western Pennsylvania
area. Spin was the founder andconsultant for peace Berg,
managing editor editor for theJournal of lifestyle medicine.
He was also the medical directorfor the cannabis society,
Pennsylvania cannabis societyand the founder and publisher of
(01:08):
dispense magazine. And that'sactually how Sven and I did meet
was through some of his work inthe cannabis industry. And Sven,
it is great to have you on theshow here. I know this is new
for you. Because in all thethings you do, you're also an
incredible podcast interviewer.
So you're on the other side ofthe microphone, this thanks.
Yeah, it's a littleuncomfortable. I'm not sure how
I'm sitting with this.
Sven Hosford (01:30):
And you forgot point of light, too. I was
actually that's how I gotstarted with all this was point
of light magazine started 94.
And so that's almost 30 yearsago.
And that's, that's really whereI became more of the household
name. And then I get into allthis other stuff. So the thing
is, is you've been in the healthand wellness industry and all
(01:52):
around it for a long, long,impressive career. And what
we're talking about today isactually a four letter word, it
is mold. And mold doesn't comeup in the wellness industry
probably as often as it should.
So wanted to kind of open up thediscussion. So you can share
your story, how you went fromall these things. And that
(02:15):
critical event that led you towhere you're at now, with
freedom for mold in the workyou're doing with mold exposure
and counseling.
First, let me say if you want tokill conversation at a party,
the topic to bring up is mold.
So I will just say, you know,bear with it, it might be it
(02:35):
might be good for you to learnabout this stuff. But yeah,
actually, I was living in about100 year old building, with a
flat roof that always leaked,and a landlord that didn't want
to fix anything. And after fiveand a half years, I was so toxic
with mold, that I actually woundup having a heart attack, and
(02:55):
and went to the emergency roomand the doctor says mold doesn't
cause heart attacks.
I continued to argue she gave methe hand and said, Look, I've
been to medical school.
Well, you know, this was themoment I've been kind of
dreading and fearing. And alsorealizing might actually happen
(03:20):
was that moment when a medicalprofessional wants to do things
you know, are going to causemore harm. And you don't want to
do them. And they won't evenlisten to you. They don't even
listen. So I walked out was thescariest thing I've ever done. I
went off to a naturopathicclinic in Toledo where I'd been
(03:42):
a couple of weeks before. Andshe hooked me up to all of her
electronic gizmos and said,Yeah, you've got mold in your
body and your lymph system is,you know, like about the
consistency of jello. And so Ispent a month there doing all
these crazyprocesses and techniques and
(04:02):
things that I never would haveever suspected I would want to
do. And that's really the reasonI'm alive today. They wanted to
treat me for in the hospital.
They wanted to treat me for aclogged artery, you know, guy
shows up Monday morning. 56years old chest pains. Oh, he's
(04:25):
got clogged arteries. Well, Ididn't I had a clogged lymph
system. And that's what wasputting pressure on my heart. So
after I got a reasonably morehealthy, I felt so stupid that I
continued to live in a moldyenvironment, even after I knew
(04:45):
there was mold in there, noteven realizing how dangerous
mold is.
And then about three monthsafter my episode, a guy named
Dr. Mark Hyman, who's thefunctional medicine director at
the clubEveland clinic, he got taken
down by mold numerous times. Andhe wound up doing the same kind
of treatments that I did. NowI'm talking about
(05:11):
rectal insufflation of ozone.
I'm talking about coffeecolonics, which are?
Yeah, definitely not a lot offun.
Infrared Saunas, hot and coldtubs.
And these are the things thatsqueeze the toxins out of your
(05:31):
lymph system and put it intoyour bloodstream and get it out
of your system. You know, or I'msorry, get it from the blood to
the lymph, and then out of yoursystem, largely through the
coffee colonics.
So, you know, right at first, Iwas like, oh, yeah, I want to
tell everybody about this. Andthen I realized I didn't want to
be the mold guy, you know.
(05:54):
So I was kind of, you know,flailing around for a bit. And
then I stumbled across theseguys and said, Hey, we're gonna
get medical cannabis made legalin Pennsylvania. I said, Sure.
Right. And darned if they didn'tdo it, you know. So we all did
it. And then so became an expertin cannabis.
(06:14):
Which is a lot of fun, a lotmore exciting, a lot better
conversations at parties. I willsay if you say you're a cannabis
expert, a lot more money inthat. Yeah. No one asks, what
strain of mold you have?
For sure. But let's let me justjump in here a little bit. Yes,
I want to go back to the livingsituation. Because we'll get
(06:37):
into all the things you'velearned. But I think for many
mold, either you have thepicture of it's like this big,
furry black spot on thefoundation, but it can be
hidden. What were some of yourlike, did you have any awareness
up to the time of that cardiacevent that mold was causing
poison? Or what were some of thethings you noticed or didn't
notice in that environment?
(06:59):
Well, that's the tricky part isthat I was having lots of health
challenges. And I didn't put ittogether that they were caused
by mold, because the mold getsinto your system, it goes in
through your nasal cavity, andthen to your hypothalamus. And
then it rests around in yourhypothalamus until it finds out
(07:20):
the weakest part of your body.
And then it goes there and startsome damage. So during the time
I was living in this apartment,I had an aneurysm in my aorta.
Not a lot of fun there. I hadthree
detached, retinas, surgeries,not again, not a lot of fun.
(07:44):
And numerous other kinds ofhealth challenges, none of which
you would think were caused bymold what, but basically, are,
you know,high blood pressure criminality
or, or direct, it's really notthat is the problem is there's
no, if you got a sinusinfection, like I did have a
friend of mine came over for avisit. And for two weeks after
(08:06):
that he had sinus infection. SoI said, you know, maybe we
should look into this moldthing. Maybe it's not, as you
know, maybe it's really asdangerous as people say.
And so yeah,the thing is, if you can smell
mold, if you can see mold, youare in danger, danger with a
(08:27):
capital D.
Josh Meeder (08:33):
I'd like to get into this a little bit further.
But we'll get we'll pick upwhere you left off how he moved
from dispense and movingforward. Yeah, but one of the
things is, is mold, one doesn'tpresent with common or uniforms.
So
Sven Hosford (08:47):
you can't you get so many other effects, it's
really hard to diagnose. Sothat's one of the things that
make it so difficult. Also, asyou with your experience in the
medical profession, a lot ofdoctors may not be trained
specifically in mold. This isthis is a huge, huge, huge, huge
problem is that doctors areactually taught that mold, and
(09:12):
the mycotoxins which accompanymold are not dangerous. And then
anybody who's showing symptoms,it's all in their head. It's
psychosomatic. And, you know,I'm, I'm reading the Facebook
groups and everything and peopleare just,
they're at, you know, they'retotally mystified as to what to
(09:32):
do when their doctor tells him,it's all in your head. There's
no physical symptoms, we can'tfind anything wrong. Well, they
don't know where to look. Theydon't even believe that mold is
a problem. So this is a huge,huge problem.
In general, but especially inthe mold community, in any kind
of toxic community. You know,they want to jump in and treat
(09:55):
symptoms without getting to theunderlying cause of things. You
know, which could beAny number of toxins that are in
your environment. And theproblem is one.
Josh Meeder (10:06):
Go ahead. I'm sorry, and just want to jump in
there that it's also prevalent.
There's very few areas in thecountry that don't have heavy
mold, unless unless you're in avery dry, arid climate, you have
mold exposures, and especiallyin construction before a certain
year where they were developingthe newer materials that are
more mold resistant. You know,old lumber, old animal fiber in
(10:28):
the walls, all these things arefuel for mold. aldehyde. Yeah.
in new construction, you've gotformaldehyde off gassing for
about three to four years.
Sven Hosford (10:43):
So you got it. You know, we live in western
Pennsylvania here. Well, I do.
You don't anymore, butit's anywhere east of the
Mississippi, you've got mold inyour house. If your house is
more than 10 years old. There'smold somewhere, somewhere, a
window leaked, roof tile cameup.
(11:04):
You know, something somewhere inyour basement, if you can smell
mold in your basement, you're indanger.
It's really, it's ubiquitous,it's everywhere. Even even in
the dry climates. You if youshut up a house for three
months, you're gonna get moldinside of it. Moving back to
where we kind of jumped offhere. So now you've you've been
(11:26):
doing all this work. You'vegotten gotten at least a
direction and some relief fromfrom your work. And then you've
started the work with thecannabis. Cannabis society.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was fun.
That was actually a lot of fun.
I was immediate media directorand for this nonprofit, and we
(11:49):
had a big part in gettingmedical cannabis made legal in
Pennsylvania. And you know, oneof the, it's like when I learned
the science of theendocannabinoid system, which we
all have, and when I learnedthat mother's breast milk
contains a cannabinoid calledAmanda Mead,
(12:10):
our bodies are built to toconsume cannabis, we we are
period, it's one of thehealthiest things you can do.
And learning that it justrelieves me of, you know,
decades of guilt and shamearound having a cannabis habit.
(12:30):
And, you know, it was actuallymy body telling me, this is good
for you. You know, you're stillalive because of this. Not
despite this.
Josh Meeder (12:42):
But yeah, the alternatives. The alternative
wellness piece coming in wherethere are natural plants, there
are ways to heal and cure yourbody and to get back into
stasis. So I think you weregoing with that on where were
the cannabis took you opened youup not only to to the experience
(13:03):
and the science behind it, buthow did that lead you then
forward to moving from thatindustry to where you are today
with launching freedom frommold?
Sven Hosford (13:14):
Yeah, that's another I'll try to keep it
short story.
The cannabis industry inPennsylvania, it's a clown
circus.
You know, they wrote the lawsand all of the owners would be
local, or at least half owned bylocal people. And and then the
(13:37):
slicky lawyers came in andfigured out all these ways
around it. So now we haveexactly the industry we didn't
want. When the bill was written,that is, a bunch of the bigger
multi state operators are nowbuying up all the dispensaries
and the grow operations.
Sometimes that's good. Sometimesit's not so good. You know,
there's a lot of consolidation.
(13:59):
There's a lot of sharks andsnakes backstabbers in the
industry.
There's a lot of really goodpeople to doing very good work.
I should say that. But I justreached the point where, you
know, when the pandemic hit, Ijust I couldn't do it was doing
the magazine called dispense.
And did a lot of great podcasts,learned a lot. Learn the
(14:21):
science. It dispense.
magazine.com is still up.
There's still lots of podcastsup there.
But I just kind of reached apoint where I didn't want to do
cannabis anymore. I didn't wantto be the cannabis guy either.
Becausethere's a lot of cannabis women.
And my personality is I'm alwaystrying to do something that
(14:47):
nobody else is doing or not verymany people are doing. And so I
looked around and there's abunch of good, there's a bunch
of very good mold.
Doctors websiteAt Facebook groups of other
things, but a lot of them focuson how to tell a few been talks
by mold. You know, that sort ofthing I wanted to focus on, what
(15:09):
are the products, the services,the people that actually keep me
alive, that actually helped mestay healthy or get healthy. And
so we chose with the freedom formold to really focus on
solutions. And that's where Isaw the biggest need. So that's
(15:30):
how we always stumbled, andeventually, I resigned to the
fact that I'm going to be themold guy, you know, or a mold
guy.
But I really wanted to make itpositive and uplifting and, you
know, really provide solid,practical, down to earth
(15:50):
solutions for some of theproblems that come up when you
once you've been taxed. Sosomeone who may not be in the
best health and haven't found aclear diagnosis, what would what
should they consider looking foror just being aware of possibly
could be mold exposure? Well, Ithink the most practical in
(16:14):
first thing you might want to dois to get a mycotoxin test from
a company called Great Plains.
It's a testing company. And youshould be able to get that
through any good medicalprovider.
Our friend, Mandy Babkes, youknow, she's a holistic health
(16:36):
person, she can get it done.
There's a couple of doctors andnutrition people that I know
that can get it done, any doctorcan, can, you know, write the
script for that for that. It'sabout $350. But it gives you the
list of all the mycotoxins thatare in your system. So it's
actuallyand I will say this, the science
(16:57):
is still way out on this.
There's just not enoughresearch. There's not enough,
you know, science being done.
Butit's thought that the mycotoxins
are the things that actuallycaused the problems in your
system, and not the mold itself.
But the problem is, when youkill mold, it leaves mycotoxins
(17:20):
in your system, in your house,or whatever. So the first thing
is to get the Great Plainsmycotoxin test.
At that point, hopefully, you'reworking with a health provider,
who can read it and understandit and have some solutions for
(17:40):
you.
There's a bunch of very goodones out there. There's more
every day, there's more seriousscientists and doctors talking
about mold. But that's probablythe first step if you can, if
you can swing them. And with anyhealth care relationship, it's
probably good to ask your doctorif they've had experience with
(18:02):
mold, or if they can recommendor is there any anything
specific you should check inwith your doctor or something
you can phrase to him that'llkind of key if he's the right or
he or she is the right provider?
Yeah, just ask him what theyknow about mold. How do they
treat mold? You know, I had aPCP that says, I don't have
anything, you know, I havenothing to treat you with. Like,
if you have an active moldinfection, they can do
(18:25):
something. But if you just havethe lingering, simmering effects
of ongoing contact,there's nothing they can do. So
the first part is just what dothey know? What are their
treatments? And if their answeris,
then find another doctor. Keeplooking. Keep looking.
(18:50):
So you've gotten a baseline,you've gotten your health care
provider?
And it's our are there tests forthe environment too? Can you Oh,
yeah. assuming there's a lot oftests for your environment as
well. Yep. Yeah, a lot of tests,any good, any good mold.
remediator would be able to doair tests.
And they can run to $300 aswell.
(19:14):
Then they'll test the air,usually in a couple of different
locations, and then they'll do atest of the air outside, just to
see how much mold is actually inyour environment around your
house as well. And again, that'sreally can be very high.
I was reading on a weatherwebsite, that when the mold
(19:40):
index, and I think that's whatthey call it, the mold index is
very high, which means 6000 moldspores in every cubic yard of
air.
They recommend, do not do takeoff your shoes when you've been
outside before.
You into your house. Otherwise,you're going to drag mold spores
(20:03):
right into your house.
Josh Meeder (20:06):
So it sounds like some of these basic testing to
get the baseline are really notthat that expensive. I mean,
hearing your story, I bet you'dbe happy to spend a couple 100
bucks a year or two priorinstead of all the doctor's
visits and headaches just to getin or out. Right. But now the
problem is the very first test Idid in the basement where I'm
(20:31):
living now,
Sven Hosford (20:33):
they told me that the danger line was at 500. And
that it was at 250 in thebasement. So according to them,
oh, you're not in danger? Well,once you've been talks, once
you've hit your maximum toxicload, you are super susceptible
to everything. Everything, Icouldn't walk down the laundry
(20:53):
aisle at the grocery store afterI had the heart attack. So 250
may be safe for most people, andmost people's system can handle
it. But it might not be for me.
And unfortunately, there's noreal easy, simple way to
determine that.
Other than just give a littleplug for the last podcast, I did
(21:17):
this, this three people run acompany they call exposing mold.
And they practice what they callavoidance. And that basically
means take your body and somewell wash clothes and go out and
live in a tent in the desert fora couple of weeks, or any non
toxic environment that you'resure is non toxic.
(21:39):
Come back to your house and seehow you feel. See how your body
reacts. And to learn to use yourbody as the testing meter to
say, this is safe, this is notsafe.
It's really an interesting wayto look at it. And all three of
these people in exposing moldhave had their own horror
(22:00):
stories aboutyou know, just trying to figure
out what they have, why are theysick? You know, that sort of
thing.
Josh Meeder (22:08):
So there's a ton of consequences of mold, obvious
and not obvious.
Some of the ones that youmentioned were brain fog. I
think anyone who hasunfortunately probably
contracted COVID can understandwhat a brain fog would look like
that virus seems to indicate it.
What other were what were someof the really obvious, you say,
(22:29):
you know, when you come back infrom a clean environment to a
toxic loaded environment, whatare some of the obvious signs,
you see? And then what are someof the after effects are not so
obvious signs? Sure.
Sven Hosford (22:44):
You know, the list is very long, actually.
Fatigue is a big one. ChronicFatigue Syndrome, is now thought
by some people to be exclusivelyrelated to mold.
I personally get lightsensitivity.
And my visual acuity goes down.
So when I can't see thingsclearly, and I walk outside, and
(23:08):
I have to squint because sun'sout, that's a pretty good sign
that I've been tossedjust had my garage worked on and
they pounded a new roof on it.
And the first time I opened thedoor, I realized that all the
dust that was up in the roof isnow on the floor and all over
(23:29):
all of my possessions in thegarage. And, you know, for a
couple of days, I was upset.
Mental health issues are areally big thing. Like, I have
never in my life had panicattacks. And I started to have
them when I was living in that100 year old building,
depression, anxiety, but reallymental health issues that are
(23:53):
outside your norm. You know,like
I've worked on myself for a longtime being involved with
Holistic Health. I've triedevery technique. You know, I've
tried every healing process,supplement, you name it, I've
done it. And so I've worked onmyself a lot. So I know what my
(24:17):
baseline basically is as far asmental health. But when I start
feeling depression or anxiety, Idon't have anxiety. I don't get
anxiety. You know, when I feelthat, or I feel real weepy. You
know, a real sappy show comes onTV and you know, I find myself
(24:39):
crying. It's like what is goingon? You know, so, mental health
issues are a really big one.
But again, on the physical sideof thing that could be really
anything, anything that hurtsanything that's inflamed,
you know, lymph system that'snot moving. And there's a lot of
(24:59):
different symptoms for that.
Really, there's more than I caneven remember, on what are the
signals, you know, but I thinkfor me, the visual acuity, the
fatigue, you know, feelingchronic fatigue kind of
symptoms, and the mental healthissues are the biggest
indicators. From from, from mypoint of view. So that's
Josh Meeder (25:23):
a good overview of what someone you know, may want
to look out for. Now, with yourfreedom for mold, business and
consulting, you're reallyfocusing on people who have one
have already figured out andidentified that they've had a
mold exposure and are actuallyin the active process of
(25:43):
detoxification in recovery. So Iwould imagine there's, you know,
a lot of protocols, someproducts some people do, and
great things, some services outthere, there are to give a
little bit of a, an overview oflike, what what can someone do,
if they found out that they'vebeen exposed to mold?
Sven Hosford (26:03):
Yeah, yeah, really, the the first most
important thing is to get out ofthe moldy environment. Either
you get it remediatedprofessionally by somebody who
really knows what they're doing.
And we have a great podcast onthat these guys called the mold
men, the mold medics, I'm sorry,here in Pittsburgh, they give a
great overview on the podcastsabout what to watch out for, you
(26:26):
know how to do it right and soforth. Definitely, if somebody
shows up with a bottle ofbleach, you know, just throw
them out. So the other thingsyou can do, like I say, the very
first most important thing is toremediate or move where you're
living. And then, and this isreally hard is to come to an
(26:49):
understanding that everythingyou own is not covered with mold
spores. And the amount of moldtoxins that it takes to make you
sick, is very, very, very small.
So for example, when I had theheart attack, we actually moved
(27:11):
out of the moldy Apartment Aweek before that, but I brought
with me on my, my futon in bedsheets and hadn't washed them.
And a week after I moved out iswhen I had the heart attack,
because I was sleeping andbreathing moldy bedsheets, you
(27:32):
know. So, you know, get get intoa clean environment, learn that
you're the amount that it takesnow to to make you sick in any
way or to create symptoms can bevery, very small. We were
talking about, somebody walksinto a one of your friends goes
to a moldy apartment, and eighthours later comes to your house,
(27:57):
and the mold is still in theirhair sets you off. It can be a
very, very small amount. So byhaving awareness of those kinds
of things, and you have to thenbecome aware of everything in
your environment, and pay veryclose attention to what's
(28:17):
happening in your body. How doyou feel right now? What's your
mental state? You know, where isthere any pain anywhere, all
that sort of thing. The theother things that I think are
really important are that youget inside of an infrared sauna
as often as you can. Becausethat's one of the quickest and
(28:37):
healthiest ways to get the mostout of your system. Learn to do
coffee enemas on your own, orfind someplace that does coffee
colonics. Getting your GI systemcleaned out is very important.
Gi problems can be a symptom ofmold exposure. Like many
Josh Meeder (29:01):
things that starts in the gut to get the system
balance, Zack, because mold isis is it creating inflammation,
what's the in the body's got tobe going haywire, trying to
trans to wipe it out. And ifyour gut balance isn't out, I
could imagine it'd be nearimpossible to do evacuated if
(29:25):
it's exactly gut balance.
Sven Hosford (29:27):
Exactly. So, saunas. You know, the coffee
colonics. I bought myself one ofthese little rebounders little
mini trampolines. They call itthe brand. I have his cellar
sizer. And what is designed todo is you just do a little
bounce, you know, for five or 10minutes. And what that does is
(29:51):
it gets the lymph system moving.
And you really need to have yourlymph system moving if you want
to stay healthy. So it's likeawareness of all those kinds of
things. And for example, keepingyour sinuses clear, you know,
when I wake up in the morningand it's all clogged and I can't
breathe, well, I have differentthings like us to clean the
(30:15):
sinuses out and make sure I'mbreathing healthy, because
that's the first place they go.
So there's a product called XLear. It's a little spray that
you put up your your snoot.
Another really good tool to haveis a neti pot. The little clay
pot you get in any health foodstore, or yoga studio,
(30:36):
basically, you pull littlesaltwater and that's good for
mold. But I mean seasonalseasonal allergies. Oh, yeah.
All and all that stuff. Yeah,clears it up.
Josh Meeder (30:47):
I used to think that thing was really weird
invention. And I didn't do itright the first couple times.
But once you get the hang of it,it's it's delightful feel like a
home. And and it's a simple,natural, easy cleaning and
keeping any of those infectionsfrom setting in.
Sven Hosford (31:06):
The Yoga people that I bought mine from they say
it's just like brushing yourteeth, you get up in the
morning, you brush teeth, you,you clean your nasal cavity and
get on with your day. There'sanother product I haven't tried
yet, but I've had highrecommendations for cold
novasure it's basically a netipot on steroids, it just puts it
(31:27):
in one nostril and pulls it outthe other nostril and then you
spend a 20 minutes or so youknow clearing your sinuses out.
But the doctor I'm going toright now just swears by it, you
said it's absolutely essential.
So good nasal sinus hygiene issuper important. Like I say,
just to have an awareness. Andit's difficult because, you
(31:48):
know, so many people that I'vedealt with, or I've seen on the
Facebook groups, they're sodepressed, they're so beaten
down. And then you know, theirdoctor tells them it's all in
their head. And then eventually,their friends and family don't
want to hear about mold anymore.
(32:09):
And be can become very abusive,even. And you may find that the
toxins in your life are thepeople that are surrounding you.
And you have to basically ghost,some people to get them out of
your life, you know, whenpossible, if somebody's causing
(32:30):
you more distress and you feelmore anxious and more depressed
after you talk to them. Don'ttalk to them anymore. And this
can be really difficult becausethat could be family could be
your loved one, you know.
Josh Meeder (32:44):
And I think that's where I've seen you go with the
freedom from old because yeah,it is an isolating experience.
One it's not recognized. It's along term, usually in its
diagnosis. So where I've seenyou bring your brilliance
forward is actually in providingsome of the solutions. You know,
(33:05):
you work with people one on oneto help coach them through and
walk them through and I doexperience what are some of the
other things you're doing withfreedom from mold at this point?
Sven Hosford (33:15):
Well, I'm working to get some more products and
services into the mix. I've donesix podcasts so far. I'd like to
do a bunch more. One of theproblems is these people who
deal with mold are so busy, youknow, because there's so many
people that are waking up to thefact that they're they're not
(33:38):
healthy. I think that mostimportant thing I can do is the
one on one coaching. Because wereally get into it and I just to
have somebody that will listento you. And believe you is a
huge thing for a lot of peoplesuffering from mold. You know,
and then if I give thempractical advice, practical, you
(34:01):
know, ways to like a neti pot islike $15, you know. And that's
essential to do every day. Butjust like getting people to that
level of awareness is really thebiggest thing. And there's so
many
Josh Meeder (34:17):
because that took you years, it took you two years
to develop that level ofawareness. And it's still
learning good. Yeah, yeah. And agood coach will bring you
forward and shorten that cycleto recovery because you don't
have to make the same mistakes.
Exactly, exactly. So you'rehelping you're helping people
bring forward and you'restarting to offer, offer some
products and growing yournetwork. Do a lot more more of
(34:38):
these mold mitigation moldservices coming available is
this growing industry isrelatively unknown.
Sven Hosford (34:52):
It's a it's a huge industry. But I have to say from
what I've seen probably 90% ofthe people in the room Mediation
business are not doing itcorrectly. And I don't want to
say they're all shysters. A lotof them may think they're doing
it correctly. I met a guy theother day, he wanted to come on
(35:12):
the podcast. And he has, he doesa split the mold medic guys call
it spray and pray, you know, youspray this stuff, and then you
kills all the mold in the air,but it doesn't kill the source
of the mold. It doesn't kill themycotoxins, it doesn't remove
the mycotoxins doesn't getbehind the walls, or allow these
molds or you're coming from. Soif you, you know, if somebody
(35:35):
says, hey, we'll just spray thisstuff, and then everything will
be fine. Now, in Oman, my momhad dementia, the last few years
of her life. And when they wentinto her home, the mold levels
were off the chart. And they didthe spray and pray and I went in
(35:55):
a few weeks later to get some mystuff out. And I had a headache
within 30 seconds. And Icouldn't stay more than 10
minutes. You know, that's,that's the biggest thing.
Really, you want to make sureyour remediator knows what
they're doing. In the thing is,you can go to two different
(36:17):
doctors to differentremediators. And they'll tell
you two different things, orfive different things if you go
to five of them. How do you knowwhat's true? How do you know
what's right, and a lot oftimes, the science is just not
in, you know, or the scienceshows something that nobody
wants to pay attention to thatlike this connection between
(36:37):
chronic fatigue and mold.
doctors, scientists don't wantto know about it, they don't
want to touch it.
Josh Meeder (36:45):
And you've created freedom from mold and have been
helping a lot of people. Sofreedom from mold really starts
with someone mainly who hasfound out that they have had
mold exposure. What are youdoing for someone in that
situation?
Sven Hosford (37:00):
Well, the first thing is I want to help them
understand. I want them tobelieve and understand the
things that I believe andunderstand. And that's a lot a
lot of things. You know, alsoknowing, just teaching people,
what kind of products to use,what kind of products not to
(37:23):
use? What kinds of questionsshould you be asking? You know,
I've been a journalist my entirelife, I started out as a Navy
journalist at the age of 19. AndI've been interviewing people
that long been asking questionsthat long. So I appreciate your
saying how, you know, I'm such agood podcaster I think I am too.
(37:46):
But I want people to I wantpeople to be confident in
understanding the signals thattheir body is teaching them. I
want people to learn how to readthose signals. I have this thing
I say, your body is much smarterthan you are. And if you learn
(38:08):
to listen to your body, if youlearn to pay attention to your
body, it can teach you more thanany number of podcasts, frankly.
But it's really about beingconfident in the ability to make
decisions about your health. Youknow, when I was in that
(38:29):
emergency room, and the 30 yearold doctor said, Look, I've been
to medical school.
The Comeback I should have hadwas, well, I've been in this
body for 56 years, and I know itbetter than you do, which is the
right answer.
You know, you're almost everycase, every case, you know your
(38:50):
body better than anybody else.
But a lot of people will beswayed into believing something,
because the doctor says, well,just because the doctor said it
doesn't make it true.
They may, I heard I've heard theit was great advice I was
giving. And they said doctorsand lawyers and accountants can
(39:12):
only be as strong as theirclients. And there is some truth
in that where you have to trustand respect the education and
the training they have. But youalso have to trust in put your
own thoughts in an importanceand values forward and you can
move on if you don't find apractitioner that's supporting
supporting your belief system orconcern, right. That's really,
(39:36):
really important and it's true.
Would you say that they can onlybe as strong as their client.
You know, but it's also truethat if you're going to a doctor
and he won't listen or she won'tlisten to you. It's time to find
another doctor. It's reallyprevalent throughout the medical
profession that they ask thequestions they want to ask.
They're looking for specificanswers anything
(40:00):
else they just toss away youknow, so when I went to a
cardiologist because you knowthey that is the process you got
to check to see that yourtickers okay. And they couldn't
find any clogged arteries.
The cardiologist had nocuriosity about the month I
spent in the, the naturopathicclinic he didn't want to know
(40:22):
anything about it didn't want toknow any the treatments, how
dramatic and exceptional andthings I learned about didn't
want to know any of that. Andthis was cardiologists who was a
little older than me, but it waspasty white, you know, body like
the Pillsbury Doughboy, hunchedover glasses, you know, totally
(40:43):
out of shape, totally unhealthy.
And he's gonna tell me about mycardio cardiological situation,
and he doesn't even listen tome, you know? So it goes both
ways. You got to find a doctorthat will listen and actually
pay attention.
Josh Meeder (41:02):
Right? Well, there's a lot of things that are
coming up for you. So I'm goingto share the link to freedom
from mold. If you are curious,you can reach out to spend their
Sven Hosford (41:15):
lot of good Facebook services. We have a
Facebook group and Facebookpage. And so you can always
reach me on that.
Josh Meeder (41:25):
So if you have concerns or if you know someone
who may have been or strugglingwith mold exposure, I definitely
suggest getting in touch withspan. All his contact
information will be here in thedescription, you can find them
at Freedom for mold.com span, Ijust want to thank you again for
being a guest and a good friendfor so many years. Is there
anything in closing you want toshare with the audience? You
(41:47):
know, words of wisdom? No, asfar as the bulk goes, just if
you think you have a problem,you probably have a problem.
Good. So listen to yourintuition, listen to your body
and look around the environment.
Span. Thank you so much. Thankyou Judge we will, we'll be
listening to your podcast. Thankyou very much. Appreciate it.
(42:12):
Thank you for watching. If youliked what you saw, be sure to
hit that like and subscribebutton right now. Stay tuned and
check out the channel for otherinteresting and informative
videos.
Welcome to the great things LLC podcast. The
show celebrating inspiringpeople who are making an impact
in the world, creating consciousbusinesses that are in alignment
with their own personal values.
Each episode shares the wisdom,experience and intention of
those that are following theirdream. Visionaries that have
chosen a different path foundtheir purpose and create joy and
abundance while helping others.
(00:23):
Whether you're already atrailblazer, or still searching
for your own path, these storieswill inspire you towards being
the best version of yourself.
Welcome to the third episode ofthe second season of the great
things LLC podcast. I am trulyexcited to have my friend and
today's guests Ben Hosford. Onand span it took me five years
to meet for the previous fiveyears before meetings then his
(00:46):
name came up at least two tofour times a month we ran in the
same circles in the Pittsburghwellness in western Pennsylvania
area. Spin was the founder andconsultant for peace Berg,
managing editor editor for theJournal of lifestyle medicine.
He was also the medical directorfor the cannabis society,
Pennsylvania cannabis societyand the founder and publisher of
(01:08):
dispense magazine. And that'sactually how Sven and I did meet
was through some of his work inthe cannabis industry. And Sven,
it is great to have you on theshow here. I know this is new
for you. Because in all thethings you do, you're also an
incredible podcast interviewer.
So you're on the other side ofthe microphone, this thanks.
Yeah, it's a littleuncomfortable. I'm not sure how
I'm sitting with this.
Sven Hosford (01:30):
And you forgot point of light, too. I was
actually that's how I gotstarted with all this was point
of light magazine started 94.
And so that's almost 30 yearsago.
And that's, that's really whereI became more of the household
name. And then I get into allthis other stuff. So the thing
is, is you've been in the healthand wellness industry and all
(01:52):
around it for a long, long,impressive career. And what
we're talking about today isactually a four letter word, it
is mold. And mold doesn't comeup in the wellness industry
probably as often as it should.
So wanted to kind of open up thediscussion. So you can share
your story, how you went fromall these things. And that
(02:15):
critical event that led you towhere you're at now, with
freedom for mold in the workyou're doing with mold exposure
and counseling.
First, let me say if you want tokill conversation at a party,
the topic to bring up is mold.
So I will just say, you know,bear with it, it might be it
(02:35):
might be good for you to learnabout this stuff. But yeah,
actually, I was living in about100 year old building, with a
flat roof that always leaked,and a landlord that didn't want
to fix anything. And after fiveand a half years, I was so toxic
with mold, that I actually woundup having a heart attack, and
(02:55):
and went to the emergency roomand the doctor says mold doesn't
cause heart attacks.
I continued to argue she gave methe hand and said, Look, I've
been to medical school.
Well, you know, this was themoment I've been kind of
dreading and fearing. And alsorealizing might actually happen
(03:20):
was that moment when a medicalprofessional wants to do things
you know, are going to causemore harm. And you don't want to
do them. And they won't evenlisten to you. They don't even
listen. So I walked out was thescariest thing I've ever done. I
went off to a naturopathicclinic in Toledo where I'd been
(03:42):
a couple of weeks before. Andshe hooked me up to all of her
electronic gizmos and said,Yeah, you've got mold in your
body and your lymph system is,you know, like about the
consistency of jello. And so Ispent a month there doing all
these crazyprocesses and techniques and
(04:02):
things that I never would haveever suspected I would want to
do. And that's really the reasonI'm alive today. They wanted to
treat me for in the hospital.
They wanted to treat me for aclogged artery, you know, guy
shows up Monday morning. 56years old chest pains. Oh, he's
(04:25):
got clogged arteries. Well, Ididn't I had a clogged lymph
system. And that's what wasputting pressure on my heart. So
after I got a reasonably morehealthy, I felt so stupid that I
continued to live in a moldyenvironment, even after I knew
(04:45):
there was mold in there, noteven realizing how dangerous
mold is.
And then about three monthsafter my episode, a guy named
Dr. Mark Hyman, who's thefunctional medicine director at
the clubEveland clinic, he got taken
down by mold numerous times. Andhe wound up doing the same kind
of treatments that I did. NowI'm talking about
(05:11):
rectal insufflation of ozone.
I'm talking about coffeecolonics, which are?
Yeah, definitely not a lot offun.
Infrared Saunas, hot and coldtubs.
And these are the things thatsqueeze the toxins out of your
(05:31):
lymph system and put it intoyour bloodstream and get it out
of your system. You know, or I'msorry, get it from the blood to
the lymph, and then out of yoursystem, largely through the
coffee colonics.
So, you know, right at first, Iwas like, oh, yeah, I want to
tell everybody about this. Andthen I realized I didn't want to
be the mold guy, you know.
(05:54):
So I was kind of, you know,flailing around for a bit. And
then I stumbled across theseguys and said, Hey, we're gonna
get medical cannabis made legalin Pennsylvania. I said, Sure.
Right. And darned if they didn'tdo it, you know. So we all did
it. And then so became an expertin cannabis.
(06:14):
Which is a lot of fun, a lotmore exciting, a lot better
conversations at parties. I willsay if you say you're a cannabis
expert, a lot more money inthat. Yeah. No one asks, what
strain of mold you have?
For sure. But let's let me justjump in here a little bit. Yes,
I want to go back to the livingsituation. Because we'll get
(06:37):
into all the things you'velearned. But I think for many
mold, either you have thepicture of it's like this big,
furry black spot on thefoundation, but it can be
hidden. What were some of yourlike, did you have any awareness
up to the time of that cardiacevent that mold was causing
poison? Or what were some of thethings you noticed or didn't
notice in that environment?
(06:59):
Well, that's the tricky part isthat I was having lots of health
challenges. And I didn't put ittogether that they were caused
by mold, because the mold getsinto your system, it goes in
through your nasal cavity, andthen to your hypothalamus. And
then it rests around in yourhypothalamus until it finds out
(07:20):
the weakest part of your body.
And then it goes there and startsome damage. So during the time
I was living in this apartment,I had an aneurysm in my aorta.
Not a lot of fun there. I hadthree
detached, retinas, surgeries,not again, not a lot of fun.
(07:44):
And numerous other kinds ofhealth challenges, none of which
you would think were caused bymold what, but basically, are,
you know,high blood pressure criminality
or, or direct, it's really notthat is the problem is there's
no, if you got a sinusinfection, like I did have a
friend of mine came over for avisit. And for two weeks after
(08:06):
that he had sinus infection. SoI said, you know, maybe we
should look into this moldthing. Maybe it's not, as you
know, maybe it's really asdangerous as people say.
And so yeah,the thing is, if you can smell
mold, if you can see mold, youare in danger, danger with a
(08:27):
capital D.
Josh Meeder (08:33):
I'd like to get into this a little bit further.
But we'll get we'll pick upwhere you left off how he moved
from dispense and movingforward. Yeah, but one of the
things is, is mold, one doesn'tpresent with common or uniforms.
So
Sven Hosford (08:47):
you can't you get so many other effects, it's
really hard to diagnose. Sothat's one of the things that
make it so difficult. Also, asyou with your experience in the
medical profession, a lot ofdoctors may not be trained
specifically in mold. This isthis is a huge, huge, huge, huge
problem is that doctors areactually taught that mold, and
(09:12):
the mycotoxins which accompanymold are not dangerous. And then
anybody who's showing symptoms,it's all in their head. It's
psychosomatic. And, you know,I'm, I'm reading the Facebook
groups and everything and peopleare just,
they're at, you know, they'retotally mystified as to what to
(09:32):
do when their doctor tells him,it's all in your head. There's
no physical symptoms, we can'tfind anything wrong. Well, they
don't know where to look. Theydon't even believe that mold is
a problem. So this is a huge,huge problem.
In general, but especially inthe mold community, in any kind
of toxic community. You know,they want to jump in and treat
(09:55):
symptoms without getting to theunderlying cause of things. You
know, which could beAny number of toxins that are in
your environment. And theproblem is one.
Josh Meeder (10:06):
Go ahead. I'm sorry, and just want to jump in
there that it's also prevalent.
There's very few areas in thecountry that don't have heavy
mold, unless unless you're in avery dry, arid climate, you have
mold exposures, and especiallyin construction before a certain
year where they were developingthe newer materials that are
more mold resistant. You know,old lumber, old animal fiber in
(10:28):
the walls, all these things arefuel for mold. aldehyde. Yeah.
in new construction, you've gotformaldehyde off gassing for
about three to four years.
Sven Hosford (10:43):
So you got it. You know, we live in western
Pennsylvania here. Well, I do.
You don't anymore, butit's anywhere east of the
Mississippi, you've got mold inyour house. If your house is
more than 10 years old. There'smold somewhere, somewhere, a
window leaked, roof tile cameup.
(11:04):
You know, something somewhere inyour basement, if you can smell
mold in your basement, you're indanger.
It's really, it's ubiquitous,it's everywhere. Even even in
the dry climates. You if youshut up a house for three
months, you're gonna get moldinside of it. Moving back to
where we kind of jumped offhere. So now you've you've been
(11:26):
doing all this work. You'vegotten gotten at least a
direction and some relief fromfrom your work. And then you've
started the work with thecannabis. Cannabis society.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was fun.
That was actually a lot of fun.
I was immediate media directorand for this nonprofit, and we
(11:49):
had a big part in gettingmedical cannabis made legal in
Pennsylvania. And you know, oneof the, it's like when I learned
the science of theendocannabinoid system, which we
all have, and when I learnedthat mother's breast milk
contains a cannabinoid calledAmanda Mead,
(12:10):
our bodies are built to toconsume cannabis, we we are
period, it's one of thehealthiest things you can do.
And learning that it justrelieves me of, you know,
decades of guilt and shamearound having a cannabis habit.
(12:30):
And, you know, it was actuallymy body telling me, this is good
for you. You know, you're stillalive because of this. Not
despite this.
Josh Meeder (12:42):
But yeah, the alternatives. The alternative
wellness piece coming in wherethere are natural plants, there
are ways to heal and cure yourbody and to get back into
stasis. So I think you weregoing with that on where were
the cannabis took you opened youup not only to to the experience
(13:03):
and the science behind it, buthow did that lead you then
forward to moving from thatindustry to where you are today
with launching freedom frommold?
Sven Hosford (13:14):
Yeah, that's another I'll try to keep it
short story.
The cannabis industry inPennsylvania, it's a clown
circus.
You know, they wrote the lawsand all of the owners would be
local, or at least half owned bylocal people. And and then the
(13:37):
slicky lawyers came in andfigured out all these ways
around it. So now we haveexactly the industry we didn't
want. When the bill was written,that is, a bunch of the bigger
multi state operators are nowbuying up all the dispensaries
and the grow operations.
Sometimes that's good. Sometimesit's not so good. You know,
there's a lot of consolidation.
(13:59):
There's a lot of sharks andsnakes backstabbers in the
industry.
There's a lot of really goodpeople to doing very good work.
I should say that. But I justreached the point where, you
know, when the pandemic hit, Ijust I couldn't do it was doing
the magazine called dispense.
And did a lot of great podcasts,learned a lot. Learn the
(14:21):
science. It dispense.
magazine.com is still up.
There's still lots of podcastsup there.
But I just kind of reached apoint where I didn't want to do
cannabis anymore. I didn't wantto be the cannabis guy either.
Becausethere's a lot of cannabis women.
And my personality is I'm alwaystrying to do something that
(14:47):
nobody else is doing or not verymany people are doing. And so I
looked around and there's abunch of good, there's a bunch
of very good mold.
Doctors websiteAt Facebook groups of other
things, but a lot of them focuson how to tell a few been talks
by mold. You know, that sort ofthing I wanted to focus on, what
(15:09):
are the products, the services,the people that actually keep me
alive, that actually helped mestay healthy or get healthy. And
so we chose with the freedom formold to really focus on
solutions. And that's where Isaw the biggest need. So that's
(15:30):
how we always stumbled, andeventually, I resigned to the
fact that I'm going to be themold guy, you know, or a mold
guy.
But I really wanted to make itpositive and uplifting and, you
know, really provide solid,practical, down to earth
(15:50):
solutions for some of theproblems that come up when you
once you've been taxed. Sosomeone who may not be in the
best health and haven't found aclear diagnosis, what would what
should they consider looking foror just being aware of possibly
could be mold exposure? Well, Ithink the most practical in
(16:14):
first thing you might want to dois to get a mycotoxin test from
a company called Great Plains.
It's a testing company. And youshould be able to get that
through any good medicalprovider.
Our friend, Mandy Babkes, youknow, she's a holistic health
(16:36):
person, she can get it done.
There's a couple of doctors andnutrition people that I know
that can get it done, any doctorcan, can, you know, write the
script for that for that. It'sabout $350. But it gives you the
list of all the mycotoxins thatare in your system. So it's
actuallyand I will say this, the science
(16:57):
is still way out on this.
There's just not enoughresearch. There's not enough,
you know, science being done.
Butit's thought that the mycotoxins
are the things that actuallycaused the problems in your
system, and not the mold itself.
But the problem is, when youkill mold, it leaves mycotoxins
(17:20):
in your system, in your house,or whatever. So the first thing
is to get the Great Plainsmycotoxin test.
At that point, hopefully, you'reworking with a health provider,
who can read it and understandit and have some solutions for
(17:40):
you.
There's a bunch of very goodones out there. There's more
every day, there's more seriousscientists and doctors talking
about mold. But that's probablythe first step if you can, if
you can swing them. And with anyhealth care relationship, it's
probably good to ask your doctorif they've had experience with
(18:02):
mold, or if they can recommendor is there any anything
specific you should check inwith your doctor or something
you can phrase to him that'llkind of key if he's the right or
he or she is the right provider?
Yeah, just ask him what theyknow about mold. How do they
treat mold? You know, I had aPCP that says, I don't have
anything, you know, I havenothing to treat you with. Like,
if you have an active moldinfection, they can do
(18:25):
something. But if you just havethe lingering, simmering effects
of ongoing contact,there's nothing they can do. So
the first part is just what dothey know? What are their
treatments? And if their answeris,
then find another doctor. Keeplooking. Keep looking.
(18:50):
So you've gotten a baseline,you've gotten your health care
provider?
And it's our are there tests forthe environment too? Can you Oh,
yeah. assuming there's a lot oftests for your environment as
well. Yep. Yeah, a lot of tests,any good, any good mold.
remediator would be able to doair tests.
And they can run to $300 aswell.
(19:14):
Then they'll test the air,usually in a couple of different
locations, and then they'll do atest of the air outside, just to
see how much mold is actually inyour environment around your
house as well. And again, that'sreally can be very high.
I was reading on a weatherwebsite, that when the mold
(19:40):
index, and I think that's whatthey call it, the mold index is
very high, which means 6000 moldspores in every cubic yard of
air.
They recommend, do not do takeoff your shoes when you've been
outside before.
You into your house. Otherwise,you're going to drag mold spores
(20:03):
right into your house.
Josh Meeder (20:06):
So it sounds like some of these basic testing to
get the baseline are really notthat that expensive. I mean,
hearing your story, I bet you'dbe happy to spend a couple 100
bucks a year or two priorinstead of all the doctor's
visits and headaches just to getin or out. Right. But now the
problem is the very first test Idid in the basement where I'm
(20:31):
living now,
Sven Hosford (20:33):
they told me that the danger line was at 500. And
that it was at 250 in thebasement. So according to them,
oh, you're not in danger? Well,once you've been talks, once
you've hit your maximum toxicload, you are super susceptible
to everything. Everything, Icouldn't walk down the laundry
(20:53):
aisle at the grocery store afterI had the heart attack. So 250
may be safe for most people, andmost people's system can handle
it. But it might not be for me.
And unfortunately, there's noreal easy, simple way to
determine that.
Other than just give a littleplug for the last podcast, I did
(21:17):
this, this three people run acompany they call exposing mold.
And they practice what they callavoidance. And that basically
means take your body and somewell wash clothes and go out and
live in a tent in the desert fora couple of weeks, or any non
toxic environment that you'resure is non toxic.
(21:39):
Come back to your house and seehow you feel. See how your body
reacts. And to learn to use yourbody as the testing meter to
say, this is safe, this is notsafe.
It's really an interesting wayto look at it. And all three of
these people in exposing moldhave had their own horror
(22:00):
stories aboutyou know, just trying to figure
out what they have, why are theysick? You know, that sort of
thing.
Josh Meeder (22:08):
So there's a ton of consequences of mold, obvious
and not obvious.
Some of the ones that youmentioned were brain fog. I
think anyone who hasunfortunately probably
contracted COVID can understandwhat a brain fog would look like
that virus seems to indicate it.
What other were what were someof the really obvious, you say,
(22:29):
you know, when you come back infrom a clean environment to a
toxic loaded environment, whatare some of the obvious signs,
you see? And then what are someof the after effects are not so
obvious signs? Sure.
Sven Hosford (22:44):
You know, the list is very long, actually.
Fatigue is a big one. ChronicFatigue Syndrome, is now thought
by some people to be exclusivelyrelated to mold.
I personally get lightsensitivity.
And my visual acuity goes down.
So when I can't see thingsclearly, and I walk outside, and
(23:08):
I have to squint because sun'sout, that's a pretty good sign
that I've been tossedjust had my garage worked on and
they pounded a new roof on it.
And the first time I opened thedoor, I realized that all the
dust that was up in the roof isnow on the floor and all over
(23:29):
all of my possessions in thegarage. And, you know, for a
couple of days, I was upset.
Mental health issues are areally big thing. Like, I have
never in my life had panicattacks. And I started to have
them when I was living in that100 year old building,
depression, anxiety, but reallymental health issues that are
(23:53):
outside your norm. You know,like
I've worked on myself for a longtime being involved with
Holistic Health. I've triedevery technique. You know, I've
tried every healing process,supplement, you name it, I've
done it. And so I've worked onmyself a lot. So I know what my
(24:17):
baseline basically is as far asmental health. But when I start
feeling depression or anxiety, Idon't have anxiety. I don't get
anxiety. You know, when I feelthat, or I feel real weepy. You
know, a real sappy show comes onTV and you know, I find myself
(24:39):
crying. It's like what is goingon? You know, so, mental health
issues are a really big one.
But again, on the physical sideof thing that could be really
anything, anything that hurtsanything that's inflamed,
you know, lymph system that'snot moving. And there's a lot of
(24:59):
different symptoms for that.
Really, there's more than I caneven remember, on what are the
signals, you know, but I thinkfor me, the visual acuity, the
fatigue, you know, feelingchronic fatigue kind of
symptoms, and the mental healthissues are the biggest
indicators. From from, from mypoint of view. So that's
Josh Meeder (25:23):
a good overview of what someone you know, may want
to look out for. Now, with yourfreedom for mold, business and
consulting, you're reallyfocusing on people who have one
have already figured out andidentified that they've had a
mold exposure and are actuallyin the active process of
(25:43):
detoxification in recovery. So Iwould imagine there's, you know,
a lot of protocols, someproducts some people do, and
great things, some services outthere, there are to give a
little bit of a, an overview oflike, what what can someone do,
if they found out that they'vebeen exposed to mold?
Sven Hosford (26:03):
Yeah, yeah, really, the the first most
important thing is to get out ofthe moldy environment. Either
you get it remediatedprofessionally by somebody who
really knows what they're doing.
And we have a great podcast onthat these guys called the mold
men, the mold medics, I'm sorry,here in Pittsburgh, they give a
great overview on the podcastsabout what to watch out for, you
(26:26):
know how to do it right and soforth. Definitely, if somebody
shows up with a bottle ofbleach, you know, just throw
them out. So the other thingsyou can do, like I say, the very
first most important thing is toremediate or move where you're
living. And then, and this isreally hard is to come to an
(26:49):
understanding that everythingyou own is not covered with mold
spores. And the amount of moldtoxins that it takes to make you
sick, is very, very, very small.
So for example, when I had theheart attack, we actually moved
(27:11):
out of the moldy Apartment Aweek before that, but I brought
with me on my, my futon in bedsheets and hadn't washed them.
And a week after I moved out iswhen I had the heart attack,
because I was sleeping andbreathing moldy bedsheets, you
(27:32):
know. So, you know, get get intoa clean environment, learn that
you're the amount that it takesnow to to make you sick in any
way or to create symptoms can bevery, very small. We were
talking about, somebody walksinto a one of your friends goes
to a moldy apartment, and eighthours later comes to your house,
(27:57):
and the mold is still in theirhair sets you off. It can be a
very, very small amount. So byhaving awareness of those kinds
of things, and you have to thenbecome aware of everything in
your environment, and pay veryclose attention to what's
(28:17):
happening in your body. How doyou feel right now? What's your
mental state? You know, where isthere any pain anywhere, all
that sort of thing. The theother things that I think are
really important are that youget inside of an infrared sauna
as often as you can. Becausethat's one of the quickest and
(28:37):
healthiest ways to get the mostout of your system. Learn to do
coffee enemas on your own, orfind someplace that does coffee
colonics. Getting your GI systemcleaned out is very important.
Gi problems can be a symptom ofmold exposure. Like many
Josh Meeder (29:01):
things that starts in the gut to get the system
balance, Zack, because mold isis is it creating inflammation,
what's the in the body's got tobe going haywire, trying to
trans to wipe it out. And ifyour gut balance isn't out, I
could imagine it'd be nearimpossible to do evacuated if
(29:25):
it's exactly gut balance.
Sven Hosford (29:27):
Exactly. So, saunas. You know, the coffee
colonics. I bought myself one ofthese little rebounders little
mini trampolines. They call itthe brand. I have his cellar
sizer. And what is designed todo is you just do a little
bounce, you know, for five or 10minutes. And what that does is
(29:51):
it gets the lymph system moving.
And you really need to have yourlymph system moving if you want
to stay healthy. So it's likeawareness of all those kinds of
things. And for example, keepingyour sinuses clear, you know,
when I wake up in the morningand it's all clogged and I can't
breathe, well, I have differentthings like us to clean the
(30:15):
sinuses out and make sure I'mbreathing healthy, because
that's the first place they go.
So there's a product called XLear. It's a little spray that
you put up your your snoot.
Another really good tool to haveis a neti pot. The little clay
pot you get in any health foodstore, or yoga studio,
(30:36):
basically, you pull littlesaltwater and that's good for
mold. But I mean seasonalseasonal allergies. Oh, yeah.
All and all that stuff. Yeah,clears it up.
Josh Meeder (30:47):
I used to think that thing was really weird
invention. And I didn't do itright the first couple times.
But once you get the hang of it,it's it's delightful feel like a
home. And and it's a simple,natural, easy cleaning and
keeping any of those infectionsfrom setting in.
Sven Hosford (31:06):
The Yoga people that I bought mine from they say
it's just like brushing yourteeth, you get up in the
morning, you brush teeth, you,you clean your nasal cavity and
get on with your day. There'sanother product I haven't tried
yet, but I've had highrecommendations for cold
novasure it's basically a netipot on steroids, it just puts it
(31:27):
in one nostril and pulls it outthe other nostril and then you
spend a 20 minutes or so youknow clearing your sinuses out.
But the doctor I'm going toright now just swears by it, you
said it's absolutely essential.
So good nasal sinus hygiene issuper important. Like I say,
just to have an awareness. Andit's difficult because, you
(31:48):
know, so many people that I'vedealt with, or I've seen on the
Facebook groups, they're sodepressed, they're so beaten
down. And then you know, theirdoctor tells them it's all in
their head. And then eventually,their friends and family don't
want to hear about mold anymore.
(32:09):
And be can become very abusive,even. And you may find that the
toxins in your life are thepeople that are surrounding you.
And you have to basically ghost,some people to get them out of
your life, you know, whenpossible, if somebody's causing
(32:30):
you more distress and you feelmore anxious and more depressed
after you talk to them. Don'ttalk to them anymore. And this
can be really difficult becausethat could be family could be
your loved one, you know.
Josh Meeder (32:44):
And I think that's where I've seen you go with the
freedom from old because yeah,it is an isolating experience.
One it's not recognized. It's along term, usually in its
diagnosis. So where I've seenyou bring your brilliance
forward is actually in providingsome of the solutions. You know,
(33:05):
you work with people one on oneto help coach them through and
walk them through and I doexperience what are some of the
other things you're doing withfreedom from mold at this point?
Sven Hosford (33:15):
Well, I'm working to get some more products and
services into the mix. I've donesix podcasts so far. I'd like to
do a bunch more. One of theproblems is these people who
deal with mold are so busy, youknow, because there's so many
people that are waking up to thefact that they're they're not
(33:38):
healthy. I think that mostimportant thing I can do is the
one on one coaching. Because wereally get into it and I just to
have somebody that will listento you. And believe you is a
huge thing for a lot of peoplesuffering from mold. You know,
and then if I give thempractical advice, practical, you
(34:01):
know, ways to like a neti pot islike $15, you know. And that's
essential to do every day. Butjust like getting people to that
level of awareness is really thebiggest thing. And there's so
many
Josh Meeder (34:17):
because that took you years, it took you two years
to develop that level ofawareness. And it's still
learning good. Yeah, yeah. And agood coach will bring you
forward and shorten that cycleto recovery because you don't
have to make the same mistakes.
Exactly, exactly. So you'rehelping you're helping people
bring forward and you'restarting to offer, offer some
products and growing yournetwork. Do a lot more more of
(34:38):
these mold mitigation moldservices coming available is
this growing industry isrelatively unknown.
Sven Hosford (34:52):
It's a it's a huge industry. But I have to say from
what I've seen probably 90% ofthe people in the room Mediation
business are not doing itcorrectly. And I don't want to
say they're all shysters. A lotof them may think they're doing
it correctly. I met a guy theother day, he wanted to come on
(35:12):
the podcast. And he has, he doesa split the mold medic guys call
it spray and pray, you know, youspray this stuff, and then you
kills all the mold in the air,but it doesn't kill the source
of the mold. It doesn't kill themycotoxins, it doesn't remove
the mycotoxins doesn't getbehind the walls, or allow these
molds or you're coming from. Soif you, you know, if somebody
(35:35):
says, hey, we'll just spray thisstuff, and then everything will
be fine. Now, in Oman, my momhad dementia, the last few years
of her life. And when they wentinto her home, the mold levels
were off the chart. And they didthe spray and pray and I went in
(35:55):
a few weeks later to get some mystuff out. And I had a headache
within 30 seconds. And Icouldn't stay more than 10
minutes. You know, that's,that's the biggest thing.
Really, you want to make sureyour remediator knows what
they're doing. In the thing is,you can go to two different
(36:17):
doctors to differentremediators. And they'll tell
you two different things, orfive different things if you go
to five of them. How do you knowwhat's true? How do you know
what's right, and a lot oftimes, the science is just not
in, you know, or the scienceshows something that nobody
wants to pay attention to thatlike this connection between
(36:37):
chronic fatigue and mold.
doctors, scientists don't wantto know about it, they don't
want to touch it.
Josh Meeder (36:45):
And you've created freedom from mold and have been
helping a lot of people. Sofreedom from mold really starts
with someone mainly who hasfound out that they have had
mold exposure. What are youdoing for someone in that
situation?
Sven Hosford (37:00):
Well, the first thing is I want to help them
understand. I want them tobelieve and understand the
things that I believe andunderstand. And that's a lot a
lot of things. You know, alsoknowing, just teaching people,
what kind of products to use,what kind of products not to
(37:23):
use? What kinds of questionsshould you be asking? You know,
I've been a journalist my entirelife, I started out as a Navy
journalist at the age of 19. AndI've been interviewing people
that long been asking questionsthat long. So I appreciate your
saying how, you know, I'm such agood podcaster I think I am too.
(37:46):
But I want people to I wantpeople to be confident in
understanding the signals thattheir body is teaching them. I
want people to learn how to readthose signals. I have this thing
I say, your body is much smarterthan you are. And if you learn
(38:08):
to listen to your body, if youlearn to pay attention to your
body, it can teach you more thanany number of podcasts, frankly.
But it's really about beingconfident in the ability to make
decisions about your health. Youknow, when I was in that
(38:29):
emergency room, and the 30 yearold doctor said, Look, I've been
to medical school.
The Comeback I should have hadwas, well, I've been in this
body for 56 years, and I know itbetter than you do, which is the
right answer.
You know, you're almost everycase, every case, you know your
(38:50):
body better than anybody else.
But a lot of people will beswayed into believing something,
because the doctor says, well,just because the doctor said it
doesn't make it true.
They may, I heard I've heard theit was great advice I was
giving. And they said doctorsand lawyers and accountants can
(39:12):
only be as strong as theirclients. And there is some truth
in that where you have to trustand respect the education and
the training they have. But youalso have to trust in put your
own thoughts in an importanceand values forward and you can
move on if you don't find apractitioner that's supporting
supporting your belief system orconcern, right. That's really,
(39:36):
really important and it's true.
Would you say that they can onlybe as strong as their client.
You know, but it's also truethat if you're going to a doctor
and he won't listen or she won'tlisten to you. It's time to find
another doctor. It's reallyprevalent throughout the medical
profession that they ask thequestions they want to ask.
They're looking for specificanswers anything
(40:00):
else they just toss away youknow, so when I went to a
cardiologist because you knowthey that is the process you got
to check to see that yourtickers okay. And they couldn't
find any clogged arteries.
The cardiologist had nocuriosity about the month I
spent in the, the naturopathicclinic he didn't want to know
(40:22):
anything about it didn't want toknow any the treatments, how
dramatic and exceptional andthings I learned about didn't
want to know any of that. Andthis was cardiologists who was a
little older than me, but it waspasty white, you know, body like
the Pillsbury Doughboy, hunchedover glasses, you know, totally
(40:43):
out of shape, totally unhealthy.
And he's gonna tell me about mycardio cardiological situation,
and he doesn't even listen tome, you know? So it goes both
ways. You got to find a doctorthat will listen and actually
pay attention.
Josh Meeder (41:02):
Right? Well, there's a lot of things that are
coming up for you. So I'm goingto share the link to freedom
from mold. If you are curious,you can reach out to spend their
Sven Hosford (41:15):
lot of good Facebook services. We have a
Facebook group and Facebookpage. And so you can always
reach me on that.
Josh Meeder (41:25):
So if you have concerns or if you know someone
who may have been or strugglingwith mold exposure, I definitely
suggest getting in touch withspan. All his contact
information will be here in thedescription, you can find them
at Freedom for mold.com span, Ijust want to thank you again for
being a guest and a good friendfor so many years. Is there
anything in closing you want toshare with the audience? You
(41:47):
know, words of wisdom? No, asfar as the bulk goes, just if
you think you have a problem,you probably have a problem.
Good. So listen to yourintuition, listen to your body
and look around the environment.
Span. Thank you so much. Thankyou Judge we will, we'll be
listening to your podcast. Thankyou very much. Appreciate it.
(42:12):
Thank you for watching. If youliked what you saw, be sure to
hit that like and subscribebutton right now. Stay tuned and
check out the channel for otherinteresting and informative
videos.
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