Fungal Questionnaire II

This is a continuation of the set of questions given by Doug Kaufmann and Dr. Dave Holland in the book "Eating Your Way to Good Health." Again, these are used to assess a person's exposure to fungi and the odds that the microbes (or their mycotoxins) lie behind certain medical issues.

21. Do you suffer from fatigue?

22. Do you often feel irritable?

23. Do you often feel dazed or "spaced out?"

24. Do you suffer from memory loss?

25. Do your muscles, bones, or joints bother you?

26. Do you get more than the occasional headache?

27. Do you suffer from hair loss?

28. Have you been diagnosed with high or low blood pressure?

29. Have you been diagnosed with high cholestrol or triglycerides?

30. Have you ever been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?

31. Do you often feel more unhappy than "normal" for a given situation?

32. Have you had sharp cravings for corn, peanuts, or sugar?

33. Do you suffer allergic reactions to pollens, molds, animal dander, dust, mites, perfumes, chemical, smoke, or fabric store odors?

34. For women: have you experienced uterine or urinary tract problems or endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome or fibroids? Are your ovaries, thyroid gland, adrenals or pancreas malfunctioning?

Again, our family, collectively, scored 100% on this test. I heartily recommend all of Kaufmann's books including the three volumes titled "The Fungus Link."

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Fungus Questionnaire

We have followed an anti-fungal diet to varying degrees since beginning our recovery. The diet purported by Doug Kaufmann has proven to be the most comprehensive and helpful. I plan to share more about our journey with this aspect of treatment, but for now I thought some may benefit from this series of questions compiled by Kaufmann and Dr. David Holland.

The questionnaire (51 questions in all) "is used to assess the degree to which patients may have been exposed to fungi, and the odds that the microbes or mycotoxins lie behind a given problem" (from the book "Eating Your Way to Good Health").

1. At any time in your life, have you taken repeated or prolonged rounds of antibiotics?

2. At any time in your life, have you taken repeated or prolonged courses of steroids or cortisone-based pills?

3. Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia?

4. Do you have, or have you ever had asthma?

5. Do you have diabetes? Type 1 or Type 2?

6. At any time in your life, have you been treated for worms or parasites?

7. Have you traveled outside of the U.S.?

8. Have you had ringworm, nail fungus?

9. Have you ever been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD?

10. Had you spent time in or near construction sites when you became ill?

11. Are you bothered by recurring problems with your digestive tract?

12. Does your health problem get worse in response to heat?

13. Do your inner ears itch?

14. Does your vision blur for no apparent reason?

15. Do you have acne?

16. Has your home or office ever had a mold problem?

17. Do your symptoms worsen on damp days, or when you spend time in musty/moldy environments?

18. Are you allergic to any foods?

19. Do you have itching, tingling, or burning skin?

20. Do you have hives, psoriasis, dandruff, or chronic skin rashes?

Collectively, our family scores a 20 out of 20. If just one of the 30 doctors who saw us during the height of our exposure would have suggested a link with the fungus and mycotoxins, it would have altered our course dramatically.

Environment is only one means of exposure. According to Kaufmann, foods such as corn, wheat, and peanuts are commonly contaminated with mycotoxins.

For more information on the Anti-Fungal Diet, see Doug Kaufmann's website Know the Cause.

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Questionnaire

This is an excerpt from an Occupational and Environmental Medicine packet developed by Dr. Grace Ziem. It is 18 pages in its entirety. I thought it might help to see the types of questions that address the issue of environmental illness. These symptoms can mean something entirely unrelated so this is not meant to diagnose.



In the questionnaire you are asked to rate the severity of your symptoms on a 0 to 10 scale.



a. Problems with your head, such as headaches, or a feeling of pressure or fullness in your face or head?



b. Problems with your ability to think, such as difficulty concentrating or remembering things, feeling spacey, or having trouble making decisions?



c. Problems with your mood, such as feeling tense or nervous, irritable, depressed, having spells of crying or rage, or loss of motivation to do things that used to interest you?



d. Problems with your balance or coordination, with numbness or tingling in your extremities, or with focusing your eyes?



e. Problems with your muscles or joints such as pain, aching, cramping, stiffness or weakness?



f. Problems with your skin such as a rash, hives, or dry skin?



g. Problems with your urinary tract such as pelvic pain or frequent or urgent urination?



h. Problems with your stomach or digestive tract, such as abdominal pain or cramping, abdominal swelling or bloating, nausea, diarrhea, or constipation?



i. Problems with your heart or chest, such as a fast or irregular heart rate, skipped beats, your heart pounding, or chest discomfort?



j. Problems with burning or irritation of your eyes or problems with your airway or breathing, such as feeling short of breath, coughing, or having a lot of mucus, postnasal drainage, or respiratory infections?



Again, these are research questions only and, frankly, the tip of the iceberg when it comes to biotoxin exposure.

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