Clear Out Other Pathogens
Mold illness can inhibit your immune system. Then, chronic infections such as viruses or Lyme disease may flare. And parasites may move in.
On the flip side, parasites and other infections can weaken your immune system. That makes you more vulnerable to mold toxicity.
Either way, kicking out unwanted critters helps reduce the strain on your immune system.
Moreover, mold spores may hide inside parasites. And, some parasitic worms can block your bile ducts, interfering with toxin drainage. This means you may not be able to fully recover from mold illness until you give parasites the boot.
Clear out the critters using parasite-killing herbs and Mimosa pudica seed. This could support your recovery from mold toxicity.
In short, as discussed in this video, there are many supplement strategies to help you overcome mold toxicity.
Still, youll be fighting an uphill battle if you continue to live or work in a moldy building. That can make you sensitive to supplements and other get-well strategies. So, dont overlook this elephant in the room.
What Is Toxic Mold Syndrome
Mold spores are found all throughout nature. Its estimated that there are nearly 300,000 different types of mold living free and in the wild. Mold is technically a type of fungus. While it has roots like a plant, it does not draw its energy from the sun. At the same time, it lacks an animals ability to seek out new food sources in its environment.
Moisture and things like water damage in your home can create the perfect environment for wild mold spores to establish a pervasive presence. In ideal moist and warm conditions black toxic mold has the potential to establish itself in a little more than 24-hours!
Once this happens fugitive mold spores start to increase in the air inside the home. If the mold problem goes unidentified, ignored, or simply isnt professionally remediated in short order, the mold spore density in the home will continue to increase. Over time this can increase the chances of you and your loved ones developing problems like Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or Toxic Mold Syndrome.
What Are Mold Toxins
Mold toxins are toxic gases produced by indoor molds. Mold Toxicity occurs when patients accumulate excessive levels of mold toxins in their brain and body. Supposedly, only 25 percent, one of four, of Americans have inherited HLA DRBQ genetics and therefore, cannot make antibodies to mold toxins.
Ironically, 90 percent of Dr. Sponaugles addicted and wellness patients have HLA-DRBQ genetics. While the highest prevalence of HLA- DRBQ genetics is in fair-skinned people of Northern European descent, Dr. Sponaugle has diagnosed the mold genetics in patients from Latin America and Asia.
Hidden mold is always present in water-damaged buildings. Most patients are unaware, as was Dr. Sponaugle, that they are suffering from gases produced by mold infestations hidden behind water damaged walls, shower tile, and above wet ceilings. These harmful toxins go unnoticed when mold is hidden because we cannot see or smell them.
The three-out-of-four Americans who naturally produce antibodies to mold toxins can live and work in water-damaged buildings without suffering significant demise in their health. However, because patients with HLA DRBQ genetics have no antibodies to deactivate and remove mold toxins, they develop an excessive accumulation of these harmful toxins.
Addiction Anxiety Bipolar II Chronic Fatigue Depression Fibromyalgia Insomnia Multiple Sclerosis Neuropathy OCD Panic Disorder Paranoia & Schizoid Syndrome!
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Diagnosing & Treating Mold Allergies
Mold season is less clear-cut than the various pollen seasons because they are present year-round with fluctuations in levels based on the conditions. The most accurate way to diagnose mold allergies is with the allergy skin tests.
When the diagnosis has been made, the first line of treatment is avoidance. Exposure to mold spores is affected by a variety of conditions outside the home including:
- Very well shaded yard with little direct light
- Dense vegetation
Inside the home, the following conditions are an invitation for trouble:
- Carpet in the bathroom
- Water leaks or flooding into the home
- Vegetation sitting in water and potted plants.
- Mold infestation in a wall or ceiling will usually leave a color on the surface.
The mold-allergic patient may benefit from keeping humidity between 30-50% by using dehumidifiers.
However, if avoidance and medications do not completely relieve symptoms, there is still hope. Immunotherapy can be an effective treatment in lowering the body¹s sensitivity to a specific allergen, by introducing that allergen into the body in tiny amounts over a period of time.
Brain Spect Imaging Helps Treat Brain Toxicity Caused By Black Mold
Kimberlyn had booked a Full Evaluation, which took two days to complete. She filled out multiple questionnaires and history forms, talked to specialized counselors, and finally had a set of SPECT images taken of her brain. Just to really see exactly what was happening to my brain in the SPECT scans and that I do have a toxic injury due to mold was amazing, said Kimberlyn. They did such a good job with all of the evaluations, and they were so thorough. By the end of the second day, Dr. Arsalan Darmal had a whole binder of material that discussed the results of the testing I had done while I was there.
Dr. Darmal and the staff at Amen Clinics Orange County, CA discovered that Kimberlyn also had ADHD and a previous traumatic brain injury that was increasing the effects of the mold injury. When my brain swelled from the mold exposure, I was getting almost no blood flow to my prefrontal cortex, explained Kimberlyn.
Co-occurring conditions that can increase the effects of an injury or illness on the brain are common, yet can be easily overlooked. Kimberlyn was shocked to hear that the brain injury she had suffered in high school was impacting her life today and even more surprised that she had ADHD. The medication for ADHD has made a huge difference in my productivity and ability to focus. That was like the bonus prize that I wasnt even expecting, said Kimberlyn.
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The Consequences Of Improper Diagnosis And Treatment
Unfortunately, traditional psychiatry remains the only medical field that rarely looks at the organ it treats, so no one will look at your brain to see if there are signs of toxicity. And most likely no one will even consider that your symptoms might be due to exposure to mold or other toxins. If you visit a healthcare professional with symptoms of depression or memory loss, chances are they will never ask you if you had a water leak at home, if you are a house painter, or if you are a hairdresser.
Because of this, mold toxicity and other types of brain toxicity remain underdiagnosed. The medical community has been slow to acknowledge the association between exposure to mold and other toxins as a cause for psychiatric symptoms. Sadly, when people with undetected exposure to mold or other toxins are misdiagnosed, treatments often dont work. And in some cases, they can make symptoms worse. Without the appropriate treatment and with continued exposure to the toxin, your brain can be subjected to further injury.
This can eventually lead to a worsening of your symptoms and can impact other areas of your life, including your career and relationships. Without the appropriate treatment, brain toxicity can steal your mind and steal your life.
If you are experiencing psychiatric symptoms and you arent responding to treatment, its worth investigating if exposure to mold or other toxins may be the root cause.
With A Better Brain Comes A Better Life
Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
I Heard About Toxic Molds And Black Molds That Grow In Homes And Other Buildings Should I Be Concerned About A Serious Health Risk To Me And My Family
There is always a little mold everywhere in the air and on many surfaces.
Certain molds are toxigenic, meaning they can produce toxins . Hazards presented by molds that may produce mycotoxins should be considered the same as other common molds which can grow in your house. Not all fungi produce mycotoxins and even those that do will not do so under all surface or environmental conditions.
Mold growth, which often looks like spots, can be many different colors, and can smell musty. Color is not an indication of how dangerous a mold may be. Any mold should be removed and the moisture source that helped it grow should be removed.
There are very few reports that toxigenic molds found inside homes can cause unique or rare health conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss. These case reports are rare, and a causal link between the presence of the toxigenic mold and these conditions has not been proven.
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Effective Treatment For Symptoms Of Mold Exposure
Get Your Home Tested Properly
Proper mold inspection requires hiring an experienced Indoor Environmental Professional that uses various testing techniques to ensure there has not been water damage leading to mold growth in your home. When someone is sick in the household, the degree of mold testing needs to be more comprehensive than if someone was doing a general home inspection. I have witnessed mold inspectors miss water damage and mold growth in patients homes because they did not do a thorough investigation, or used the wrong testing methods.
Proper testing for mold helps to establish the scope of work for remediation. It is a conflict of interest to hire an inspector who also does remediation. However, most reputable inspectors can recommend a contractor who specializes in mold remediation.
To find a certified IEP in your area, visit www.acac.org and look for CIEC and CMC certifications. You will also find certified remediators with CMRS and CMR designation.
Treatments for mold Illness
Prescription medications and supplements referred to as binders are used to reduce the mycotoxin burden in the body. Technically these compounds do not bind mycotoxins, but they adsorb like static cling. Mycotoxins are secreted with bile from the gallbladder into the intestines. Mycotoxins adhere to binders in the intestines and then excreted through the stool.
Glutathione in Treating Mold Toxicity
Reduce Inflammation in Mold Toxicity
- Turmeric
- Transfer Factors Enviro
But Removal From Exposure Isnt Enough For Most Patients With Cirs
While removal from exposure is an important first step, as I mentioned above, there are at least 10 other steps in the protocol.
People with CIRS have genetic mutations that make them unable to remove the biotoxins that have accumulated in their bodies. This means that getting away from the biotoxins may stop them from building up further, but it will not remove them.
Removal of biotoxins in patients with CIRS usually begins with binders like cholestyramine or colesevelam . Other steps include eradicating biofilm-forming staph colonizations that tend to develop in the nasal passages of patients with CIRS and correcting high/low metallopeptidase 9, antidiuretic hormone/osmolality, C4a, transforming growth factor beta 1, vascular endothelial growth factor, and vasoactive intestinal peptide.
In an ideal world, wed have CIRS-aware physicians in every city and town who could help patients with this recovery process. Unfortunately, that is not the case. There are currently only a few Dr. Shoemaker-certified practitioners, and perhaps several others who are not certified but are actively treating CIRS.
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Dont Let Mold Interfere With Restoring Your Health
Mold is everywhere in the environment. Indoor exposure to toxic mold can trigger inflammation and cause immune dysregulation that causes multiple symptoms in multiple systems of the body. This makes mold illness difficult to diagnose. Physicians rarely look for environmental causes of illness so they do not ask patients about exposures such as mold. If you are suffering from multiple chronic symptoms or have been diagnosed with Lyme disease, or an autoimmune or neurological condition without a known cause, find a physician with expertise in mold illness so you can get properly tested.
How Can I Check For Mold
Its best to hire a professional to help you identify and remove mold, especially if youre allergic or vulnerable to it.
You should also consider hiring help if the mold covers more than 10 square feet, or if its hidden behind wallpaper, ceiling tiles, or other areas.
Here are some steps for identifying and removing mold.
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Cirs Is Frequently Missed Or Misdiagnosed
As I mentioned in misconception #2, up to 25 percent of the population is susceptible to CIRS, and perhaps a majority of buildings are either water-damaged or have conditions that make mold growth possible. Combine these factors with the increase in inflammatory diseases that has occurred over the past few decades and you have an environment that is ripe for CIRS.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of patients with this condition have not been properly diagnosed or treated because conventional doctorsand even many Functional and integrative medicine specialistssimply arent looking for it. The fact that patients with CIRS also typically meet the criteria for other syndromes and diseases like fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, post-treatment Lyme syndrome, and multiple sclerosis compounds the problem. The symptoms of CIRS are non-specific, which means that they dont conclusively identify CIRS by their mere presence.
Mold Testing And Remediation Recommendations
If there is any chance your home or workplace may be moldy the first thing I recommend is to have the building tested by a great environmental testing company. They are not all created equal and I recommend or . The primary factor in treating any environmental illness is to identify the toxin and eliminate it. In my clinical experience, patients who are still exposed to the offending mycotoxins will not fully recover until they either move or fully remediate their homes.
Moving and remediating moldy homes can feel very overwhelming, especially when you arent feeling well because of the mold! I recommending talking to or about which of your belongings can be cleaned versus which ones need to be thrown out.
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Hear What People Are Saying About Us
Its been a week since we have started using it. It makes the room air that previously had mold smell crisp and fresh and I feel better knowing that the spores are being destroyed with the UV bulbs.
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Remove The Mold From The Body
The next step is to begin the process of removing the mold from your body. One of the main ways you can detox your body from the mold is through the use of bile sequestrants.
How acid sequestrants work
When the body is exposed to toxins, it detoxifies them through the liver and then secretes them into the bile where they go out via the stool. In some people with mold toxicity bile is reabsorbed back into the body. Bile acid sequestrants are compounds that bind to bile acids, stopping reabsorption and allowing them to pass out of the body in the stool.
There are two types of bile acid sequestrants, prescription and natural compounds.
Prescription Bile Sequestrants
The bile prescription sequestrants that have been studied the most are Cholestyramine powder and Welchol.
The recommended dosage for Cholestyramine powder is 4 grams, four times a day, an hour before a meal or supplements or two hours after.
Welchol is taken once or twice a day. Welchol is not as efficient and is more expensive then Cholestyramine powder.
For best results when I recommend combining the prescription binders with clay, charcoal, chlorella, and glucomannan.
Natural Bile Sequestrants and binders
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Mold Could Thrive In Your Home
It is estimated that half of the buildings in the United States may be WDB, meaning water-damaged buildings. Construction techniques in the U.S. turn out to be a feast and buffet for mold and fungal organisms. Our homes here are often built of wood and drywall rather than stone or brick as in Europe. Mold and fungi thrive on drywall, wood, and other soft materials.
Mold thrives in dark and moist environments and doesnt take much water to get the process going. A small drip from a leaky toilet, shower, or sink is all it takes. Small roof leaks are also common causes. If you see a stain on the ceiling or the wall there is very likely an associated hidden mold growth. This is not the type of mold that you see on the shower wall, but rather it is lurking behind the walls and in air ducts, crawl spaces, attics, and other areas.
