Most people are unaware exposure to mold can cause serious illness. Even worse, most physicians are not familiar with mold illness or the symptoms of mold exposure, so it is rarely considered as a diagnosis. If mold is suspected, a physician may test the patient for mold allergies – or suggest they have allergies to some inhalant – but mold illness is much more. Symptoms of mold exposure are very similar to Lyme disease, and it is not uncommon for these conditions to occur simultaneously.
Someone can test positive for mold allergies and experience mold toxicity at the same time. However, in mold toxicity, systemic immune dysregulation, and subsequent inflammation are the underlying features that drive symptoms.
Sources of Mold Exposure
Extensive studies have estimated about half of the homes in the United States have water damage and mold growth. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has surveyed 100 representative government and commercial office buildings and found 45% had current leaks, and 85% had evidence of past water damage.
Within 48 hours of dampness or water intrusion pathogens begin to grow. All that is needed for mold growth to occur is dampness and any plant-based material such as wood, paper, wallpaper, drywall, ceiling tiles, dust, and more. Mold growth will continue if there is moisture and could be why some people’s symptoms worsen during the winter and spring. For mold remediation to be successful, it is critical to find the source of water or dampness and accurately correct the leak.
Mold produces toxins called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins can spread throughout the house just like smoke does when something is burning on the stove.
Increased Risk for Mold Growth
Buildings with flat roofs or basements, or that are built on hillsides or in shaded areas are at increased risk for mold growth. HVAC systems are also a significant source of mold growth, especially when ducting is in a basement. In addition, water damage can come from a leaking roof, pipe, or appliance such as a dishwasher, refrigerator, or wash machine. Buildings that are poorly maintained are much more susceptible to mold growth. Government buildings and schools, as well as rental apartments and homes, tend to be poorly maintained.
There are also circumstances when water damage to a home or building is apparent. A patient shared a story of a wall caving in under the pressure of a paint roller because the sheetrock was so damp from water damage. Others have reported discovering mold growing on a wall after removing a bed or a picture (mold grows where there is no light). I have seen patients who were exposed to mold in their car and at their place of work.
Current and past mold exposure can cause illness. People can continue to have elevated mycotoxins from a past mold exposure long after leaving a moldy environment.
However, most of the time, my patients are unaware they have been exposed to mold until they get tested. Once diagnosed with mold illness, people may recall a house they lived in years prior to their health decline had a musty odor. How about the dorm the college student lived in where the air conditioning unit was on all the time? When did their health decline?
Is All Mold Toxic?
Mold is not the only pathogen that grows from water damage. Fungal fragments, spores, mycotoxins, bacteria, mycobacteria, actinomycetes, VOCs, and other biotoxins can also form in damp buildings. These pathogens combine to produce a toxic soup that can lead to a multi-systemic and multi-symptomatic illness.
Not all mold is toxic, but many mold species from water-damaged buildings produce mycotoxins. It is the indoor concentration of mycotoxins – and the rest of the toxic soup – that can contribute to chronic debilitating symptoms.
Mold Toxicity and Lyme Disease
Mold illness causes many of the same symptoms as Lyme disease. Both trigger systemic inflammation and immune dysregulation leading to symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, headaches, joint pain, and anxiety.
When tick-borne infections and mold toxicity occur together, the mold illness must be addressed before the tick-borne infection(s) can be treated successfully. Mycotoxins suppress the immune system making it difficult to effectively treat Lyme disease and co-infections.
Symptoms of Mold Exposure
The symptoms of mold exposure are due to chronic inflammation and oxidative damage that adversely affects the structure and function of various organs and tissues in the body.
The symptoms of mold illness are:
- Psychiatric – anxiety, fear, panic attacks, mood swings, irritability, anger, OCD, reduced ability to cope with stress, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts
- Cognitive – decreased short-term memory, difficulty concentrating, difficulty learning new information, word-finding difficulty, reduced ability to plan and execute, lack of motivation, brain fog, and Alzheimer’s dementia
- Musculoskeletal – muscle aches, sharp shooting pain, joint pain, morning stiffness
- Cardiovascular – palpitations, vasculitis, edema
- Fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome
- Respiratory – shortness of breath, chronic cough, sinus congestion, nasal drip
- Neurological – headaches, migraines, tremors, vertigo, seizures, burning along the spine, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to touch, numbness and tingling, sense of internal vibration
- Digestive – abdominal pain, diarrhea, appetite swings, nausea, leaky gut syndrome
- Eye tearing and itching
- Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and EMF sensitivity
- Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
People with mold illness are commonly misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s dementia, and respiratory disorders like asthma. Given the broad range of the symptoms of mold exposure, you can see why many physicians miss this diagnosis unless they have had specialty training in mold illness.
Proper Testing for Mold Illness
Physicians that specialize in mold illness have narrowed in on tests that are most effective in determining if mold is an underlying cause of someone’s symptoms. Before considering laboratory tests, there is often a clinical suspicion someone may be suffering from symptoms of mold exposure.
When someone is experiencing any of the above symptoms – and no other diagnosis has been made that explains these symptoms – mold illness should be considered. There is also the circumstance when someone has another diagnosis such as Lyme disease, but treatments have not been effective in resolving symptoms.
There is no one perfect test to diagnose mold toxicity. I use the two testing methods below to determine if mold and mycotoxins are undermining someone’s health.
Urine Mycotoxin Test
A urine mycotoxin test indicates whether or not a person is excreting mycotoxins from mold exposure. However, our bodies should excrete mycotoxins after exposure to mold and this does not necessarily mean someone has mold illness. The degree of elevation of mycotoxins in the urine suggests the severity of mold toxicity.
The urine mycotoxin test I prefer is Real Time Laboratory. I have found other urine mycotoxin tests to be unreliable. To increase the accuracy of urine testing, it is best to receive intravenous glutathione the day before collecting the urine sample. If you do not have access to intravenous glutathione, oral liposomal glutathione for five days prior to collection will suffice. Binders such as cholestyramine, charcoal, or clay need to be discontinued for five days before collection.
A limitation of a urine mycotoxin test is it only reflects the mycotoxins the body releases in that particular urine sample. After treating mold illness for a period of time, it is not uncommon for mycotoxin levels to be higher on follow-up testing than were reported on the first test. The increased levels are often related to the body eliminating mycotoxins more effectively, but could also be from additional mold exposure.
Mycotoxin Antibody Test
A mycotoxin antibody test detects antibodies produced by the immune system against mycotoxins. Note, this is not a mold antibody or allergy test. A mycotoxin antibody test is valuable because it indicates whether or not the immune system is mounting a response to various mycotoxins. Immune activation will cause inflammation and contribute to symptoms.
I find this test extremely important and clinically relevant in evaluating my patients for mold-related illness. For example, someone may be excreting mycotoxins in the urine from mold exposure but it may not be triggering an immune response.
To get a comprehensive clinical evaluation for mold-related illness, both the urine mycotoxin and mycotoxin antibody tests need to be performed
Effective Treatment for Symptoms of Mold Exposure
Get Your Home Tested Properly
Proper mold inspection requires hiring an experienced Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) 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 (SOW) 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 designations.
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.
Symptoms can flare when a binder mobilizes mycotoxins. Support detoxification pathways and reduce inflammation to minimize this reaction
Cholestyramine is a prescription binder that has historically been used to treat high cholesterol. When taken on an empty stomach, cholestyramine binds toxins (including mycotoxins) for removal. Unfortunately, the manufactured cholestyramine available at traditional pharmacies contains sugar or aspartame – ingredients people with mold illness should avoid. It is best to have pure cholestyramine compounded at a compounding pharmacy. The full dose is one scoop (4 grams) up to four times per day. Sensitive patients may need to start at 1/8 or ¼ scoop once per day and gradually increase the dose as tolerated.
For treating mold toxicity, all the binders listed here need to be taken on an empty stomach at least 30 minutes before or 2 hours after meals. Binders are taken an hour before and two hours after other supplements and medications. Extended-release medications – especially mood-stabilizing medications – require extra time.
Welchol is another prescription medication that was used to treat high cholesterol when taken with food. It also binds mycotoxins on an empty stomach. Welchol can be taken up to two tablets twice per day.
The two supplements that are most commonly used to reduce mycotoxin levels in the body are charcoal and clay. Charcoal needs to be dosed at 2000 mg twice per day. One serving of clay is taken twice per day.
It is essential that binders be taken at least twice per day (once someone can tolerate that frequency). When taken a minimum of twice per day, binders are more effective at reducing the mycotoxin burden in tissues. It can be challenging to find time to take binders on an empty stomach, especially when taking other supplements and medications. Binders can also be taken in the middle of the night.
Glutathione in Treating Mold Toxicity
Glutathione is a compound produced by our body and is a powerful antioxidant, supports immune system function, and promotes detoxification. Mold exposure depletes glutathione levels and is one of the most effective compounds in removing mycotoxins.
Some people have genetic variations in glutathione genes that interfere with glutathione production. These people tend to feel worse around toxicant exposures, which may play a role in why some people feel sick when exposed to mold, and others do not.
Glutathione can be administered intravenously or orally. If taken orally, it is essential to use a liposomal form of glutathione. A typical oral dose of liposomal glutathione is 450mg one to two times per day.
Reduce Inflammation in Mold Toxicity
Exposure to mold triggers chronic inflammation and oxidative damage in the body. In addition to removing mycotoxins with binders and through detoxification, the other critical steps are repairing the inflammatory response and oxidative damage.
Some therapies have been shown to reduce the inflammatory cytokines that increase in the presence of mycotoxins. Below are some treatments that have proven to be effective in my practice or have demonstrated success in research studies.
- Turmeric
- Berberine
- Resveratrol
- NAC
- Low-dose naltrexone (LDN)
- Phosphatidyl choline
- Green tea (EGCG)
- Transfer Factors Enviro
Don’t 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.
