Mold: Part Two
Part Two: Mold and Mycotoxin Illness
This article continues our discussion on the role of mold and mycotoxins in illness. To review, mold and mycotoxins can contribute to a wide variety of complex and mysterious symptoms affecting multiple systems of the body.
Diagnosis requires a trained eye and often also specialized confirmatory tests, but once mold has been confirmed as a contributor to illness, how does one proceed?
It is true that mold is a contributor to illness, but not necessarily the only one. Chronic viral or bacterial infections, toxic accumulations from environmental sources including heavy metals and human-made chemicals, among others contribute to complex chronic illness as well and require assessment.
However, treating mold related illness takes precedence over any other finding. In most cases, treating other findings before mold will lead to limited success if any at all. This is because the presence of mold and mycotoxins will impede treatment success for any other co-existing condition. But once mold is removed, these other conditions become much more responsive to their appropriate treatment strategies.
The steps involved in treatment of mold and mycotoxin illness:
The stages of treatment for mold and mycotoxin illness are as follows:
- Remove Continuing Exposures
- Create a Solid Foundation to Support Recovery
- Support Detoxification Pathways
- Protect and Repair Vulnerable Systems
- Eliminate Colonized Mold within the Patient
Remove Continuing Exposures – Building Environments:
Simply put, unless a continuing exposure to mold is resolved, it will be difficult to make progress toward recovery from mold illness.
Finding environmental sources of the mold is step number one. Usually the source is a building that has sustained water damage in the past. Any home or building can harbour mold, unbeknownst to their occupants. While we may or may not know the history of particular home or building, certain signs can be suggestive, including:
-The age of the building
-Signs of water around windows or doors
-A musty smell in any area
-Finding symptoms aggravate when entering and relieve when leaving
Even these clues however are not sufficient to rule mold out. It is often invisible, and may not look how one would expect. Specific tests are available to assess a home for mold prior to a professional inspection.
If there are obvious signs of mold, then one can assume exposure from these locations. If there are not, then the process of identifying whether mold is existing covertly becomes important. Testing the home environment is the first priority. Certain tests are better than others in this respect. Discuss testing options with a mold-informed doctor prior to investing in testing services.
If mold is found, one really has three options.
-One, have the mold properly remediated (meaning all mold-affected areas are removed and replaced).
-Two, spend no more time in the affected home, workplace, or whatever other building is aggravating you.
-Three, do the best you can to mitigate the exposures while remaining in the contaminated location. This option is less than ideal, but sometimes there are no other easy choices. It would be hoped that eventually removal from the location would be possible.
Changing circumstances to avoid the exposures can be difficult, but experience tells us that successful recovery depends on it.
Of course, a person’s exposure to mold may have occurred years prior with a history of living or working in water damaged or mold carrying buildings. In these cases, mold will have colonized within a person, so they take it with them wherever they go. More on this (Eliminating Colonized Mold within the Patient) in the next article.
Remove Continuing Exposures – Foods:
Certain foods are to be avoided as best as possible in mold illness. Some are known to be contaminated with mold and mycotoxins, so we don’t want to add to an already excessive burden. Some “feed” mold organisms, and that’s something we would prefer not to do. Other foods contain yeast (a cousin of mold), and will aggravate an already sensitive person.
Initial guidelines for foods to avoid include:
-sweets, dried fruits, simple carbohydrates
-breads made with yeast
-mushrooms, corn, potatoes, cantaloupe, grapes
-pickles and other pickled goods, vinegar
-aged cheeses, moldy cheeses
-peanuts and peanut butter
-alcoholic beverages
-fermented beverages; kombucha, cider
-black and oolong tea, fruit juice, (also look for mold-free coffee beans)
Any individual may have difficulties with other foods as well, often due to co-existing Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), a hyper-permeable gut membrane (“leaky gut”), histamine intolerance, or a number of other possibilities. These are taken into consideration when advising on ideal dietary guidance.
Support A Solid Foundation to Support Recovery:
In those struggling with chronic illness, a solid foundation of health is absolutely necessary. Mold illness is perhaps the best example of this. Generally, and without going into detail, the points we emphasize are:
-Eat Protective Foods: colourful vegetables and fruits, organic beef liver, healthy and essential fats (avocados, olive oil, eggs, fish), lots of healing herbs and spices (clove, cumin, coriander, turmeric, parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage)
-Eat Mold-Fighting Foods: garlic, onions, scallions, leeks
-Support Healthy Elimination: drink plenty of filtered water, ensure daily bowel movements, lymphatic massage
-Facilitate a Healthy Circadian Rhythm: maintaining similar timings for daily activities (bed and wake times; breakfast, lunch, and dinner times; exercise or activity times; resting times)
-Spend Time Outdoors: ideally in nature (this is the best time to do deep breathing exercises)
In Part 3 of our Mold Series, we will summarize the strategies needed for treating mold illness.