Mysterious Mold Part 3 – Finale!

So far in this 3-part series I’ve covered how to test for mold in your environment and body, and how to go about creating a safe environment again once toxic mold has been identified (if you missed those previous blogs you can catch up on them here).

By now you know how mysterious and insidious mold can be, but what does it actually do to your body?  In today’s blog I’m going to wrap up this series by talking about what mold can do to your body and how to heal it after toxic mold exposure…

On a physiological level, here are just a few examples of what mold toxins can do to your body…

• Mimic estrogen, thus raising estrogen levels
• Disrupt oxygen delivery to the cells and circulation
• Block the receptor sites that signal satiety and fat loss
• Increase risks for infections
• Decreases the ability to absorb nutrients
• Kill nerve cells, thus disrupting the nervous system
• Reduces the functionality of the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testes

So what does this all mean for the average person exposed to mold?
Mold can be the tipping point for developing autoimmunity
It can cause high estrogen and low testosterone in both males and females
It can cause significant amounts of inflammation throughout the body
It can cause weight gain, fatigue, allergies, acne and skin issues
It can even be life-threatening in some cases

The impacts of mold toxicity on your health are no joke.

As a person who has been personally affected by toxic mold, I can attest to this.  Today I am still recovering from some of the major impacts that mold had on my health.

Exposure to toxic mold in my home over an unknown period of time resulted in cystic acne, irregular and unusually long periods (12 days to be exact), weight gain, bouts of depression and anxiety, and it was likely one of the largest environmental factors leading to my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s.

Once I removed myself from the moldy environment, I felt better almost immediately.  Over the past year all of my symptoms have lessened or disappeared completely.

Treating mold toxicity is tricky. It’s unlike any other toxins that we encounter.

The fungal and opportunistic nature of mold makes it tricky to remove from the body.  The approach you take to getting rid of it must be strategic.

In this week’s blog I dive into more detail about how to eliminate mold from your body and how to heal yourself after a mold exposure.

Just like any other toxin in our environment, mold toxins (or mycotoxins) are filtered by the body’s natural detoxification system which requires the involvement of the liver, lymphatic system, kidneys and intestines.

What is a bit unusual about this toxin compared to others, however, is it can promote the growth of fungus inside the body as well.

Mold can also be resistant to typical natural binding agents such as activated charcoal and clay, making is especially hard to pull out of the body.  Prescription medications may even be required in some of the more severe cases because the natural binding agents that would typically work just aren’t  strong enough.

Before attempting to detox your body of mold toxins, I highly recommend testing the mold blood markers and doing a nasal swab test as mentioned in part 1 of this series here, and consulting with a functional health practitioner.

Once you evaluate the depth of mold toxicity in the body, here are 5 simple steps you can take to support your body in healing from and eliminating mold toxins…

1. Remove inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, sugar, soy and alcohol – this is important for various reasons, primarily because mold toxins cause SO MUCH inflammation contributing to further dysfunction in the body, so removing other inflammatory factors such as foods will help to ease the burden and allow the body to do its detoxing job.  Additionally, inflammatory foods feed fungus in the body, so to effectively get rid of it you have to cut off the food supply.
2. Support the detoxification system – there are several foods, supplements and daily activities you can do in order to boost the function of the liver, kidneys and lymphatic system to support the body’s elimination of mold toxins.  Incorporate some of the most potent naturally detoxifying foods such as beets, lemons, grapefruit and dandelion greens. Take a daily liver supplement which includes milk thistle. Move your body daily, sit in an infrared sauna and/or do dry body brushing daily to promote the movement of your lymphatic system – the body’s natural sewage system.
3. Clean up and heal your gut – the gut is where fungus likes to live the most, it can lead to other infections such as parasites and bacteria, and overall it contributes to leaky gut which allows toxins to get into the bloodstream.  A combination of gut healing foods and supplements can help to restore and strengthen the integrity of the gut such as: bone broth, fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha), collagen, L-glutamine, fish oils, probiotics and digestive enzymes.  Testing to identify specific gut infections is also critical in order to assess herbs or other treatments to get rid of them.  This will also help to boost your immune system to battle the mold and any other health issues you might be dealing with.
4. Clear your nasal passages – fungus and mold like to set up shop in damp dark places such as your nasal passages.  Using a nasal swab test you can identify if bacteria and fungus has made its home here as a result of mold exposure.  Based on the results there are several antimicrobial nasal sprays you can consider such as biocidin, colloidal silver and diluted iodine.
5. Bind and eliminate – the final step is to actually bind the mold toxins that are in the body so they can be processed for eliminate through the urine and stool.  As I mentioned earlier, typical binding agents such as activated charcoal and clay are not typically strong enough for this, and in more severe cases a prescription medication may be required.  I have found Takesumi Supreme and Lava Vitae to be effective, and have read that Butyrate can be helpful as well.

I did my best to sum up all of the information regarding mold toxicity, but the reality is there is much more depth to the information I have covered in this series.  If mold is a real concern for you I highly recommend checking out for details in the book “Is It Mold” by Karen Wright (a functional nutritionist, traditional naturopath and a transformational health coach) and finding a functional health practitioner like myself to help guide you through the healing process.