The understanding of mold toxins and their connection to health issues is greatly misunderstood by most classically trained medical physicians. They do acknowledge Mold Allergy – which they call Toxic Mold Syndrome – limiting the effects to superficial symptoms associated with an allergic response (runny nose, cough, headache, breathing problems, itchy eyes etc.).

Mold is technically a bio-toxin (living toxin similar to bacteria, virus, parasite) however it’s not the mold itself that causes health problems – it’s the toxins that are released by the mold when inside the body that have such damaging effects. These toxins can create thousands of reactions, leading to thousands of unique symptoms making it one of the most difficult diagnoses to arrive at.

If you are experiencing any of the following with no resolution as a result of your medical (and many times even holistic) therapies – you may have undiagnosed mold toxicity:

• Fatigue
• Memory loss
• Nerve Issues
• Restless Leg
• Persistent Cough
• Muscle Aches
• Brain Fog
• Digestive Issues
• Numbness/Tingling
• Frequent: Respiratory Infections, Sinus Infections, Common Cold
• Headaches
• Joint Stiffness
• Anxiety
• Cramping
• Sensitivity to: Light, Sound, Smells
• Asthma
• Frozen Shoulder
• Infertility
• Charlie Horses

Health Issues Are Based Solely on Toxic Burden

Toxic burden is determined by two factors: the amount of toxins (in this case mold) but also other toxins and microorganisms that you have exposed to, AND the functional percentage of your innate detoxification system. For example: someone with a MTFHR mutation will have by genetic mutation deficient detoxification pathways due to inability to methylate (protect DNA from oxidation and safely eliminate toxins) and inability to produce glutathione – the bodies primary detoxification element.

If your exposure to toxins (say a moldy basement, or hotel that has mold) is high (even for 1 day) and your detoxification system is compromised then your toxic burden will be high and it can overwhelm natural defenses leading to symptoms.

The person above is one that will react to even the smallest of detoxification programs, or will know, by experience, they cannot go into certain places, homes, hotels or areas that aggravate their symptoms. These people typically will say they know something is wrong with themselves (often because their symptoms are extreme, non-responsive to therapies) but will be tossed aside by their MDs as hypochondriacs because their labs are often inconclusive given the depth of their complaints. One simple way to find out if mold toxins are causing your current health issues is simply to ask yourself – has every MD (and even some holistic doctors) given up with you and do you react negatively to every cure that is presented to you? If YES – you more than likely have mold toxicity – and once addressed properly and eliminated your symptoms can improve/reverse in a matter of days (sometimes even in just 1 day!).

Mold Health Issues Aren’t Just Caused by Mold


This idea baffles most doctors – but the issue often isn’t just mold – rather what is known as chronic inflammatory response syndrome, or CIRS which can be caused by Mold (fungi), Bacteria (Lyme), actinomycetes (bacteria), mycobacteria, endotoxins (lipopolysaccharides), inflammagens (anything that creates inflammation), beta-glutens (polysaccharides), hemolysis (exotoxins produced by bacteria), VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and mVOCs (VOCs produce by microbes). According to Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker 25% of the population is genetically programmed to develop CIRS over their lifetime (due to MTFHR mutation). The other 75% of the popular can develop CIRS when two things occur:

1. Sufficient Exposure to Toxicity (time sensitive low dose exposure, or instant high exposure)
2. A “Priming” event – i.e. anything that triggers an inflammatory immune response (a co-infection, physical trauma, 
 stressful life event (death of loved one, etc.)

Inside Mold vs Outside Mold

One common argument provided by opponents of the mold-health-connection is that mold is everywhere in nature and that, if the mold exposure theory was true, everyone would have symptoms and, since not everyone does, it must not be the cause. I propose the following: EVERYONE DOES HAVE THE SYMPTOMS! Be honest with yourself and turn back to page 1 (or scroll up if reading online) and tell me you don’t have any of those. It’s extremely common for us to be plagued with at least one! But let’s be honest – yes, there is mold everywhere, but outside mold is not growing on substances like inside mold is. Outside you have mold that is living in perfect symbiotic harmony with the natural environment – as God intended. Visit any indigenous tribe, living in nature, even those in the rain forests which are plagued with mold and you will not find one person troubled with anxiety or join pain. This is mostly due to their natural living, diet, and lack of toxicity exposure and, in my opinion, the fact that natural mold cannot harm a human.

Enter inside mold and how it is not natural for mold to grow within sheet rock (made of packed cellulose fibers i.e. SUGAR), or engineered wood (sheets of wood pieces held together by glue) which is less expensive than 100% natural wood/materials. The secret sauce for mold growth inside is: moisture, temperature and time. Any time you have a moisture % and temperature in F that = 140 you have mold growth, guaranteed. (example, a home at 74 degrees and a moisture reading of 66% is the perfect environment for growth). This is almost always the situation of your crawl space, especially after a rain on a hot summer day. The moisture in the air saturates the floor joist (which is almost always exposed) and the temperature plus presence of mold spores (which are everywhere) leads to mold growth under the home. Add to that the fact that most HVAC systems are located in the crawlspace and the natural ventilation all homes have between the crawl space and inside environment and you see how mold toxicity can literally affect every person on this planet!

Protecting Yourself (& Your Loved Ones) from Mold Toxicity and CIRS
In order to heal from Mold Illness, you must do the following

1. Remove Yourself from The Mold
Hopefully this makes sense. If you are daily being exposed to mold toxins via breathing the air in your home, you must remove the mold. Remediation is possible, but you must first locate the source! This can be done via several rendition companies and certified mold inspectors (Carolinas Energy Associates, ServePro, Killingsworth etc.)

2. Remove the Mold from Your Body

Truly this is the hardest, yet most impactful part. Mold can literally be in your skin (small white spots), in your organs (sinuses, lungs, stomach and breast are the most common) and the toxins can affect your nerve system (classic signs are symptoms only on one side of your body). A trained holistic physician who works with mold toxicity can help, but from my experience, outside of the mold therapies/diagnostic I offer, there are only a handful in the entire United States:

• Bruce Rind, MD – Gaithersburg, MD (www.drrind.com)
• Ritchie Shoemaker, MD – Pocomote City, MD (www.survivingmold.com)
• Jill Critsta, ND – Janesville, WI (www.drcrista.com)
• Aaron Ernst, DC, PsCD – Charlotte, NC (www.askdrernst.com)
• Pompa, PsCD (www.drpompa.com)
• Davidson, PscD (www.drjaydavidson.com)
• Richmond, DC (www.thrivehealthcenters.com)