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What to do if you have mold illness?

There are many people who cannot detect mold in their home but have mold illness symptoms. Or they left the moldy environment, but they still have symptoms and/or have mycotoxins in their urine. How is this possible?

Here are some possibilities:

1. You simply cannot find mold (at home or at work), as it is well-hidden but it's there. See this article for more info.

2. You have removed the mold, but the mycotoxins are still in your environment, adsorbed to surfaces and slowly being released. See this article for more info.

3. You have removed the mold, or left moldy environment, but lots of mycotoxins are still inside your body. Mycotoxins love fat (lipophilic), so they could be stored in fat and nervous (brain etc.) tissues. They can be slowly released from these tissues and affect your health. If they are trapped inside the nervous tissue, they may cause long-term nervous system problems.

Relatively speaking, this situation is better than having living mold in your environment that keeps producing mycotoxins. Since there is a finite amount of mycotoxins in your body, you should be able to remove them with detox and clear the symptoms. Note that this may take months or years.

4. You may be consuming mycotoxins in certain foods. While some people think there are general foods that have mycotoxins, I think it is highly dependent on the food batch and/or processing facility. Here are some specific cases that are worrisome:

  • To minimize waste, food producers will simply put moldy food into the food supply. The more processed a food is, the easier it is to cover this up. In this particular case, the FDA found evidence of placing moldy grapes into grape juice:
    https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/federal-judge-enters-consent-decree-against-washington-state-juice-processor
    "This included storing grape juice concentrate contaminated with filth and mold in off-site storage tanks and covered barrels outside for several years. Despite the contamination, the defendants combined this juice concentrate with newer lots and distributed the mixture to consumers. This included the distribution of juice for use in school lunch programs. The complaint states that the defendants promised to discontinue using the contaminated juice, but a subsequent inspection by the FDA in 2019 showed the defendants continued to blend the older juice with newer juice for distribution."
  • It is very likely that organic food, while better in most ways, has more mycotoxins. For example, non-organic grains are sprayed with anti-fungals (fungicides) that prevent mold growth before the harvest. Organic foods are not sprayed, which can enable molds to grow on them and produce mycotoxins, which are heat stable.
  • There is lots of evidence there is mold and mycotoxins in/on our food.

5. There is a possibility that mold can establish a chronic infection inside the nasal passages, sinuses, lungs, teeth and intestines. This means that the mycotoxins are produced inside the body, and a person could be sick even if their environment is mold-free. I think that respiratory (nasal passages, sinuses...) and digestive (intestines, appendix...) organs are the most likely places where mold takes up residence and is very difficult to kill.

It's also possible that the mold make biofilm to protect themselves inside our bodies. While they are dormant inside the biofilm, they may not produce mycotoxins. When they break out of the biofilm and start growing, they produce mycotoxins. This kind of cycling would lead to symptoms that get better and worse, then better again, and so on.

Here are the normal defenses we have against mold infections:

  • Our microbiome should crowd out (out compete) the mold, so re-wilding the microbiome may help. This article explains some of the ways to do that.  Strains of Saccharomyces boulardii probiotic may also be important in pushing out mold from our bodies, so I recommend this supplement.
  • The constant movement of mucus (in the nose and lungs) and stool should flush the mold out. Note that the sinuses and appendix do not have this protective mechanism, which is why I think these are likely places of mold residence.
  • Our immune system should clear it, but obviously some people cannot do this. This is probably the main reason that some household members get mold illness and others don't. Some HLA genotypes are implicated in this immune response, but we need a lot more data to understand it.

Why would someone have a chronic mold infection?

  • Our immune system could be weakened by the mycotoxins or immunosuppresants (even NSAIDS).
  • The protective microbiome could be depleted by antibiotics, food preservatives, and overall super clean lifestyle, enabling the mold to colonize and thrive.
  • Our respiratory or intestinal tracts may not produce sufficient mucus because our environment is dry, the mycotoxins or medications are inhibiting mucus production, or because a person has other health issues.

 

What can we do to fight the chronic mold infection? This is not a medical advice, but just ideas to consider and try.

In case of a respiratory chronic mold infection:

  • You can rinse the nose with sterile saline solution, similar to neti pot. Or, just snort it, wait a bit, then flush it out.
  • Use a nasal spray/rinse with xylitol. Xylitol is a harmless sugar (it's used as food) that has been shown in the scientific literature to disrupt fungal biofilms.
  • Eat spicy food that stimulates nasal and sinus drainage.
  • Do not use mouth washes, as they can destroy the healthy oral microbiome, which can negatively affect the entire respiratory microbiome.
  • Increase the humidity to 40-50% (but not more, as it may allow mold to grow).
  • Don't keep your house too warm, as that reduces the relative humidity.
  • Consider using an atomizer to spray Amphotericin B (or other anti-fungal) solution deep inside the nasal passages. This Pharmacy offers such a solution via prescription.
  • Consider taking S. boulardii as a supplement, daily for at least 3 months. You would need to pour it out of its capsule into your food, such as oatmeal or smoothies. You can also inhale some into the upper respiratory tract.

In case of a chronic mold infection in the intestines:

  • Eat enough fiber to have at least daily bowel movements. Psyllium is probably the best for most people. Plant-based diet does this on its own, without any supplements.
  • Stop consuming any foods with preservatives that kill your healthy oral and gut microbiomes.
  • Stop consuming meats that have antibiotics.
  • Here is an article about maintaining a healthy gut microbiome.
  • Consider taking extra zinc, as it has anti-fungal properties.
  • Consider taking S. boulardii as a supplement.
  • The bacterium in natto (B. subtilis) has been shown to inhibit fungi, specifically Fusarium (which produce trichothecenes). B. subtilis is now even offered as a probiotic.
  • Turmeric oil may help get rid of the mold. Evidence is limited (see the reference below), but may be worth a try.

What about chronic mold infections in teeth and root canals?

  • I think this is a possibility, as there are many anecdotal reports. I have not seen any solid scientific evidence.
  • I would stop using mouth washes, food preservatives, and antibiotics. All of these destroy the natural oral microbiome that protects us from mold infections.


Scientific literature:

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