4 Health Symptoms That Might Be Triggered By Mold + What To Do About It

After starting one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, I made it my mission to go the extra mile and uncover every possible piece of your health puzzle, including potential exposures like mold. Wondering if this is a problem for you? Let's break down exactly what we know about mold, the symptoms you need to look out for, and how we can overcome mold once and for all.

However, one thing is the same across the board for anyone struggling with CIRS: They all have high levels of the following markers:

People can also have low levels of these markers:

If you are struggling with a combination of these symptoms, talk to your doctor about running labs to look at the above biomarkers to determine whether or not mold is a factor in your health:

Studies have continued to look at this correlation with one study, in particular, showing4 that 93% of individuals with chronic fatigue had at least one mycotoxin present in their urine.

Studies have also looked at the relationship between elevated cortisol and weight, showing6 that unhealthy visceral fat is significantly higher in those with high cortisol levels. Plus, when one hormone is imbalanced, it can lead to a domino effect in other weight management hormones including insulin and leptin. 

If you are struggling with brain fog, anxiety, depression, or mood swings, mold may be to blame. Although researchers haven't been able to study the effect of controlled mold exposure on the brain, they do believe it has to do with the inflammatory nature of mycotoxin exposure causing7 an autoimmune-inflammatory reaction in the hippocampus of the brain.

Multiple studies have shown that mycotoxins can induce oxidative stress that over time leads to mitochondrial dysfunction. And while we are still learning about the mechanisms of mold exposure, mycotoxins are also believed to decrease levels of your important NAD+ coenzyme, which can lead to increased8 oxidative stress, reduced mitochondrial function, and inhibit the production of ATP molecules and healthy mitochondria.

Here are a few of my favorite tools you can start using today if you think mold is playing a role in your health:

In addition to helping lower inflammation, fasting has also been shown to increase9 NAD+ levels and mitochondria function. Listen to your body, start out with shorter fasting windows, and check out my book Intuitive Fasting to learn more about this wellness tool.

Sunshine is good for your health in more ways than one. Not only can it help lower MSH, but it can also play a role in improving mitochondrial function. 

Anything you can do to mitigate your body's stress response is going to help bring down cortisol levels. Breathwork, meditation, and other mindfulness practices can be incorporated throughout your day to bring a sense of calm wherever you are. I also love adaptogens like ashwagandha and rhodiola to help balance cortisol levels.

It's one thing to cut out junk food and switch to a clean, whole foods diet. But when you are dealing with chronic mold toxicity, it's time to take it to another level. An elimination diet can help you pinpoint the exact foods that are triggering inflammation in your body and what food medicines to eat more of while you are working on lowering inflammation.

Knowledge is power when it comes to your health, and the more we continue to learn about mold, the more we can be empowered to heal. Once healing is underway, I tend to recommend a more flexible, cyclical ketogenic diet for many people struggling with biotoxin issues like mold.

We are able to develop protocols specific to the variables at play for each case, based on labs and health history. The Institute for Functional Medicine has a directory to find someone local and consult people around the world via telehealth.