Learning how to know if mold is making you sick will help make your path to healing much clearer. Mold illness (a.k.a. chronic inflammatory response syndrome or CIRS for short) is a multi-system, multi-symptom illness which makes it arguably more challenging to treat than some other autoimmune disorders.
History and Causes of Mold Illness
Mold has obviously been around forever because the Bible talks about what to do in case of mold (see Leviticus 13:52). But people are just recently starting to realize again the implications of it.
About 95% of the time, mold illness occurs in people who have a genetic sensitivity to it – which is about 25% of people). For people with this genetic sensitivity, some part of their HLA DQ/DR gene has been turned on or off in a specific way. So when they are exposed to biotoxins like mold, their bodies develop a chaotic inflammatory response. This chaotic, chronic response leaves these people incapable of removing the mold mycotoxins from their bodies.
But if the mold count is high enough, even 5% of people without this gene mutation can end up with lowered protective hormones and get mold illness.
You can also get mold illness from a tick bite, exposure to a contaminated body of water, eating contaminated fish, or in rare cases, a spider bite. Accidents, surgery, and extreme stress can also trigger mold illness.
Symptoms: How to Know If It’s Mold Making You Sick
The mycotoxins from the mold then change hundreds of other genes to cause an avalanche of symptoms.
Your body likely experiences inflammation every day to heal from injuries. But in mold illness, this usual healthy inflammation doesn’t happen. In fact, your body becomes disorganized and your detox organs stop working properly. Then your body can’t get the mycotoxins out, leaving you with metabolic chaos.
The most common symptoms of mold illness (and with CIRS, you will have most of these) are:
- Fatigue, weakness (in body and brain)
- Feeling unwell after exercise
- Disorientation and confusion
- Headaches or irregular body pains
- Vertigo, light headed
- Muscle aches, cramping, joint pains without inflammatory arthritis
- Hypersensitivity to bright light, blurred vision, burning or red eyes, tearing
- Cough, asthma-like symptoms, shortness of breath, chronic sinus congestion
- Air hunger or unusual shortness of breath at rest
- Chronic abdominal problems including nausea, cramping, diarrhea or constipation
- A propensity to experience static shocks
- Fast or irregular heartbeat
- Insomnia
Other symptoms and even side effects of mold illness include:
- hypersensitivity to chemicals
- gut parasites, and MARCoNS (multi antibiotic resistant coagulase negative staff) in the nose
- hormonal chaos like circadian rhythm and sex hormone dysregulation
- inability to learn new information
- memory deterioration
- mood swings
- appetite swings
- difficulty regulating body temperature
- excessive urination
- night sweats
- difficulty concentrating
- unusual skin sensitivity
- tingling or numbness
- excessive thirst
- ice pick pains
- abdominal pain
- metallic taste
Are you blown away by the far-reaching scope of symptoms for mold illness? This is because mold will wreak havoc on your brain, thyroid, other organs, and your detox champions – your mitochondria. In fact, as of now, it has been proven that mold is the root cause of one-third of Alzheimers cases. But don’t panic. Remember, mold has been around forever, along with ways to remedy it. If you have several of these symptoms and suspect mold illness, set up a complimentary consultation with me today to see if we can work together to reclaim your life from the mold!
