A critical concept of mold illness that may surprise you is the relationship between mold and emotions. Understanding this relationship could be key to your recovery, or keeping you from recovering. Let’s make it clear.
A Quick Story About Mold and Emotions
I love the great outdoors – skiing, hiking and finding waterfalls and lakes to photograph. I love horseback riding and raising and training horses to trust humans. I enjoy finding great natural health information to help others. Now instead of taking them for granted, I praise God for being able to do these things that I couldn’t always do.
I believe I was born with mold illness (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or CIRS). As a child, I constantly had a green runny nose, asthma attacks, lots of allergies and constipation.
Later I underwent more mold exposure as an adult and then really went downhill, especially in my attitude. Multiple times per year I caught every cold possible, which turned into pneumonia and pleuritis. This angered me.
I had so many things I wanted to do with my life. I did not want to spend my life in bed asleep or watching TV because I was too exhausted and weak to do anything else. But this is exactly where I ended up about 5 years ago.
I stared out the window wishing I could go do something out in my beloved wilderness. I felt like I had no purpose in life and wanted to die if that was how I had to live.
But our Creator called me out and helped me see how I had let mold and emotions take over. I want to help you see how mold plays with your emotions, too, so you can avoid taking the longer road to recovery that I took.
5 Common Mold-Induced Emotions That Attempt to Take Over
Biggest behavioral barrier
First, though more of a behavior than emotion, it’s important to acknowledge any denial on your part. For me, at first, it was just too much for me to accept that my house or workplace was contributing to my illness.
But if you’re denying the truth, you will be even more confused about the emotions you feel and you will not be taking the steps needed to heal. You could actually make yourself worse.
So stop the denial and learn about mold and emotions it can cause to flare up.
Emotions triggered by mold
- Overwhelm – mold impacts the limbic system and sends your brain into constant fight-or-flight mode which might make you feel like you have limited resources in your ability to think, your energy and even your finances . You may have trouble believing that you can get rid of the mycotoxins and reboot your limbic system.
- Confusion – also because of the impact on your brain’s limbic system and constant fight-or-flight mode, your rational thinking can become impaired. You may not understand why you are having these symptoms one day and not another. And your regular healthcare professional probably doesn’t have answers for you.
- Lack of confidence (or social awkwardness) – you may feel incapable of coping with your mold illness. Also, you may look perfectly fine so other people may not believe you are sick.
- Hopelessness – due to extreme fatigue, lack of being able to think rationally, worrying about how to get out of the mold or wondering if you are ever going to get over the mold and emotions, you may experience hopelessness. (Hint: Don’t go online at this point because you will find information that feeds your hopelessness. Instead, believe and know that your body can heal.)
- Fear/anxiety –because of your impaired limbic system and ability to think rationally, fear, anxiety or panic can crop up in high degrees for no apparent reason. You may start wondering if you are going to get worse or ever get better. Or you may panic or worry about trivial things.
What Happens Between Your Limbic System, Mold and Emotions
Why do you encounter all these emotions when you have mold illness (CIRS)?
When exposed to mold, your immune system recognizes it as an enemy and attacks.
Because it senses danger, your limbic system sends your brain into fight-or-flight mode. Your body automatically responds with a rush of hormones. Your heart starts beating faster, your breath gets shallow, your digestion stops and all your energy goes into your big muscle groups so you can fight or flee.
But your limbic system doesn’t know the difference between an internal stressor and an external one. So mold toxins or even your thoughts can trigger and keep the stress loop going.
In mold illness (CIRS), parts of your brain can literally shrink, atrophy, and cause this cyclical problem. But don’t worry. You can typically repair your limbic system, brain and body by cleaning up your system and rebooting it.
How do you know if your limbic system is being impacted by this mold and emotion loop?
Signs of limbic dysfunction
If you feel stressed or anxious for no apparent reason, then your limbic system is activated and may be malfunctioning or overloaded. Other signs of limbic system overload (when you have no reason to be in fight or flight) include:
- sudden palpitation of your heart
- nausea
- shallow breathing
- tingling in your fingers and toes
- restlessness in your muscles
- the thought that you are losing control
- a real sense of fear and dread
You may just wake up in the morning feeling this way or you may suddenly feel it at any given time.
Remember that your automatic response will be to start scanning your environment for danger, so you will perceive most things as stress. Something someone says to you could trigger stress and high emotions. Or even being stuck in traffic could set you off.
You might also get fixated on something, ruminate on things or even become aggressive from mold illness. Then you might feel a lot of shame because you know this is not you. It can truly be a whirlwind of emotions.
So what can you do to make things easier for yourself? Begin with these mindset changes and actions you can take.
Adopt a more positive mindset
- Simply know that life is harder for you now because of the mold illness, so you can increase your self-acceptance.
- Most people with mold illness have a genetic predisposition that causes this chaotic inflammation response to mold, which prevents you from detoxing it out of your body, causing emotional overload. Understand that these emotions are not your fault, you are not doing anything to feel this way and it’s just the mold illness.
- Tell yourself you are going to work on managing any anger and you don’t want to be aggressive. Though things are harder now, they will get easier.
- Remind yourself you are safe. Fear and anxiety are just part of your illness.
- Don’t judge yourself.
Actively increase your positivity
- Notice your emotions and what is happening in your limbic system and take a few moments to take some deep slow breaths. Use these breaths to step out of those emotions and refuse to respond to the stressor or emotions.
- Check in with yourself throughout the day – to proactively reduce inflammation that contributes to these emotions. Set an alarm on your phone if you’d like. How does your body feel? If needed, practice your calming breaths and lack of judgment upon yourself.
- Practice mindfulness, meditation, listening to your favorite soothing music or thinking about the future you desire specifically.
- Spend time with loved ones who you feel accepted and refreshed by even after you leave them. Instead of talking to them about your illness, talk to them about your interests like art, music or sports.
- Make sure you have a healthcare practitioner who is supportive, understanding and a good listener.
If you have mold illness and can relate to my story, I hope this helps you understand how critical it is to keep your emotions in check and your stress level down so you can heal. It’s harder to do because your malfunctioning limbic system is in charge, but now you know 10 ways to help yourself out!
Besides these 10 ways to manage stress from mold and emotions, you can also take other actions to help your body heal from mold illness. Read “9 ways to get better sleep to have more energy in mold illness“, “Paleo diet 101“, or “The stress mess: how it messes with your health” to learn more.
If you are feeling deep hopelessness or anxiety and want help right away, Click here to set up a complimentary Breakthrough call to see if we could work together.. I’m here to help you get back your health.
