Mold - the hidden health threat in your home

Did you know that something as simple as mold is linked to migraines, "fog brain", depression, digestive disorders, skin ulcers, sinusitis, cancer, estrogen dominance, joint pain and weight problems?

Yes, the symptoms (1,2,3,4,5,6) range widely and which we develop depends on our genetic dispositions and other biochemical imbalances in the body. Recently, an article was written in a Danish newspaper outlet about a case involving a woman who had even lost sight due to mold. And in spite of that, we cannot get tested for these things covered via the public healthcare system which we have paid more than our fair share of taxes towards. So much for socialist wellfare system. No wonder we have so many so-called "chronic disorders" when we do not offer testing to investigate possible toxins involved in these disorders. 

It is expensive to ignore causes and treat only symptoms and for patients, there is a high risk of being locked into eternal patient roles.

The problem with mold is that they form mycotoxins. Mycotoxins can be found in a large number of my clients with chronic diseases, especially those I investigate for carcinogens as they relate to hormone cancers.

Mycotoxins change the cell environment and allow cancer cells to multiply unhindered. With all of these symptom descriptions as most diagnosis today are, we must first and foremost identify the cause of our symptoms. If we do not do this, we end up treating the symptoms: Migraine medication, steroids for skin rash, anti-depressants for fog brain, and ridiculous calorie counting cures to keep the muffin top at bay.

I have personally been affected by mycotoxin poisoning, and it took me a year to figure out what was causing the symptoms I was experiencing coming out of the blue. These were, among other things, chronic skin ulcers, which most of all looked like I had been eaten by small animals all over my body. The conventional medical system had nothing to offer me but steroids. I politely declined this for pretty obvious reasons - side-effects to many to mention, in addition to it seemed very unscientific to me, to begin random treatment without having identified the cause. Furthermore, I had sudden onset of digestive disorder, estrogen dominance and massive migraine attacks with visual disturbances and vomiting that put me down 3 days for each episode.

I was partially disabled by various symptoms that no one could understand. By that time, mycotoxins had just been released for laboratory testing. It had not bothered me until then to investigate this aspect. Of necessity one was forced, so fortunately it was the solution to the symptoms mentioned and my issues resolved within the next 6 months - skin ulcers gone in less than 3 months after I began a targeted treatment and migraines begone within 6 months, thank god. I honestly don’t know how people live with repeating migraine attacks, good grief a nightmare.

Now the source of my mycotoxin poisoning turned out to be our house - and I just have to say: there were no huge visible traces of mold, which I would have thought if it could result in mycotoxin poisoning. We just had an old basement and it was an old house - like so many others.

When I test people today, I see that many people are affected by mold that they are not aware of is related to their health issues.

Only when we get technicians to investigate their place of residence/ workplace does it become clear that this is the source. Mold is not always visible - it may hide behind walls. This is a major problem - and if you have one or more of the symptoms mentioned, you should have this aspect examined. Of course, there are other sources of mycotoxins, but mold from water-damaged housing is one of the big ones.

Getting mycotoxins out of the body is also not a linear pleasant process.

You sometimes get severe relapses when you detox. These are signs that you need help adjusting the detox program, so your body can keep up. When toxins are released into the blood, the intestines and the body react as if being poisoned from the outside. It's not comfortable, but the key is finding a pace and some means that match what one's body and nervous system can handle. No people are alike. Poisoning problems are never the same and thus the treatment also becomes different in order for it to be effective and durable. What one must be aware of that is particularly uncomfortable with mycotoxins is that they degrade myelin which protects our neurons and thus the mycotoxins can affect the information pathway to the brain. It opens up a range of unpleasant effects also during detoxification in relation to temporary worsening of symptoms. (7)

Where do mycotoxins come from?

The primary sources are mold in water-damaged houses, candida fungus and food sources such as organic red wine, peanuts as well as instant coffee and our fancy espresso machines are also problematic (2). Espresso machines are on the “be aware” list because the pipes never dry out completely inside the machine. In regards to organic red wine the issue is that pesticides help kill microbial-growth, which is why organic red wine is unfortunately a mecca for microbes. In the quantities most of us drink red wine, however, it is not necessary to be hysterical in relation to the type of wine you drink - it is a choice between plague (pesticides) or cholera (mycotoxins). The conclusion here is: choose a wine you like to drink and cut down to a few glasses a week, and then you need not worry further about that source.

Fortunately, I do not find mycotoxins in the majority of those I test that just come in for a top-to-toe health check for prevention, but I do in those that deal with so-called chronic health issues. They are only chronic cause we have not found out the WHY yet.

It's not that our foods are a dangerous source of mycotoxins, as long as you just eat varied and just think a little about not eating peanut butter sandwiches every single day or drinking half a bottle of organic wine every night. However, dairy products can also be problematic because they can indirectly act as a source of the class 1 carcinogenic mycotoxin which is aflatoxin. Drinking milk in liters from industrial cows with questionable living conditions and even more questionable feed (which we then indirectly end up eating - and therefore consuming aflatoxin), is never going to be on the list of healthy edibles. (8,9)

If you live in a third world country, the situation is far more serious, as the countries' storage requirements in relation to food are not optimal and microbes in food products are a real problem. (10)

For those of us who enjoy coffee, it is a good idea that we are aware of some simple rules for enjoying our coffee with good conscience (11,12):

• Coffee should be freshly ground. That is, grind it yourself and drink within a month

• Avoid instant coffee

• Drink coffee via French-press or or slow-pour

• If you love your espresso machine because of the delicious crema that is formed, I totally get you, it is delicious - however, do some damage-control by remembering to clean your machine with acetic acid at least 1 x weekly

That being said, the body will to a great extent be able to purify mycotoxins derived from food intake without outside help.

Mycotoxins do not have to be a problem in themselves, and we are exposed to varying degrees of exposure from mycotoxins daily.

Do they originate e.g. from candida, one must treat candida by finding out WHY there is overgrowth of this naturally occurring fungus in our body. Focusing on candida in itself is simply symptom treatment. Candida is opportunistic and likes to use heavy metal poisoning and other toxic imbalances to thrive on - and yes, also if you have an extraordinarily high sugar intake. But it is not some bananas or a piece of bread with honey that is the cause of candida. If this were the case, we would all run around with the problem every time we took a bite of an apple. This is not logical - the frantic hysteria surrounding carbs and fruit these days. The body, brain and especially the liver need glucose to function, so to think that we need to cut out all complex carbohydrates and fruit to keep candida down - just no, no, it's not a good idea nor scientifically validated idea.

The real problem with mycotoxin poisoning occurs when we have the mold spores inside the sinuses.

Once the spores are there, they do not simply disappear by themselves - and they continue to produce mycotoxins in one go. Ie if you have lived in a basement as a child and got the mold spores into the sinuses, they like to sit there and continue to form mycotoxins until the spores are removed. In time, this causes massive problems. Mycotoxins settle among other things in sinuses, bile and liver - resulting in our bile becoming sluggish and thus reducing our digestive capacity. 

When digestion is reduced, then there is a domino effect of problems in the body. inflammatory conditions in the intestines where the food sits too long and ends up rotting instead of being digested and transported further down the system. As we all now know, digestive problems are the root of all evil in that we are not what we eat, but what we digest and absorb. Where many of us go wrong and spend too much money, time and energy is when we start focusing on digestion as the very cause.

The question remains: WHY does our digestion not work?

The solution is not taking tons of digestive supplements. This does not help much in the long run if the cause of reduced digestion lies in sluggish biliary excretion due to mycotoxin accumulation. The solution, on the other hand, is to remove the spores and mycotoxins and thus the blockage in the system. At the same time, it must be ensured that the source of mycotoxins is found and treated. Then we can fully benefit from stimulating the bile with bitter substances such as grapefruit, lemons, leafy greens, dandelion juice and restore gastrointestinal balance with the help of prebiotics and probiotics.

The spores can be effectively removed with essential oils from thyme, rosemary or cloves (13,14,15). These essential oils are diluted in cold-pressed sesame oil and are thus used as nasal drops daily to remove the spores. If you use the word "nasya oil" you will find videos showing how this is done in practice - but only the mentioned oils work for mold spores.

Detoxification for mycotoxin intoxication will depend on whether other toxins are present e.g. heavy metals and other environmental toxins.

Synergy occurs between different types of toxins, and if this is not taken into account, and also how some toxins will affect the excretion of other toxins, then a detoxification program that is guaranteed to work cannot be made. Furthermore, one should examine whether one's cell membranes work - if there is evidence of reduced membrane integrity, then the cells cannot retain nutrients nor can they excrete toxins optimally. I get daily emails from people asking me to come up with a few tips they can take to start detox. It would be great if we could write a do-it-yourself book for detoxification, but I'm never going to write it, because it can't be done without the overwhelming likelihood that a) it doesn't work because it's too in general and not adapted to the specific types of toxins that are in the body and which should be taken into account in relation to where they sit in the body, which organs' functioning is affected in terms of detoxification b) you have cell membrane damage which needs addressed prior to detox c) permanent damage to the kidneys or redistribution of the toxins due to incorrect detox methods being used.

If the kidneys are damaged in the process of detoxing, it is catastrophic because the kidneys are unable to recover damaged nephrons (kidney filter units).

You also need to know what else is in the liver of toxins to assess which remedy is right to use. Cholestyramine can e.g. be useful to some, while it must not be used if you have elevated liver numbers (16). Activated charcoal does not work if people have a very sensitive nervous system. Bentonite clay binds many, but not all, of the toxins, so it must be combined. With zeolite it is crucial to check if the brand has undergone laboratory tests for purity - contamination is a problem, as zeolite absorbs heavy metals in the environment in which it occurs - and we should rather not take it if in doubt of purity (17,18,19). So yes, there are some precautions. In addition, it is important to take into account whether the person belongs to the group in the population that has MTHFR gene mutation (decreased glutathione production and thus detoxification capacity) and how the status of the cell membranes is - without a program targeting these things, the detoxification process will be significantly reduced.

If you have symptoms of toxicity i.e. chronic health issues like skin issues, digestion disorders, migraines, infertility, hormonal disturbances and weight-loss resistance, you should get sorted out with regards to your body’s toxic load.

No amount of healthy eating or exercise will solve a toxicity issue.

These things only help after toxins have been removed. You can’t eat your way out of mycotoxin or i.e. mercury poisoning. Not to forget that mercury impacts your blood sugar negatively, causing a host of other issues.

The irony of starting on a diabetic-medication becomes mind-blowing in cases, where people actually suffer from a toxicity issue that needs addressed, rather than putting them on yet another medication for life.

That said, sometimes we need something that works instantly on the symptoms while we target the cause.

The good news, however, is that we have the opportunity to be tested for these toxins, and - besides mercury that still takes an incredibly long time to get out of the body safely - we now have enough experience both through our own practices and from research to be able to alleviate many of the chronic conditions underlying poisoning problems.

References:

1. Front Immunol. 2017; 8: 382. Severe Sequelae to Mold-Related Illness as Demonstrated in Two Finnish Cohorts. Tamara Tuuminen et al.

2. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2003 Jul; 16(3): 497–516. Mycotoxins. J. W. Bennett et al.

3. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Nov; 115(11): A536. Mental Health: Molding a Link to Depression. Carol Potera

4. Carcinogenesis. 2010 Jan; 31(1): 71–82.Mycotoxins and human disease: a largely ignored global health issue. Christopher P. Wild.

5. Toxins (Basel). 2013 Apr; 5(4): 605–617. Detection of Mycotoxins in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Joseph H. Brewer et al.

6. J Toxicol Pathol. 2014 Apr; 27(1): 1–10. Mechanisms of Mycotoxin-induced Dermal Toxicity and Tumorigenesis Through Oxidative Stress-related Pathways. Kunio Doi.

7. Neurotoxicology. 1999 Feb;20(1):41-8. The naturally occurring food mycotoxin fumonisin B1 impairs myelin formation in aggregating brain cell culture. Monnet-Tschudi F

8. Van Egmond, H. P. 1989. Aflatoxin M1: occurrence, toxicity, regulation, p. 11-55. In H. P. Van Egmond (ed.), Mycotoxins in dairy products. Elsevier Applied Science, London

9. Smith, J. E., and M. O. Moss. 1985. Mycotoxins. Formation, analyses and significance. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, United Kingdom

10. Policy forum: public health. Reducing liver cancer--global control of aflatoxin. Henry SH, Bosch FX, Troxell TC, Bolger PM. Science. 1999 Dec 24; 286(5449):2453-4.

11. J AOAC Int. 2016 Mar-Apr;99(2):469-74. Measuring Ochratoxin A Concentrations in Coffee Beverages with Immunoaffinity Columns and Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Chen WL et al.

12. Food Chem Toxicol. 1995 May;33(5):341-55. The occurrence of ochratoxin A in coffee. Studer-Rohr et al.

13. Braz. J. Microbiol. vol.32 no.2 São Paulo Apr./June 2001. ANTIFUNGAL PROPERTIES OF CLOVE OIL (EUGENIA CARYOPHYLATA) IN SUGAR SOLUTION. Lidia Núñez et al.

14. Lett Appl Microbiol. 2007 Jan;44(1):36-42. Antifungal activity of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil and thymol against moulds from damp dwellings. Segvić Klarić M et al.

15. Lipids Health Dis. 2017; 16: 190. Chemical composition, anti-biofilm activity and potential cytotoxic effect on cancer cells of Rosmarinus officinalis L. essential oil from Tunisia. Marwa Jardak et al.

16. BMC Pharmacol Toxicol. 2014 Aug 3;15:42. Benign elevations in serum aminotransferases and biomarkers of hepatotoxicity in healthy volunteers treated with cholestyramine. Singhal R et al.

17. J. L. Flowers, S. A. Lonky, and E. J. Deitsch, “Clinical evidence supporting the use of an activated clinoptilolite suspension as an agent to increase urinary excretion of toxic heavy metals,” Nutr. Diet. Suppl., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 11–18, 2009.

18. H. Karl, “Application of natural zeolites in medicine and cosmetology,” 2010.

19. M. Tatlier and H. Akc, “In vitro evaluation of the use of zeolites as biomaterials : effects on simulated body fluid and two types of cells,” J Mater Sci Mater Med, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1557–1562, 2007.