Mold and Mycotoxins, Part 3
Dr. Paul Deglmann
Meghan Feir Walker
Removing mold and mycotoxins from the body can be an arduous process for those who are highly sensitive and/or have been exposed to mold for years. Yet for other people, it can take as little as a few weeks to a few months to remove these toxins from the body.
While the speed varies depending on the person, how can you effectively remove internal mold spores and mycotoxins?
In this article, we’ll go over these common questions:
- How do you get mold and mycotoxins out of the body?
- How long does it take to remove mold and mycotoxins from the body?
- What can you do to try and prevent mold exposure and mold illness from happening again?
Make sure you don’t miss a step in this learning process! In Part 1 of this mold and mycotoxin series, we went over what mold is, what mycotoxins are, common sources of exposure, and the most common symptoms associated with mold toxicity.
In Part 2, we covered the best ways to test if you are being exposed to mold, the best ways to test your body for mold spores and mycotoxins, and why other people seem much more sensitive to mold and mycotoxins when compared to others
What are the symptoms of mold exposure?
From Part 1 of this mold and mycotoxin series, we learned about the common symptoms of mold exposure. Symptoms can vary significantly from person to person, depending on how sensitive each person is, but take a look at some common symptoms of mold and mycotoxin exposure.
Common symptoms of mold exposure:
- Cognitive symptoms
- Brain fog, memory issues, headaches, migraines, numbness/tingling
- Chemical sensitivities
- Food sensitivities
- Sinus congestion or chronic sinusitis
- Skin inflammation/irritation/rashes
- Fatigue
- Allergies
- Getting sick often or prolonged illness from infections
- Digestive or GI symptoms (gas, bloating, nausea, constipation)
- Respiratory symptoms
- More
How does mold make you sick?
As we discussed in Part 1 of our Mold & Mycotoxins series, mold exposure can affect anyone, but some people are more vulnerable to its effects. Traditional medicine primarily recognizes mold allergies, where individuals react to spores, experiencing respiratory distress, headaches, and irritated eyes, nose, or throat. Mold can also trigger asthma symptoms.
Beyond allergies, mold-related conditions like chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) can develop due to prolonged exposure. If you see visible mold, you're looking at a cluster of spores that can cause symptoms. However, mold also releases invisible, odorless toxins called mycotoxins, which linger in the air and pose additional health risks.
How to remove mold and mycotoxins from the body
Ensure You’re in a Mold-Free Environment
The first step in removing mycotoxins from the body is to make sure you are no longer being exposed to indoor mold and mycotoxins. To recover, it’s imperative you are living and breathing in a clean environment.
This step may be quick or time-consuming depending on your unique situation.
If you are living in a moldy environment:
- Detect the mold/mycotoxins through accurate testing
- Remove the mold/mycotoxins through a skilled remediation service
- Get the mycotoxins out of the body and restore optimal detoxification and immune function with the help of a practitioner
Consult with a Health Practitioner
Once the mold/mycotoxins have been removed from your environment, you need to clean up the environment inside your body. You need effective strategies to get the mold/mycotoxins out of your body with the help of a practitioner familiar with mold illness/CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome). Mold remediation in the body is a crucial step in getting you healthy again.
After you are in a safe environment and have tested your internal mycotoxin levels, at the clinic we consider the following with a mold detox protocol:
- An anti-inflammatory diet
- Detoxification nutrients such as milk thistle, glutathione/NAC, ALA, vitamin C
- The right binders for the individual situation
- Antimicrobial herbs that can decrease mold colonization in the body
Adopt an anti-inflammatory diet
It’s extremely common for those dealing with mold illness to have developed issues with certain foods after the mold exposure has caused inflammation.
Because mold can cause such high levels of inflammation in the body, we put our patients on an anti-inflammatory diet. However, while we follow the basics of an anti-inflammatory diet, we also make sure we test to see if the patient is dealing with any food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances.
Due to this being a common occurrence, we work with patients to create a personalized diet based on testing.
We always recommend our patients avoid processed foods and processed carbs that can feed mold/fungi, and we encourage them to eat high-quality protein (grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, etc.), healthy fats (avocado and other healthy oils), and healthy carbs (non-starchy veggies, low-glycemic fruits, like berries, etc.). There are many ways to eat anti-inflammatory, but here are some basic concepts to consider:
AVOID:
- Highly processed food
- Food high in added sugars
- Seed oils
Enjoy:
- Grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, antibiotic-free, pasture-raised chicken
- Healthy fats like avocado and olive oil
- Organic, healthy carbs, such as low-glycemic fruit and non-starchy veggies
- Organic herbs
Support and ensure optimal detoxification
Along with encouraging a whole-foods, anti-inflammatory diet, we also guide our patients with lifestyle choices and other helpful tools.
Some of our go-to suggestions include:
- Avoiding additional mold/mycotoxin exposure
- Hydrating and eating well every day
- Making sure you are eliminating toxins well through urination and having consistent/daily bowel movements
- Using an infrared sauna (with the approval of your doctor)
- Supporting detox pathways with supplements like NAC, glutathione, ALA, and vitamin C, and using herbs such as milk thistle for liver support, etc.
- Supporting detoxification with binders
What are binders, and how can they help you?
Removing mold from the body isn’t always as easy as it seems.
People with mold illness and mold sensitivities are undoubtedly not able to detoxify all the mold spores and/or mycotoxins out of their bodies without assistance. One of the most unique aspects of mold toxins is that they can take advantage of your bile recycling pathway.
When your liver detoxes and dumps waste through the bile (your liver makes the bile and the gallbladder stores the bile), this waste makes its way into the intestines. Your body then recycles this bile. Some patients aren’t able to eliminate these toxins as well as others and end up recycling the toxins, along with the bile, back into the system.
Many people have issues with their detoxification process and pathways. Because of this, they need extra support when dealing with heavy loads of toxins. If you are a person who is especially susceptible to mold toxicity, mold toxins (mycotoxins) are likely being sucked back into the bile recycling pathway. Instead of taking a one-way ticket out of your body through your bowel movements, mold can hitch a round-trip ride when this process isn’t working correctly. The mycotoxins just keep recycling throughout your body.
This is why it can be very helpful for patients to use binders. Binders bind to toxins (like mycotoxins) like a magnet, grabbing onto them to decrease the amount of toxins being reabsorbed into the body through the bile recycling pathway.
There are a variety of binders that can help patients eliminate toxins more effectively. Each type of binder helps bind to different toxins in the body.
Different binders
Binders include zeolites, activated charcoal, bentonite clay, humic/fulvic acid, some probiotics (like Saccharomyces boulardii), etc. Sometimes, prescription medications such as Welchol and Cholestyramine are used if more natural binders aren’t eliminating toxins effectively and quickly enough.
Antimicrobial Herbs
Once you aren’t being exposed to mold and mycotoxins, are eating anti-inflammatory foods, ensuring your detoxification pathways are supported, and are eliminating toxins through urination, healthy/consistent/daily bowel movements, sweat, etc., the next step is to use antimicrobial herbs to address the mold colonization in the body.
Mold colonizations release mycotoxins inside your body, causing an onslaught of unpleasant and sometimes debilitating symptoms. To combat these internal mold colonies, we use antimicrobial herbs like the following.
Some of the most common herbs we use for addressing internal mold colonies are:
- Oil of oregano
- Pau d’arco
- Neem
- Garlic
- Caprylic acid
- Olive leaf extract
- Thyme
- Grapefruit seed extract
- Uva Ursi
- More
How long does it take to clear mycotoxins from the body?
In the past, I’ve had patients who have only taken a few weeks before they feel fully recovered from mold illness or exposure, and I’ve had patients where it’s taken years. I myself have been battling the effects of prolonged mold exposure for the last couple of years, and my recovery journey still isn’t done.
We’re all unique and have varying scenarios, bodies, amounts of discipline, and other factors that affect how long the recovery process can take.
There are a few big factors when it comes to how long it takes:
- Current diet/lifestyle
- How long the exposure was
- How significant the exposure was and what type(s) of mold you were exposed to
- Genetics
Once the source of the issue has been removed and addressed, you need to clear the toxins from the body and try to repair the damage that was done by the mold/mycotoxins.
For example, if you are experiencing intense neurological symptoms, supplementing with nutrients that help support the brain and nervous system can be helpful. If your symptoms are primarily related to the digestive system, supporting the gut with nutrients that your digestive system needs to help repair itself can be helpful.
Don’t discount your body’s natural ability to heal. Your immune system is part of this recovery journey, and when you remove the things that are negatively affecting the body, your body’s innate ability to heal can kick in and work more effectively. Our processes encourage the body to repair itself.
But really, how long does it take?
In the past, some patients have recovered in a few weeks to a couple of months (this doesn't happen as often). Others have taken a few years to get all the mycotoxins out of their body and recover (seeing normal test results and feeling better).
Depending on the patient, we retest every 3-6 months to check internal mycotoxin levels. If symptoms are still present and the patient isn’t showing any signs of improvement, we then need to see if the person is still being exposed to mold or if we are missing additional factors that may be contributing to their symptoms
If mycotoxins have been cleared from the body and the patient is feeling well, we often slowly stop the antimicrobial herbs and will develop a maintenance plan that includes a healthy diet and lifestyle.
How do I prevent this from happening again?
In order to prevent mold illness from wreaking havoc on your body and life again, we recommend talking with a qualified mold inspector or mold remediation company and asking what you can do to make your house as mold-free as possible.
Some common preventative steps include:
- Maintaining an indoor humidity level of less than 50% relative humidity
- Use dehumidifiers, especially in the basement, to help control the humidity throughout the home
- Make sure the grade of the landscaping/yard is good, along with a good gutter syste,m so water flows away from the house
- Set up water sensor alarms/detectors that can detect water drips or leaks
- Turn on the bathroom fans when showering
- Clean and dry any water intrusion within 24-48 hours
Has this mold series helped you?
I hope this article series has helped, encouraged, and shown you that it’s possible to improve your health and home. You can get better, and you can recover from mold illness!
If this mold series has helped you learn more about mold, mycotoxins, and recovering from mold illness, consider sharing it with a friend. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for more information on health topics.
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