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Mold illness can be an overwhelming topic, the good thing is that you're not alone.
Join Dr. Lauren Tessier, a mold illness physician, educator, and author, as she helps to demystify this complex world.
Discussions with industry leaders and patients will address not only mold, but also related complex chronic illnesses such as Lyme, mast cell activation, and chronic fatigue syndrome, among others.
Turns out, there IS life after mold, and we're thrilled you’ve found it.
usually the things that are the weakest in the body are the ones that are going to take the brunt of the damage when something big happens. So, especially if it's systemic, meaning 📍 it's delivered body wide. 📍 📍 📍 Hi, everybody. Dr. Lauren Tessier here, and I'm so glad you are joining me for the 1st ever life after mold podcast episode now, this episode. The whole point of this is to have a really just well rounded introductory episode. So that way, you can get to know who I am.
You can get to know why I'm doing this. And, of course, you can also get some of the most common questions that many people have about mold, mold, exposure, mold related. I'll answer before we get into the really, um, meaty parts of this upcoming season of this podcast. So without further ado, I'll tell you a little bit about myself.
So, as I mentioned, I'm Dr. Lauren Tessier. I am a licensed naturopathic physician. I was trained at Bethesda University at just outside of Seattle at a doctorate. Program in naturopathic medicine, uh, they are wonderful time and I eventually headed back east to England where I was born and raised and I ended up in Vermont and in that little town where I landed in Vermont and Waterbury landed after a hurricane.
How can I read and the downtown was very, um. It's still recovering is recovering from a lot of flooding a lot of water damage now, unbeknownst to me at that time. I had no clue. I didn't we weren't really talking about mold in school. Nothing was really elucidated to us regarding that other than maybe allergy and so I found myself in situations where a lot of the naturopathic treatments.
That we would do with folks like basic level stuff for fatigue and brain fog. They just weren't sticking. They weren't working the way we typically would expect them to, which then opened up a whole entire world of mold and the possibility of water damage, causing some of these underlying issues is really resistant to treatment.
Symptoms, so, um. I ended up falling down the moldy rabbit hole there. And, uh, of course, during that time, uh, I then eventually found myself in a moldy situation. And then, as more and more time progressed from there, and upon reflecting back on my history, you know, I had family members who had Passed from severe autoimmune disorders who had also lived in severely moldy environments.
So, you know, that ended up being this whole thing of spurring me forward. Now, I ended up, um, you know, going through the, um, whole concept of, uh, you know, urine, mycotoxin, uh, protocols, and then eventually sat for my CSRS certification in 2016. Uh, and then after that, I went on to help grow and develop ICI, the International Society.
Of environmentally acquired illness, which is an educational nonprofit that teaches physicians essentially how to do what what I do and what other world illness physicians do. Uh, and there we also bring together indoor environmental professionals too. So it's a really nice collegiate group of people from a few different fields that are integral to helping people recover from world illness.
So. There, um, you know, at that time is probably about 2017, uh, I'd been in practice for about 4 years. Very much. Pretty much treating some form of mold illness from the get go right out of the gate. But at that point is when I started teaching. And lecturing and speaking and doing all of that kind of outreach and, um, just kind of never looked back.
Uh, eventually I opened up life after mold, which is my consultant educational consultant business, uh, to help people recover from mold. A list, um, and then I also operated for, um, or I still do operate a medical practice that takes on clients for care for medical treatment for mold related illness. So, um, the process has been amazing.
I learned so much every year clients teach me so much. And then also in my process of lecturing and teaching, I learned so much, which I think is my favorite part. I spend way too much time in the medical literature and the human literature, the animal literature, just learning about all things, mold and toxins.
And I'm just always blown away by how much more comes up year after year and how many more small and intricate connections can be made. And so, you know, um. That's that's where I am and I would oh, I should say, uh, I was in a situation in 2023 where Vermont was once again hit with historic flooding and my office unfortunately, uh, suffered severe water damage up to the rafters.
Underneath my sub floor, um, all of my office, uh, items became severely contaminated and it was at that point. I realized that I could not safely. Run an office. For my clients or myself, um, out of that space, or using any of the items that were in that space. So, essentially, in the summer of 2023, I lost the office that I had built.
10 years, um, you know, flood, sweat and tears, putting it all back in. So, uh, once again, to mold and water damage, essentially. So, when I tell people that, you know, I've gone through it 1st hand, I've gone through it many iterations, uh, 1st hand and some of them more, um. More traumatic than others. So when I tell people that I truly wholeheartedly know and understand, I very much do.
So with all that being said, now, you know, a bit about me and I would love to get into talking about my goals here with this podcast. So in general, the process of going through mold, you know, being exposed, falling ill, it's a traumatic process. You know, not only are you sick, Scared, probably brain fogged confused, but then the space that's supposed to offer you the most safety your home, the, you know, your, your den of comfort, your safe space.
It suddenly becomes not safe. And there's so many different at that end of itself. Beyond traumatic, you know, I am sorry. I'm going to keep using the words trauma here, but being sick, um, you know, losing your safe space, the cost of all of it, the loss of time. There's so many aspects to it that, um, are traumatic, but also
really isolating. Very, very isolating and people feel very alone in this process and that can be the result of many different things, including people not taking them seriously, you know, um, or people hearing mold. And thinking that it's a 4 letter word, like, there must be something wrong with you, or you did something to cause this or like, it's a very, um.
Has a lot of judgment and a lot of weight behind it and so. Watching people day after day navigate this. It just, I don't want people to be in a vacuum of sadness and trauma and isolation with this. I want people to know that this happens to so many people, whether or not people even realize it. Right. Um, and I, you know, I just want to bring certain things to the forefront.
The other thing I want to do with this podcast is I want to bring forth experts in the field. To come together and talk about, um, not only what they do that they love and their passion about, but then how we can tie it into mold. Because while mold in and of itself can cause a lot of different, uh, illnesses, and we, we can talk a bit about that.
It can also interface with so many different into that illnesses, meaning, um, you know, it's almost this. The 6 degrees of separation. I feel like you can tie anything back to mold exposure or draw a connection between mold and mycotoxin exposure and, you know, heart disease or mold and mycotoxin exposure and insomnia or mold and mycotoxin exposure and like B12 anemia, you know, like there's always these little connections that can be had and not all of them are connections that are a cause.
They could be a correlation or an exacerbation or, you know, there's, it's just really exciting to see all these different connections. And the unfortunate thing is that a lot of patients find themselves stuck in these loops of detox binder, glutathione, detox binder, glutathione, and they don't get anywhere.
You know, so that's the goal here is to try to break that cycle of the same mold talking points over and over and over again, and really get into some really. I think it's rad. I'm going to date myself. I think it's a rad really into some rad concepts in the world of mold and mold related illness. So, in order to get into those red concepts.
What I have to do right now here with you is I need to answer some of the most common basic questions. So, then, when you're ready to kind of rock and roll. You can hop right into those episodes for those advanced discussions, because you already have the foundations with this 1. so let's get into it. What is mold? Mold is an organism. It can be, um, well, typically molds are multicellular, meaning that there are lots of little cells that come together to make a mold, and then there are yeasts, which are single cellular. Both are fungi, and they exist in something called the fungi kingdom.
So if you remember back to basic biology, we have the plant kingdom, kingdom, the animal kingdom. The fungi kingdom, et cetera and so when we're talking about mold and mold related illness, we're doing a little bit of interchange here. Even though molds are the multicellular ones. Sometimes we'll throw in, um, you know, just like the discussion of yeast into it.
It's not perfect. Could it be fungal related illness? That's probably a better term, but, um. No, 1 really ever classifies the mold growth in their home as fungi, you know, they classify as mold. So that's kind of the loose terminology that we're using here. And so molds are everywhere. Absolutely and, um, they.
Only really become, though, a significant problem when there is too much and 1 single space. And I have people picture, you know, the idea of when you, um, have a fish and you feed it a little bit and the fish is fine. But then you have your little kid who comes over and dumps in the whole entire, uh, bottle of fish food and then suddenly the water is dirty and the fish can become sick.
What matters is the concentration. Of the spores around the person, so, yes, molds everywhere. Of course, however, it's really realistically how much the person is exposed to by breathing it over and over and over again on a day to day basis.
And then there's mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are the secondary metabolites that molds make.
They're just There, they make them sometimes they think that, uh, or researchers think that it could be a variance factor, meaning it helps make whatever the molds are trying to infect, uh, easier to infect, uh, we see them as a potential defense mechanism for them to battle off their niche so they can claim their stake.
Uh, but no matter what, what we do know about mycotoxins. Uh, that are produced by molds and yeasts is that they cause a lot of significant damage throughout the body. And that is 1 of the aspects of mold related illness.
Where's mold found in homes? Molds can be found anywhere in a home. It can be found anywhere that there is water, anywhere that there is what I call the 3Ds, dust, dirt, dander, or debris, and potentially poor ventilation. Now, realistically, you can have relative low humidity, so not a lot of water, and you can still have molds that grow.
So realistically, molds are going to grow. Anywhere that there's their food, that organic matter again, that dust, dirt, dander and debris. So, literally, they can happen in any part of the home, you know, anywhere that there's wood or paper or. All that dust and dirt and anywhere that there's a little bit of humidity added doesn't have to be much.
So, realistically, molds can happen anywhere. In the home, and different molds are going to have, because they have a different molds have different predilections towards different amount of water. Certain modes will be found in certain water damage environments. So, ones that are extra watery, you might find stacky, whereas ones that might be a bit more on the kind of dry, dusty side, you might be seeing a bit more aspergillus and penicillin there, but.
That's not a perfect, perfect clear cut statement. It's just an example can mold affect pets? Absolutely. We know that veterinarians. And agricultural veterinarians worry about mold and mycotoxins so much. So, you know, we've big brands, big dog food brands are always testing. For my toxins in their dried kibble food, and when there is a recall of which there is often, it's usually because there's an apple toxin or talks or something like that within the food, uh, causing an exposure.
So, I would say. Those in the agricultural and veterinarian industries are aware of mycotoxins and mold exposures being, uh, problematic to health for animals, but
they seem to forget the inhalational component, you know, and it's, I wouldn't even say they seem to forget when it comes to traditional physicians, even naturopathic physicians, we're not taught Much about the inhalational impact of mold in a water damaged building. And if we're not teaching this to our human doctors, and we're most certainly not really teaching it to our animal doctors, um, you know, the closest things that they might come across might be like brooder houses and chickens that have like a, a hemorrhagic lung issue or something like that.
But, um, you know, unfortunately, veterinarians are. Even though they're well aware of that mold and mycotoxins do present health issues. They have been trained in such a way that unfortunately, they are looking for it to come into the body through a different means. So yes, if you're sick in your home, And you have other family members are sick, and you notice that, you know, your, your animals are starting to act sick, whether it's neurological or respiratory.
And again, I'm not a veterinarian. So, this is not a veterinarian advice. You know, it always makes you wonder. It certainly always makes me wonder. And I'm always sure to ask about the health of everyone in the family, including what we so lovingly like to say are for babies. So, yes, mold can absolutely impact pets. Can mold exposure impact sleep. Without a doubt, mold exposure absolutely can impact sleep. And when I say mold exposure, I need to lump in mycotoxins. That's really, you know, they, they, they come together. They don't really exist apart from 1 another. They might do 2 slightly different things together because you're looking at 1 being the overall organism, the overall living unit.
And the toxins being what they make the little bit of toxin that they make. So, um. Yeah, so when we're thinking about insomnia, for instance, or sleep difficulties, uh, mold exposure can cause, uh, you know, difficulty falling asleep. Staying asleep, um, inability to wake while arrested. I mean, ruxism, so grinding of the jaw, uh, severe dreams, like.
Pretty nasty night terrors. , that's a lot of impact. That mold and mycotoxins can have on your sleep wake cycles, and that can come from that direct. Oxidative damage. Of mycotoxins to the nervous system tissue to the inflammation within the nervous system, and even to the shift in the hormones that are related to, uh, sleep and sleep maintenance.
So, it's a very, very common symptom of mold exposure sleep difficulties. What does mold illness look like in the body? I feel like I could do like 10 episodes on this 1. So, you know, how I have come to really organize these concepts of mold illness is, I think about how it interacts with the body and then how it manifests. Or I should say, I think about where it interacts with the body and then how those symptoms manifest.
So, for instance, my 1st, dividing line is, is the mold interacting with the body. Outside of the body. The location is in the environment, or is the mold interacting with the person inside of the body? Right? So we have external internal exposure external is in the environment internal colonization. It's an overgrowth in your biofilms.
I'm simply sound familiar to you guys. We can always get into another time and then. What I do is I say, what do the symptoms look like? Are they more allergic? Is there itchy eyes, cough, dry throat, kind of headiness, you know, um, gritty sand in the eyes, sticky eyes, dry mouth, like any of those symptoms, you know, uh, shortness of breath, sometimes chest 1, though, um, um, even, you know, um, bloodshot eyes or.
Itching, swelling, rash, all of those can very much be an allergic reaction or a histaminergic reaction, allergically. Right? And then there's the toxic reaction. Now, when I think of the toxic reaction, I'm really inferring or referring to mycotoxins, which are, of course, the toxic metabolites that are made from molds and these toxic metabolites have, I would say, a really, a really The biggest, most profound impact on the nervous system tissue and the hormonal system.
However, with that being said, mycotoxins, what they're really great at is plucking off and moving around electrons on things that are made of fat or rich in fat. Problem is, all of our cells have a fatty outer layer. All of the machinery in our cells Are made from a fatty structure, right? And then we have a lot of important organs in our body that are really rich in fat nervous system.
Uh, you know, our liver or kidneys. And then when we think to about the fact that not only all of ourselves have the outer layer of fat, but the machinery inside 1 of those important parts of machinery, the mitochondria, they have lots of fat. The way their inner membranes are all kind of mixed up and and put together and a lot of the organs and tissues in the body that require a lot of energy have tons of mitochondria problem.
There is that. Those tissues and those organs that have tons of mitochondria also have tons of fat, which means they are at a higher risk of being damaged by mycotoxins. So, all of that to say, toxic reaction is another way that we see these symptoms manifest in the body. So, remember, so far, we've said how I kind of organize this concept of what is mold illness look like in the body.
We think of it as external or internal, and then we go into what are the symptoms. We already have the allergic like symptoms. I just told you what the toxic like symptoms look like. And now there's this generalized inflammatory. Symptom where, you know, we have immune system dysregulation leading to, uh, cell signaling all over the place and immune system dysfunction.
And, you know, these chronic inflammatory issues. Chronic immune system dysregulation that just continually lasts. So that's kind of how I break it up. I got your allergic ish picture. I have your, your oxidative damage, fatigue, neurological hormonal picture. And then I have this inflammatory immune, uh, constant system overwhelmed kind of picture.
So, without going into all the hundreds of symptoms that exist in those classifications, that's really a decent way that you can kind of think about how mold interacts with the body can mold grow in cold climates? Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, cold climates might stifle and get mold to slowly decrease its growth kind of almost go into a rest phase even in cold climates.
There are still warmer climates that emerge or warmer cycles that emerge where, you know, you can have mold bloom further. So, I mean. Yeah, mold absolutely grows in cold climates indoors too.
Can mold return after remediation? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So this is 1 of the biggest issues with remediation is that, you know, you'll, you'll talk to someone, you'll say, okay, so. Did where you, did you get remediated? What did that look like? And so, yep, I'm done. Remediation's done. It was fine. It was 3 years ago and you say, okay, well, can we talk about it?
They said, no, it's done and the, I understand the pushback, but the hard part is. Maybe something was missed when it was 1st, tested, maybe part of the remediation failed. Maybe they tore out all the mold stuff, but they didn't actually go back and fix why it was getting some ambient dampness in the first place, or maybe there's a whole new issue.
So, yes, can mold return after remediation without a doubt? Um, and there are a lot of from state to state. The concept of remediation is different, especially for instance, like, in certain states, the idea of remediation does not include. The correction of the water intrusion, it doesn't include the fixing of the gap.
On the roof that led to the water coming in, you know, examples like that. So, yes, mold can absolutely happen again. Season 2 mold coming to you this fall. Is malt visible or can it be hidden? Can be both absolutely can be both mold will grow wherever it is allowed to grow wherever it finds food. Remember, duster, dander, debris, any type of organic material, even just a little bit of humidity doesn't have to be tons of standing water and maybe even poor ventilation.
Yeah, it'll find a way and that can be hidden behind a wall. You know, that could be in the deep core of a mattress. It doesn't have to be visible. For you to. Be exposed and feel poorly does insurance cover mold damage? This is a big question and I would say yes. And no, the 1st thing is that you would need a something called a mold writer, which means you need to kind of buy a add on package for your insurance to cover mold damage. But even then that what we call a writer doesn't necessarily cover the damage.
Due to molds my understanding is that it covers the, the hanging of the negative pressure and the bringing in of the air scrubbers. That's realistically what it covers. Um, it's. Depends on your insurance company, but from what I understand, it is a very difficult process to get personal possessions covered when it comes to mold exposure.
So, uh, damage due to mold is likely not going to be covered. However, uh, your insurance company, if you do have a mold writer, that realistically just covers the setup. Of the remediation to address mold rather than your personal position. So, um, with that being said, there are insurance companies who, um, you know, claim that, uh, they do cover these things.
However, there's also the awareness that the water has to come into the house. In through a certain means in order to be considered or a mold coverage. So, if it comes in from the ground up, that's a flood unless you have flood insurance, which is very expensive. It likely won't be covered. How if it comes.
You know, from the sky down in instances where maybe, you know, wind wind blows rain in and around your chimney or in your windows or things like that. Then maybe there might be a claim there. However, if it is a slow. Damp leaking pipe that has been going on for quite some time, uh, there is a decreased likelihood of coverage.
Because what will often happen is that will come back on the homeowner saying, well, you know, you need to take responsibility as a homeowner to make sure that any water intrusion gets addressed within X amount of hours. Uh, you know, this issue has been going on for so and so amount of days. Therefore, we will.
Deny it so, um, and, and, you know, there's, there's a lot of ins and outs to this to be very clear. Um, and it's going to vary from insurance to insurance. I've seen some homeowners insurance that have been. Amazing with people, and then I've seen others not so much 1 thing that you might want to consider if you find yourself navigating this is working with something called a public adjuster.
These folks are there to help in the process of representation and look into them, do a little bit of digging. You might see that they're worthwhile for you.
What is the difference between air filtration and purification? I think of filtration as a net. You know, like, you're working on catching something in the net and you're letting the air pass through whereas purification, I think a bit more about this oxidative form of air cleaning.
And so what happens here, or there's a few different forms of this purification. I think purification, I think of, you know, destruction. Or a complete removal or something along these lines, so different from filtration, almost like, breaking things down to their lowest, their lowest atom structure. Right? So there are some air purification.
Units that will use something called photo oxidation. That will flash a bright light on a reactive surface and as the molecules float through the filter or through the purification unit, that bright light just essentially explodes it down to its smallest amount, which would be your, your carbon and water.
You know, here's the kicker there are units that claim that they can do that. And then maybe the air moves through too quickly. Or maybe the surface isn't as reactive as it should be. So you have 1. Mold fragment going through that oxidative process, and it's getting damaged and you want it to explode down into nothingness down into CO2 and water.
Right? But instead it explodes down into. Millions of smaller, more minute fragments that can cause severe health concerns. So, I now and now here we are, because when, you know, better, you do better. I now caution people to learn as much as they can about the photo oxidation or purification air units that they will be employing.
Um, I lean a little bit more now towards the hyper. And kind of 10 pound charcoal combo. Uh, so you get the adsorbing with the charcoal, um, and then the extreme HEPA filtration, keeping on top of those and changing them as often as possible. Um, but, yeah, there is a difference between these 2 technologies, and it's very important that you choose a product that demonstrates the claims.
That they make. Are mold and mildew the same? Yeah, they are. And usually, if you have someone that you're coming to, they're saying, hey, I think there's a mold issue and go. No, that's mold. That's that's not mold. That's mildew. You either go 1 of 2 things on your hands. You either have someone who's looking to mislead you and they know what it actually is.
Or you have someone who doesn't actually understand what they're dealing with. Both of them can be problematic to deal with and potentially dangerous to your health.
can mold exposure affect mental health? Absolutely. And here's why not only do you have the experience, the stressful and traumatic experience of having your home be a threat to your health, your personal items, being a threat to your health, maybe friends and family don't understand the whole being sick, being out of work, the whole entire process of just the experience of it.
Can impact mental health, but then we have that inflammatory and oxidative damage component that happens with mold and micro toxin exposure and those 2 things can really throw your neurotransmitters. Out of whack can cause anxiety depression. You know, I've, I've seen a whole lot worse to frankly, but yes, absolutely.
We see that mold and micro toxin exposure can absolutely cause mental health issues
can mold exposure cause fatigue. Yes, well, exposure can absolutely cause fatigue and there are many different reasons why, uh, you know, they can mold and mycotoxin exposure can interfere with the absorption of nutrients that are needed to have good energy metabolism. They, they interfere with your ability to sleep.
Right? So that's going to impact your fatigue. They interfere with your mitochondria, which are your powerhouses of yourselves that are needed to just get up and move. Through your life, you know, they're, they're very dense in your skeletal tissue. They're very dense in your, your nervous system, you know, so you could have a physical fatigue.
You can have brain fatigue, many different forms of fatigue can manifest and until you've actually gone through what it is to be fatigued you. And I mean, this so respectfully, you don't understand you never knew how tired you could be on how many fronts, like, it's mind boggling. So absolutely. Mold exposure can cause fatigue through many different means.
Can mold exposure lead to weight changes? Absolutely. And I think of this in 2 different classifications. I think of kind of the fatty tissue weight gain and then I think of fluid retention weight gain. So, fatty tissue weight gain. You know, you can develop this from endocrine disruption from mold and mycotoxin exposure, you know, so you're shifting your, your thyroid functionality, your, your cortisol levels, uh, you know, all of those things, your leptin levels.
Those can all be impacted by mold exposure. However, you know, when you are sick, and you're mold exposed, and your immune system is running haywire around the body, trying to control whatever is happening. The immune system rides through the body. On fluid on fluid between the cells and so what ends up happening is a lot of people will get puffy.
They'll, they'll, they'll gain weight, but it won't be that denser, fattier tissue. Instead, it'll be like, puffy water weight and that happens when people are inflamed when they're going into histaminergic crisis when they're just all out. Uh. Immune system chaos is raining. Essentially. That's the easiest way to put it.
I'm so sorry. But, um, yeah, so we do see a weight gain with that. Um, and so we have again that fatty tissue weight gain, which I don't frankly see as often instead what I tend to see with mold exposure and mold reactivity is more of that inflammatory. Wet swelling edema waking,
what is the connection between mold exposure and headaches? There's a huge 1 share. Of course, of course, there is right now, mold exposure and headaches. You could develop a mold induced headache from too much histamine. You could develop a, uh. Mold exposure headache from too much glutamate from oxidative damage to the nervous system tissue from changes in blood flow, because the mold and mycotoxin exposure to neurotransmitter.
Shifts to nutrient shifts. There's so many different reasons why you can have headaches develop, um, you know, and the hormones hormones are another big 1. so, um. Mold exposure can absolutely cause headaches for folks without a doubt.
can. Well, the exposure lead to hormone imbalances. Yes, absolutely. And there are a few ways that can do it. Mold and mycotoxin exposure can cause difficulties with breakdown of hormones. They can cause changes in creation of hormones. They can block the hormone signal. Or they could even stimulate the hormone signal.
So they really just have their hands and all pots here. And so we can see problems as a results with estrogen and progesterone and testosterone, and then their relationship to 1 another and your cortisol and your thyroid hormones. I mean, pretty much all all hormones can be impacted in some way, shape or form by, um.
By mold and mycotoxin exposure and as a result, the, the symptoms and the effects are so far reaching. I mean, libido early onset, puberty, uh, perimenopausal symptoms that just drag out menstrual regularities, um. Thyroid conditions, you know, the list realistically goes on and on. So, yes, we do see hormonal impacts with mold and toxin exposure.
Can mold exposure impact children differently than adults.
Hey, I would say it's not necessarily impacting children differently. Although, yes, they have kind of different hormones. I would say at different times in their life. So you could have, um, different impacts on their development. Neurological and growth for sure. We'll give them that, but there is this component where, um, children present differently.
Simply because of their, um, differences in how they move through their life and how they interact with their body. So, for instance, a child might have difficulty saying, like, man, I am having brain fog today or, you know, like. My muscles feel weak and sore and I'm very tired, or I am having indigestion right now with sharp liver pain.
You know, like kids, kids don't have, so instead it's my tummy hurts. Or they are acting up in school, and it seems like, you know, they, they, they have a flair and their or something like that. So, in general, with children, some of the more reported symptoms are headache kids tend to be able to say, convey headache pretty well.
Their head hurts additionally, you might see behavioral issues in school. Manifest and poke through, and then the other 1 could potentially be, um, some of their, um, digestive issues. Digestive issues, definitely for kiddos. So, um, yeah, it's not that they're, they're too different from adults. It's just. Their concept of self, and then how they convey it.
Is is different, so it manifests slightly different. When it comes to reporting clinically,
can mold exposure cause allergies? Yes, mold exposure can absolutely cause allergies, of course, to mold and also to their mycotoxins too. But there are some studies that show that exposure to mold can cause allergic like reaction or immune system confusion. Enough that a body might have what looks like an allergic reaction to something that it's never seen before.
Now, this is something that's pretty rare because usually the, the whole, um, uh, definition of an at allergy involves this concept of, like, a previous exposure and initiating exposure. And so there are a couple of studies that show that mold exposure has resulted in folks who. Developed allergies to say something that they've never seen before.
They've never interacted with. So, um, you know, like a child developing a allergic reaction to horse dander, but they've never been in a stable and all their life. So, um, we, we definitely do see that now to further that kind of, um, I would say immune system confusion on that allergy front. So we can have like, uh, develop an allergy to something that our body might.
May not have seen before being developed an allergy to the molds, but then we can also develop a reactivity to the things that our body has tolerated before. And so that's something else to consider. And usually, a lot of folks who end up. Seeking help have gone on to develop such severe allergies, or I really just classify them as histaminergic reactions because they're not a true allergy.
They've gone on to develop such histaminergic reactions that, like, they can't even eat anymore. I call it, they've eaten themselves into a corner. They literally can only tolerate, like, 2 or 3 foods. And so usually these folks are also navigating. Mass cell activation disorder, um, so, yeah, it's, it's a lot.
They're usually, uh, navigating mass cell activation syndrome and cast. Can mold exposure cause joint pain. Yes, in general, mold mycotoxin exposure can result in systemic inflammation and that systemic inflammation can cause, um, uh, joint pain. Muscle pain, it can look a lot like live. It can have that wandering pain, but something that we also see here, too, in theory is, uh.
People who have this allergic like. A symptom where they also swell to. We worry about immune system cells getting caught in that swelling. Around joints and tissues, and those immune cells that are trapped. Then secreting essentially proteolytic enzymes, protein, digesting enzymes that might further break down some of this connective tissue in and around those joints.
And so there, there is a little bit of a working theory here. That we see, and, um, the complex chronic illness world, but we worry that folks who tend to be. A little bit more histaminergic. Or live in that mass cell world might have connective tissue. Disorder issues, connective tissue issues that could result in more severe.
Joint pain than if they didn't have them cast. It's a really interesting concept.
Can mold exposure cause respiratory issues? Absolutely. Absolutely. So we know that our mucosa, which is a really soft, supple tissue, um, that can be really easily damaged. Lines our mouth, our sinuses, our lungs, you know, all of our internal hollow tubes and any type of mold particulates can absolutely bump into these tissues and cause local irritation and that can look like, um.
Coughing can look like post nasal drip. It can look like dry mouth. It can look like sinus pressure. Um, you know, it can look like chest tightness again. Always be careful with the chest tightness. It can look like asthma. You can go to a pulmonologist and they'll have you go through the testing and they'll say, well, it sounds like asthma, but then on your test, it doesn't look like asthma.
That will give you an inhaler anyway and so usually what we see with mold exposed people is they get assigned this like concept of like, non classical asthma. That's also non responsive to the treatment interventions that people typically get for asthma. So, yes, can mold issues cause respiratory.
Problems for sure, and, um, it's definitely a process to try to pick it apart and tease it out.
can mold exposure affect vision. Absolutely, when people are mold exposed, they might have issues with, um, almost like color differentiating or contrast differentiating, or even like tracking things or like, uh, blurring of vision. So, 1 of the things I was asking people is to your focal point change, you'll have your phone here and then 5 minutes later, it's out here.
And then all of a sudden, it's back again. You know, um, there's a lot of different things that can happen. With mold exposure and its impact on vision, and some of it can be a bit more of a, like, a histamine reaction at the front of the eye. And some of it can be more of a neurological. And Reaction to the toxins, um, at the, I would say the back of the eye, the retina, the optic nerve, and in the, the, uh, visual processing centers of the brain.
Can mold exposure lead to hair loss? Yes. And unfortunately, hair loss is usually the last thing to happen, and it's also usually the last thing to, um, repair. And this can occur through, um, autoimmune reactions that are mediated by mold. It can occur through direct fungal colonization of the scalp. Uh, it could even occur through interference with nutrient, uh, absorption due to mold exposures.
Uh, my gosh, the list goes on and on. Um, hormonal. Shifts to the mold exposures a lot of different ways that hair loss can be impacted. I mean, the stress the stress of under building mold and micro toxin exposure. So, um, yes, yes, it can impact the hair and it can be a while until. I always usually say, like, the hair feels safe enough.
To return it's not perfect guys, but I'm trying so
can mold exposure worse than preexisting conditions. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So if there's a weakness in the body. There's going to be a predilection for that to get worse for folks. Um, so if someone already has, I would say, heart disease. Then being exposed to mold and micro toxins and micro toxins, having a big impact on cardiac functioning, that person might have a worsening of blood pressure or, um, you know, they're, they're, they might have more, uh, rapid swings and heart rate.
You know, it's realistically, and I think this goes in general for for anything. Uh, usually the things that are the weakest in the body are the ones that are going to take the brunt of the damage when something big happens. So, especially if it's systemic, meaning it's delivered body wide. So, yes, what we can see is that mold and mycotoxin exposure can absolutely worsen someone's pre existing conditions.
Can mold exposure cause nausea? Absolutely. And this can happen through many different means. It could be a colonization in the posterior throat. The science is dripping down the back of the throat into the stomach causing nausea. It could be a central nervous system.
Inflammation issue that's causing the nausea. Uh, it could be a local colonization causing the nausea. My goodness, the list goes on and on. So, absolutely. Nausea is 1 of the, the more common things. Uh, more common symptoms that we see with the mobile exposure can mold exposure cause skin problems?
Yes. And I usually think about it from 2 perspectives. I think about it as, uh, the skin issue. Kind of coming from the outside or the skin issue coming from the inside. So, coming from the outside, it could be, like, local topical irritation from having mold in the environment, or if it's coming from the inside, you know, you could have an overload of the toxins causing immune system dysfunction at the level of the skin, leading to like, sore attic.
Uh, like lesions, uh, eczema, things like that. So, um, absolutely mold and mycotoxins, but it can cause skin issues.
What should you do if you suspect mold in your home? The first thing you should do is pause, take a beat, and step back. The worst things that I see people do at this time when they do find mold in their home is to panic. The likelihood that the mold has been there for some time is high. And you acting so quickly as to try to make a brash decision on what to do within a day is likely not going to, um, make anything happen any faster.
However, it could cause a lot of issues downstream when you're dealing with mold in the home. There's so many things to think through and to decide. And to research and the 1st, step forward, realistically involves. Finding an, an indoor environmental professional who can come and do very thorough testing for you.
Because then they develop the remediation plan, and then you have to research a remediation company to fulfill that remediation plan. And then you get the back in. To do testing after the remediation and then. After you're out of exposure, you can then go work on yourself and take care of yourself. But to miss order these steps or to bring the wrong person on the team is can can set you back months, years and can set you back just
so, um, so profoundly in a through financial means, like, I, you want to make sure that you're doing something right the 1st time. And rushing and making panic decisions from this limbic reactive space is not the way you do it. And I understand this is why I'm answering these questions. I understand wholeheartedly.
I'm just like, I just got to like, get the thing done. And like, you have mold brain, you're freaking out. You want to like, make it right. You want to feel safe in your day. And so like, the thing you do is you take action. Right. And that's also histamine talking because it's neuro excited towards telling you to go.
It's telling you you're in a fight or flight. Like, you're threatened. You have to, you have to fight back. You got to run away from the barrier. You got to fight back. Like, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. You need to step away from the situation. You need to ground yourself. And you need to figure out what the next steps are and, like, that's the whole point of this podcast, you know, I'm going to be interviewing some indoor environmental professionals throughout this season and doing a really awesome Q and a.
Where we cover so much of this stuff, so it's going to be really important for you to to also subscribe, follow. You know, do all that good stuff, so you don't miss those episodes because there's gonna be so much good information there for you. So, um, please, when you find mold in your home, you almost need to do this.
Uh, non attachment, like, know what is you're like, that is mold. That is a problem I need sleep. And I can start to figure out how to deal with this tomorrow and really setting yourself up for that expectation of moving slowly in a metered and like measured manner is going to save you so much time, so much stress.
And I, I just wish I could tell this to everyone that I encounter a handful of people listen, and they always end up coming back so much. And then there's other people who I say it, I share it. They go up into the ether and I never know. You know, what they end up doing about it, but please know that I mean, I have no skin in the game to tell you to move slowly.
I've only seen that rushing in in these situations can be profoundly problematic for folks. How can mold exposure. Impact memory, and this is another great question. So. Of course, as I've mentioned numerous times, you have the. Severe and dysregulating impact of the trauma of the experience of being ill of losing your home, social difficulties with people in your life.
But that can be, of course, impactful on memory. However. We also know that mold and mycotoxin exposure can cause neuroinflammation, oxidative damage, changes in blood flow, changes in hormones, changes in cell to cell signaling, many different things, the way the brain processes and stores information, including short term and long term memory.
So, we do know that there is a connection between mold exposure, mycotoxin exposure and memory so much. So, uh, you know, we, we see this in work of Dr Dale Bredesen and his developed concept of inhalational Alzheimer's. So, of course, mold and mycotoxin can absolutely cause issues around memory. Usually, in my practice, what I see, it's usually short term memory was the 1 that people struggle with the most and it can be really insidious of, you know, having to use more post it notes, or I can never remember the last 4 digits of the phone number that I was trying to remember or.
You know, I, I can't remember the code that gets sent to my phone for 2 factor. Authentication or something like that, um, so, you know, and of course, it gets worse the longer it goes on, but all of that to say that. Yes, absolutely. Mold and mycotoxins can completely impact. Memory how does mold exposure cause sensory sensitivities? So, I want to preface this by saying there are sensory sensitivities that people can, of course, experience with mold exposure or this, like, heightened sensory experience, but there's also sensory dampening that can happen where people will struggle with, um, their ability to, uh, you know, engage Deep enough in their senses, so, for instance, some people for a heightened or overstimulated sensor experiencing might be sensitive to touch or to light or to sound whereas some folks might have a decreased, um.
A sensory experience around taste smell, they might even have a decreased sensory experience around, like, ability to distinguish color. Or tracking things, so just a lot of things that can happen from a sensory perspective. And those are just your basic senses. There's also these 2 kind of lesser known senses that are just as important 1 called proprioception and 1 called interception.
Interception is this sense of being in your body, your emotions, your heart rate, your hunger signals, those types of things. Whereas your proprioceptive sense is where you are in space. Now, most people don't spend too much time thinking about these things. They're so knee jerk and automatic, but people who are neurodivergent might realize that when they're mold exposed, not only do they have these changes could be increases.
Or dampening of their sensor experience of other. You know, common senses that we've listed off, but also of proprioceptive senses and interoceptive senses. So they might have even. More of an issue. Of being present in their body, um, they might have more of an issue tracking hunger or fatigue, or maybe their increased, uh, sensory sensitivity to smell might worsen their experience of.
Yeah, chemical sensitivities, so all of that to say. If you are exposed and you're finding that your sensory experiences are either sharpened, heightened or adult, it's all very validating. That does happen with these types of exposures. can mold exposure cause cardiovascular issues. Once again, I would say yes, but I want to call into. People's perspective, the idea that cardiovascular issues don't stop at the heart. They go out to systemic circulation. So, in this discussion, not only do we have to talk about how mold and micro toxin exposure can be directly toxic.
To the heart cells. But we also know that, um, these toxins can cause issues with, uh, fluid balance. The ability for the blood vessels to control blood pressure. Either causing too high of a blood pressure too low of a blood pressure. Uh, we also know that toxins and circulation can damage the blood vessel lining.
Leading some of that leaky blood vessel picture, which can lead to to more swelling for folks, um, you know, and of course, mixed in with all of this, I would say is this concept of, um, pots or postural orthostatic. Tachycardic syndrome, and this is when people get lightheaded when moving from seated to standing their heart races and they kind of nearly blackout.
Um, this is all part of that cardiovascular picture that we can see for people who are mold and mycotoxin exposed doesn't necessarily mean that it all has to happen. To every person, um, but we have to remember that that cardiovascular system is so wide reaching and this isn't even dialoguing about the idea of a what we call a hyper coagulable state, meaning your blood gets thick.
And when your blood gets thick, you don't carry oxygen and nutrients as well to the cells that need it. And you, you don't carry waste away as well. So, there's a lot that can happen in and around the cardiovascular system. And it just doesn't doesn't stop at the heart. So, yes, can absolutely impact the cardiovascular system. Well, everybody that's it. We made it through. Too many questions way too many, but I had a great time answering them and hopefully you had a great time learning. I have a feeling that these questions will just lay the foundation for more questions to come. So, it wouldn't surprise me that there's like a, a season 2 intro episode, maybe even where I answer even more of the more common questions, or maybe less common questions about mold exposure and mold illness from.
My perspective, and so I'm super happy to have had you here with me. I do hope you learn something and I encourage you to like, follow subscribe. Et cetera, so that way you can track me in this season as I interview some amazing guests and. You get to see us 1st hand bring all these different fields together that maybe someone wouldn't have seen a through line.
But the through line is mold and it's going to be so exciting and I'm so happy to have you there with me. So, you can head on over to my website, lifeaftermold. com for more information. You can find me across all social media channels at Life After Mold and when you head over to my website, feel free to sign up for my newsletter and when you do, you will get access to my free e book.
Well, prevention 1 on 1, which will help you kind of keep tabs on the things you have to think about when it comes to preventing mold in your home. So, with that being said, thank you so much for joining 📍 me and I am so excited for what's in 📍 store.