I know I haven’t written in a long time, and there’s a reason for that which I will explain in my next post. In the meantime, this is a post that I wrote in January of 2017 and now realized that I never published it, so here it is…
My last post strayed from the topic I wrote about in my post “Chronic Illness, Toxic Mold, and Unexpected Death,” since the current circumstances in our country have upset me so much I felt I had to try and help by getting people to think about the situation from a chronically ill person’s point of view. However, just as I have written posts providing useful information about POTS/Dysautonomia to help spread awareness, this post returns to the topic of mold and provides useful information about mold toxicity (AKA mycotoxicosis or mold illness), which is actually poisoning caused by mycotoxins, the toxic substances produced by certain molds.
To clear up a misconception, when I talk about my daughter’s mold toxicity people often refer to it as an allergy. But it is not an allergy. She has had mold allergy blood tests done and they came back negative. But allergy tests generally test the naturally-occurring molds that would be outside or in the air. Those tests do not use the horrible indoor molds that produce toxins. So when I’m talking about my daughter’s mold toxicity I’m actually referring to the high levels of dangerous toxins that have accumulated in her body.
I found a well-written blog post that summed up much of the information I have been accumulating from my research on toxic mold. I have quoted some of her material here, but you can read the post in its entirety at: https://spoonielife.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/mold-illness-websites-information/
“Dangerous molds have now been linked to a number of different diseases that are prevalent today, including learning disabilities, gastrointestinal disturbances and GERD, heart problems, cancer, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and several autoimmune diseases. The truth is, when your immune system is impaired, almost anything can happen in terms of negative health effects. When mycotoxins and other volatile substances invade and colonize within the body a slew of serious chronic illnesses emerge. Every cell and organ is affected by degeneration and necrosis with continued exposure to mycotoxins. Chronic inflammation goes rampant in the body and brain, resulting in debilitating wide-spread chronic pain and fatigue, a profound list of progressive symptoms, and irreversible damage. The immunological and neurological systems are the most impacted, although it becomes a systemic chronic disease as mycotoxins colonize and multiply throughout the body.”
“Recently more and more doctors are admitting that mold illness is a pandemic, with claims that toxic mold exposure is responsible for 500,000 deaths per year in the US. Many people in the mold illness community estimate the number of mold related deaths to be much higher, as many of the lives taken from mycotoxicosis may not have “mold toxicity” as the official cause of death but a secondary condition documented such as organ failure which resulted from the toxicity.”
Don’t wait too long to consider your environment (both home and work) if you, or someone else in your household, are chronically ill and doctors have been unable to help you feel better.
Another useful blog for mold toxicity information (from a family that also had to leave their home and get rid of their belongings) is: http://it-takes-time.com/mold-microbes/beginners-guide-toxic-mold/
Finally, I need to mention allergies once again, now that you have a better understanding of toxic mold. Mold toxicity can cause allergies because of the damage it does to the immune system. This can make you super sensitive to just about anything — food, chemicals (such as perfumes, detergents, and smoke, to name a few.) You can do urine tests through RealTime Laboratories, Inc (https://www.realtimelab.com) without a doctor’s prescription that can show whether or not you have high levels of mycotoxins in your urine, and then blood work can be ordered by your doctor in order to find out how compromised your immune system is.
Good luck!
Julie Jacobsen Deck 