Mold is a fungus found both outdoors and indoors. When certain types grow inside the home or workplace, mold toxicity may develop. This mold toxicity can lead to chronic health problems.

The symptoms of mold toxicity are often vague — like fatigue, gut issues, memory problems, and muscle aches. So, it’s easy to attribute them to other causes. Furthermore, most people don’t always know when they are exposed to toxic mold. (1)

Due to these factors, mold illness often goes unrecognized. But mold can be a barrier to overcoming complex, chronic health issues. If mold is a culprit for your patients, it’s crucial to identify and address it. (2)

What Is Mold Toxicity?

Mold toxicity, also called chronic mold illness, differs from mold allergies. In short, poisons produced by mold can cause illness that extends beyond common mold allergies. 

Mold allergy symptoms tend to be limited to the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin — such as itchy eyes and a runny nose. Allergies happen when the immune system overreacts to mold spores, the dormant forms of the fungi. They’re lightweight and easily float through the air. (1)

In contrast, mold illness results from mold growing indoors and producing toxins. These can trigger varied and widespread symptoms in the body.

The buildings that harbor mold toxins are water-damaged buildings. This damage can result from any water intrusion — such as from flooding, leaky pipes, or melting snow. Everyday activities like showering without good ventilation are risks, too. Warm, humid environments also increase mold risk. (2)

Toxic mold growth could happen in any type of building. The most problematic ones are homes, schools, and workplaces.

Studies suggest that up to 50% of buildings in North America and Europe may have water damage. So, it’s better to suspect a building has a mold problem rather than assume it doesn’t. (3, 4)

What Types of Mold Cause Problems?

You’ve likely heard of “black mold” or Stachybotrys chartarum, which sometimes makes news headlines. It is greenish-black in color and well-known to contribute to mold toxicity. (1, 5)

But Stachybotrys is far from the only mold that can harm health. And it’s not the only mold that can appear black.

Examples of other types of mold often found in toxic indoor environments include: (6)

  • Aspergillus 
  • Chaetomium 
  • Cladosporium 
  • Fusarium 
  • Mucor 
  • Penicillium 
  • Rhizopus 
  • Wallemia 

Several of these molds have many different species or subtypes. Some of these are more problematic than others.

For example, Aspergillus niger, Chaetomium globosum, and Wallemia sebi are species that produce toxins. Elevated levels of these molds in homes could harm health. (7)

Toxins Molds Produce

The two main types of toxins that molds produce are mycotoxins and microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs). 

Mycotoxins hitch a ride on mold spores or fragments of mold so they can travel through the air. In contrast, mVOCs easily travel through the air on their own, as they are gasses. (6, 8)

People take in these mold toxins by breathing, swallowing, or touching them. Plus, mold may form colonies inside a person and produce mycotoxins. (8, 9)

Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are poisonous chemicals produced by mold. They help mold defend its territory from other microbes. But mycotoxins can be very harmful — even in low concentrations. (10, 11)

In fact, scientists say that mycotoxins are more harmful than pesticides. It’s also thought that some countries have attempted to use concentrated doses of mycotoxins in biological warfare. (11, 12)

Some common mycotoxins and ways they may impact health include: (4, 6, 13)

  • Aflatoxins: These are produced by Aspergillus flavus and some Penicillium species, among others. Aflatoxins are linked with an increased risk of liver cancer.
  • Ochratoxin A: It can suppress the immune system. It can also damage the nerves and impair brain function. Some of this could be due to the oxidative stress — also known as free radical damage — that it triggers.
  • Trichothecenes: These are produced by Stachybotrys, as well as some other molds. They can interfere with the cells’ ability to make proteins the body needs. They can also damage nerves, impair the immune system, and trigger oxidative stress.

There are hundreds of different mycotoxins produced by molds. Their modes of toxicity vary. In addition to the effects listed above, they can also harm mitochondria, kidneys, and lungs. (4, 6, 14)

mVOCs

The mVOCs cause those musty odors usually associated with mold. In contrast, mycotoxins are generally odorless. (13)

Not only do mVOCs smell bad, but some are also toxic. Part of their toxicity stems from their production of damaging free radicals. (13, 15, 16)

However, just because there isn’t a musty smell doesn’t mean that a building doesn’t have a mold problem. Toxic mold may be lurking even without a noticeable odor. (6)

Mold Sickness

The symptoms of mold toxicity vary from person to person. Practitioners have observed that people living or working in the same water-damaged building may have different symptoms. And some people may not be noticeably affected by the mold.

Some factors that may affect susceptibility to mold include health status, length of exposure, and toxin load. Genetics can also make a difference. (4, 6)

Based on certain genes (called HLA-DR), 24% of people are more susceptible to mold toxicity. If your patient has these genetics, their immune system doesn’t readily tag mold toxins and get rid of them. These mold toxins may build up and make them sick. (17)

Still, this doesn’t mean the rest of the population can tolerate excessive toxic mold exposure. A severe mold problem can also impact healthy people. But only sensitive people with certain genetics may be affected by smaller amounts of mold toxins. (18)

So, how do you know if mold is a culprit of your patient’s health symptoms?

Signs of mold toxicity

There’s no “clear-cut” list of signs and symptoms that specifically point to mold illness. Your patient may not even recall or be aware they’ve been exposed to mold. But one possible clue is a sudden, unexplainable downturn in their health.

Your patient may have been given a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, or irritable bowel syndrome. But this is overlooking the root cause. 

For example, in a study of people with CFS, about 90% had spent significant time in a water-damaged building. And 93% of the people had at least one type of mycotoxin in their urine. In contrast, healthy people had no detectable urine mycotoxins. (9)

The researchers theorized that mitochondrial damage from mold toxicity was causing fatigue in the CFS group. Aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and trichothecenes all can cause mitochondrial damage. This damage can lead to reduced energy production. (9) 

Mold can also trigger inflammation. One study found that people working in damp buildings produced anywhere from 2 to 1,000 times more inflammatory messengers in their body. (4, 19)

Brain scans of people with mold illness suggest inflammation can lead to structural brain changes and nervous system dysfunction. That may contribute to hypersensitivity to chemicals, foods, and other items that wasn’t an issue before. This is part of chronic inflammatory response syndrome. (20)

Chronic inflammatory response syndrome

An ongoing inflammatory response to mold or other biotoxins can lead to chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). It’s also referred to as biotoxin illness. In this condition, inflammation affects multiple systems of the body.

Chronic exposure to a water-damaged building is the most common trigger of CIRS. Chronic Lyme disease is another cause. Some people have both. That’s a double whammy to the system. (21)

The following signs and symptoms are often found in CIRS due to mold toxicity: (4, 6, 22, 23)

  • Brain function: Brain fog, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, trouble finding words, problems taking in new information
  • Digestive system: Abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, food sensitivities, leaky gut, metallic taste in mouth, nausea, vomiting
  • Eyes: Blurred vision, eye irritation, itchy eyes, sensitivity to bright light
  • Energy: Excessive fatigue, thyroid dysfunction
  • Immune system: Autoimmune conditions, flu-like symptoms, over-reactivity to foods and chemicals, poor immunity
  • Mental state: Anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings
  • Muscles and skeleton: Muscle pain, joint pain, morning stiffness
  • Nervous system: Dizziness, headaches, “ice-pick-like” pain, numbness, poor balance and coordination, seizure-like events, skin sensitivity to light touch, static shocks, temperature regulation problems, tingling, tremors
  • Respiratory system: Chest tightness, chronic sinus congestion, cough, new-onset or worsening asthma, runny nose, shortness of breath, sneezing, sore throat
  • Scent sensitivity: Unpleasant symptoms upon exposure to chemicals, fragrances, and other odors (multiple chemical sensitivity)
  • Skin: Dryness, irritation, rashes
  • Sleep: Frequent waking during sleep, insomnia, night sweats
  • Urinary system: Incontinence, increased urination, urgency 
  • Weight: Appetite swings, weight gain or weight loss resistance

Many of these symptoms could also be due to reasons other than mold toxicity and CIRS. That’s why mold illness is often overlooked or misdiagnosed. The specific effects depend on your patient’s body’s unique vulnerabilities. (4, 6)

Diagnosis of Mold Toxicity

The conventional medical community has not emphasized that chronic mold illness is common. Fortunately, the functional medicine community has more developed outlooks for mold toxicity and CIRS, including a diagnosis process.

If you would like to help your patients test to see if they have mold toxicity or not, a common and simple test is a urine mycotoxin test. Excreting an elevated level of mycotoxins is a sign of mold illness. Still, if your patient’s body is holding onto these toxins, their level may be falsely low. (6, 9, 24)

As a practitioner, you can also check specific immune system and inflammatory markers via blood tests. Examples are C4a, TGF Beta-1, and MMP-9. Elevated levels of these markers don’t prove your patient has mold illness, but they contribute to the evidence. (17)

Urine mycotoxin and inflammatory markers are best considered in the context of other signs and symptoms of mold illness. These include the following five areas: (25)

  • Chemical sensitivity — Does your patient have symptoms, such as cough, headache, or nausea, when exposed to various chemicals? Examples include cleaning products, detergents, exhaust fumes, hair products, paints, perfumes, printer ink, street dust, tobacco smoke, and varnishes. 
  • Continual infections — Does your patient have recurrent infections, such as sinusitis or tonsillitis, or a weakened immune system? This can be early signs of mold illness. 
  • History of mold exposure — Has your patient spent significant time in a water-damaged building (regardless if they had symptoms at the time)? Or, did their symptoms start when they moved into a different home/apartment or workplace? 
  • Odor sensitivity — Has your patient developed a hypersensitivity to smells, particularly mold? For example, they may smell mold on other people’s clothes or develop a keen ability to smell mold in buildings.
  • Sick-building syndrome — Does your patient feel worse when they enter certain buildings, such as their home, office, or school? Do they feel better when they spend a few days away from these buildings?

The more of these criteria your patient meets, the more likely it is they have mold toxicity. And if they meet all five criteria, it’s more likely their mold illness is advanced and long-standing.

There are two recommended labs that offer urine mycotoxin tests. These are Real Time Laboratories and The Great Plains Laboratory. Check to see which test is best for your patient and their mold toxicity concerns.

How to Treat Mold Toxicity in the Body

To recover from mold illness, your patient needs to support natural detoxification and drainage systems in their body. It’s also beneficial to support the immune system, mitochondria, oxygen status, and thyroid gland. 

Here are some top strategies to help if your patient is doing a mold cleanse.

Bind mold toxins

If your patient has mold illness, their body needs help getting rid of mycotoxins. Sequestering agents are commonly used for this. They bind mold toxins in the gut so they can be excreted. (6)

Some mold doctors use a drug called cholestyramine to bind mycotoxins. But it can damage the mitochondria, and in turn, negatively affect immune function and cellular energy needed to fight mold illness. (26, 27)

An excellent alternative for binding mold toxins is Carbon Technology, made of specially-selected and precisely-formulated extracts of fulvic and humic acids. They tightly bind toxins to help remove them from the body via stools. (28)

The fulvic and humic acids in Carbon Technology have advantages to “old-school” binders like charcoal, clay, and diatomaceous earth. One big advantage is that Carbon Technology can travel beyond the gut. This is key for patients to combat mold toxicity because mold and mycotoxins can affect all organ systems, not just the intestines. (29)

Also, fulvic and humic acid extracts are a good source of what mold-damaged cells need to rebuild. This includes amino acids, essential minerals, and phytochemicals. (30)

Boost energy, oxygen levels, and thyroid function

As you know, mycotoxins can wreak havoc with mitochondria. Dysfunctional mitochondria result in less cellular energy, and that decreases the ability to fight mold illness. Support your patient’s mitochondria with supplements specially designed to restore mitochondrial function. Formulated with fulvic acid extracts, 

Mold can also squelch oxygen levels. Mitochondria need oxygen to generate energy efficiently. Support mitochondrial function by increasing oxygen levels in the body. (32)

Additionally, mold toxicity can hamper thyroid gland function. Supporting it with supplemental iodine may be helpful.

Support the liver

Even though the liver is the body’s main detox organ, processing a big load of mycotoxins may cause oxidative damage to liver cells. (33, 34)

Fortunately, TUDCA — a naturally present water-soluble bile acid — helps support the liver. Available in supplement form, it helps: (35)

  • Enhance liver function and bile flow
  • Increase mitochondrial function
  • Provide antioxidant protection
  • Reduce inflammation 

Bile flow is critical to efficient detox since the liver processes toxins from blood and deposits them into bile. The body then excrete some of this toxin-laden bile via stool elimination. (36, 37)

Because supplemental NAC is a building block for the production of glutathione and supports liver glutathione levels, this could help in your patient’s fight against mold toxicity. (38)

Support drainage

The liver helps get mycotoxins out of the blood and into the bile. The next step is excreting the toxin-laden bile via stools.

Make sure that your patient’s bowels are moving at least three times a day, especially when detoxing. This helps prevent mold toxins from getting backed up and reabsorbed into their body.  

Bowel-moving herbs, such as fennel seed and ginger root, can help keep you regular and avoid constipation. 

Also, kidney and liver-supportive herbs — including gynostemma and marshmallow root — also support drainage and detox. 

Additionally, it’s important for patients to keep their lymphatic system draining to get rid of mycotoxins. Herbs like burdock root and slippery elm help get lymph flowing. 

Sweat it out

Another way to get rid of mold toxins is via sweating. This can be accomplished with an infrared sauna or with regular physical activity. For example, ochratoxins have been found in human sweat. More studies are needed to determine what other mycotoxins are expelled this way. (6, 39)

Regardless, your patients will reduce their overall toxin burden when they sweat. Toxic chemicals and toxic heavy metals have also been found in sweat. Lowering their toxin levels from all sources supports their recovery from mold illness. (6)

Sweating sounds simple, but remind patients to take it slow before gradually increasing the length of their “sweat session.” If they release toxins too fast, they may end up feeling miserable. Also remind your patients to keep up their water intake as well.

Clear out other pathogens

Because mold illness can inhibit the immune system, chronic infections — such as Lyme disease or viruses — may flare. Plus, parasites may also be an issue. Parasites and other infections can weaken the immune system and make the body more vulnerable to mold toxicity. (40, 41)

Either way, removing unwanted critters from the body helps reduce the strain on the immune system. 

Moreover, mold spores may “hide” inside parasites. And, some parasitic worms can block the bile ducts, interfering with toxin drainage. This means your patient may not be able to fully recover from mold illness until they detox the parasites as well. (42, 43) 

Mold Toxicity in the Home

Your patients will continue to be fighting an uphill battle if they continue to live or work in a moldy building. That can make them sensitive to supplements and other get-well strategies. 

Mold thrives in moisture, so flooding poses a significant risk for mold growth. Landscaping that slopes toward a building instead of away from it encourages water intrusion. (44)

Something as common as a dishwasher, faucet, or leaky roof also invites mold growth. Damp basements and window condensation can also be a haven for mold. 

Often, people can see or smell mold — but not always. It may be easy to also see areas that have visible water damage. This is a red flag for possible mold growth.

If your patients suspect they have a mold problem, they can start with a few simple tests. Certified mold inspectors are also available but vary in quality. Here’s a closer look at these options:

  • Dust samples: A quality dust sample test is the Environmental Relative Mold Index (ERMI). After vacuuming or wiping up dust with a special cloth, it is sent to a lab. Using DNA analysis, this explains the types of mold and density. This is more accurate than tape and mold plate samples. It also may be a more accurate test for mold than indoor air sampling used by professional inspectors. (45) 
  • Moisture meter: With a moisture meter from a hardware store, place its probe against a surface — such as a wall or woodwork — to see if it has an elevated moisture level. The acceptable moisture level varies with the material being tested. 
  • Mold plates: Set out specially-prepared Petri dishes in various rooms to catch mold spores. Samples can be collected outside for comparison. These samples can then be sent to a lab for analysis. A drawback of this test method is that some toxic molds don’t commonly settle on mold plates.
  • Professional inspection: The tools and quality of professional inspectors vary. They commonly use indoor air sampling. However, that’s more helpful when combined with ERMI testing. Certified mold inspectors with training from the Building Biology Institute have a more holistic approach.
  • Tape samples: If your patient sees something that looks like mold, they can do a tape sample. Per the specific lab’s instructions, press clear tape over the suspicious area and send it for analysis. This will tell what kind of mold it is and how dense the growth is.

Regardless of how a mold problem is identified, getting rid of it is essential for health.

What to Do If a Home Is Mold-Infested

First, it’s essential to identify the source of water intrusion and fix it. A leaky roof or pipe will only create more issues after mold remediation. 

Fixing an extensive mold problem is best left to professionals. When mold-infested materials are disturbed, the spores and toxins spread like dandelion seeds in the wind. Attempting to tackle it without professional help could make a bad problem much worse. (6)

When looking for a professional mold remediator, some of the questions patients should ask are: (46)

  • Are you certified in mold remediation? Examples of major certifying groups are the American Council for Accredited Certification (ACAC) and the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC).
  • How do you document your work? This should include photos of damaged areas. The company should also provide an itemized cost estimate before starting.
  • How do you contain mold-contaminated areas? This generally includes using thick plastic sheeting to seal off the moldy area. Remediators also use indoor air scrubbers with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. These should be vented to the outdoors.
  • How do you clean your equipment? Besides air scrubbers, remediators also use HEPA vacuums. Ask what measures they take to avoid contaminating houses with their equipment. Do they change HEPA filters between jobs and sanitize their equipment?
  • How do you dispose of moldy material? The moldy debris should be double-bagged before removing it from the building.

Remediating the structure of a house is one thing. Soft goods like books, pillows, and curtains are another matter. Remediators may be able to restore some of them. Depending on the degree of mold damage and your patient’s degree of sensitivity, they may need to get rid of some items. (6)

If your patient is renting an apartment, it may be easier for them to move out of the moldy building but not to take any mold-contaminated items.

Overcoming Mold Toxicity

Chronic mold illness can leave a person feeling stuck in a super-sensitive mode and uncertain about how to get better. But many individuals have beat mold toxicity.

First, it’s important to stop any water damage and minimize exposure to mold. That includes addressing mold problems in the home or workplace. This often requires professional remediation. 

Once the source of mold is addressed, your patient can focus on detoxifying their body. 

Don’t rule out mold toxicity when it comes to your patients’ chronic health issues. Check the multiple signs and the symptoms to help them recover and get back to optimum health.