Mycotoxins: Hidden Causes of Allergies & Inflammation

Do you regularly experience sinus symptoms of sneezing, mucus drainage, congestion, itchy eyes, headache, cough, asthma, body ache, and fatigue? Have you been told that it’s just environmental allergies and to take over-the-counter antihistamines and decongestants? Despite takings medications and even taking allergy shots, you find yourself continue to suffer from these and other symptoms. 

Sound familiar? 

While a majority of allergies are due to the environment—pollen, grass, trees, and dust mites, and food sensitivity or intolerances— gluten, casein, whey, egg, corn, and other foods, there are increasingly more cases of allergies that have been discovered to be due to mold and mycotoxins.

Mold is part of environmental allergens. However, due to the nature of mold which grows in dark, damp, and hidden environments like inside walls with leaky pipes, detection can be difficult. Continuous exposure to mold spores and the ensuing mycotoxin deposited within the body challenge your immune system, leading your body to a chronic inflammatory state. 

With a healthy immune and respiratory system, when you happen to inhale tiny mold spores, the villi in your nose—tiny hair cells—trap and stop the spores from traveling deeper into your airway. Your immune system then produces antibodies to activate your body’s troops to attack and destroy the spores, often producing an allergic response. 

After the mold exposure has passed, you still produce antibodies that "remember" this invader so that any later contact with the mold causes your immune system to react. This reaction triggers the release of histamine, which causes itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, a restricted airway, cough, asthma, and other mold allergy symptoms. If your symptoms persist and become chronic, it’s time to investigate mold as a possible source. 

How do I find out if my allergy symptoms are due to mold? 

You can hire a mold inspector to inspect for leaks and mold around the house and collect air samples to analyze mold spore concentrations. Alternatively, determine your exposure level based on the following conditions, which greatly predispose you to mold: 

• If you work in an occupation that exposes you to molds such as farming, logging, baking, carpentry, fishing, greenhouse work, winemaking, water damage repair, and furniture repair.

• If you live in a house with humidity exceeding 50% or if you work or live in a building that has had leaky pipes, water seepage during rainstorms, and flood damage.

• If you live in a house with tight window and door seals or work in a building that has no openable windows or has poor ventilation. Leaky and poorly maintained HVAC systems can be a source of mold. Rooms like bathrooms and kitchens are particularly vulnerable.

Finally, you can ask one of our doctors to perform a urine test to detect mycotoxins from various species of mold such as Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Alternaria penicillin, and Stachybotrys also sometimes referred to as "black mold".

Mycotoxins are toxic chemicals produced by certain fungi that are capable of causing disease and even death. The most well-known of the mycotoxins from aspergillus which causes human and animal illness is aflatoxin which is found in soil, decaying vegetation, and improperly stored grains, nuts, and seeds. Aflatoxin in peanuts may be partly responsible as a contributor to anaphylactic shock in some children. 

Most people who get exposed to mycotoxins as a result of mold exposure develop an inflammatory response in their bodies. After removing oneself from a moldy environment, the majority of the population’s physical detoxification process is able toclear mycotoxins with only minor long-term consequences. However, for about a quarter of the population, the inflammatory response to mycotoxins can become chronic and even trigger autoimmune diseases. This is because approximately 24% of the population possesses a genetic determinant, known as HLA type, that leaves them susceptible to mycotoxin-triggered immune dysfunction. 

What is HLA?

HLA stands for human leukocyte antigen which are proteins on the surface of your white blood cells—your body’s troops that identify which cells are your own and which are foreign. As an analogy, you can visualize the HLA proteins as different color codes on the cell. Your cells are programmed to recognize a certain pattern of colors that belong to you. For example, you could imagine that your HLA types include red, blue, and white. HLA typing assesses the particular HLA genes that you have inherited (i.e., your cell’s color codes). Because there are many different HLA genes, as well as different variations of these genes, there are many different possible color combinations that together make up your specific HLA type.

If an immune cell notices a cell with say, a purple HLA color code, it would send off alarm bells. That warns the cell that it might be seeing something potentially dangerous, like a virus or mycotoxins. This might trigger the immune system to attack the cell. The HLA system plays an important role in immune defense and as you can imagine is critical in situations of organ transplants to have an HLA match.  

In organ transplantation, if the immune system targets donated tissue as foreign, meaning it has the wrong color codes, it may attack and damage the donated tissue. This is why recipients of donated tissue need to receive as many matching HLA proteins or the matching color combinations in the tissue as possible to avoid rejection. 

So what happens when an individual with one of the susceptible HLA types is exposed to large amounts of mycotoxins from mold? Immune system dysfunction can result in an increased autoimmune response, allergies to foods and environmental triggers, excessive cytokine production leading to multiple tissue inflammation, and immune suppression often lead to persistent infections or frequent acute infections. These can be collectively categorized as chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). CIRS can be confused and misdiagnosed as conditions such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Anxiety, Depression, Leaky Gut, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), and even Chronic Lyme Disease. 

CIRS is complex inflammatory response conditions that target multiple systems. I’ve watched my patients go from one specialist to another whose approaches have been a wack a mole at best because patients’ symptoms are all over the map and across many systems such as digestive, neurological, hormonal, musculoskeletal, rheumatological, and immunological. Doctors are only able to offer temporary, symptomatic relief according to their particular specialty but not a resolution of the whole syndrome of inflammatory response because the cause or the trigger remains. 

How do I eliminate mycotoxins and calm my inflammatory response down? 

There are two parts to a successful resolution of mold allergies or severe inflammation due to mold. First is the elimination of mycotoxins — the toxins produced from mold infection can overwhelm your body’s function leading to immune system breakdown and even cancer mutations. The second part is to reduce and stop the overt immune response and inflammatory process. 

Treatment Part One: Detoxification

When it comes to detoxification, Chelation therapy that is typically used for heavy metals does not work for mycotoxins. Here are the seven steps we take clinically for our patients with mold infection to help eliminate mycotoxins.

Acupuncture 

Acupuncture is used to activate your liver to break down and excrete the mycotoxin through the gut. 

Skin brushing

Skin brushing is done to activate lymphatic circulation and move toxins to drainage ducts to be cleared out.

Lymphatic massage

This special bodywork is specific to the lymphatic system

Cupping

Cupping is one of the most ancient healing techniques long used to dislodge and pull toxins up to just beneath the skin 

Infrared

The healing light wave used in an infrared sauna induces sweat and discharge toxins.

Detox Soak

Our at-home Detox Bath contains a special formula of anti-fungal and detox herbs to draw out mycotoxin

Herbal Tea Blend 

Patients are sent home with a special herbal formula to help their bodies excrete the toxins through the bowels and urine

Treatment Part two: Quell the Inflammation

Once most of the mycotoxins have been eliminated from the body, the original trigger for the inflammatory response is also expelled. However, the inflammatory process may persist due to “immune cell memory”, continuing the destructive pattern throughout the body like a wildfire that’s out of control. Here are the five steps that we take with our patients to extinguish the inflammatory fire and restore normal function. 

Dietary Therapy

We put our patients on an anti-inflammatory diet that contains inflammation-fighting foods including enzyme-rich fruits such as papaya, pineapples, and kiwi, spices like turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon, and omega 3-rich foods like flax, hemp, chia seeds; and eliminate pro-inflammatory foods such as cow dairy with foreign proteins, gluten-containing grains such as wheat, barley, and rye, nightshade plants such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and potatoes, alcohol, sugar, processed refined foods, and commercially grown animal products.

Electro-Acupuncture

Acupuncture with electrical stimulation (electro-acupuncture) has been shown in studies and clinically to be particularly effective in down-regulating the cytokine storm. In other words—stop the body from producing the protein that causes the inflammation.

Herbal Therapy

Many herbs are chosen clinically for each patent depending on which tissues or organs are targeted by their immune system. For example, for joints and connective tissue inflammation, we may use frankincense and Myrrh, both known for their inflammation-reducing therapeutic actions. 

Nutritional Therapy  

Supplements such as papain and bromelain from papaya and pineapple as well as omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to provide anti-inflammatory relief. There are other supplements chosen depending on the patient’s unique condition. 

Stress and Cortisol Reduction

Patients with chronic inflammatory response syndrome are often frustrated and stressed because they can’t get a definitive answer and treatment solution from their doctors. While patients go from doctor to doctor searching for the right diagnosis and treatment for their condition, the stress increases cortisol which in turn worsens inflammation and symptoms. Meditation and mind-body practices like qi gong are taught to our patients to help empower them and reduce their stress cortisol production, therefore, decreasing the inflammatory response.  

How do I prevent mold from developing in my work and living spaces?

Naturally, it’s better to prevent moisture build-up than to mop up the mess in the aftermath of mold exposure. Here are five mold prevention tips. 

Eliminate sources of dampness in basements, such as roof leaks, pipe leaks, or groundwater seepage. Regularly inspect your home and repair any leaks immediately. 

Use a dehumidifier in any area of your home that smells musty or damp. Keep your humidity levels below 50 percent. Remember to clean the collection bucket and condensation coils regularly. 

Consider installing central air conditioning with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter attachment along with a germicidal UV-C bulb. The HEPA filter can trap mold spores from outdoor air before they're circulated inside your home and the ultraviolet light will destroy any fungal, bacterial, and viral particles. This is what we’ve installed in our new office. Change filters on your furnace and air conditioners regularly. Have forced-air heating ducts inspected and, if necessary, cleaned.

Be sure all bathrooms are properly ventilated andrun the ventilation fan during a shower or bath and immediately after to dry the air. If you don't have a ventilation fan, open a window or door while you're showering or bathing.

Keep groundwater drainage away from your house by removing leaves and vegetation from around the foundation and cleaning out rain gutters frequently. In fact, don’t plant anything right up against the house, and be sure that sprinklers spray water away and not towards the house. On the subject of plants, don’t have plants in your bedroom as organic plant containers made from straw, wicker, or hemp can collect moisture. Drain pots after watering to prevent water from collecting. 

In summary, practice prevention when it comes to mold and don’t underestimate its hidden health dangers and the associated chronic inflammatory response syndrome. if you or someone you know has been exposed to mold and is experiencing unexplained symptoms of inflammation, don’t wait. Call us immediately so that the potential mycotoxin is eliminated as quickly as possible and inflammation is extinguished before widespread health damage occurs.