Since opening our practice in 2013, I have seen dozens of individuals walk through our doors unfortunately poisoned by their unique genetic susceptibility and exposure to toxic mold species. Florida unfortunately is a perfect place for this to happen, with a moist warm climate and also, at times, less than ideal regulations around building maintenance, repair work, and inspection.
This combination can prove extremely potent and poisonous for many I see, as about 25% of individuals have a unique genetic makeup that makes it very difficult for them to detoxify mold species’ ‘poisons’, or what we call ‘biotoxins.’ These microscopic toxins collect in furniture, clothes, upholstery, carpets and rugs, and on counter surfaces and gradually poison those if their levels are substantial enough.
While mold indeed is outside in the air, it never reaches concentrations that it can inside dwellings where there is the right combination of organic material and water to allow mold to take root and blossom. This can happen due to faulty a/c units that are collecting moisture, water damage from a storm or a faulty roof, a burst pipe in a wall, etc.
I personally experienced this in 2013 when we had, unknowingly for months, a burst pipe in our kitchen wall, leaking water and allowing mold to grow behind our kitchen counter. Then, the day before Thanksgiving, a wall of water came out from under the dishwasher which prompted us to pull it out and then–bam–our discovery of a wall covered in mold!
This quickly set a tide of events into motion involving leaving the home for nearly a month while we made arrangements for spore and toxin testing, insurance and lawyer reviews, and ultimate remediation work which allowed us to return to our house the week before Christmas.
Biotoxins can cause a myriad of symptoms and affect nearly every hormonal, neurotransmitter and regulatory cascade in the body, making this ‘biotoxin illness’ truly a nemesis for many and a mystery on how to ‘treat’, especially since it is hardly understood by anyone in the conventional or even holistic medical world.
This summer, I will be finishing a mold fellowship program through one of the chief researchers in the field, Dr Ritchie Shoemaker, and thus our office will be the first in Florida to hold such a designation.
If you believe you or someone you love is suffering from mold poisoning (this is not an allergy or a mold ‘infection’, note), please do not hesistate in contacting us. Furthermore, in the meantime, you may wish to check out the biotoxin pathway to better understand on just how devastating these kinds of illnesses can be!
See: http://www.hypermed.com.au/Clinical%20Research/biotoxinpathwayritchieshoemakermd.pdf