MOLD RELATED ILLNESSES
I hesitated to post this blog because the subject of mold related illnesses feels like a bottomless pit. But we have had several cases back-to-back of people with mysterious prolonged illnesses that involved, among other symptoms, some pretty severe and unusual pain pattern distributions. And since none of the neuromusculoskeletal workups and lab markers shed any light on the problem, we had to consider other diagnoses including mycotoxin illnesses.
A biotoxin illnesses is a health problem caused by the byproduct of a living organis (bacteria, parasites etc.) a more straightforward example would be the severe diarrhea and bloody tools called by a food poisoning bacteria. A mycotoxin illness is a health problem caused specifically by the byproduct of a fungal exposure in a patient's environment or a fungal infection within a person's body. Mycotoxin illness is not the same thing as mold allergy, the latter being very similar to other airborne allergic reactions and not involving the level of chronic inflammatory systemic response. Mycotoxin illnesses can be incredibly frustrating for several reasons: they're not well understood by the majority of health practitioners (and I would include myself in that category), all diagnostic testing and labs can look completely normal unless you very specifically test mycotoxin markers (and these are very unusual labs), patients can get really sick from mold exposure while the remainder of people in the household appeared to be completely fine (owing to specific genetic markers that make some patients susceptible to mold illnesses and not others). The process of mold biotoxin illness identification is only the 1st frustrating part of the rest of the journey, since treatment can be also very touchy.
Some colleagues who work for an advanced diagnostic lab recommended this most recent clinician and patient guide on mycotoxin illness, which I have found very useful to review the up to date medical research and best practice approach. I have recommended that as an accessible patient read when someone's chronic health illness remains unexplained and the differential diagnosis of mycotoxin illness should be considered. It is important to note that not everybody's chronic, ill-defined health issue is mycotoxin illness. A lot of chronic vague health issues share common symptoms, although a few of them are more specific to mycotoxins. However it appears that mold biotoxin may truly be on the rise, because of a variety of environmental factors (change in average temperature with more thaw and refreeze cycles favorable to mold growth), and change in construction practices that involve material more susceptible to water damage and mold retention.
For patients who are interested in testing more specifically for the potential of mycotoxin illnesses, LabCorp offers several of the markers recommended, including MSH, C4a, VIP, and Great Plains Lab offers the urine mycotoxin excretion testing. The visual contrast sensitivity test can be done online at a nominal cost, and is often a good way to screen in the possibility of mold biotoxin illness, although not specific to it.
https://www.amazon.com/Mold-Mycotoxins-Current-Evaluation-Treatment-ebook/dp/B09NS23YRQ/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=241619291020&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9019661&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=5846100143426192&hvtargid=kwd-298165115217&hydadcr=20835_10175407&keywords=neil+nathan+mold+and+mycotoxins&qid=1680187244&sr=8-1&asin=B09NS23YRQ&revisionId=c0abbf18&format=1&depth=1
