Mold Confusion
In the world of Lyme disease, there so many symptoms that may – and usually do – overlap with one or more co-infections, trying to keep you’re symptoms straight can be dizzying all on its own. With this in mind, what do you think of when you read the following symptoms?
Do any of these apply to you?
- Respiratory distress, sinusitis, coughing, sneezing
- Difficulty swallowing, choking, spitting up mucous
- Burning in the throat and lungs
- Acid reflux
- Asthmatic signs; wheezing, shortness in breath, coughing, burning in lungs, etc.
- Irritable bowel syndrome, nausea, diarrhea, sharp abdominal pains, stomach lesions
- Pain in bladder, liver, kidney or spleen
- Dark or painful urine
- Dirt-like taste in mouth, coated tongue
- Food allergies
- Leaky Gut
- Immune System Disorders
- Memory loss; brain fog, slurred speech, occasionally leading to dementia
- Vision problems
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Large boils on neck
- Yellowing of nails, ridges, or white marks under nail
- Thyroid irregularities, sometimes leading to complete dysfunction; adrenal problems
- Headaches
- Anxiety/depression, heart palpitations – confusion, post traumatic stress
- Extreme blood pressure, cholesterol, or triglycerides irregularities
- Ringing in ears, balance problems (very common), dizziness, loss of hearing
- chronic fatigue
- Directional confusion
- Intermittent face flushing; almost always systemic, called the Mylar Flush (neurological))
- Night head sweats, and drooling while sleeping, profuse sweating
- Nose bleeds
- Bruising/scarring easily; rash or hives, bloody lesions all over the skin
- Reproductive system complication such as infertility, changes in menstrual cycles, miscarriage
- Sudden weight changes; loss or gain
- Cancer
- Hair loss, very brittle nails, temporary loss of fingerprints (in rare cases)
- Joint/muscle stiffness and pain
- Irregular heart beat/heart attack
- Seizures, inadvertent body jerking, twitching, inadvertent facial movements or numbness in face
- Death, in extreme cases
It sounds like Lyme disease, doesn’t it?
In fact, if you have eight or more of these symptoms you could be suffering from mold poisoning.
Toxic molds are found indoors where there is humidity, different types of food and no predators. Only a very small number of molds are toxic. However, the ones that are toxic only need a few days in a wet room or flooded wallboard to take hold.
Then they create spores to multiply-types of seeds. But the uniquely threatening aspect of these spores is that they have biotoxins all over them.
Once they are in a room or a house with air flowing they can be very hard to remove, even if the spores are killed with ozone or ultraviolet light.
Indoor mold toxins are much more dangerous and prevalent than most people realize. Visible mold in and around your house is far less dangerous than the mold you cannot see. Indoor mold toxicity, in addition to causing its own unique set of health problems and symptoms, also greatly contributes to the severity of most chronic illnesses.
Although most active mold colonies appear greenish to black (typical of mold growing on bathroom tile grout) in color, the characteristics of mold colonies growing behind vinyl wall covering in buildings takes on very different characteristics. These mold outbreaks typically result in pinkish to yellowish staining of the wall covering.
They are quite important because they indicate serious, detrimental moisture within the wallboard behind the wall covering, that can not be removed by your air conditioning or dehumidifiers. Where these problems appear, they usually require the assistance of a professional equipped with pressure measurement and other diagnostic equipment to determine the source of the moisture causing the problem.
Far more serious are the mold toxins found in buildings with water leaks. Buildings with flat roofs and buildings on a concrete slab at the bottom of a hill are ready-made for mold problems. If you smell something moldy, it is probably an advanced toxic mold problem.
When a building has a water leak or water damage that is not immediately corrected, some molds are likely to start colonies. The colonies may be visible or they may be hidden in places such as the tops of ceiling tiles or the bottoms of carpets. They send out spores which contain potent nerve toxins or neurotoxins.
So how do we differentiate between mold and Lyme disease?
Unfortunately, the answer rests solely on us, the sick person, to seek out a doctor who will look past the easy diagnosis of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. To find a doctor who will test and test until he/she finds tangible evidence that match up with our symptoms and our histories.
Is it possible to have mold toxins AND Lyme disease?
Absolutely.
Once again, there are no easy answers, just more disturbing questions.
For more information about mold toxins visit: http://www.mold-survivor.com
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November 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease said: #Lyme #Disease | Mold Confusion: What do you think of when you read the following symptoms? Do any of these apply … http://bit.ly/34tjRE [...]
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:43 am
Mold usually takes about 3 days with moisture present to begin to grow. Continued moisture will keep the mold growing. If you see mold growing, you need to know that there has been moisture present for days and think about why the area is not drying out or call in a restoration company for help.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:59 am
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December 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 am
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January 16th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
This information makes complete sense to me. It is amazing how many people don’t think it is a problem. I used to live in an apartment building that was forever having pipes burst. One time the pipe burst and the management company thought it would be okay to leave the carpet to dry on its own. There was a deep puddle a couple of inches deep. I was floored that they would think this was okay to leave.
Another time a major pipe blew and it flooded the suite next door and our kitchen. The restoration company brought in blowers and the next day I had serious balance issues. The blowers they brought in were filthy, they were spreading what ever toxins and moulds from the previous jobs.
Because our kitchen was damaged we had to go out to eat and I would find that I would start feeling better as we doddled over our food. Then we would go back home and within half an hour I would be sick again. This pattern repeated several times before I clued in. We ended up staying in a hotel for 6 weeks before I could finally go home without being sick.
I am so glad we don’t live in that place anymore. Mould is really a nasty toxin.
June 27th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Continually writing like this will draw in a lot of viewers keep up the good, work.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
This was a well thought documentation; you have covered a lot of points here.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Finding good information from blogs is not always easy, but you have done a great job here, interesting title ( Mold Confusion | Jenna’s Lyme Blog ) too, cool.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
It was a pleasure finding this, thanks for meeting my needs here.
October 8th, 2010 at 12:19 am
Highly sensitive urine mold toxin testing is available now from Real Time Lab, http://www.realtimelab.com
The Quest C4A test is also very helpful, since it tends to increase more with mold, than Lyme Disease. The following case history illustrates how extensive testing can reveal whether patients suffer from Lyme disease, mold or both Lyme and mold.
Case History-Suicidal Depression, Anxiety, Panic and Neurotoxicity Caused by Indoor Mold
Rachel is a slender, nonsmoking 48 year old married woman who looks much younger than her actual age. Her primary complaint was anxiety and panic attacks and Klonopin dependency. Her intake history listed irritable bowel, gastro-esophageal reflux disorder, cervical, thoracic and lumbar back injuries. She also suffered anorexia and bulimia, between age 14 and 28. She reported the following preadmission history.
I’ve probably had social anxiety all my life. In the 7th grade, I had to give an oral presentation and shook so bad that the teacher said I never had to do another oral presentation in her classroom. I could not go out on a date without drinking . . . I was too nervous. My head would shake when I’d talk to guys I liked. I could not eat in front of guys. My hand and neck would lock up. It was extremely difficult to go on a job interview. Eventually, I could not eat in front of girls either.
Between the age of 28 and 30, a girl at work offered me Xanax. I took it and thought it was a miracle drug. I could talk to my boss without my head shaking. I could go on a date without drinking.
The social anxiety got worse as I got older. I needed Klonopin to go to meetings at work. I would shake sometimes when talking to women.
I went into Fairwinds Rehab Center in December, 2009 because I tried to commit suicide by taking 1000 milligrams of Klonopin. For some reason, during the past years, I didn’t need the klonopin very much. I could talk to my boss without it. I often did not refill my prescriptions.
Being at Fairwinds was very difficult for someone with social anxiety. I had to talk in front of people 3 times a day and I had to talk in their group meetings. My voice would shake and I would shake. Eating was almost impossible . I came out of there much worse.
I could not talk to my neighbors anymore. I developed free floating anxiety which I never had before. I am nervous around my mother and husband. I spoke with our dog groomer the other day and my head would not stop shaking. My social anxiety has never been this bad.
I do not think I was an addict before. But I am addicted now, possibly because of that huge overdose mixed with my experience, at Fairwinds. Because of that huge overdose, I believe I hallucinated at Fairwinds and had a psychotic break, as well as a nervous breakdown.
Prior Metametrix testing, on March 16, 2009, revealed 8-Hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine elevated, at 7.2 ng/mg creatinine, indicating DNA damage. Quinolate neurotoxin was also elevated, at 4.4
She reported prior interstitial cystitis which was evidently successfully treated with Elmeron. She reported taking calcium and vitamin D for osteomalacia which was evidently diagnosed about a year ago and it was recommended she also start vitamin K 5000 mcg daily and strontium citrate or carbonate 680 mg a day since she had 4 or more minerals which were low in Metametrix testing prior to admission. It was also recommended that she try a low dose of betaine hydrochloride with her larger meals starting with 300 mg per day dose and observe whether she felt better. She denied bloating or feeling of pressure when she ate.
On 4/19/2010, Estradiol was <10 pg/ml, a low menopausal level and Progesterone was only 0.4 ng/ml. Bioidentical hormone replacement was begun, with Climara and Prometrium.
She was anemic on 5/12/10, with RBC 3,460,000; Hemoglobin 11.0 g/dL and Hematocrit 32.8 %. Floradix was recommended for anemia. DHEA-S was only 70 mcg/dL.
A positive Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test, on 5/1/10, indicated neurotoxicity, with 98 percent specificity. Her husband reported greenish mold was present in the shower around showerhead at one of their bathrooms and they decided to have the QCI mold testers test their house.
Genova diagnostics CDSA 2.0 stool culture, collected on 5/14/10, revealed Bifidobacterium only plus 1, mucoid E coli plus 4, and gamma hemolytic Streptococcus plus 3, with no fungal growth. Lithocholic and deoxycholic acid were both very elevated. She was instructed to begin Berberine to eliminate the E coli overgrowth.
Quest testing on 6/3/10, revealed additional evidence of neurotoxicity. HLA DR 13 6 52 C and 7 2 53 indicated genetic inability to eliminate mold neurotoxins. VEGF was deficient at less than 31 pg/ml. C4A was highly elevated at 9224 (0-2830 ng/ml), although C3A was within normal limits. CD4:CD8 was 1.89. Estradiol was only 49 pg/ml. Anemia had resolved.
EMDR psychotherapy was recommended to resolve possible childhood traumas which might be causing the unusually severe social anxiety.
Air mold spore sampling by QCI, on 6/9/2010 failed to find excessive airborne toxic mold spores, although Aspergillus/Penicillium mold spore count was 120 per cubic meter, in the master bedroom.
Urine mycotoxin testing by Real Time Lab, http://www.realtimelab.com found the highly toxic trichothecene mold toxin, in Rachel’s urine. Trichothecene mold toxins are produced by Fusarium and Stachybotrys chartarum molds. Stachybotrys chartarum is more commonly known as the infamous black mold.
On 6/25/10, Rachel’s husband sent the following email.
Steve & Team
Per your recommendation I flew “Rachel” out to CO Thursday on a one way ticket.
She is doing very well and sounds great. She is only on what you prescribed and her sister is with her all day and understands the game plan.
This is what QCI found after they opened up the wall…SHOCKING. [Photos were attached, which showed heavy growth of dark mold, on back surface of shower tiles, on wood 2x4 stud framing, on fiberglass insulation and on inside of gypsum drywall sheetrock. Mold growth was heaviest on surfaces within a foot of floor. DNA identification of the mold species should arrive, within a couple weeks.]
Bob from QCI was just as surprised because the sample he took gave no indication of the amount of mold we actually had.
During our meeting I told you I messed up when Becky gave me her urine sample for her mold test . We went to lunch and she gave it to me but I left it in the car for 4 hours and sent it to RTL overnight the same day.
Per your request I left a message and sent an email to RTL to see if this idiotic mistake could produce the false negative we got. They haven’t gotten back to me yet.
Regardless; based on the findings in these pictures it appears that this is what may have pushed my Rachel over the top with her existing anxiety.
I can’t thank the team enough for being by her side during this difficult process. She is an incredible woman and deserves to have a great life and I’m confident with your continued guidance she will.
With warm regards,
It is unknown whether Rachel’s house can be adequately rehabilitated for her to live there, but she appears to have experienced dramatic improvement, when she eliminated continual exposure to indoor mold, in her water damaged house.
Photos of the hidden mold growth are posted at http://stevensponaugle.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/case-history-suicidal-depression-anxiety-and-panic-caused-by-indoor-mold/
Florida Detox recommended that the Mold Dog company, http://www.mold-dog.com ,search the house, with one of their highly sensitive mold detecting dogs, after mold remediation, to locate any remaining toxic mold.
Bioidentical hormone replacement also appears to have reduced Rachel’s anxiety.
TO BE CONTINUED
Steven Sponaugle,Research Director, Florida Detox and Wellness Institute
http://www.floridadetox.com
October 9th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
The Most Sensitive Mold Tests – Urine Mold Toxin Testing and Trained Mold Dogs
Most toxic mold exposure occurs when toxic vapors from wall cavities behind drywall panels or bathroom walls are inhaled. Conventional air mold spore testing does not measure the volatile organic molecules, including trichothecene, aflatoxin and ocratoxin mold neurotoxins. Some Florida Detox patients with mold toxins in their urine have suffered symptoms of mold neurotoxicity, despite air testing for mold spores in their houses, failing to reveal a problem.
A Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test (VCST) from http://www.chronicneurotoxins.com revealed neurotoxicity in a Florida Detox patient, who suffered from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, PCOS. Further testing by Real Time Lab, http://www.realtimelab.com, revealed trichothecene mold neurotoxin in her urine. Mold air spore testing, in her house, did not reveal elevated toxic mold levels. Despite this, she was able to grow visible mold colonies on culture dishes she purchased from Citrasafe, http://www.citrisafecertified.com. Surprisingly, her indoor cat fur grew colonies on the mold culture dish. She successfully shampooed her cat with a shampoo from Citrasafe and retesting did not grow mold, on the culture dishes. A red fox hide and skull, which had been preserved by a renowned taxidermist was also contaminated with mold, which grew colonies on the mold culture dishes.
Mold Sniffing Dogs -The Most Sensitive Mold Toxin Detection Available
The most sensitive toxic mold test available is inspection by a trained mold sniffing dog. Trained dogs can detect mold neurotoxins at 500 parts per trillion. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has recognized trained mold dogs as scientific instruments. Bill Whitstine, trained the first mold detecting dog in the United States and can be contacted at mold-dog.com . Bill is based in Safety Harbor, Florida, within 10 minutes of the Florida Detox clinic, in Palm Harbor, Florida. Bill told me he charges $250 per hour for mold dog inspections, which makes mold dogs very cost effective, compared to air mold spore testing, which frequently fails to find the toxic mold location.
Urine mycotoxin testing by Real Time Lab, revealed trichothecene mold neurotoxin, in a 31 year old New Hampshire man. He had been disabled by a spider bite about three months earlier and apparently contracted Lyme disease and Mycoplasma which have been treated with intravenous Vitamin C and Andrographis paniculata. A mold sniffing dog, from moldrover.com, alerted while inspecting the New Hampshire home of this Florida Detox patient. Our patient videoed the mold dog alerting. file:///C:/Users/admin/Downloads/cozmo1.wmv He reports some prior water damage from ice dams on the rooftop of his house. He reported
The cleanup is not bad at my house. It was on only 2 carpets and we used the vacuum with hepa filter and left a window open and got the mold up. It could of been from shoes the inspector said. Nothing in the walls or any of the wood.
It is hard to say where I could of been exposed. I have lived in some older homes when I lived in Florida. I have also traveled a lot with long periods in hotels.
He also reports less asthma symptoms, while nebulizing Young Living Thieves essential oil blend, where he is sleeping. The waterless nebulizer and essential oil blend are available from moldrx4u.com.
January 1st, 2011 at 9:49 pm
It’s nice to find a good article. I really enjoy lots of the blog posts on your web site.
April 2nd, 2011 at 1:41 pm
A mouse study explains how Lyme Disease toxins can increase inflammation from highly toxic deoxynivalenol trichothecene mold toxin. (Trichothecene mold toxins are produced by the infamous Stachybotrys chartarum “black mold,” and the more common Fusarium and Tricoderma molds)
The following mice study indicated LPS endotoxin found in Lyme disease Borrelia spirochetes, Klebsiella, Psuedomona and other gram negative bacteria, increased excess inflammation caused by the highly toxic deoxynivalenol trichothecene mold toxin. Rick Sponaugle, MD, Medical Director of Florida Detox, http://www.floridadetox.com, reports many of his addiction and wellness patients suffer from both Lyme Disease and mold neurotoxins.
http://sciencestage.com/d/17042295/lps-priming-potentiates-and-prolongs-proinflammatory-cytokine-response-to-the-trichothecene-deoxyniv.html
*
Author: James J Pestka
* Abstract: Simultaneous exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) markedly amplifies induction of proinflammatory cytokine expression as well as IL-1-driven lymphocyte apoptosis by trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON) in the mouse. The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that LPS priming will sensitize a host to DON-induced proinflammatory cytokine induction and apoptosis. In mice primed with LPS (1 mg/kg bw) ip. and treated 8 h later with DON po., the minimum DON doses for inducing IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha serum proteins and splenic mRNAs were significantly lower than the DON doses required for vehicle-primed mice. LPS priming also decreased onset time and dramatically increased magnitude and duration of cytokine responses. LPS-primed mice maintained heightened sensitivity to DON for up to 24 h. LPS priming doses as low as 50 microg/kg bw evoked sensitization. DNA fragmentation analysis and flow cytometry also revealed that mice primed with LPS (1 mg/kg) for 8 h and exposed to DON (12.5 mg/kg) exhibited massive thymocyte loss by apoptosis 12 h later compared to mice exposed to DON or LPS alone. LPS priming decreased DON-induced p38 and ERK 1/2 phosphorylation suggesting that enhanced mitogen-activated protein kinase activation was not involved in increased cytokine responses. Taken together, exposure to LPS rendered mice highly susceptible to DON induction of cytokine expression and this correlated with increased apoptosis in the thymus.
September 24th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
[...] Mold Confusion [...]