Only someone with mold toxicity illness will completely understand the experience, though many others have shared it in part. You are told by conventional doctors that it is all in your head. You find out that your house or your workspace is making you sick. You have to throw away so many possessions that turn out to be moldy. You work hard to get away from mold, while family members remain skeptical of the diagnosis. You work hard, start getting better, and you get exposed to mold again. The setback is demoralizing. All you want to do is get better, and now, you’re falling back towards where you started.
Don’t Give up!
First of all, you are not crazy. Mold toxicity is a real disease with real consequences and real lab abnormalities. Yes, it affects your mood and makes you feel crazy, but it is a biochemical issue with a mechanistic basis. Don’t let conventional doctors or family or friends tell you that mold is safe for you.
Second, yes, people are right to say that mold is just about everywhere. Some molds, however, become toxic when too much of them grows in one enclosed space. If you’ve got mold toxicity, at some point, in some place, you were exposed to higher than tolerable levels of one of these toxic molds. You will either need to avoid that space, remediate it, or leave it. Rarely does anyone get 100% better while remaining in the moldy area that made them sick.
Third, yes, you will have to trash some of your possessions, but not everyone needs to throw away everything. With the growing awareness of mold toxicity and the need to remediate both buildings and possessions, a lot more products are available to salvage most materials. If, however, you can see mold growing on a porous material, safe is usually better than sorry with that object.
Fourth, sometimes even after you have recovered, family and friends may express doubts that you really had mold toxicity. It definitely happens during the treatment phase, unless they went through the same thing themselves. Keep connected with your mold-knowledgeable provider, and ask questions so you can answer your skeptics. If they won’t listen, sometimes you have to just tune them out and prove it by getting healthy again.
Fifth, mold can feel like a stalker. As soon as you think you ditched it in your remediated home, a water leak pops up or a dishwasher overflows. Don’t let this make you throw your hands up in despair. Roll up your sleeves and push through. You can beat it. Mold will eventually give up if you persist.
We see all of these situations and more as we guide patients through mold detox programs. You are not alone, and others have won the battle before you. Returning to a healthier, more abundant life means NOT giving in to the moldy fingers of evil that try to drag you down.
Blessings, Dr. Eric Potter
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Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
