Building on the NIH’s New Mold Statement

While many have given up on Big Medicine’s view of mold toxicity, we can smile for a moment (only for a moment) when we read the NIH’s updated page regarding mold’s effects on our health. I recently posted on social media a link to the new page with a short summary of how they added cognitive, mental health, and immune adverse effects to their prior list of allergic and respiratory symptoms caused by mold exposure. Having chewed on that confirmation by the NIH for a time, I need to add some further thoughts here. In short, we need to go further than simply celebrating the NIH’s begrudging confession.

Like many of you reading this opinion post, I am not returning to governmental sites on a regular basis to look for guidance on how I care for mold toxic patients. I only looked when someone else announced the change a few weeks ago. According to the Wayback Machine database, this change occurred several months prior to this recent social media newsflash, with no fanfare and no mainstream media confession that they had been wrong for years. The NIH just added a few lines, linked three articles to support their point and moved on to the next governmental daily grind. I assume some RFK Jr. and MAHA influence pushed this to the surface, though I have no particular evidence to prove that.

The question then arises: is this enough, and if not, where do we go from here? I would say ‘No’ to the first question and offer my thoughts on the second question below.

This change is not a sufficient victory. First, it only scratches the surface and offers scanty support for their addition of three symptom categories. Those of us caring for patients have a much longer list of symptoms we have seen in our mold toxic patients. Personally, I share a 40+ page mold guide with my patients that I diagnose with mold toxicity which contains pages of systems affected by mold toxins and dozens of symptoms reported by mold patients. Most of this guide can be found on my Mold Symptoms website for free.

Second, I was sorely disappointed with the short list of articles supporting each of their three additional symptom categories. Each category offered only one link each. Even their choice of one article was chosen from the minor leagues of available articles. It would be like choosing a bench player from the double A team to be your spokesperson for baseball. By choosing a weak article, moreover, they missed an opportunity to make themselves and us look truly credible. It’s almost as if they did a Google search and took the first article that came up without reading past the abstract. I could give them dozens more than are far better and easily list over 100.

So where do we go from here? I would argue confidently that we follow these five steps:

• Patient focus
• Patient team focus
• Proof focus
• Success building
• Pick our battles and our allies

Caring for mold toxic patients can feel like the multi-layered complexity of flying a fighter jet through a dog fight, but it is worth developing the skills to set people free. These five steps divide that complexity into bite size pieces so that we can daily guide patients on such journeys to health.

First, we must focus on the patients in front of us wanting help, those who are willing to acknowledge the problem and do something about getting healthy again. This requires a team approach – clinical, environmental, psycho-social-spiritual care, and relational care. It requires biochemical, relational, limbic, and environmental repair in order for the person to restore a healthier, more abundant life.

Second, we must educate those around the patients – Family, PCP’s, pastors, neighbors, counselors, remediators, and more. We must be patient and methodical in educating those the patient needs help from. This will be a constant work-in- progress.

Third, we must present clear, logical, evidence-driven proof when challenged or asked by those around the patient or those who might be standing in the way of their recovery. This requires us to know our stuff. Some in our clinical mold world are working on research collaborations. There are multiple roles filled by multiple people providing evidence for what we do. As clinicians guiding patients, we must be familiar with this evidence and able to present it clearly to those who doubt us.

Fourth, we must encourage successful patients when they want to make a difference beyond their own health. Such stories include:

• Realtor who got her industrial hygienist certification to help others.
• Husbands who certify in proper mold remediation.
• Patients who went into health coaching to help others.
• Patients who were already providers who realize that mold toxicity is real.
• Recovered patients who use their skill set where they can.

Ultimately, we need more and more people on our team in all the different necessary roles, helping more people escape mold.

Fifth, we must pick our battles and our allies. There are several lawyers out there to help address legal issues. Legal work is not my expertise, and I can only do so much. Many support groups are trying to make a difference, but joining all of them just isn’t possible. We must think long term: a single-swing homerun won’t be the answer, and being a jack-of-all-trades only goes so far. Nevertheless, we can’t grow weary in persevering. We must focus for the long term, which includes some political advocacy efforts.

No one person can fully engage in all five of these steps, but if each of us, whether provider, patient, family member, remediator, or other, can contribute our abilities and efforts where we can, together we can help many more restore health after mold toxin exposures. As a doctor, I focus more on #1 and #2, but I also spend a decent amount of time and energy in #3 and #4. Join the effort and maybe one day the NIH’s update will be better than this one.

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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.