One Size Fits All Mold Detox (Not)
As the acknowledgement of mold toxicity grows more widespread in both clinics and the public awareness, more and more options are popping up online to help those suffering from this condition. Many of these clinicians, coaches, and voices are well-meaning. Some have gone through their own detox journeys and recovered. Some have just seen enough patients with mold toxicity that they can no longer ignore it. However, personal experience and good intentions can sometimes get others into trouble.
For those who recovered from mold toxicity, they can fall into the trap of believing that they discovered the “one way” to detox mold. As a result, they think that everyone they meet with mold toxicity should then take the same path that worked for their personal journey. If only it were that simple.
Other clinicians awaken to mold toxicity’s realities and take a course or two to learn one way to treat mold. They then start applying that one approach to every patient they see. For many it works, but for other patients, the plan doesn’t work quite so well. The clinician either gets frustrated or, sometimes, blames the patient for not doing the protocol just right. Still, it is not that simple.
In medicine, patients are rarely if ever simple; more, they are each a unique biochemical organism with an amazing diversity of psychosocial differences. Even twins are not 100% identical. Those differences, combined with the long list of different mold toxins and multiplied by the countless synergizing factors of other toxins, various infectious agents, varying genetic makeups, and varying degrees of nutritional deficiencies, all add up to an astronomical number of possibilities.
A cursory consideration of all these factors should strongly argue against there being one approach to mold detox. The only shortcut to saying there is one approach is to say that the “One” approach should include a whole toolbox of approaches in which the clinician individualizes their patient’s protocol.
So, when you read that someone has figured out the final solution to all mold toxicity, slowly walk away. In caring for mold toxicity patients for years, we combine multiple approaches into individual plans to care for the unique situation of each of our patients. Even in families where we are treating multiple family members, we have to tailor therapies for each person. We may start with a similar protocol in adults (different in younger children), but even when we start similarly, by the end, we have adapted so many steps that each patient gets their own unique protocol.
As we see more and more mold therapy programs pop up, be sure you are asking them a few questions before trusting their “approach”. These questions include:
- Do you blame everything on mold toxicity, or do you look for things around mold contributing to symptoms?
- Do you think that patients can recover from mold without detox?
- What do you do when the first approach is not working for me?
- Can you adjust detox intensity if I am struggling with side effects?
- Which mold toxicity thought-leaders do you follow? (They should list more than one.)
- What support do you provide along the way with recovery?
In helping patients recover from mold toxicity and restore healthier, more abundant lives, we employ as many tools as possible. While there are some tools we don’t believe work, we employ a variety of tools so that as many of our patients can recover as possible. We don’t want to limit ourselves or our patients’ chances of recovery by only using one approach.
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.
