For those not aware of our Mold Symptom Therapy Guide website, let this “Rewriting Mold” series serve as a reminder of both what we offer our patients and what we offer the general public in terms of understanding mold toxicity illness. Over the coming weeks, I will be reviewing and reposting sections of our Mold Symptoms Therapy website one or two at a time. It has been over 3 years since I first wrote this 30+ page guide and posted it online. A few things have changed since 2020 (yes, an understatement), but the principles emphasized in 2020 continue with minimal change.
As this provides me an opportunity to update any advancements, it also offers the opportunity for you to ask questions and even contribute to edition number 2 of the Mold Guide. By leaving comments and questions, I can identify areas where I can offer even more to patients and the public in terms of education and empowerment over mold. Please take 2-3 minutes to be a part of helping others restore healthier more abundant lives with your questions and feedback. You can leave comments on Facebook or our website not only for this and previous weeks’ sections, but any section of the first edition yet to be re-posted.
This week, Pediatric Mold Toxicity…
Children can suffer from mold toxicity syndrome just like adults. It is more common in adults as they have had more time to accumulate higher levels of toxins, but children can be affected just as intensely. Like adults, they can develop multi-symptom, multi-system CIRS, but their response can also be different in significant ways.
On one hand, they may present to a medical provider with far fewer symptoms than adults especially in the youngest children. Adults present more often with multiple symptoms across multiple body systems. Children may only have one body system affected. For example, children may only have allergic symptoms or only neurologic symptoms or only mood symptoms. The diagnosis of mold toxicity may not be as apparent, even to the trained professional, as it would be in adults who present with multiple affected symptoms.
On the other hand, because of developmental considerations, children often express somewhat different symptoms than adults in the same body system. Both adults and children may present with multiple food sensitivities. However, children tend to have more eczema symptoms from food triggers than adults. They may also present with more outright food refusal patterns, often frustrating parents and confounding medical providers. Both adults and children may present with psychiatric effects, but children experience more night terrors, obsessive compulsive behaviors, and personality changes. Adults may just have insomnia, anxiety, and/or depression.
Children into the teenage years may also present with more severe psychiatric symptoms labeled as the Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) (less common in adults, at least to an equivalent severity). This PANS condition is a result of their immune system attacking their nervous system, leading to psychiatric symptoms at a severity that disrupts life functions and quality. This creates the neurologic and psychiatric symptoms which frighten parents: sudden behavior changes, rage fits, severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, debilitating phobias, and in rare instances seizures.
In teens, reports of palpitations and the Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) stand out. In POTS, teens experience potentially disabling symptoms with upright posture or activity. The constituent problems may include palpitations, lightheadedness, syncope, and fatigue among other symptoms. Any of these can be disruptive to the child’s functioning and the affected family’s functioning, sometimes becoming the center of the family’s attention and adversely affecting other children’s upbringing.
In some instances, the pediatric patient experiences symptoms similar to the adult’s but in different settings. Parents or other caregivers may note changes in their school or sports performance indicating cognitive or physical fatigue. Math skills can be the first to decline. While unaffected children in school experience more frequent viral infections on average, children living with mold toxicity may struggle longer with each infection and bounce from one to another with less of a break. Children can develop autoimmune conditions just like parents, but the actual disease is often different. They may develop inflammatory bowel disease more often than adults, may develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but less often deal with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or lupus. Otherwise, children suffer similar symptoms to adults (see list below for adult symptoms).
Regardless of symptoms, the source of mold must be identified and removed from their environment, their bodies must be detoxed, and the residual issues addressed for full recovery. For children, the home environment must be ensured clear of mold exposure if the child is to fully recover. The normal process of testing for mold spores, getting a remediator inspection, removing identified mold, removing residual spores, and reducing water and humidity risks must be followed. If the home is not the source, other multi-hour exposures deserve review such as school, day care, church, and extended family members.
Children’s detox treatment then includes the same basic detoxification approach as adults: binders with dosing adjustments for weight and choosing therapies appropriate for their age and ability to tolerate detox speed. For teens, their program resembles adults almost exactly once going full speed. For younger children, especially those who cannot take capsules or tables, various liquid or powdered options are available. Most of these can be mixed in food or liquids like smoothies to make the scheduled dosages practical. In all ages, the goal is to get binders into their bodies, allowing it to bind the toxins in stool or blood so they can be excreted in bowel movements and urine. Sweating works in children as well as adults, but the risk of overheating is higher so greater care must be taken to avoid heat exhaustion in children younger than 13 years.
After the source of mold toxins are removed and the children finish their binder therapies, many recover much faster than adults. Often their exposure was of shorter duration, and their bodies definitely recuperate faster in general. Still, many require anti-inflammatory support during and after binders are finished. Some require a gut restoration protocol. Some require treatment for yeast overgrowth, EBV or other infections that gained a foothold while mold toxins were present. If these residual obstacles to full restoration are present after detox is confirmed as finished, each issue is addressed and the children return to healthier more abundant lives.
The final question for parents regards whether or not their children will have to face mold toxicity again or are they finished with it. The short answer is that if they were suffering from mold toxicity, they are almost assuredly genetically prone and yes, they will have to take precautions to not reaccumulate mold toxins in their bodies in the future. Removing toxic mold from their environment, removing toxins from their bodies, and resetting their body systems gets them better. Keeping vigilance to avoid mold exposure avoids having to repeat the detox after each significant recurrence. Keeping a bottle of glutathione handy for those inevitable small-scale exposures at friends’ houses or on outings (like to historic buildings) will catch toxins before they have a chance to trigger more long-term symptoms. Testing dorms, apartments, and future homes for mold not only keeps them healthy, but also avoids many unwanted expenses down the road for more detox and remediation.
While the lists of symptoms below can be daunting for parents, children with mold toxicity can live healthy lives with a little extra work. With minor limitations, they can succeed and prosper as well as those never affected by mold.
Symptom List:
Brain
– Brain Fog
– Poor Mental Acuity
– Poor Memory
– Poor Reasoning Ability
– Anxiety
– Depression
– Poor Attention
– Hyperactivity (Children)
– Poor Cognition (esp. logic and math subjects)
Energy Cycle
Chronic Fatigue
Mental Health
– Anxiety
– Depression
– PTSD
– Panic attacks
– Insomnia
– Irritability
– Mood Swings
Immune / Lymphatic
– Swollen Lymph Nodes
– Frequent Infections
– Unexplained Fevers
– Autoimmune Diseases
Hormones
Cortisol imbalance
Sex Hormone Deficiency
PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)
Thyroid Imbalance
ENT
– Ear ringing
– Ear Pain
– Sinus symptoms
– Chronic sore throat
– Frequent URI’s
– Allergies
Eyes
– Blurry vision
– Eye Pain
Respiratory
– Cough
– Short of Breath
– Wheeze
– Air Hunger
– Exercise Intolerance
Cardiovascular
– Palpitations
– Chest Pain
– Raynaud’s
– Poor Circulation
GI
– Leaky Gut
– Irritable Bowel Syndrome
– Food Sensitivities
– Appetite Loss
– Abdomen Pain
– Diarrhea
– Bloating
– Indigestion
Skin
– Hives
– Rashes
– Flaky
– Sensitive
Musculo-skeletal
– Weakness
– Joint Pain
– Joint Swelling
– Moving Joint Pains
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
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.
