Here's the harm hidden mould in your home is doing - TO YOU

Hidden mould - something you CANNOT see - can be super dangerous is it's in your home.

In Episode 7 of the What A Mouthful podcast, I explore the signs and symptoms you need to spot, and the treatments you need to find quickly.

This has been, by far, my most played episode. It’s just been so relevant for so many people over the past 12-24 months in particular.

The reason hidden mould is so dangerous is that mould exposure can often lead to the development of Mycotoxin/Biotoxin Illness (aka Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or ‘CIRS‘). Some kinds of mould can be:

hepatoxic (toxic to the liver),
hematoxic (toxic to the blood),
immunotoxic (toxic to the immune system) and
genotoxic (toxic to the DNA).

In fact, this is becoming such a big issue in recent years that the Australian government has recently granted $1.27 million to research ‘Mould Illness’ to Macquarie University to undertake research. This is going to be the next big thing in medicine IMO. And a report in 2020 confirmed dampness and mould-causing-immune-mediated-chronic-illness is growing.

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The interesting thing about mould is

it’s alive;
it’s airbourne, so it affects you when you inhale it. It pushes mould spores and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air and that’s what gets into our body.

Now the problem is not only the exposure in the 1st place. It’s also the fact that 25% of the world’s population has trouble detoxifying mould

I am one of them…!

A lot of you have followed me on Instagram for years and would know in my story highlights, I documented my previous mould journey/journey with CIRS. This begun a few years ago and I document my journey of getting tested, the results and how I connected all the dots. Head here to watch the highlights.

If you have unexplainable symptoms that have begun since January 2022 (like this woman) – when La Nina returned in Australia – it might be something you’d need to look into because perhaps you have CIRS.

1. What is CIRS?

Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) is defined by the Australian Government as:

a multisystem and multi-symptom illness;
the patient has had ‘documented exposure to biotoxins, usually in the form of a water damaged building’;
testing indicates the patient has a number of ‘abnormal biomarkers’;
and the illness responds to therapy, ‘the main one being cholestyramine.’

2. What are the symptoms of CIRS?

Eye irritation (redness and swelling)
Inflamed sinuses/trouble breathing through nose
You breathe through your mouth at night and don’t feel refreshed, insomnia
Coughing either dry or mucous-producing
Asthma and asthma-like symptoms
Sore throat or inflamed tonsilitis
Rashes, eczema, red and/or dry skin and skin irritations
Ear infections, sore ears
Frequent urination and/or always thirsty/feeling dehydrated even though you’re drinking lots of water
Chronic fatigue and tiredness
Inability to sweat
Trouble digesting dietary fats
Brain fog, memory problems
Visual changes or blurry vision
Insatiable sugar and/or starch cravings
Sore joints, body aches
Headaches or migraines
Numbness or tingling which sometime could happen as well
Many other symptoms that relate to inflammation, which is usually systemic

When it is systemic, basically it has infiltrated more than one system….

For me, as a child, I had asthma and recurrent tonsilitis.
I was put on rounds and rounds of antibiotics and then as an adult that was the same treatment offered to me… and honestly I wonder,
did I actually have asthma?

or were my airways just inflamed and irritated?

And in recent years, I’ve had a return of my tonsilitis….

If you know me,

you’ll know I’m always on about how important it is to breathe through your nose especially at night because of the nitric oxide you need. This changes your oxygen levels, impacts your sleep quality at night and impacts your sense of energy in the day –

so you get stuck in a perpetual cycle of inflammation.

3. Where does mould hide?

Sneaky places where MOULD lives and thrives is basically anywhere where there’s moisture and dampness that lacks circulation, heat and dryness to be able to move that out.

Shower
Car
Lining of the couches
Water-damaged buildings
Carpets
Vacuum Cleaners
Cabins
Gyms
New houses built in rainy weather
Mattress
Bassinets

It is just so interesting that all of these environmental exposures that are external to us affect us so much more than we realise.

When you have the knowledge, that’s when you’re empowered to make a decision that you need to make and to take action.

And this is what I found the real issue for those of us who really takes care of ourselves is that, you do all the right things, you look after your body, you train, you eat well, you work on your mindset, you try to get a good sleep, you have good relationships with your life, you work on personal development, and then for some reason you still have these kinds of unexplainable symptoms.

4. How can you test your body for mould? And How to you test your work/home environment?

Building Biologist - a bit expensive but its worth it. Will test if your home is susceptible to water damage or if there are surfaces that are likely infested with moulds.
Mould Inspector
ERMI Test
Testing your body- recommend organic acid test and mycotoxin test. These tests had shown me that either I was detoxifying high levels or I just had high levels of what I found.
Something I didn’t mention on the poddy which you can do, but is not a super reliable test but is cheap at $15 AUD is a Visual Contrast Test

On my mycotoxin test, there was one specific type of mould that is really high. Normally the upper limit for the ZEA (zearalenone) in the normal range is 3 and mine was 15. The Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology refers to ZEA as an oestrogenic mycotoxin. In part, this can contribute to why I had hormonal issues for such a long time. That is why I am so good at healing hormones – because I had to heal my own hormones while also having undiagnosed mould illness (CIRS).

Each day that you take care of your human body, you’re building your health insurance. So that if you do get exposed to mould and other environmental toxins, your body is better able to manage and to try to help you heal from it.

5. How to heal your body from a mould infection

Do Testing
Make sure that you are in line in the criteria matches with these signs and symptoms
Have a really good look on your home, get a great air filter
Get healthy
Detox (open those drainage pathways, visit to your trusted saunas)