By Dr. Marie Andersson

Have you or someone you know had symptoms, gone to multiple health care providers, and been told you’re fine? That nothing is wrong? Or worse, that it’s all in your head?

Many years ago, this happened to me. Every doctor I saw offered medication to treat the symptoms, but ultimately told me nothing was wrong, except that I had developed idiopathic hypertension, meaning they could not find any reason why I had high blood pressure. I was even admitted to the cardiac unit at the largest hospital near me for five days while they ran every cardiac test imaginable, and told me they couldn’t find anything wrong, so it must be genetic.

What does idiopathic mean? It means a medical condition or disease arises from an unknown cause. Doctors use this label after they run tests and rule out all other known reasons for an illness. Does that mean there is no root cause? Of course not.

I was given antibiotics multiple times to treat a chronic sinus infection. I was offered anti-inflammatories for headaches and mid-back pain. One provider suggested an ADHD medication for fatigue and weight gain. I was given drugs for hypertension, heart palpitations, and elevated heart rate. One doctor even suggested I be sent to a teaching hospital for renal denervation, a procedure to cut the nerves to my kidneys.

I was at a loss and realized I had to figure it out myself. I ran a genetic test and multiple blood panels, checked my hormones, tested for food sensitivities, changed my diet, eliminated inflammatory foods, and exercised when I wasn’t too fatigued. I did everything I had been taught to look at, and found nothing.

I went to Bastyr University and took a 40-hour course in genetics. I continued my education in functional medicine and finally realized I needed to look at my environment. That’s when I realized the house I was living in had mold. I spoke to my PCP and told her what I thought was wrong. She ordered tests to look for anaerobic and aerobic mold in my bloodstream, and when they came back negative, told me I couldn’t be sick due to mold.

I moved and decided to pursue my education regarding mold sickness. I attended a four-day mold conference with experts on mold toxicity: how to test for it and how to treat it. It was a revelation for me and many other health care providers in attendance. Since then, I’ve been exposed to mold myself again (ugh), and I’ve learned firsthand how to recognize and treat it in my patients. At this point, I can clearly see the pattern mold sickness presents in my new patients from the start.

Oftentimes people push back and tell me there’s no way they could be exposed to mold: the house is new, it’s an expensive house, or they don’t smell anything. Sadly, other times they know they’re being exposed but don’t have the financial means to do anything about it. It’s becoming more common for new patients to reach out for care because they know they have mold sickness but don’t know what to do about it. So let’s start with what mold sickness actually looks like, because it’s rarely what people expect.

What Are the Symptoms of Mold Exposure?

If you search online, you’ll probably find mold exposure treated as a purely respiratory issue. That’s far from the whole picture. Yes, mold can cause respiratory issues, and often that’s how it starts, but it goes much deeper, causing a wide range of other symptoms.

This broader pattern is known as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), an autoinflammatory response triggered by exposure to biotoxins like mold. These symptoms are highly diverse, often mimic other chronic illnesses, and can affect multiple systems in the body.

Common Symptoms of Mold Exposure

These are some of the most common symptoms we see:

• Distinct Neurological Sensations: Electric shock sensations, ice-pick or lightning-bolt pains, pulsing or vibrating sensations (especially down the spine), and numbness in the hands or fingers.
• Cognitive & Brain Function Issues: Persistent fatigue, weakness, headaches, vertigo, lightheadedness, and difficulty with memory, concentration, and executive function, as well as anxiety and depression.
• Sensory & Eye Difficulties: Hypersensitivity to light, blurred vision, burning eyes, and unusual skin sensitivity.
• Respiratory & Sinus Problems: Chronic cough, congestion, shortness of breath, and sinus or asthma-like illness.
• Gastrointestinal (GI) Complaints: Chronic digestive issues, including abdominal cramping, nausea, and diarrhea.
• Systemic & Regulatory Symptoms: Muscle aches, joint pain, cramping, thirst and appetite swings, body temperature irregularities, night sweats, and unexplained weight gain, especially increased abdominal fat.
• Cardiovascular Inflammation: Hypertension, heart palpitations, tachycardia, endothelial inflammation, and increased cholesterol due to inflammation.
• Skin: Eczema, rashes, acne, and dry, red, itchy patches, especially in the underarms or under the breasts.
• Immune Dysfunction: Chronic viral outbreaks (herpes, cold sores, EBV, shingles), chronic sinus infections, a persistent feeling of never getting well, and chronic yeast infections or UTIs.
• Pain: Back pain (especially mid-back pain due to kidney inflammation), joint pain, headaches, and stomach pain.

The symptoms above are what we typically see in adults, but mold’s effects don’t stop there. There is also preliminary research linking mold exposure to the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the PEARL study, which evaluated 36 adolescents and young adults with ASD, 86.1% of participants (31 of 36) tested above the tolerable threshold for the mycotoxin Ochratoxin A (OTA) at baseline.

86% of participants in one autism study tested above the tolerable threshold for the mycotoxin Ochratoxin A.
Source: PEARL study, 36 adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder.

This isn’t an isolated finding. A 2021 systematic review in Current Molecular Pharmacology examined 11 studies published between 2008 and 2019 on the molecular link between mycotoxin exposure and autism spectrum disorder, and found that nearly all of them pointed to a possible connection, though the authors noted that larger studies are still needed to confirm it.

Ochratoxin A is a toxic mycotoxin produced by mold species such as Aspergillus and Penicillium. It’s known to be nephrotoxic and neurotoxic, and is classified as a possible human carcinogen. High levels can accumulate in the body from eating contaminated food (such as improperly stored grains, cereals, and dried fruits) or from exposure to water-damaged, mold-contaminated environments.

I’ve had patients present with a multitude of issues who were told there was no cause, only to find they have severe neurological inflammation due to high levels of mold, including dementia, obesity in adults and children (even with a healthy diet), chronic fatigue, and GI issues.

Because mold can cause severe gut dysfunction, including intestinal permeability and loss of short-chain fatty acids, it increases the risk of epigenetic expression. In simple terms, this means genes that would normally stay dormant can get switched on, including the genes that drive disease, particularly autoimmune disease. If you followed our Vitality newsletter series, this is the same gut-epigenetics connection we covered there, just with mold as the trigger instead of diet or toxin exposure.

It’s the Mycotoxins, Not the Mold

It’s not the actual mold that makes us sick; it’s the mycotoxins the mold releases. This is what makes mold so difficult to remove from an environment that’s been affected. Mycotoxins are chemicals that can withstand high temperatures and easily cross-contaminate from one item to another. I heard a colleague say at a conference some years back that he advises his patients to leave the contaminated home behind entirely, without taking their belongings with them. That’s clearly difficult to do, but often necessary.

Different mycotoxins require different detoxification approaches, and many come from food, not just a water-damaged building. Foods commonly contaminated with mycotoxins include grains (corn, wheat, rice), coffee, peanuts, and peanut butter.

Another important thing to keep in mind: in some homes, as much as 50% of the air you breathe can come from your basement or crawlspace, depending on the house. If part of your house smells “musty,” keep in mind there’s no such thing as “must” in the air. That smell is actually a sign of moisture and mold growth.

When there’s moisture and mold growth, the mycotoxins are so small they pass through floors and drywall and travel through HVAC systems, and chances are you won’t see or smell it. Not all mold gives off an odor, and even when it does, mold damages the olfactory nerves, so you may lose the ability to smell it altogether.

Not all mold is visible; in fact, most of it isn’t seen by the naked eye. It can be the same color as the cement in a crawlspace or basement; most people assume it has to be black, but that’s not true. Certain species of Penicillium mold give off a mycotoxin called mycophenolic acid, which is such a strong immunosuppressant that it’s used as a drug to suppress the immune system in transplant patients. Most people don’t notice it because it’s white. That’s just one of many varieties of mycotoxins people can be exposed to.

Key Prevalence Statistics

Given how easily mold can hide behind walls, under floors, and even from your own sense of smell, it’s worth seeing just how common exposure really is:

• 47% of homes have documented problems with visible mold or mold odors. (A benchmark figure compiled from studies by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and data aligned with NIOSH.)
• 70% of homes are estimated to harbor some type of mold growth. (Per environmental experts, though much of it remains hidden behind drywall, under floors, or within HVAC systems.)
• 50–80% of homes show evidence of past water damage or hidden mold when inspected closely. (According to specialized remediation researchers.)

Testing and Treatment

With mold this common and this good at hiding, the obvious next question is how you actually find out whether it’s affecting you, and what to do about it if it is. Remember the negative mold test I mentioned at the start of this piece? The reason it came back negative is that active mold spores won’t show up in your blood unless you’re gravely ill. Your body won’t allow excessive toxins to circulate freely in your bloodstream; in its infinite wisdom, it pushes them into the lymphatic system and fat cells instead, spreading them out so their concentration in any one place stays lower. Remember: the solution to pollution is dilution, and that’s exactly what your body is doing, which is why people experience swelling and weight gain.

There are two basic ways to test your body for mold: a urine test, which shows what your body is excreting, or a blood antibody test, which shows what your immune system is reacting to.

HOW WE CAN HELP
We commonly recommend the Vibrant Wellness Mycotoxins test, a urine panel that screens for 29 of the most common mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, trichothecenes, and other markers like Ochratoxin A and mycophenolic acid, the toxins covered above. If you’re interested in the blood antibody option instead, we also work with MyMycoLab. Want to know which test better fits your needs? Contact our office to get started.

Once you determine you have mold toxicity, the source of exposure must be identified and removed. Then your body needs to be detoxified to eliminate the mycotoxins. Not all mold is eliminated the same way, and some types are far more dangerous than others. Some are continuously excreted via urine or stool, while others can stay in the body for years. Detoxification after the exposure has been removed is crucial to regaining good health.

If you’ve had mystery symptoms of your own, or been handed an idiopathic diagnosis like the one I was given years ago, looking into mold toxicity is worth pursuing.

Ready to Find Out If Mold Is Behind Your Symptoms?

If you’d like help figuring out whether mold could be behind what you’re experiencing, we’d love to help. Contact us to schedule a consultation.

As always, check with your doctor before making significant changes to your health management plan.

Note: This content is intended for informational purposes. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your health management plan.