Happy Tuesday!

Welcome back to our newsletter! This edition is dedicated to discussing a common root cause of unexplained gut symptoms: mold toxicity!

Common symptoms of mold affecting digestive tract:

• Abdominal pain
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Constipation/decreased gut motility
• Excessive thirst
• Metallic taste in mouth

It is highly dependent on the mold STRAIN:

Remember, mold illness isn’t something that has to be due to current exposure. Due to its ability to store within our bodies for long periods of time, exposure could have occurred 20 to 30 years ago.

Often what I see in my clients, is a past exposure that resurfaces with an incident that is the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. For example, mononucleosis which weakened the body’s immune system allowing previous toxin exposures to finally “expose themselves”.

I suspect mold when I see:

1. Multiple SIBO/SIFO treatments not working
2. Horrible herxheimer reactions (often indicating a mast cell response here) from treatments
3. Unexplained GI symptoms that do not resolve with support
4. Unusual presentation of symptoms in multiple areas of the body
5. Any of these 3 symptoms: internal vibrations, ice pick headaches, skin crawling, and/or feelings of weird vibratory sensations traveling up/down the spine
6. Terrible reactions to any binders

A few strains of mold have been linked to disrupting out gut, and I suspect more will be linked in further research.

• Aflatoxins
• Ochratoxin A
• Trichothecenes (black mold) 

These have been linked to increased intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut. As well as gut dysbiosis, an imbalance in our gut bacteria.

Mold can also slow down gut motility, creating constipation. 

Lastly, due to its ability to severely weaken our immune system, it can make it tough for gut treatments to take hold.

How do they enter the body? 

They can enter through inhalation, absorbing through the skin, or ingesting them in the form of contaminated food/drink. 

What occurs when they have been ingested is a possibility in starting to “grow” or “colonize” within the gut. Just as mold can grow in a water damaged building, they can do the same within our gut, producing a fungal overgrowth. 

And just as mold produces toxic spores when growing indoors, they can do the same within us, producing these “mycotoxins”. 

Diagnosing mold toxicity:

Identifying which mold strains are present is important to accurately guide treatment. 

This is done through use of labs that can test for this, and the two best ones are Real Time Labs & Mosaic Diagnostics.

To evaluate a fungal overgrowth, my favorite test is an Organic Acids Test through Mosaic Diagnostics. There is a yeast/fungal panel on there, and the two markers that pop out at me for these overgrowths are Aspergillus & Fusarium. Those are two common ones we see get created from mold exposure, although other ones can do this as well.

Treatment needs to be done very carefully, and needs to be extremely unique per individual. In some cases, with mast cell activation syndrome, first starting on rebooting the nervous system, calming down the mast cells, and implementing gentle detoxification support are key before even binding mold.

For more info on Mold Toxicity, Mast Cell activation syndrome, and SIBO you can follow me on TikTok and Instagram where I regularly post about this!

Dr. Stephanie Peacock, DC

www.stephaniepeacock.com 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/drstephpeacock/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drstephpeacock