Your Mind On Mold

Your Mind On Mold
Your Mind On Mold

Listen to Andrea Donsky's interview with Suzanne Somers on NPR affiliate KMBH, Public Radio 88 FM on January 6 at 12 p.m. CST

Your insomnia, panic or bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, depression, or MS might be mold poisoning.

Watching the horrible aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I know from my own personal experience that flooding leaves behind an enemy so dark and treacherous, few people understand the far-reaching, devastating effects.

My husband and I were affected by black mold, a condition I was unaware of when I moved into a leased house after my home burned to the ground several years ago. The rental was a beautiful home: glass, spectacular views, space. Luxurious is how you would describe it, so beautiful it helped ease the pain of losing all our belongings to the fire.

A year after moving in, we began to have health problems. At one point an attack hospitalized me for six days, horribly misdiagnosed as cancer, until it was discovered to be mold fungus. Around the same time, my very healthy husband started experiencing hair loss, red irritated eyes, and a sinus and fungal nose infection that wouldn’t go away. We both started having GI tract problems – bloating, yeast, candida, and cramping.

NATURALLY SAVVY NEWSLETTER
Get the latest information, tips & recipes for healthy living delivered directly to your inbox.
Your privacy is important to us.

It wasn’t until I was interviewing Dr. Rick Sponaugle of The Sponaugle Wellness Institute, who has successfully treated over 2,000 patients suffering from mold toxicity, that I started piecing together the puzzle that had been eluding my husband and me.

We had mold. A professional remediator found standing water all over a lower floor that had never been finished. Black mold was crawling everywhere, including into the air-conditioning and heating vents, blowing into all the rooms.

We had to move. And detox…

I recently talked again with Dr. Sponaugle, preparing for a segment of “The SUZANNE Show.”

I started by asking him, “Can you explain mold and the affects that you can predict the victims of Hurricane Sandy might experience?”

He said, “Mold toxins are toxic gases produced by indoor molds, always present in water-damaged buildings. Most of these people will be unaware that they are suffering from gases produced by mold infestations hidden behind water-damaged walls, shower tile, and above wet ceilings because we cannot see or smell them.”

I see… like the silent enemy.

Dr. Sponaugle reminded me that three out of four Americans who naturally produce antibodies to mold toxins can live and work in water-damaged buildings without suffering significant demise in their health. But patients who carry the HLA-DRBQ gene — as he and I do — have no antibodies to deactivate and remove harmful mold toxins. They develop an excessive accumulation. Mold toxins are lipophilic. They consist of fatty acid molecules. For this reason, mold toxins migrate to and deposit in the brain because the brain is the ‘fattiest’ organ, consisting of 60% fat.

Mold Toxicity

Mold toxicity causes many psychological and neurological disorders, including but not limited to: addiction, anxiety, bipolar II, chronic fatigue, depression, fibromyalgia, insomnia, MS, Neuropathy, OCD, panic disorder, paranoia and schizoid syndrome.

It also brings on conditions like the ones my husband and I experienced – sinus trouble, red watery eyes, fatigue, inflamed GI tract, unexplained weight gain. But people experience other negative effects including slurred speech, disorientation, feeling irritable or paranoid, insomnia, craving sweets, itching nose at night, static shocks, muscle aches, food allergies, antibiotic allergies, blurred vision, confusion, very high blood pressure, mono-like symptoms, skin rash, cystic acne, joint pain, swollen gums, tongue swelling, a change in your menstrual cycle, stuttering, and throat closing.

Your body on mold? Severely depressed.

Dr. Sponaugle says there are three mold toxins associated with depression, panic disorder, and bipolar symptoms. They are aflatoxins, ochratoxin and trichothecene. The government-set toxic level for trichothecenes, the family of mold toxins produced by Stachybotrys (known as black mold), is 0.2 parts per billion. He routinely sees patients with levels as high as 3.2, which is 16 times the government-set toxic threshold.

Suzanne Somers, one of our most informed and dedicated health care advocates, is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the host of “The SUZANNE Show” on Lifetime.

Read Your Mind on Mold, Part 2 here 

Leave a Comment

Lisa Roth Collins, RHN
Lisa Roth Collins is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN) and is the Marketing Manager at NaturallySavvy.com. She is passionate about health and wellness and tries her best to make healthier choices every day for herself and her family. Her journey to natural health was driven by her own struggles with digestive discomfort, depression, and anxiety. Lisa returned to school in 2014 to study nutrition at the Canadian School for Natural Nutrition. She threw herself into her studies so she could learn as much as she could to help herself feel better and thrive. Upon completing the program and being certified as an RHN, Lisa began her work at Naturally Savvy where she has been able to help so many people learn to make healthier choices for themselves. Through her work, she has connected with so many incredible people in the industry whether other authors, influencers, or brands. Plus, she is affectionately known as "Techie Spice" because of her ability to wrap her head around technology. Every day she gets up with a renewed sense of energy and ready to make a difference. You can read all of Lisa's content here. In her spare time, Lisa loves to try new recipes, make delicious and nourishing meals, and she is an avid reader. For more information about Lisa, check out her profile on here.