mycotoxins test

[Jefner]

Hi all, I have Hashi's, under active thyroid, SIBO and Candida. I am working with a Functional Medicine Practitioner and she wants to do a mycotoxins test on me. Not sure why but she suspects mold. My current house was built in the 80's and I don't have any mold although before that I spent about 20yrs living in a very cold damp victorian house and actually when I first moved in my bed was against a wall with lots of damp and I remember getting flu twice in a month.

If I think back, I was living there when I was diagnosed with under active thyroid and as my thyroid is pretty much now destroyed I would have also had Hashi's and not known.

My health hasn't been brilliant over the years, suffered with severe anxiety for most of it.

If I was exposed to mold all those years ago, can it still be in my system now even though I moved from that house 18yrs ago?

[GAtherton Administrator Fungal Infection Trust]

There are two potential sources of mycotoxin for most of us - food and the air. There are very few examples of significant quantities of a mycotoxin being inhaled. The majority of illness caused by damp homes seems to emanate from inhaling allergens rather than fungal toxins.

If you currently live in a dry home with no obvious mould growth the chances are you are not being exposed to mycotoxins in the air. Many people also spend a lot of time in their place of work so that is worth checking.

If you are being exposed to a damp building it can make you ill. The only treatment is to leave that building as soon as possible to reduce exposure to whatever it is that causes the illness. Failure to do so can result in chronic illnesses and sensitivities that become very difficult to treat.

Take-home message of all this is don't try to medicate yourself to stay in a building.

NB if you were exposed to a damp building decades ago any mycotoxins that entered your body then will have been eliminated in a few days, at worst a few weeks.

[Jefner in reply to GAtherton]

GAtherton

I live near a cement chimney (about 2 miles away) as well which pumps out crap quite often including burning tyres and stuff. Wondered if that could have an affect as well

[GAtherton Administrator Fungal Infection Trust in reply to Jefner]

Unlikely - particulates are generally diluted out of our air once we are more than 500 metres away from the source.