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2010/04/27
Published
In Part 1 we discussed how one is more likely to have mold and mycotoxin exposure. We also identified the types of common mycotoxins and a few key ways they contribute to aggravating our symptoms. Part 2 and 3 discussed specific health conditions and how molds and mycotoxins aggravate those symptoms. Here we will address what you can do to peel off this layer of irritation to your immune system to assist you in regaining your health.
ELIMINATE MOLD EXPOSURE IN YOUR HOME
1)     It is a good practice to weekly air out your home for at least one hour and to open the curtains and bring the sunshine into the home. The sun’s rays kill pathogens like mold and dry out accumulated dampness. Be especially mindful of the bathroom and laundry areas and keep them well ventilated.
2)Â Â Â Â Â Use a 10% Clorox solution (one part Clorox 10 part water) in a spray bottle and keep this away from children. Use it to clean around toilets and sinks and windowsills, it will kill mold and yeast on contact, bacteria and virus too.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Repair leaks and damaged floor boards as soon as possible
4)Â Â Â Â Â Buy a test kit from Home Depot and take samples of suspected molds for lab identification
AVOID EATING “MOLDY” FOODS
The type of moldy foods we are talking about are molds that grow in association with the food such as strawberry, grape, raisin, cantaloupe, corn, oats and wheat because of corn, wheat and oat smut. Avoiding these foods will greatly reduce the risk of inoculating your digestive tract with a food borne pathogenic mold. This reduces the risk of dysbiosis and aggravation of leaky gut syndromes.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MINIMIZE THE EFFECT OF MYCOTOXINS
If mycotoxins are causing neurological problems such as brain fog, irritability, aggressive behavior, head banging and such in your child, alpha lipoid acid can assist the body in detoxifying the mycotoxins. It is suggested also to take one activated charcoal before bed to soak up the effects of mycotoxins not excreted while you sleep and detoxify. Many times patients feel better with the activated charcoal alone! In severe reactions from die-off or brain fog, or severe immune sensitivities to molds and their toxins, a prescription of cholestyramine will improve severe brain fog and help the body to excrete mycotoxins.
Make sure your detoxification support is adequate. It is best to work with an experienced health care provider knowledgeable in the genetic SNPs that impact detoxification pathways and experienced in determining organic acid tests, hair tests, fecal metals, urine toxic metal tests and other important labs. This is because not everyone is able to detoxify different things efficiently, and a good percentage of the population are non-secretors!  Some individuals are more compromised in their ability to detoxify metals. This has a significant impact upon the levels of pathogenic molds, bacteria and mycotoxins in the body. Other individuals have immune system interference in their detoxification pathways that impact their ability to excrete mycotoxins and therefore have severe reactions to the die off of pathogenic molds and additional environmental molds. Future articles will attempt to discuss the complex subject of evaluating one’s detoxification pathway and what things to look out for when detoxifying certain things from the body.
The number one concern is to be able to take in sufficient magnesium, selenium, B12, 5-tetrahydroxyfolate, lithium, manganese, B6 and zinc. They all act as crucial catalysts to fuel the detoxification pathway. If any one ingredient is missing or out of balance then the rate at which toxins are bound and eliminated in the liver will be hindered. This can have aggravating impacts upon the immune system, increase immune sensitivities and erosion of cell walls, impair nutrient absorption, and result in depositing toxins the body should be excreting.
ELIMINATE LEAKY GUT
The presence of pathogenic strains of bacteria, mold, candida and yeast will as mentioned in our other articles directly cause leaky gut. Immune Matrix has made available to the general public the Doctor’s Data Microbiology Stool kit online at www.immunematrix.com, Microbiology Stool (Doctor’s Data) SKU: SKU16263.
This test will culture and identify the strains of good probiotics in your intestines, culture pathogenic bacteria, mold, candida and other yeast and identify prescription and non-prescription products that are tested as effective against your strains. Eliminating all pathogenic molds, candida strains and yeast, will reduce their excretions, the mycotoxins that wreck havoc on the body. This can be a significant source of toxic exposure outside of environmental mold exposure.
STOP FEEDING MOLDS, YEAST, CANDIDA
Here are some basic guidelines to follow:
1) Stop eating carbohydrates between meals, and reduce the ratio of carbohydrates in your diet to twice as many vegetables (2 portions vegetables: 1 portion protein: 1 portion carbohydrate)
2) Stop eating high glycemic foods between meals and eliminate them if possible. (Bananas, carrot juice, fruits high in sugar)
3) Become aware of foods that make you acidic, and replace them with foods that make you more alkaline. This will reduce the growth of bacteria, virus, molds, yeast and candida in the body!
4) Take more magnesium to help you detoxify and stay alkaline.
In summary, eliminating the frequency of environmental mycotoxin exposure and reducing the synthesis of mycotoxins in your digestive tract will stop the constant onslaught of immune exposure and neurological inflammation from mycotoxins. Making lifestyle changes in your diet to discourage the growth of pathogenic dysbiotic flora will reduce internal sources of mycotoxin exposure. Taking alpha lipoic acid, activated charcoal and if necessary prescription cholastyramine will help combat the accumulated mycotoxins in the system. And finally, become aware of your liver’s needs to become more efficient at detoxification. Future articles will address specific factors that impact our liver’s ability to detoxify.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/04/25
Published
In Part 1 we discussed how one is more likely to have mold and mycotoxin exposure. We also identified the types of common mycotoxins and a few key ways they contribute to aggravating our symptoms. Part 2 and 3 discuss specific health conditions and how molds and mycotoxins aggravate those symptoms. Part 4 will discuss what you can do to peel off this layer of irritation to your immune system to assist you in regaining your health.
MOLD AND CHRONIC FATIGUE
The immune recognition of mycotoxins in patients suffering from chronic fatigue increases the overall inflammation of the patient. Unfortunately, this will take away energy the body needs to fight other common chronic invisible infections, such as viral infections (Epstein Barr, cytomeg, echo and coxsackie, Rocky Mt. Spotted fever among others). The more elements aggravating one’s immune system, the more diluted it becomes and ineffective, exhausting one’s adrenal glands in the process. In chronic fatigue patients it is common to see immune system interference in the metabolism of sugars, fats, protein, mineral salts, sulfur, acids, ineffective anti-viral immune recognition, ineffective anti-bacterial immune recognition, and ineffective anti-fungal immune recognition.
When you add the presence of mycotoxins to one’s immune burden, your body can:
1)Â Â Â Â Â create neurological inflammation (headache, migraine, brain fog, aggressive behavior, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, short attention span, brain fatigue)
2)Â Â Â Â Â create digestive inflammation (irritable bowel, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, lack of appetite, sugar cravings)
3)Â Â Â Â Â allow for opportunistic bacteria, and viral co-infections from the immune suppressive action of mycotoxins
4)Â Â Â Â Â allow for explosions of populations of intestinal yeast, and candida, increasing leaky gut and irritable bowel symptoms, decreasing nutrient absorption and increasing food sensitivities
5)Â Â Â Â Â weaken adrenal function resulting in lowered cortisol hormone levels, causing fatigue after meals and during levels of low cortisol, causing a further weakening of the immune system and sugar digestion inefficiency, contributing to insulin resistance and syndrome X!
6)Â Â Â Â Â increase cellular toxicity, aggravating an already inefficient liver detoxification pathway system. This can increase food sensitivities and sensitivity to key metabolities in key metabolic pathways involving hormones (adrenal and thyroid, and neurotranmitters), detoxification pathways, mineral processing and nutrient absorption.
MOLD AND HEADACHES
Some strains of mold, like black mold (stachybotrys) have specific targets to create neurological symptoms such as brain fog, brain fatigue, numbness, tingling in the limbs and body. Other strains of mold create neurological inflammation based on their excretions (mycotoxins). Depending upon the degree of immune system recognition to the mycotoxin there can exist a linked recognition to a neurotransmitter. Immune Matrix has consistently seen in its testing of patients a linked association with Gaba, serotonin, or dopamine or their metabolites and certain mycotoxins. The result is that the presence of the mycotoxins can interfere via the immune system to inhibit synthesis of a core neurotransmitter. Over time patients develop deficiency symptoms in serotonin, gaba or dopamine independently of the toxic neurological effects of the mycotoxin on brain neurons.
A second mechanism of headache involving mold and mycotoxin exposure is the aggravation of liver detoxification pathways. When the toxic load of the liver reaches a certain threshold, toxins become accumulated in the liver and then are deposited in other organs and tissues of the body. The increased toxic load to the liver does not necessarily increase liver enzymes and therefore is NOT detected by liver enzyme blood tests, as this is late stage stress for a liver. Symptoms of toxicity to the liver can develop way before the liver enzymes become elevated.
A toxic liver contributes to the back up and re-distribution of toxins into other areas of the body. Increased liver toxicity symptoms will include feelings of frustration, anger, agitation, short temper, feeling bottled up, sighing, red eyes, pain over the liver, nausea, lack of appetite to name a few. Increased liver toxicity affects detoxification of estrogens and aggravates estrogen type headaches seen cycling in certain women.
The location the toxins are accumulating in the body determines the type of symptoms one can have from toxic overload. Immune Matrix has seen toxic accumulations in the stomach that result in mild stomach pains, and lack of appetite. Toxic accumulation in the colon can and does interfere with nutrient absorption and greatly impacts chronic fatigue patients in their sugar metabolism and adrenal function. Toxins can impact any organ and system of the body. Toxic accumulation in the nervous system increases any pre-existing neurological symptoms, from anxiety, brain fog, numbness and tingling, fatigue, weakness, and depression, headache and migraine, making the symptoms more frequent and more severe.
MOLD AND ASTHMA
Studies all over the world have confirmed increased risk for asthma linked to dampness in homes and the workplace. The mechanism of action is variable in how the molds induce asthma. Some mold and mycotoxins cause an allergic reaction that affects the bronchioles, causing inflammation and restriction. Other types of asthma are induced by immune reactivity to the mycotoxins from the molds, whether they are indoor molds, outdoor molds or food borne molds.
Sometimes the effect of the mold is indirect. The mold suppresses the immune system sufficiently to allow for secondary infection to affect the lungs. Flu, bronchitis and pneumonia become opportunisitic infections and secondary to the initial immune weakening effect of the mold exposure. Overlay this secondary infection with increased immune inflammation from reactivity to the mycotoxins and you have the ingredients for asthma to take effect.
Part 4 will discuss what you can do to identify the effects of molds contributing to leaky gut, how you can abate mold exposure, and peel of one more layer irritating your immune system and assist you in regaining your health.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/04/23
Published
In Part 1 we discussed how one is more likely to have mold and mycotoxin exposure. We also identified the types of common mycotoxins and a few key ways they contribute to aggravating our symptoms. Part 2 and 3 will discuss specific health conditions and how molds and mycotoxins aggravate those symptoms. Part 4 will discuss what you can do to peel off this layer of irritation to your immune system to assist you in regaining your health.
MOLD AND DEPRESSION
Studies have confirmed a direct association between dampness in the home that causes mold to grow and an increased risk for depression. (Am J Public Health. 2007 Oct;97(10);1893-9) What is interesting to note is that the symptoms of depression persisted irrespective of whether the individuals living in the home perceived they had the power to abate the mold and improve their health. What was not discussed was why we are susceptible to depression from mold exposure!
The toxins our immune system recognizes, such as mycotoxins, take action upon our nervous system. They disrupt the synthesis and balance of neurotransmitters that control brain speed (acetylcholine), mood and calmness (GABA and seratonin), and focus and processing speed and metabolism (dopamine). Imbalances in neurotransmitters will aggravate existing symptoms of low mood, fatigue, depression, weepiness, brain bog, anxiety, increased aggression and agitation, OCD, ADD, ADHD, impaired verbal, auditory or mental processing.
Toxins from mold also increase brain inflammation in susceptible individuals. Brain fog and processing disorders become easily aggravated especially because the temporal lobes of the brain are focal centers for these functions and are more susceptible to localized inflammatory attack from pathogens such as streptococcus and mycotoxins.
MOLDS AND ECZEMA, CANDIDA AND DYSBIOSIS
Immune Matrix has found clinically a high degree of correlation between immune sensitivity to molds, yeast, candida, and mycotoxins to the severity of eczema. With the suppression of the immune system in the presence of chronic mycotoxin exposure, pathogenic candida and bacteria can invade and take a foothold in the lining of the large intestine. This is how “leaky gut” is created. The pathogens bind to the lining creating microscopic holes in the intestinal lining. Undigested food “leaks” through these holes. The immune system begins to see these undigested food particles as “foreign” antigens and the creation of immune sensitivities, and chronic inflammation begins.
Overgrowth of yeast and other dysbiotic pathogens in the digestive tract cause intense sugar cravings. Sugars rob the body of B vitamins. Deficiencies in B vitamins increase the severity of eczema symptoms and delay skin healing. Dysbiosis also throws off one’s mineral balance making you more acidic; a prime environment favoring further pathogenic growth. Acid body terrain further imbalances core alkaline minerals in the body such as magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, manganese, zinc, all crucial for efficient liver detoxification pathway function. The result is increased extra-cellular toxic load and decreased cell membrane repair. Increased cellular toxicity increases immune inflammation, and antigen recognition causing ever increasing levels of food sensitivities to trigger more hives, skin rashes and eczema. Â
MOLD AND PMS
Women that suffer PMS in any of its forms are not efficient in degrading and excreting their estrogens through their liver. The detoxification process is called methylation. For those susceptible individuals, mycotoxins will accumulate in the liver and not be efficiently excreted. This results in increased toxic stress and accumulation to the liver. The more toxins that burden the liver, the less efficient the liver is at excreting all toxins and estrogen will tend to accumulate in the body as a result. This is how women become more estrogen toxic and increase their estrogen dependent cancer risk! Excessive estrogen creates breast tenderness, uterine and abdominal bloating, irritability, fatigue, sugar cravings, headache, red eyes, flushed face and digestive disturbances that include either episodic diarrhea, constipation or both, bloating, vomiting, nausea and water weight gain.
MOLD AND LEARNING DISABILITIES
Certain strains of molds cause more neurological symptoms such as the dreaded black mold, stachybotrys. Many indoor, outdoor and food borne molds have mycotoxins that trigger immune inflammation which target the nervous system less intensely but lead to marked increase in symptoms a few hours after exposure. These symptoms include brain fog, fatigue, sleepiness, aggressive behavior, anger outbursts, irritability, and hyperactivity. Children seem to show more marked reactivity because their brains are developing and the coatings of their neurons are not completely methylated. Increases in toxic burden reduces the body’s ability to methylate. This reduces the body’s ability to coat and protect neurons. The result, toxins become more detrimental to nerves in the body, especially the brain.
In addition, many children have been exposed to streptococcus infection, aka strep throat. In many cases, the streptococcus then proceeds to live in the colon contributing to leaky gut, a silent infection. In fewer cases, the strep will attack the brain especially those with repeated ear infections. The temporal lobes are particularly sensitive to streptococcus infection and this area of the brain affects verbal and auditory processing. Streptococcus can continue to live in the intestinal system through adulthood. Overlay mycotoxins’ effect of increasing neurological inflammation and you can begin to see symptoms that did not previously exist in the presence of silent strep infection.
Part 3 will discuss the impact of molds on chronic fatigue, headaches and asthma.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/04/20
Published
Mold is a living organism. All living organisms have excretions. In the case of molds, these excretions are called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are the particular excretions from molds that cause toxic and immune reactions to humans. In some cases mycotoxins are used to make medicines and flavor for cheeses! However, people can still be reactive to these products. Here is an example of common mycotoxins that patients at Immune Matrix are routinely tested for: patulin, penitrem A, cephalosporin C, fusaric acid, gliotoxin, cyclopiazonic acid, rubratoxin, aflatoxin, islanditoxin, penicillin, trichoverrols, nivalenol, scirpentriol, butenolide, trichoverrins, enniatins, acetyl-T-2 toxin, destruxin B, trichothecin, brevianamide, zearalenone, viriditoxin, xanthhocillin, crotocin, fumonisin B1, roridin E, roquefortine C, acetaldehyde, citreoviridin, lateritin, aflatrem, slaframine, citrinin, kojic acid and many more.
HIDDEN MOLD IN THE HOME
Mold exposure is more than the dreaded “black mold” called stachybotrys. All indoor and outdoor mold strains can cause subtle symptoms in the body. Most of the time the symptoms are not direct and immediate but rather invisible and aggravate other pre-existing conditions. Many patients suffering seasonal allergies, chronic fatigue, bloating, acid reflux, headache, migraine, lyme disease, autism, ADD, ADHD, brain fog, insomnia, irritability, PMS, frequent colds and flu, impaired digestive function, skin rashes, eczema all have in common immune sensitivities to indoor, outdoor or food borne molds.
Your living condition does not have to have a roof or plumbing leak or black mold growing under the kitchen counter or lining the floor of the bathtub to aggravate health problems. Several factors contribute to mold growing in a home, under carpets, in basements, in crawl spaces under the home, in bathrooms, air ducts and along windows:
1)Â Â Â Â Â living in an older home (older than 22yrs)
2)Â Â Â Â Â having no or missing insulation
3)Â Â Â Â Â lack of sun exposure in the home
4)Â Â Â Â Â lack of fresh air in the home
5)Â Â Â Â Â amount of rainfall or fog
6)Â Â Â Â Â unflued gas heating
7)Â Â Â Â Â frequency of baths and showers in the home among members
8)Â Â Â Â Â frequency of use of washing machine
9)Â Â Â Â Â damp spots in the home, visible mold and mildew in the home
Home Depot Stores has a mold test kit that one can use to take samples of suspicious areas of the home for mold identification and to rule out the presence of black mold.
THE EFFECT OF MYCOTOXINS
Mycotoxins exert powerful metabolic effects on our metabolism. One of their effects is to act as neurotoxins. This means that they increase inflammation in our brains. Inflammation in our brain often affects the weakest part. For example, it can affect an area of old head injury, like soccer head, or other traumas to the head. Depending upon the area of the brain where the inflammation takes hold, auditory or verbal processing can be affected either acutely or slowly, with intermittent challenges to focus, or affect our ability to process what we hear and to communicate and express ourselves.
Some mycotoxins alter our brain chemistry. Patients exposed to mycotoxins can have symptoms of chronic fatigue, brain fog, aggressive tendencies, irritability, insomnia, increased anxiety, weakness in the limbs, headache, migraine, digestive disorders, hypoglycemia, chronic candida, intestinal dysbiosis, skin rashes, chronic eczema, and weakened immune systems.
Other mycotoxins inhibit our immune system. For pathogenic molds, those that can live in our body, especially our digestive tract, mycotoxins are their tool to inhibit our immune system from evicting them from our bodies. Mycotoxins are also the cause of sugar cravings, stimulating us to feed these pathogenic molds. Therefore, some mycotoxins become the chemical signals directing our body to feed pathogenic molds and prevent our immune system from waging an attack against them! Is it no wonder that many strains of pathogenic molds and candida are so difficult to eradicate from our body?
Part 2 and 3 will discuss the impact of molds and mycotoxins have on certain conditions such as depression, eczema, candida, dysbiosis, PMS, learning disabilities, chronic fatigue, headaches, and asthma. Part 4 will discuss what you can do to peel off this layer of irritation to your immune system to assist you.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/03/04
Published
Our objective today is to understand how the body reacts to mold and its toxins, the types of symptoms associated with mold allergies and what you can do to begin to overcome their attachment to you!
The nature of molds, yeasts, candida, fungi:
Generally speaking we come into contact with molds, yeasts and fungi through the food we eat if they are the type that are commonly associated with harboring molds, such as raisins, strawberries, cantaloupe, corn, oats etc., and through environmental contact with their spores from working in the garden to inhaling damp stagnant air where molds have grown on old furniture, books and in the drywall and baseboards of homes, as well as through sexual contact! The molds cause problems for our immune systems in three principal ways: 1) from their metabolic excretions, called mycotoxins, 2) from their infestation in the body like a parasite 3) from their immune effects.
Mycotoxins:
Mycotoxins are the metabolic excretions from these pathogens. Some excretions are used in the food industry to manufacture the foods we love, for example, roguefortine for roguefort cheese. Other mycotoxins are used in the drug industry to heal as in penicillin. Most simply make us sick to various degrees, such as:
1) chronic sinus infections can have a fungal element
2) abdominal bloating, gas, distension and other digestive complaints
3) skin rashes, often itchy, and in damp areas, where skin folds are located, but the face, behind ears and eyebrows can become affected
4) athlete’s foot, jock itch
5) itchy scalp
6) vaginal itching and anal itching
7) chronic fatigue
 chronic immune sensitivities
9) food cravings, especially for sweets
10) chronic immune suppression and vulnerability to other pathogens
Here is a broad list of the types of mycotoxins Immune Matrix tests its patients for sensitivity to:
Chchliodinol, Penitrem A, Cephalosporin C, Fusaric Acid, Eniatins, Cyclopiazonic Acid, Alfatoxin, Martoryzine, Verruculogen, Penicillin, Rubratoxin, Nivalenol, Patulin, Butenolide, Trichoverrins, Citreoviridin, Acetyl T-toxin, Destruxin B, Fumonisin B1, Trichothecin, Brevianamide, Moniliformin, Scirpentriol, Xanthocillin, Crotocin, Roquefortine C, Roridin E, Slaframine, Acetaldehyde, Viriditoxin, Lateritin, Alternariol Methyl Esther, Aflatrem, Islanditoxin, Citrinin, Deoxynivalenol, Neosolaniol, Fusarin, Emodin, Zearalenone, Kojic Acid, Penicillic Acid, Cyclosporin A, Acetyldeoxynivalenol, Cytachalasin E, Malformin, Satratoxins, Ergot, Calonectrin, Ipomeanine, Chaetoglobosin, Alternariol, Beauvericin, Lycomarasmin, Diacetoxyscirpenol, Ochratoxin, T-2 Toxin, fumagilin, Sterigmatocystin, Rugulosin, Avenacein, Verrucarins, Viomellein, Gliotoxin, Austdiol, Austamide, Griseofulvin, HT-2 Toxin, Oxalic Acid, Monoacetoxysccirpenol, Trichodermin, Tenuazonic acid, Amanitins, Trichoverrols
Innoculation leading toward leaky gut, bloating and chronic fatigue:
Whether a patient becomes debilitated from exposure to molds, fungi, yeasts, candida, depends on many factors:
1) their state of immune health at the time of exposure
2) the number of other co-existing infections present at time of exposure, such as dysbiotic flora in the digestive tract, chronic fatigue viruses such as Epstein Barr, echo or cytomeg, and other candida, yeast and opportunistic fungal infections in the digestive tract, skin, and internal tissues of the body
3) the type of exposure, skin, food, inhalant
4) the type of pathogen and its associated toxic and immune suppressing effects
Inhaling mold toxins or spores can result in the body reacting to the toxin, as seen in black mold, where neurological effect such as brain fog, headaches, dizziness, body pains etc.. It can also result in the pathogen becoming an opportunistic infection in the body, searching out warm damp areas of the body to live such as sinus, skin folds, scalp, feet and in and around sexual organs. It is not uncommon for some types of chronic sinus infections to harbor some degree of chronic yeast in the nasal sinuses. This is often overlooked as a culprit in most Western medical offices. However, Immune Matrix has found that when some patients are given anti-fungal medications and certain anti-fungal nasal sprays their long history of sinus congestion resolves.
Itchy skin and itchy scalp conditions also have an element of fungal infection. Re-using damp infected towels, sharing towels, bed linens, sharing combs and hair brushes, are all opportunities for additional exposure and infection. However, one must have a certain degree of susceptibility in order to manifest a fungal infestation after exposure. Patients are usually acidic, somewhat toxic, eat too many refined carbohydrates, sweetened tea, sodas, mochas and the like, providing easy food for their replication. And, their digestive systems do not break down the sugar and carbohydrates into simple sugars that our cells need to absorb, making available undigested sugars to these pathogens for their abundant growth.
Most people seek first to find some type of topical agent to treat the skin irritation. When this becomes a chronic issue, patients will often go to a doctor for a stronger topical medication. However, in many cases, the patient will resolve the condition only to have it return and a merry go round of infection/medication becomes a lifestyle for that patient instead of making it a thing of the past. This is because nearly all doctors do not address the underlying cause that makes living in your body so irresistible to these pathogens! Dr. Anna likes to tell her patients “what good is a fly swatter when you always leave the door open!”
Digestive upsets such as bloating and gas. food cravings for sweets and carbohydrates, are a sign that yeast and candida and possibly other fungal strains are living in your digestive track. Immune Matrix highly recommend if you have not already been tested by your health care provider with a test that identifies and quantifies the strains of good probiotics, bad bacteria, yeast, and fungi in your digestive tract that you take this unique opportunity to order a Microbiology Stool Test from Immune Matrix at the online store at www.ImmuneMatrix.com. The lab fee includes the cost of a telephone consultation from a licensed health care provider to interpret the findings and recommendations on what can be taken prescription and non-prescription to kill off and re-colonize your digestive tract with good pro-biotics. This information is absolutely vital for you to know what is happening inside your digestive tract. It cannot be emphasized enough that one cannot treat themselves based on their symptoms alone. Appropriate and economical laboratory testing is vital to identify strains, determine their susceptibility to an agent that will kill them and to determine the effectiveness of a treatment program that you or your practitioner undertakes.
Is all bloating due to yeast and candida?
No. Two other factors can cause bloating. The first other possible cause is having an immune sensitivity to lactose, milk sugar, commonly referred to as lactose intolerance. However, lactose intolerance as a term is really a misnomer. Lactose intolerance can come from having an immune sensitivity or allergy to a proteins found in dairy such as casein, albumin or whey, or to the sugar in dairy which is lactose. However, if the body does not make sufficient lactase enzyme, then you cannot break down milk sugars and it ferments in our digestive tract where opportunistic candida, yeast, bacteria and fungi can grow. Therefore, the same symptoms of bloating and digestive discomfort can occur whether the problem is an immune sensitivity to dairy proteins, the inability to break down dairy sugar, lactose from the lack of lactase, or an immune sensitivity to dairy sugar. Immune Matrix advises all their patients suffering from bloating or suspected lactose intolerance or dairy allergy to avoid all dairy including cheese and even yogurt until they can confirm that they have eradicated the pathogenic organisms from their digestive tract with the Microbiology Stool kit.
If you do not have bad flora or candida or yeast from your stool lab findings and you suffer bloating after meals, especially with dairy, then it is possible that you are low in sufficient lactase enzyme. Remember, that what you do not break down adequately in your food, you cannot absorb and what is not absorbed is either going to putrefy in your digestive tract and cause bloating or it will feed organisms whose metabolic waste will irritate your digestive tract. Therefore, it is an easy test to take a lactase containing enzyme, and even better to take a broad spectrum enzyme such as “Digestion” which is sold in a veggie cap at the online store at www.ImmuneMatrix.com (This is a more potent grade of enzyme than is generally available to the public.) Take one pill with the start of your meal and wait and see if the bloating begins to subside. If so, it is an indication that you were not breaking down your food with sufficient enzymes, and especially not breaking down your dairy sugar (lactose), which then contributes to the bloating.
If my stool test shows no yeast or candida could I still have a problem with yeast and candida?
Yes. These organisms can live in other places in the body besides the digestive tract. A stool test only reveals those organisms living in the digestive tract. One can still have bloating and weight gains from yeasts and candida and not test positive for their presence in the stool. This involves more of a complicated immune picture that involves several possible factors that require you to see an experienced medical practitioner to get to the root cause:
1) Your body is reacting to the metabolic excretions for the mold, yeast, candida, i.e. mycotoxins. Immune reactions can cause inflammation in the digestive tract and thus bloating as well as other symptoms throughout the body too complex to go into here.
2) Your body is struggling to excrete the mycotoxins and microbial metabolities (dead organisms) and thus stores them in tissues, fluids, and fat cells!
3) You have an undiagnosed invasion of yeast or candida in your body other than your digestive tract and/or your immune system is weak to identifying it. In women who suffer recurrent vaginal yeast infections, it is common for these pathogens to cross into the blood stream and replant in the digestive tract or other parts of the body, erupting through skin as an example, thus the “candida rash”. Blood tests are often necessary for their detection
How do yeast, candida and fungal strains contribute to leaky gut?
Once these opportunistic pathogens enter the digestive tract, which is loaded with undigested particulate matter, they implant themselves in the lining of the digestive tract so as not to be eliminated by the processing of the food. In doing so, microscopic holes at sites of implantation have been documented in electron microscopy. These holes allow for the food you ingest, which is in the process of being broken down into simple protein, sugars and fats to pass through the microscopic holes and enter your blood stream.
Since the food is undigested, it cannot be absorbed by our cells, whose receptor sites have specific recognitions for glucose, not a long chain polysaccharide. The same is true for amino acids that can pass into a cell and feed the cell, but when it leaks through undigested, it presents itself in the body as a large chain of amino acids. The same is true for fatty acids. These large chain molecules that cannot fit into our cell receptor sites have to be eliminated by our immune system which will develop a memory for what it sees most often.
Therefore, having leaky gut, due to overgrowth of attaching candida, yeast, and fungal pathogens stimulates your immune system to begin to recognize these undigested foods as foreign entities and thus develop food allergies and food sensitivities to those foods the immune system sees the most, creating a cascade of inflammation that can be specific for several different types of tissues in the body that include the skin, the lining of our digestive tract contributing to irritable bowel, to joints, and even our brain!
To prevent and help minimize your immune system from becoming sensitized to the foods you eat, take a broad spectrum digestive enzyme such as “Digestion” while you continue to eradicate pathogens from the bowel and body. Digestive enzymes can safely be taken for child through adults are safe to be taken with one’s anti-fungal medications.
Lifestyle changes to close the door to bloating and mold allergies:
For environmental exposure to molds and such, abatement is the first and major step as continued exposure re-inoculates the body and can have a devastating effect on suppressing immune system function making the body susceptible to other opportunistic bacteria, protozoa, amoeba, parasites and viruses.
Staying alkaline is important. We do this with adequate minerals, especially magnesium. Our soil is depleted with magnesium and so our food sources are low and deficient in magnesium. If you tend to suffer stiff neck and shoulders and/or tight muscles, muscle spasms, leg cramps then this is a sign of potential deficiency in magnesium. Magnesium deficiency also causes constipation or hard stools. You can begin to take magnesium to what we call “bowel tolerance” which means that you take a dose of magnesium every couple of hours throughout the day until your bowel movement begins to get soft and then stop the magnesium. The body stores magnesium in tissues and when sufficient magnesium is store then the remainder is purged through the bowels. The metabolism of magnesium can aggravate a B6 deficiency and therefore, patients at Immune Matrix are given a balanced magnesium product, meaning to take this form of powdered magnesium in water, it contains all the ingredients the body needs to metabolize and use magnesium and therefore will not cause a deficiency of another vitamin or mineral. This product is called “Magneleuvers” and can be purchased at the online store at www.ImmuneMatrix.com.
Drinking lemon in water between meals is also very alkalinizing. All it takes is a squeeze of lemon in a glass of water. Within 30 minutes a salivary ph test will reveal changes in your ph in most cases.
Following an anti-candida diet is another recommended idea. Avoiding all “moldy” foods such as raisins, peanuts, corn, oats, white flour, cantaloupe, grapes and strawberry. Avoiding sugar and sweets is essential. Also avoiding the intake of carbohydrates, refined or complex on an empty stomach is essential because it gets converted to sugar to quickly by the body. It is recommended that carbohydrates be taken with a meal that includes protein and vegetables.
Reducing one’s stress helps to reduce your acidity! Getting more sleep! Turning off the computer and TV one hour earlier and going to bed with a book or magazine alone before sleeping will help to induce sleep sooner. Listening to relaxing music and taking walks after dinner for 30-45 minutes helps to relieve stress and oxygenate the blood, providing for a more restful sleep.
Following the above suggestions will do much to help you to alter your body’s chemistry and eliminate the merry go round of having to take anti-fungal medications and stay on restrictive diets forever, because you are addressing the cause of your tendency to invite these pathogens into your life!
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
Incoming search terms for the article:mold bowelPeanuts and raisins cause bloatingsymptoms of bloating gas itchy skin insomnia fatiguemold allergies bloatingenvironmental allergies and bloatingbloating with chronic fatiguemold spore allergy bloatingcan mold cause bloatingmold and bloatingleaky gut symptoms itchy scalp
2010/03/04
Published
This article is intended to begin to orient you towards a broader understanding about mold sensitivities and is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number and scope of articles we will put out about mold.
Part A: The objective is to understand the different types of molds, how we become “sensitized” to them, what happens when our immune system cannot “see” them, as well as to understand how to begin to determine if they are contributing to our symptoms.
What types of mold cause immune sensitivities?
Clinically, patients generally have issues with either indoor/outdoor molds, pathogenic molds, or food borne molds and many times combinations of both.
Indoor molds are seen in places like the bathroom, in drywall from old roof leaks, plumbing leaks, rotten floor boards around bathroom tubs. Outdoor molds are those that grow on plants, in the ground, and on outside structures where dampness is easily accessible. Common strains for indoor/outdoor molds are: Sporotrichum, Eurotium amstelodami, Aspergillus, Acremonium, Absidia, Bipolaris, Penicillium, Alternaria, Phoma, Epicoccum, Stachypotrys, Trichoderma, Acrodontium, Scopulariopsis, Chaetomium, Ulocladium, Geotrichum, Sporobolomyces, Eurotium, Tritirachium, Cladosporium, Rhizomucor, Serpula, Rhizopus, Paecilomyces, Paecilomyces, Aureobasidium, Phoma, Cephalosporium, Stemphylium, Pithomyces, Verticillium, Trichothecium, Ustilago, Mucor, Botrytis, Curvularia, Helminthosporium, Chaetomium, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Aureobasidium, Chaetomium, Trichosporon, Arthrinium phaeospermum.
Those patients having high environmental mold allergies and sensitivities generally have some type of chronic exposure from their living environment. The toxins from molds called mycotoxins have a tendency to inhibit the immune system in an effort to thwart detection. Over time therefore, those with chronic mold exposure have inefficient immune systems and low adrenal function (cortisol) and have multiple food sensitivities, and low grade bacterial and/or viral infections that remain undetected, contributing to chronic fatigue and other symptoms.
Regional weather conditions and age of housing developments have a significant impact upon whether someone will become victim to environmental mold sensitivities. One of the clinics of Immune Matrix is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, California but sees patients from all over California. Demographics from their patient base have shown that the worst environmental mold sensitivities are associated from areas where patients live along the coast, such as Santa Cruz, and areas of the North Bay Areas starting from Redwood City and progressing north into San Francisco because of the fog belt. Many homes in San Francisco are 100 years old and therefore mold in the home is a common source of chronic exposure. Immune Matrix regularly screens its patients for sensitivities for the above listed indoor and outdoor molds.
Food-borne molds are those that are commonly found in nature growing with the fruit or are cultivated in cheeses. Such molds include: Cladosporium herbarum, Penicillium digitatum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Eruotium chevalieri, Penicillium expansum, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus ochraceus, Guignardia bidwellii, Alternaria alternate, Aspergillus niger, Candida zeylanoides, Morillia fructigena, geotrichum candidum, Penicillium camemberti, Penicillium roquefortii, Penicillium crustosum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus flaucus, Saccharomyes carisbergensis, Saccharomyces sake, Aspergillus oryzae, Mucor racemosus, Saccaromyces ellipsoideus, Botrytis cinerea, Wallemia sebi, Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium italicum, Fusarium oxysporum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus tamari.
Patients sensitive to food-borne molds typically test sensitive to grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, raisins, strawberries, corn smut and therefore corn, wheat smut and therefore wheat products, oat smut and therefore oats, even granola! Immune Matrix calls these “moldy foods” and tells their patients to eliminate these foods from their diet so that they stop inoculating themselves with these molds. It is believed that until one can confirm the presence of sufficient good microflora in the digestive tract, and that one has eliminated the presence of staph, strep and pathogenic molds and candida strains from the digestive tract, that patients eliminate these foods indefinitely. For those patients wishing to run a stool test to determine their level of good microflora, the presence of bacteria, fungi, candida and what it will take to kill them, go to the online store at www.immunematrix.com and order Doctor’s Data Microbiology Stool kit. The cost will include a phone consult about the results.
Pathogenic molds are those that do not normally live in the human body, come from the environment but have adapted to living in the body in various forms from cysts, micro-tubules and such. These are the most troubling and chronic of group and include but are not limited to: Geotrichum candidum, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Candida Krusei, Candida lipolytica, Candida dubliniensis, Trichophyton rubrum, Fonsecaea compacta, Microsorum canis, Chrysosporium tropicum, Aspergillus versicolor, Piedraia hortae, Emmonsia parva var.crescens, Rhizopus oryzae, Curvularia lunata, Apophysomyces elegans, Cladosporium herbarum, Bipolaris spicifera, Basidiobolus ranarum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Candida lusitaniae, Chaetomium giobosum, Cunninghamella bertholletiae, Acremonium spp., Paecilomyces variotii, Rhodotorula rubra, Sporothrix schenckii, Pseudallescheria boydii, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Aureobasidium pullulans, Aspergillus niger, Conidiobolus coronatus, Cryptoccus neoformans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Trochosporon cutaneum, Cladophialophora bantiana, Lacazia loboi, Histoplasma capsulatum, Candida glabrata, Absidia corymbifera, Wangiella dermatitidis, Fusarium solani, Penicillium marneffei, Mucor indicus, candida kefyr, Trichophyton verrucosum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Alternaria spp., Arthrographis kalrae, Stemphylium macrosporoideum, Candida tropicalis, Coddidioides immitis, Aspergillus flavus, Trochophyton schoenleinii, Trichosporon asahii, Candida guilliermondii, Madurella mycetomatis, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida parapsilosis, Aspergillus nidulans, Malasseizia furfur, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Sporobolomyces salmonicolor, Candida albicans, Bipolaris hawaiiensis, Trichophyton tonsurans, Streptomyces spp., Microsporum audouinii, Exophiala jeanselmei, Phoma spp., Epidermophyton floccosum, Trichophyton violaceum, Candida rugosa, Blastoschizomyces capitatus.
Patients at Immune Matrix are regularly screened for immune sensitivities to the above pathogenic molds. What has been found is that those strains that a patient tests “sensitive” to are generally the very ones that have become chronic in the patient. Like the princess and the pea, the immune system fatigues to the continued presence of these pathogens for reasons too complex to go into in this article. What is astounding is that Immune Matrix has found that even when a patient is given an anti-fungal, often for months to combat a specific strain of pathogen, the patient is unable to eliminate it. Western medical doctors simply keep the patient on the anti-fungal in many cases. However, once the patient’s immune system is “woken” up to its existence in the body, the immune system immediately begins to facilitate an attack with the assistance of the anti-microbial. Therefore, the presumption that the anti-microbial didn’t work because the microbe was “resistant” is not entirely correct in most cases.
Immune Matrix has been able to help patients get off of long-term anti-fungal therapy by boosting their immune system to those strains that they test having an immune sensitivity for! Anna Manayan likes to explain to her patients that “its like giving a person a shotgun and telling them to kill the enemy. If the person doesn’t know who the enemy is, the enemy can stand there right next to the person and continue to thrive”. The immune system acts in a similar fashion in that it needs to recognize self from pathogen. Sometimes, this recognition function fatigues, and unless the immune system can be “re-programmed” to recognize necessary pathogens, the pathogens continue to thrive in the patient even with anti-fungals. This is an innovative and effective method to boost and treat patients for chronic fungal, environmental mold and food borne mold sensitivities by reading and working with the patient’s immune system instead of assuming that the body can effectively utilize a prescribed herb or drug to kill a pathogen. This is why Immune Matrix is able to help patients that doctors “give-up” on and tell them to just continue to take anti-fungals and avoid exposures and candida promoting foods.
Therefore, if you or someone you love has been on anti-fungals and candida diets persistently and have not improved in health, then suspect that your immune system has become weakened to recognizing these pathogens. Also, if you do follow an anti-candida diet and find that when you deviate from that diet you suffer symptoms, it means that you have not addressed the cause of your condition which is highly suggestive that you harbor strains your immune system is ineffective in eliminating. Two things you can do now is to order the Doctor’s Data Microbiology Stool test to get an assessment of the health of your digestive tract relative to bacterial, fungal and candida microbes for a start.
If your stool tests show only good flora, it still does not mean that you do not have any pathogenic mold or candida strains in the body because they can and do live in tissue and you will need appropriate blood tests from an experienced medical practitioner. The second thing you can do to boost your immune system’s effectiveness is to determine the relative health of your adrenals by ordering a Flex Matrix Cortisol test with Diagnos-Techs, Inc also available at www.ImmuneMatrix.com. You will then be given a phone consult to help you interpret the findings and some guidance as to how to begin to eliminate the cause of your mold sensitivities and eliminate the needless suffering that they contribute to chronic fatigue. Part B, tomorrow, will address how molds contribute to chronic fatigue.
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