Why am I STILL Sick?

When Symptoms Persist Even When You Are Out of the Mold and Have Done EVERYTHING to Heal

Mold illness recovery is difficult. Most of us desire and need a solid support system of friends, family, and medical professionals to help us get through all of the hurdles. As a matter of fact, you probably found this blog and are reading this post right now, because you were searching for mold illness information online as part of your need for support. You may have even been seeking a shared experience with others who have also been through mold-triggered illness. I hope you found that here. I wanted to provide a supportive and positive community with this blog where stories are shared, and we can help each other feel somewhat normal again.

Knowing that you are not alone and that there are other people out there who also have to be vigilant about indoor air quality, practice mold avoidance and mold maintenance, and who have been through the trauma of losing a home or many of their possessions to mold can be comforting and provides hope. Mold illness is also very isolating (mold is everywhere and when you are forced to avoid it, socializing normally is sometimes hard), so I am grateful for the sense of community that writing about it provides for me. I like sharing what I have learned to help others recover. In doing so, though, I have identified one area of mold illness recovery that is consistently more difficult for me to be as helpful with on the blog–the “how I recovered my body from mold” part of this illness.

Obviously, I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, so I am ALWAYS careful with any information or opinions I present as far as body care and treatment are concerned. No matter how much personal experience I have with mold illness, it does not make me qualified to give anyone else medical advice. Thus, whenever I write about recovering my body from mold, I try to only speak from personal experience and perspective, and am careful not to offer counsel or instructions to others on that front. I know what protocols, treatments, and supplements work for me and my family, and filter all information I share with you through that frame of reference. Nevertheless, I find more and more that while STEP #1 (the hardest step of getting out of the mold in whatever form that takes, remediation or leaving) works for ALL of us in some capacity, STEPS #’s 2, 3, 4, and so on, of curing mold illness in our bodies, are not always as straightforward. As a matter of fact, the lack of positive response to even maximum treatment for some patients can be monumentally frustrating and, in the words of one reader, “just doesn’t make sense.”

This topic of unshakeable chronic illness from mold actually hinges on one central question, in my opinion:

Understanding the concept of toxic body burden and its unique effect on our bodies and their systems can help us all to heal more efficiently—especially those of us impacted by mold-related illness. I think that examining this topic forces us to look at the whole picture, rather than just one thing, like a mold exposure, to determine what is holding us back from being healthy.

Since this topic is so broad and cannot possibly be covered in one post, I am going to try to explain toxic burden and how all of these things toxins, antigens, pathogens are gaining entrance to your body. In the future, I will address testing for toxins, detox, and specific toxins, like heavy metals.

So first, what’s happening in our lives today to make our bodies so toxic?

Now, more than ever, we are eating commercially farmed, mass produced, genetically engineered or processed foods. Our sugar consumption as a population is higher than it has ever been. Our buildings and homes are designed with energy efficiency in mind. Our homes are built with lower-cost, manmade building materials that contain harmful chemicals and lock air and moisture in, creating the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, viruses and fungi. We are also more sedentary and spend less time outdoors than ever before. It is sort of the perfect storm for our bodies to become sick.

As a result, chronic illness and inflammatory disease is on the rise, while acute illness is less pervasive. More and more children are being born sick or immunocompromised than ever before. And, for the first time in history, life spans are decreasing, meaning our children are not expected to live as long as us. Things are no longer black and white. I mean, the term “mold illness,” wasn’t even part of the vernacular 20 years ago, unless you were talking about farmer’s lung.

When toxins enter our bodies, whether in-vitro, orally, through the nose or through the skin, they can cause inflammation and immune system dysregulation which makes us more susceptible to autoimmune disorders, other chronic diseases and overall sickness such as colds, flus and allergies.

Then, viruses, bacteria, yeasts, parasites, and mold aggravate any previously existing body burden. Research is actually revealing that some microorganisms interact directly with chemicals to boost infection. If you are like me, and have had a battle with something like mold illness, you know that this is true, because you probably first went to the doctor for a sinus infection, or a GI issue, or something else that started your journey to finding out that mold was in your environment and the catalyst to your declining health.