Episode Summary
Could hidden mold exposure be the reason behind your fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, digestive problems, or chronic inflammation? In this episode of the Freedom to Flourish Podcast, Dr. Joel Miller and Dr. Tim Augustyniak break down the real impact of mold toxicity on the body and why mold-related illness is often overlooked in traditional healthcare. They explain how mold spores and mycotoxins can affect the immune system, gut health, detox pathways, hormones, and even neurological function — often creating symptoms that seem unrelated on the surface.
Dr. Joel and Dr. Tim also discuss how to identify mold in your home or workplace, the best ways to test for mold exposure, and functional strategies for detoxing mold naturally. From hidden water damage and air quality to gut fungal overgrowth and immune hypersensitivity, this episode provides practical insight into recognizing and addressing mold illness at the root cause. If you’ve been struggling with unexplained health symptoms, chronic fatigue, sinus issues, or ongoing inflammation, this episode offers an eye-opening look into how mold toxicity may be affecting your health.
Key Takeaways
Topics Covered in This Episode
Transcript
Dr Joel: Hey everybody.
Doctor Joel Miller here.
Welcome to the Freedom to Flourish podcast here with Doctor Tim Augustiniak.
Today we’re going to start getting into, we’re going to get into mold.
We’re going to talk about mold toxicity.
We’re going to talk about what it is, where it comes from, how to find it, if it’s in your home.
Dr Joel: We’re going to talk about how to test for it, how to, how to essentially diagnose it. If it’s an issue, we’re going to talk about how to heal from it, how to support your body with detoxing mold and killing mold and all those different things.
So thanks for tuning in.
Dr Joel: If you guys were here over the last couple podcasts, we jumped into gut health and we took a pretty deep dive in gut health.
We had to put that in the two episodes because they were so long and we had a blast with it.
And so if gut health is something that you’re interested in, I would definitely encourage you to check those out.
Dr Joel: And I think you’ll find them to be very beneficial.
I know I’ve already had some patients telling me that they’ve really enjoyed listening to those.
So check them out, Doctor Tim, how are you doing today?
Good to see you.
Dr. Tim: Doing good. Happy to be here. This is going to be a great episode. Lots of things to talk about with mold.
Dr. Tim: Hopefully it won’t be too crazy long of an episode where to get into how mold affects the immune system, how it affects the gut, the mycotoxins and aldehydes that come with it, as well as kind of how to how to even know if you have a mold issue, how to spot it, how to test for it, how to test for it in your home, all those great things.
So it’s going to be hopefully really informative to everybody who’s listening.
And we’ll give you some good, good stepping stones to at least get started if you think that you have an issue with mold, If you’re experiencing any sort of sickness or you know feelings that things just might not be right after you say you moved into a new home or a new apartment, whatever it is, you could be having issues with mold.
More often than not, when I hear that people are having issues with mold, it is after a move or after, you know, some sort of rainstorm or something like that that kind of brings things up.
New office, new school, all that.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So there’s plenty, plenty of situations where mold can kind of take hold and we’re going to hopefully provide you with some good insight as to figure out where it is, how to get rid of it and how to treat yourself for it and decrease sensitivity to the mold.
Oftentimes I’ll hear where I’ll get a call from a mother of small children and her husband’s not having issues.
Her kids aren’t having issues, but she feels really sick and the house does test for mold.
So why?
Why is she testing for it or having issues with it and everybody else isn’t?
So we’re going to kind of get into that, why that may be today as well.
So it’s going to be a great episode.
All right.
The first first topic that we’re kind of going to cover is a general overview of what exactly mold is.
So Doctor Joel, you want to kind of take back over and go over that one?
Yeah, let’s do it.
So mold in its simplest sense is a fungus, right?
So if we have some kind of mold growth, you know some people have literally seen black mold growing on their wall.
There’s different types of mold and we’re not going to get into the different types too much because I think for this conversation and clinically it’s not that important.
But essentially anytime you have this kind of fungus that’s growing and in this mold that’s growing in your home, in your workspace and your school, essentially the fungus is going to give off little spores, little seeds into the air.
And we call those mycotoxins.
Those mycotoxins are essentially what causes a lot of issues, right, with the mold toxicity.
And we’ll get into just a little bit the different signs and symptoms that people may experience with that kind of toxicity.
But essentially those seeds are going to kind of come off, they’re going to be in the air, there’s mycotoxins, we breathe them in and then essentially they start they’re they’re basically poisonous to us, right.
You mentioned, you alluded to the fact that some people are more sensitive to mold than other people.
And I believe the statistic that I heard was that about 40% of people are kind of sensitive to mold issues.
And so that’s why sometimes you’ll see you know some people in a family respond very poorly to a new environment, some people do fine.
So, so the the, the mold in general is a fungus.
It’s going to give off these seeds that we call mycotoxins, we breathe those in and those can cause us issues if we’re not able to readily detox them.
That’s kind of my simplest explanation of the kind of mold in the general overview there.
Doctor Tim, is there anything that you would add to that?
I think that sums it up pretty well.
So in addition to that it’s a matter of how it enters your system and will affect digestion and and and all those other things as well.
So there’s the mold component which is going to give you maybe some upper respiratory type symptoms where you might get some dripping in the back of your throat, a little bit of a cough, feelings of fatigue, a little bit rundown.
But if it takes hold in your digestive tract, it could lead to some sort of overgrowth in the largest or small intestine.
It can lead to other issues as well.
And so I guess that’s the only other part point I would add there.
Yeah, for sure.
So what are signs and symptoms of mold?
So mold toxicity is really an issue that I think a lot of doctors and a lot of our healthcare system today has a hard time with diagnosing because, number one, the symptoms are generally going to be different for every person.
So if you give me 5 different people that have more toxicity issues, generally people are going to have fatigue, people might have headaches, people might have hormonal imbalances, they might have poor sleep.
Those are some of the more general symptoms that people will have.
There’s other symptoms as well, right?
Like chronic pain.
I would say brain fog is definitely going to be a common symptom there.
A lot of people have anxiety and then we get into some of the other symptoms that kind of throw people for a loop with things, right.
So the neurological symptoms, whether you have some kind of radiating symptoms, some kind of numbness, tingling, things like that.
And then you know we talked. I talked a little bit about the mood with anxiety, but you can also get depression and other issues like that.
So there’s a lot there and essentially those combinations of symptoms are going to be different for every person and that’s why it can be really hard for doctors to be able to see all these different sides of symptoms and say oh that looks like mold.
Dr Joel: Now obviously you know doctor Tim, you and I are always looking for that with patients as far as considering that when we are working with people and just kind of taking that holistic approach.
But it can be, it can be kind of tricky I think a lot of times for doctors to be able to narrow that down.
You know, we, I think if for the listener, if you’ve been considering mold issues, we’re going to get into in just a second, we’re going to get into how to confirm that you might have mold issues and what that looks like.
So that’ll be important.
But as far as the signs and symptoms of what people may experience, these are the main symptoms.
But to be honest, there’s, you know, it could be, it’s weird, it could be different for every person.
And that’s part of what makes detoxing mold kind of tricky.
So let’s talk about spotting mold in our environment.
So we’re going to talk about, OK, what if we think we have mold issues?
Those are the signs and symptoms we’ll get into in a second, how to diagnose it and confirm it.
Or we’re going to talk about how to fix these issues.
But next, let’s get into spotting mold in your environment.
So mold can be anywhere.
Mold and in this fungus is essentially going to grow in kind of these damp areas where there’s just enough moisture to kind of give it life.
And so anywhere in your home, anywhere in your workspace, anywhere in your school where there is poor air circulation, any kind of past water damage really those two are, are the biggest ones.
There’s going to be a chance for mold to grow.
And one of the challenges with mold and understanding if it is growing or if it’s in your environment is that you’re not normally not going to see it.
It might be kind of above the ceiling tiles, it might be in the roof, it could be in the walls.
It’s going to be generally hard to see.
And so you know, again that kind of adds to some of the difficulty here.
The next thing that I wanted to mention was that one thing you can look for is signs of water damage.
So if you go into like old buildings, sometimes just gas stations, sometimes even churches, things like that, old schools, if they’ve, if they’re older than, you know, four, 5-6 years and and on often times you can see kind of those yellow like circles in the ceiling tiles or different parts of the walls.
And that’s a sign that there was some kind of water damage there and if that is not dried out well, if there’s not good circulation, a lot of times it’s going to turn into a mold issue and kind of cause some issues with that air quality.
So just some things to look for there as far as kind of how to spot it in your environment and what to look for a doctor.
Tim, is there anything you would kind of add to that when you’re telling patients about you know what to look for as far as mold around the house or their work environment things like that?
It can sometimes be rather tricky to find, like you were saying in the walls, in the ceiling, all those things.
Another great place to look is near your faucets.
You know, the spigot of your shower, things like that, where you might not readily see there being an issue, but maybe it’s just hidden behind the paint where if you were to take the caps off, you can see that it’s kind of leaking into the wall or you know, under windows.
If windows aren’t sealed properly, you can get hidden issues where you have hidden water damage that you don’t even realize.
A couple years ago, my parents actually, they were going to get the bathroom in my childhood home redone and they started pulling tiles off and it ended up being a job that was much bigger than they expected just because the window wasn’t sealed properly and the entire wall up there had all kinds of water damage and they needed to replace all kinds of wood.
So it can be kind of tricky but bathrooms, laundry rooms, your kitchen like check out of your kitchen sink, all those areas where there is plumbing that’s active through there and you’re using them frequently as well as under windows are really good spots to look for it.
And to just be aware that although you might not see it you can’t discredit that there may be mold there because it could require pulling drywall off to be able to see anything.
And so that kind of brings up our point of like testing.
So how can we test our home to know if there is mold?
Because if we’re reacting to it and it’s in our home, there’s some sort of free floating spores, mycotoxins, all those things in the air.
But if we can’t see them, how do we, how do we know where they are?
So that’s where testing the home and you know testing dust, testing the air.
Some of these at home test kits you’ll just go through and kind of swab different parts of your house, different vents near areas where you think may be affected, like your bedroom, your living room, areas where you are in your house very frequently.
And then from there it’ll tell you if it, if it’s there or if it’s not there.
And even if you don’t see anything, if that test does come back positive, you can rest assured that it’s probably hidden somewhere behind some drywall or in a ceiling somewhere where it’s not easily spotted.
Even if you know, even if it’s a new, excuse me, even if it’s a home that you just moved into and it appears to be in great shape, there could have been, you know, there could have been a bit of a flood or some sort of leak that they totally dried out and repaired.
But even in those instances, unless you totally remove everything and dry everything, completely replace all the studs in the wall, all the drywall, whatever it may be, there can still be issues there.
And so it can be kind of tricky to track down.
And that’s where testing the home is very, very, very necessary.
There are some home test kits that you can even get at Home Depot that seem to have pretty, pretty decent reviews.
I don’t have great experience with those.
I know Doctor Joel, he was mentioning it’s called the Ernie Mold test kit where that’s provided by a couple different labs.
It’s between 2:00 and and 300 hours just for doing a little research online and that seems to be pretty good.
Doctor Joel, do you have anything you kind of want to elaborate on with that or?
Yeah, yeah.
Full disclosure with the lab testing for mold, as far as, sorry, not lab testing, but in home test kits, I don’t have a ton of experience personally with them.
The Army test kit, which is spelled ERMI, you look that up online, there’s a number of different providers with that.
Essentially like Doctor Tim said, they’re going to run around 200 dollars, 200 to 300, somewhere in that range.
And essentially what you do is it’s basically just you place it out in in a you know certain part of your room and it’s going to collect different germs and so forth in the air and then you’re going to send it in and they’re going to kind of run a culture on it and see what all is growing on that on that dish.
So I’ve heard great things about that.
A lot of doctors that I’ve talked with that have great success with mold issues and they see a lot of mold patients they’ve had, they’ve had a really good success and they recommend the army test kit.
So it’s something to look into.
With all the test kits though, it’s, you know, just good to do research and just kind of compare different reviews and see what is good.
Now you know when we talk about confirming if you have mold in your home, the test kits can be really good.
It’s also not a bad idea to do a little bit of research and contact kind of a mold expert, somebody that will come to your home and look around and investigate a little bit and whether you pursue that or you pursue maybe diagnosis of mold issues with yourself before investigating the home very thoroughly.
You know, it just kind of depends on where you’re at with things and what makes the most sense to you.
But I think that’s the only thing I would add to that.
So yeah, the Army test kit, there’s other test kits.
I would definitely encourage you to look into them and just kind of do some research and see what seems to be a great quality test.
And you know, again, I, I generally recommend the Army test kit for patients.
So now let’s let’s jump into diagnosing mold and then we’re going to get into how to fix these mold issues and how to go about that with our own health and our own body, but also with our our house or home and and so forth, ’cause that’s that’s very important to not only figure out if we do have mold issues, but to figure out OK, if so, like where’s it coming from.
So let’s talk about diagnosing mold.
So you’ve got different mold signs and symptoms and you are, you know, suspecting that you have some kind of mold issue.
So number one, with diagnosing you can run some lab tests.
So the best lab test that I’m aware of, the only lab test that I would run for my patients, is called the Mycotox profile from Great Plains Laboratory.
I made a YouTube video on a kind of mold detox and wrote some articles on it in those and even if you just go online and search up the Great Plains Laboratory Mycotox profile, that’s MYCOTOX profile.
You can find a sample of that test.
It’s a blood draw and it basically checks a bunch of different types of fungus in your system.
So that can be really, really good.
That test as far as price wise, off the top of my head I think it’s at least 2-3 maybe $400, probably depends on the provider as well, but that’s a really good test to consider.
The other way that you can diagnose mold issues is primarily how it’s my primary selection and my primary choice for when I’m working with patients and I know Doctor Tim will utilize this as well.
But using the neurological testing, the muscle testing and with the applied kinesiology being able to figure out, OK, is there a mold toxicity issue here?
Number one, is it here.
Number two, what’s needed to detox it?
And then #3, is there an infection that’s come from the mycotox or toxicity and you know what we need to address that.
So there’s a couple pros and cons with each of these.
I would say the biggest pro for the lab test is going to be you.
You get numbers with it, you get a big picture, you get numbers and you can see if it’s, you know, through the roof or if it’s moderate and so forth.
The challenge with the lab test though is you can’t necessarily test what’s needed to fix the issue.
And then I would argue you can’t necessarily from that alone, you won’t find any kind of fungal infection that’s developed from the mold toxicity issues.
So there’s a couple things to keep in mind when considering that test.
Now obviously there’s no harm in running the test.
You’re going to get information.
It’s just a matter of if you want to spend the hundreds of dollars.
On the other hand, the testing that we do in our appointments and so forth, with the technique that we do, we’re able to figure out if there’s a mole toxicity, what’s needed to detox it and then if there is an infection that’s developed from it and it’s some kind of dysbiosis issue.
The one con to our approach is that we can’t necessarily see the severity of things as far as numbers on a scale.
But I I would argue personally that it’s it’s less important because when we’re able to find the mold issue, figure out what’s needed to detox it and kill it if it’s turned into an infection, you know, patients get better And so as patients get better all their symptoms go away and and they are becoming healthy essentially the, the, the number of you know, molds wars and things like that is, is less important I believe.
So that’s kind of my approach, kind of our approach to diagnosing mold.
You got the blood test that you can do, you got the different types of kind of functional neurology, the muscle testing and being able to get to the bottom of those things.
And as always if you’re new to listening to our podcast, we’re really big on a technique called systems healthcare.
So it’s built off of applied kinesiology and it’s amazing at getting to the root of these different issues.
So there’s a lot of different practitioners that do muscle testing in general and everybody does it a different way.
We’re convinced and have extreme confidence in this specific specific technique and just its ability to do things with extreme specificity.
So that’s how I go about diagnosing and figuring out if patients have mold is either through the lab test and or through the functional neurology, the muscle testing doctor.
Tim, anything that you would add to that?
Anything else that you like to do with your patients?
Not necessarily.
I heavily rely on the applied kinesiology side of things.
Mainly for like you said, it’s really difficult to figure out where to go with things without it.
You can have the test light up like a Christmas tree that you’ve got all these you know you’re reacting to all these different types of mold.
But if you don’t know exactly what sort of things that are being tested to help with that patient and their mold issue.
You’re not going to be able to treat it as effectively and it’s going to be a very long road.
A lot of different mold protocols are three to six months where other functional medicine doctors will have people go on these protocols of a wide variety of these broad spectrum antimicrobials for months at a time.
In addition, it’s going on very very restrictive diets to deal with the hyper reactivity to it.
And then from there it’s a matter of do they have to keep doing that forever to keep symptoms at bay.
And if that’s the if that’s the answer yes then you’re not really finding the root of the issue if you’re solving the issue you shouldn’t react to things anymore.
And so utilizing the system self-care we can figure out OK if it is more of a mold toxicity that’s affecting the immune system and let’s address it that way.
Is it more of a mold issue that has taken hold in the gut and let’s address the gut complaint.
But regardless of whether it’s the chicken or the egg there what we can address as well is, is the aldehyde component or mycotoxin component where like you’re saying you know numbness or tingling if you get, if you get like thoracic outlet type syndromes where symptoms where you get numbness in your hands when you’re doing things shortly after you have like a gut issue or you moved into a new home.
That’s a great indicator for an aldehyde toxicity within the technique that we utilize. The place where we’ll find aldehyde issues to test very often is off of the PEC minor due to the correlation with liver detoxification of aldehydes.
And so things that you can utilize to help mitigate that are things like molybdenum or niacinamide and a few other things.
But it can be tricky.
There’s the balance of the immune or gut component of things and then the balance of the aldehyde component.
And if you don’t treat both very often, there will still be some mold or dysbiosis that holds on and you that’s that.
That ends up being the case where people will go on these big long protocols where they feel great.
But it’s only if they stick to the carnivore diet or other restrictive diets with it, because you’re essentially balancing the immune system to eliminate the hyperreactivity to things as well as eliminating the food for the mold and other fungus that may be present.
And so if you’re eliminating that, symptoms will reduce.
It’s just a matter of finding what will keep it gone even without doing these heavily restrictive diets.
And that’s where I’m a huge fan of why we do how we do things and why we do them.
Because if you deal with the mold issue, if you deal with the gut issue and you deal with the aldehydes, they shouldn’t have any issues anymore.
And sure, here and there maybe they get really stressed or they get sick and they become more susceptible to these issues again.
They may need, you know, one herb for about 10 days to two weeks, OK and then it’s good to go.
But it takes eliminating all those things in conjunction to really solve the issue.
So without that it can still linger.
So that’s my two cents there.
Yes, thanks.
I think that’s good.
Good way to wrap that up.
Yeah, for sure.
Thanks for sharing.
So let’s jump into a couple things.
I’m going to take a step back.
Doctor Tim just mentioned a lot of awesome things, and there’s so much, so much there.
So we’ll try to unpack this a little bit more when we talk about diagnosing mold.
A couple things #1 If you’ve done a lot of research with diagnosing or I’m sorry, detoxing mold and addressing mold issues, you’ve probably seen a lot of different practitioners recommending different binders, whether it’s activated charcoal or maybe bentonite clay.
Something along those lines to attempt to bind the mold spores and get them out of the body.
A lot of different protocols like doctor Tim mentioned can be you know hey you want to do this for three months, you want to do this for six months.
I had a patient recently that was doing some research and she was asking me, hey, does it take five months to truly detox mold? And I said no, I said I don’t think so.
And a lot of the success that we’ve had in our practice, our practices, Dr. Tim, you and I think it is really profound that you can detox mold as fast as two to three weeks as long as you’re not being exposed to it and you have the right nutrients to do so.
So let’s take a step back and talk about that a little bit more.
Mold in its most, you know, basic sense chemically, wise, chemistry wise, mold is and considered an acetoaldehyde.
Acetoaldehydes are essentially any kind of chemicals that you know they’re going to be in the air, we’re going to smell them, things like that.
And so if somebody has a sensitivity for example to candles, a sensitivity to smells, things like that, then chances are they have an acetoaldehyde toxicity.
Now if you have an acetoaldehyde toxicity, since mold is chemically in acetaldehyde, you could be actually just a mold toxicity, could be that you have acetaldehydes coming from different gut dysbiosis, gut infections and things like that.
But when we talk about this acetaldehyde understanding it’s foundational because with acetaldehydes, when we talk about detoxing them and breaking them down in the liver, there’s four nutrients that are needed to undergo this pathway to turn it into acetic acid.
And so as I’m talking about acetyl aldehydes, I’m really talking about mold here.
So four things that chemically will break down mold and turn it into acetic acid, which actually goes into the Krebs cycle and helps us make energy.
There’s four nutrients.
So one is vitamin B2, riboflavin, vitamin B3, niacinamide, iron and then molybdenum.
And so when doctor Tim and I are working on mold patients, we’re figuring out OK, what nutrients are does this patient have and what nutrients does this patient not need or not have And they need a lot of times every time actually I would argue if you have all four nutrients and good amounts in your system, you’re going to detox the mold and it’s, it’s going to be perfect.
You’re going to detox it within, I would again, I would argue two to three weeks at best with that.
And that’s usually the type of thing that we’ll see.
Now, it’s extremely important and we’ve kind of alluded to this a couple times, but it’s extremely important to understand that the mold spores, if they’re in your system for any kind of longer period of time, four weeks, six weeks and so on, the spores can grow and turn into a fungal infection that’s usually going to take hold in your gut, whether it’s your small intestine, large intestine and that kind of thing.
So if you have chronic mold exposure, it’s really important to understand that you need to detox the mold spores and then you also need to effectively address the mold infection in your gut.
Usually that infection is going to result in a lot of bloating, gas, poor digestion, reactions to foods.
It could result in migraines and things like that, but it also results in a vitamin B2 and an iron deficiency.
So it’s kind of a nasty cycle where you get a mold toxicity issue.
Over time it turns into a mold infection, which then feeds that fungus, feeds on your iron and B2.
Now you have a deficiency with two of the things that are actually needed to help detox this mold.
And then over time, your body will start taking all of the niacinamide, the B3 and all of the molybdenum in your system and aim it towards detoxing the mold spores.
Now you have a niacinamide and a molybdenum deficiency and that’s going to impact so many different systems with our health, so many different hormone issues, so many different detoxification pathways and so forth.
So it’s important to keep all that in mind.
As far as jumping into diagnosis with patients, generally patients are needing niacinamide B3 which I think I’ve mentioned in some of my other videos.
But the niacinamide from Thorne is the only company I like to use with that.
I’m not sponsored by them here in this video or podcast or anything like that, but that’s what I found to work extremely well.
And then molybdenum, you can get a lot of different things, you can get molybdenum from a lot of different places.
I think biotics research is probably the main one I like to use for patients.
But niacinamide and molybdenum are needed for almost every mold patient in the mold case.
And then you’ve got to figure out, OK, is this a chronic issue and if so what’s needed to kill the fungus in the gut?
You have to address them both at the same time effectively and successfully in order to be able to resolve mold issues in as little as two to three weeks.
And so how do you go about addressing the fungus issues in the gut?
A lot of times you’re going to, you’re going to want herbs with that.
So the top herbs, Dr. Tim, I’ll have you share your clinical insights and expertise on this too.
But the herbs I’ll see are some kind of combination between maybe Astragalus, Malia, Golden Seal, Golden Thread or Miranda.
There’s probably about five there.
And for every mole patient, they usually are needing two of those, some combination of two of them.
But it’s different for every patient, which makes it a little bit tricky.
So if you can detox effectively with the niacinamide and molybdenum, you have the right herbs to address things.
Then as you kill the fungus in your gut, you’re going to get your iron and B2 back and then you’re effectively going to be able to detox the scores.
So that’s kind of the big picture of how I like to go through basically helping patients detox through these things and through these pathways.
Dr. Tim, I know that you touched on this a little bit, but anything else that you wanted to kind of add to that and kind of complement that?
The last thing I would add is just stressing the importance of those listening at home to not just immediately take B2B3 niacinamide and I’m sorry molybdenum and iron.
If you’re if you were to take any of those for you, you kind of harped on this little bit.
Niacinamide and molybdenum are the way to go.
Usually those two are the ones that I’ll find a test if not most of the time molybdenum.
But because B2 or riboflavin and iron can feed the gut bugs and fungus that’s taken hold there.
Even if you are needing that to clear the aldehyde issue, you do not want to make the gut issue any worse by feeding that.
And so if you’re just soliciting at home and you’re using this as like a little clinical tidbit to help self treat yourself, stay away from those two.
Stay away from riboflavin, stay away from iron.
If you clear up the gut issues, which I mean it can be very difficult if you’re doing that on your own, stay and stay away from those two things because you just do not want to make that worse.
And like you were saying with clearing up the mold issue itself, a variety of different Berberines, you know, like you said, golden thread, golden seal, organ, grapefruit.
And then Thorne also has a supplement called just Berberine.
Those are all great antimicrobials.
And then like you said, Astragalus, neem, noni fruit, all those things.
I’ll often see things like OSHA Root or every now and then Andrographis, and then there’s a few others, but they don’t really show up that much if you were.
If you’re at home listening, stick to your main burgerines, your Golden Thread, Golden Seal, Oregon grape, your name or Malia from Supreme Nutrition or Noni Fruit or Miranda from Supreme Nutrition.
Those are some really good ones.
Every now and then I will see that there’s like a biofilm issue with that stuff as well, specifically with as it relates to the mold or fungus issues with stuff.
And that will require things like Clover, thyme, Rosemary, oregano or eucalyptus.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of patient by patient basis and if they’re not getting better, why aren’t they getting better?
So that’s when you kind of dig into is there some sort of biofilm issue and that’s where you know, utilizing the techniques that we utilize or the system’s healthcare, we can figure out, OK, what is the, what is the one thing that you need.
And I struggle to even bash any other doctors because most people that do just normal functional medicine they don’t utilize the applied kinesiology to figure out exactly what you need.
So if it can be 15 different things how can you possibly narrow it down to one or two things to get in a more therapeutic dose in a shorter period of time.
It’s a crapshoot at that point.
And so if you’re, if you’re listening at home, yes, I would definitely recommend if you have this issue to you know do one or two things and do them at a pretty decent dose.
But that’s just within our clinical experience.
Those those who aren’t listening, those other functional medicine docs who who do it their way and they’ve seen seen success a lot of times it is more stuff for a longer period of time at a lower dose and that’s where with with what we do we can kind of figure that out a little bit better.
But just reiterate, stay away from the B2 and iron if you’re listening at home, all the other herbs and then molybdenum and nice Semite are fair game.
But make sure to stay away from those unless you really work closely with somebody who can help you identify if that’s an issue that’s feeding those bugs.
Great advice, excellent.
I would like to take you off that.
Piggyback off that just a second.
Also, be careful with herbs.
Herbs are super powerful.
They can be extremely healing.
But if it’s an herb that doesn’t, you know it’s if it doesn’t resonate with your system, if it’s not a good herb for you and your gut and so forth, it could also cause issues.
So you just want to be careful with that.
And as Doctor Tim said, work with, work with a professional that’s really, really good and experience a lot of this.
So Doctor Tim, that was awesome.
Hey, we’ve got to wrap up.
I want to touch on one or two more things here and then we’ll and then if there’s anything else that you want to add to this then that would be wonderful.
I think this has been excellent.
I think this has been wonderful to walk through all these different things and talk about these things more in depth.
A couple other things I want to add.
If you ever walk into a space and you start developing headaches, you start getting a sinus stuffiness.
You have a runny nose.
If you start getting any kind of symptoms, you start breaking out in sweat.
These are all different signs and symptoms that you may be breathing in mold spores.
You may have just been exposed to a lot of these different issues.
I know it’s going to be different for every person, but essentially with, you know, being exposed to a lot of these things, you can develop different symptoms pretty immediately.
So if you ever do develop these symptoms, you know, think about, hey, could there be mold in the air?
Some people can actually sense or kind of feel or smell that there’s like a must kind of a muskiness in the air and that’s pretty common with mold things, but those people are usually, you know, much more sensitive to their surroundings and so forth.
So #1, if you ever find that you that you walk into a space and you start developing these different weird symptoms and things, stuffiness, headache, things like that, that’s a very good sign that, hey, the air you’re breathing in is, is very impure and there, there may be some mold issues.
The second thing, and the last thing that I’ll mention here before we kind of sign off is if you’re living in a mold space and you know there’s mold and you can’t get out, how do you go about addressing that?
Number one, you need to be taking niacinamide B3 and you need to be taking molybdenum every single day, about three times a day.
And you need to make sure you’re doing it at the right doses, that the right dose is going to be different for every person.
But essentially I’ll probably have to find some numbers there and then share that at some point.
But it’s going to be different for every person.
But you need to be taking it three times a day so that whatever you’re you’re taking in your body’s detoxing at #2.
If it’s obviously in your home or living space, you want to try to address it.
You want to get some experts out to look at it, start renovating it, cleaning it out and all those different things.
It might help to have some kind of really good air purifier.
One that I personally use and recommend for patients is called the Air Triad.
The My Air Triad.
I think I’ve alluded to this in some other videos, but it has ozone technology.
It also has what I’m thinking of.
It’ll come to me.
It has technology that essentially is going to strip off electrons and basically send the charged particles out into the air.
So it binds with whatever’s in the air and kind of gets heavy and drops to the ground.
That’s kind of the short version there.
But that can be extremely important to just have that running in your house to really try to mitigate a lot of the impure air that might be around until you can get it all cleaned up.
And then if it’s in a workspace where you’re going to work and you know it’s there and you know, obviously I’d recommend hey, your management so forth to try to address the mold issues, renovate and so forth.
If not, you know you can also see if you can get a good air purifier in there.
But All in all, even the air purifier is not going to 100% take the mold issue away.
You’re still going to be exposed somewhat, in which case it’s really hard.
But I’m usually recommending patients you know, considering a, you know, finding a different place to work and a different job and things like that.
Again, really hard, really difficult.
I hate telling patients that.
But mold is a serious thing.
You can just run your health into the ground if it is at your work.
What you want to do when you leave your work is when you get home, you want to take your clothes off, You want to put them in the washer because they’ve got all kinds of dandruff and mold spores and things like that on them.
And then generally you want to consider taking a shower and just kind of cleaning off, blowing your nose out, things like that, to really try to get it out of your system.
Sometimes it’s good to vacuum down your car as well if you’ve constantly been exposed to really moldy areas you get in your car, drive home, all those different things.
Mold will stay around in your system for years and years and years until it’s detox.
It’ll stay on your clothes.
It’ll stay on your items.
And so being able to clean some of that up can be really helpful.
Doctor Tim.
That’s all I got.
Thanks for listening.
What?
What else do you have to add in before we close up today?
Last thing I want to cover.
Is this the thing that we always talk about tolerance?
So with mold specifically or even just any sort of immune issue like whether it be metals or some other infection, we always use the term tolerance.
So with mold specifically, like you said, if it’s if it’s in your house, if it’s in your workplace, whatever it is, if we can really get to the root of the issue and deal with the mold, deal with your gut, deal with the aldehyde issue that may be coming with it, you shouldn’t really react to it as much anymore.
You should.
Sort of form this, this relationship with it where your body just sort of ignores it at that point and you don’t have that crazy immune reaction every now and then.
You know we will have patients where it just doesn’t work out that way where there’s a lot of underlying things that contribute to that immune hypersensitivity.
But for the most part if you do deal with the underlying mold issue, you are not doomed to having a mold issue forever.
It’s just a matter of let’s deal with the infection, let’s deal with the mycotoxins and let’s help your body deal with immune tolerance and kind of balance out so that way you don’t you don’t react to things as much.
If we can get to that point you should be good to go.
It’s just a matter of actually getting there and treating things effectively.
And so if you’re seeking out care for this issue specifically, you can find us online.
My website is flourishfwc.com
And then with that you can also find Doctor Joel on his website and he’ll share that in a minute.
But you can also find other docs who do systems healthcare@systemshealthcare.net.
There’s a there’s a little tab that says find a practitioner where there’s a list of all of us who are certified in that technique who utilize that in our practices every single day and as far as it goes for dealing with mold issues gut issues and the aldehyde issues that can arise from all those things.
In my experience I have found that other techniques really struggle to find the root and deal with it in a lasting way and we find this technique to be very specific and very thorough and that’s why we do things this way.
So I’m definitely biased but I highly recommend if you’re if you’re dealing with these issues and you’re you’re trying to find somebody to help you work through them give us a call reach out over e-mail find our website whatever whatever you got to do and try to find somebody in your area or somebody that you can at least get to relatively easily.
There are not a lot of us.
There’s like less than 20.
I would say more around that number, but hopefully you’ll be lucky enough and there’ll be somebody in your area that can help you with this stuff in the way that we do.
All right.
And with that, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, you name it.
I’m all on all the social media, not on Myspace, so we’ll have to leave that one out.
But yeah, find me online.
I post all sorts of reels from these podcasts as well as some other posts every now and then.
And for those listening, if you are in the Bentonville area next Thursday or I’m sorry next Wednesday the 31st at 6:30, I am doing a health talk at my office.
It’s going to cover essentially how blood sugar and stress relate to all sorts of other issues and why.
If you’re going to have some sort of New Year’s resolution and get your year started off right, the one thing that you need to do is make sure that you are eliminating hormone dependence to regulate your blood sugar because it bogs down the liver, steals resources from all sorts of other bodily processes and hormones, and at least do a whole slew of health issues.
So if you can come on down to that, and yeah, I’d love to see everybody there.
And then, yeah, Doctor Joel, take it away.
Yep.
Awesome.
And Doctor Tim, by the way, is located in Bentonville, AR for this listening.
If you’re new here, I’m Doctor Joel Miller located here in the Dallas, TX area.
Like Doctor Tim mentioned, if you’re not local or semi close to either of us, definitely go on the systems healthcare.net website and look for a practitioner that might be closest to you.
And don’t be afraid to travel a little bit.
I know a lot of our patients will travel multiple hours, sometimes over several states to see us.
That’s Doctor Tim myself and a lot of the system’s healthcare practitioners.
So definitely give them a shot.
They’re going to be really, really proficient at being able to get to the bottom of these issues.
Guys, thanks for tuning in.
You can find me online.
He mentioned my website, doctorjoelmiller.com.
You can find me on all the different social medias and would love to connect with you if you have any questions or are dealing with any issues.
Next we’re going to get into our next podcast we’re going to get into I believe Lyme and some other tick borne illnesses.
We’re going to get into some hormone issues in the next episode and we’ve got some other fun things coming on.
So guys thanks for tuning in.
Thanks for your support.
We love and appreciate all of you and we’ll see you guys in the next one.
Mold exposure can be difficult to identify, especially when symptoms seem unrelated or begin after a change in environment. Fatigue, brain fog, headaches, digestive problems, and even changes in mood may all occur alongside mold exposure.
Understanding where mold may be hiding, how it can affect the body, and what steps can be taken to identify exposure is an important part of getting to the root of unexplained health concerns.
Mold is a type of fungus that commonly grows in damp environments. When mold is present in a home, workplace, or other building, exposure to mold and mold-related toxins may contribute to symptoms in sensitive individuals.
Not everyone responds to mold exposure the same way. One person in a household may feel extremely unwell while others experience few or no noticeable symptoms. The body’s ability to process and detoxify unwanted substances may play a role in how strongly someone reacts.
Mold-related symptoms can look different from person to person, which is one reason identifying the problem may be difficult.
Common concerns may include:
Some people may notice symptoms shortly after entering a specific building. Developing a headache, sinus congestion, sweating, or other unusual symptoms in a particular environment may be a reason to investigate the air quality and possible mold exposure.
Visible mold is not always present. Mold may grow behind drywall, above ceiling tiles, around plumbing, near windows, or in other areas where moisture has collected.
Common areas to investigate include bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens, areas beneath sinks, windows with poor seals, and spaces with previous water damage.
Yellow or discolored areas on ceilings and walls may indicate previous water exposure. Even when a leak has been repaired, moisture that was not properly dried may create an environment where mold can continue to grow.
If mold exposure is suspected but no visible growth is present, environmental testing may provide additional information.
Home testing may involve collecting dust or air samples from frequently used areas of the home. ERMI testing is one option used to evaluate mold within an environment.
A professional mold inspection may also be helpful, especially when there is a history of water damage or symptoms consistently worsen while spending time in a specific building.
Finding the source of exposure is important. Supporting the body while continuing to live or work in a mold-contaminated environment may make long-term improvement more difficult.
Mold exposure may affect more than the respiratory system. Chronic exposure may also be associated with digestive concerns and changes within the gut.
The liver plays an important role in processing and clearing unwanted compounds from the body. Nutritional status and overall liver function may influence how effectively the body handles mold-related toxins.
Certain nutrients and herbs are sometimes used as part of a functional approach to supporting detoxification and gut health. However, supplementation should be individualized. Iron, B vitamins, and antimicrobial herbs may affect the body differently depending on a person’s specific needs and digestive health.
Taking multiple supplements without understanding the underlying problem may make treatment unnecessarily complicated or potentially aggravate existing issues.
The first priority is identifying where the exposure may be coming from. Consider whether symptoms began after moving into a new home, starting a new job, changing schools, or spending significant time in a building with water damage.
Testing the environment and addressing moisture or mold growth may be necessary. Air purification may help improve air quality, but it does not replace properly identifying and addressing the source of mold.
If exposure occurs at work or in another environment outside the home, changing clothes, washing exposed clothing, showering, and regularly cleaning frequently used spaces may help reduce continued exposure.
Mold exposure does not necessarily mean someone will struggle with mold-related symptoms forever. The goal is to identify the source of exposure, support the body’s detoxification processes, address potential gut imbalances, and reduce unnecessary stress on the immune system.
Because mold-related symptoms can overlap with many other health concerns, a personalized approach may be helpful when symptoms are chronic or difficult to explain.
Getting to the root of the issue means looking beyond symptoms alone and considering the environment, gut health, liver function, immune response, and the body’s ability to process unwanted compounds.
If you are struggling with unexplained fatigue, brain fog, digestive concerns, or symptoms that seem to worsen in certain environments, mold exposure may be one piece of the puzzle worth investigating.
