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What if the reason your mold protocol isn’t working is because your body’s not ready for it?

In this episode, I’m joined again by Gracie Sanchez, RD, our brilliant mold expert here at Hormone Healing. If you’ve ever thought that jumping straight into a mold detox was the way to go, Gracie will teach you why this mindset often backfires and how to focus on rebuilding the basic systems that mold has already broken down.

It’s not uncommon for people to rush into binders and antimicrobials before their body can handle them. Doing so while ignoring vitally important things like your circadian rhythm, mineral intake, and nervous-system balance can easily keep your symptoms stuck on repeat. Pushing through reactions can do a lot more harm than good… so tune into this episode to learn what has to come first before you even think about detoxing.This is a part 2 of a 2-part series where Gracie and I cover everything about mold and how to prevent it.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[03:19] The foundational systems your body needs in place before addressing mold toxicity
[05:22] How skipping these foundations can make you more symptomatic during detox
[07:09] What really triggers a histamine storm and why calming your system first matters
[08:38] The critical difference between pushing through symptoms and listening to your body
[09:54] Which gentle tools can help stabilize your immune system before full detox support
[14:07] Why food-based binders may be safer for sensitive bodies than supplements
[16:13] How simple hydration and electrolytes can transform your body’s detox capacity
[21:05] The pros and cons of mold testing, and when it’s actually useful
[30:03] The key minerals and nutrients mold exposure rapidly depletes and why they matter

You can work 1:1 with Gracie here.

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Transcript:

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Hormone Healing RD podcast. We’ll get clear, practical guidance for your healing journey. I’m Amanda Montalvo, women’s health, dietician and mineral experts. I have helped thousands of women and I’ve gone through my own healing journey and I know how overwhelming the wellness world can be.

[00:00:16] This show really aims to cut through the noise with simple research and clinical backed insights on hormones, minerals, and what your body truly needs to heal. And we are. With part two, with Gracie, our mold expert at Hormone Healing rd. Um, and we are gonna be getting into. How you can support your body.

[00:00:34] You know, what, what, what do we wanna avoid when we’re thinking of more of physically supporting our body? Last time we went through your environment, what mold is, where it can grow, how to minimize that. Um, remediation tips, things like that. So definitely listen to that episode if you have not already, since the main takeaway that we gave with that episode is that we don’t wanna try to.

[00:00:59] Treat [00:01:00] mold, do any sort of mold detoxification, really any like antimicrobials or detox support or anything. If you’re currently living in molds, you have to first remove yourself from the environment or fix whatever that environment is to remove that mold. Um, so today we’re gonna talk about why generic mold protocols don’t work.

[00:01:20] Um, how most people jump to advance most. Mold protocols without the foundation and what happens. And we’re gonna dig into mast cell activation syndrome. Um, and just how to, how to work on your foundations before you get into anything else. ’cause while it’s not sexy and a lot of people wanna skip it ’cause they’re like, I’m so ill, I feel so terrible.

[00:01:38] I know why people wanna skip it. I get it. But it’s really the only way you’re gonna find relief. Um, so thank you so much for being here again, Gracie. Absolutely. So let’s get into when. Should someone consider investigating if mold is an issue for them? Yeah. If you suspect you’ve been, you have a history of exposure or an active exposure.

[00:01:59] So if you lived [00:02:00] or worked in a water damaged building, um, visible mold present that you see, um, if you’ve experienced a musty smell in the home or workplace, it’s not always there. But if it is, um, that’s, that’s active mold. Um, recent water and regions floodings leaks. If there’s a building that has a history of moisture issues, that’s a huge red flag as well.

[00:02:23] And those are usually followed up with other symptoms that like multiple chemical sensitivities, food sensitivities, brain fog, memory issues, chronic fatigue, joint or muscle pain, recurrent infections, so that immune suppression is is kicking in. Um, Inca symptoms. Dys. Autonomia symptoms. And just unexplained multi-system systems is what I usually say, not just one of those.

[00:02:51] Yeah. It’s never, it’s, it’s like a whole host of things. Yeah. So if someone, they basically, they’ve worked on the [00:03:00] environment piece, right? So. Now, why should they avoid a generic mold protocol? Why should they not just they they cleared, they remedied in their home or got rid, moved to a different environment, that next step?

[00:03:13] How come what we don’t recommend go by that mold detox kit? Yeah, we’re skipping super important steps. So we’ve already remediating the mold, now we’re looking at the foundation. So typically circadian rhythm support is not in place. Sleep, wake, body temperature, hormone producing, digestion and metabolism support isn’t there?

[00:03:35] Um, sometimes nervous system support is also sometimes lacking. Um, a lot of our clients are gonna lack that physiological buffer to how to handle these toxins that are being mobilized. So, um, mold toxicity damages these systems and so. Super important to work on them prior to working on a big protocol.

[00:03:59] Um, how we [00:04:00] excrete our waste is another big thing. How you’re peeing, pooping, sweating, exhaling. A lot of us are holding our breath and actually mold. Um, as an adaption we tend to, um, shallow breathe versus deep breathing. That’s like an adaption that we see in mold, um, because it does affect the upper, um, respiratory system.

[00:04:23] And so mucus production administration are all part of that excreting waste. And so those need to gradually be in place or worked on at least, um, prior to our body dumping these huge mycotoxins into our lymphs and our detoxification processes because it’ll overwhelm those systems. And, um, so not having those foundations in place, circ rhythm, where we support our excreting our ways.

[00:04:51] And then, um, a lot of people, if you see a lot of the binder, a lot of the protocols out there, they work first on [00:05:00] binders and that can also be hurtful. You know, um, they don’t just bind up mycotoxins, they also bind up important nutrients that we need in the detoxification process. And so we love, love to talk about liver and bile here and how that helps us carry out these toxins from our body.

[00:05:21] Out of the system. And, um, typically binders will mobilize these toxins quicker or, um, um, to where our body’s not able to, to handle it. And essentially we start to recirculate them when, because we’re not able to get rid of them properly. Um, the reason being that sometimes clients are constipated, so binders make it worse and, um.

[00:05:49] They’re not, once again, the the elimination pathways are not in place. Yeah. It’s too much. It’s like too much, too, because it’s like, think about it, you’re going from being incredibly symptomatic. [00:06:00] There’s always a fatigue. I’ve never not had fatigue as like a component for like a mold client. Um, usually it’s, and if you do a hair test on them.

[00:06:10] What do you typically see bottomed out minerals. Just fast forward they’ve been, that means their body’s still stressed, but it doesn’t have the resources to back it up. Adrenals are exhausted, thyroid’s exhausted, low mineral resources, which minerals are very important for mold. The one of the bonus episode that I’m doing with this episode is all on minerals and mold, so.

[00:06:31] They, they’re, it’s ’cause think about it. Minerals help us detox. They help support bile, digestive juices, the liver, the whole detoxification process, our immune system. Like, it’s a huge, huge component. But even then you can’t start at minerals. ’cause even supporting your minerals will be very stimulating of detoxification.

[00:06:50] It’s like you, you gotta have the foundations in place of that circadian rhythm. Like you talked about nervous system support, um, and those like elimination pathways. It’s like that’s [00:07:00] always. Number one. Uh, and I just find like people like I try to take a binder and it stirs up. Just so much more stress in their body.

[00:07:08] Yeah. So let’s talk about the histamine storm that’s basically going to occur, um, as we go through, especially ’cause we see a lot of MCOs people, pots, hypermobility, all that kind of stuff with that mold history. Um, and why they are typically the worst candidate for a generic mold protocol. Yeah. Well. We know that most, we know that mold and mycotoxins are gonna activate those mast cells and so the immune system releases it histamine in the inflammatory mediators.

[00:07:41] And we have to calm that down first. We have to calm it down first. Um, before you start a big mold protocol or stabilizing, when you stabilize your, your response, then you’re able to handle these protocols. Reduce your likelihood of being super sensitive to the protocols that, that they’re [00:08:00] putting, that we’re putting you on, or any support, any support nutrients that we’re putting you on, and you’re better able to handle die off, um, later on as well.

[00:08:10] So if we, um, calm the system down first, then, then we can really, we can really need to, um, help the body get to that rest and repair state. Because initially we’re in that fight or flight state and we’re just not responding, we’re not gonna be able to respond and we’re not gonna be able to calm the storm down, essentially.

[00:08:33] Yeah. And then that’s what creates more symptom. You’re just more symptomatic. Because I think that’s like the hard part for people to grasp is that I’ll have people be like, should I just push through? I feel awful, but should I? And we’ve had clients ask this if they have a reaction to something. I can just push through it should just let me know, you know?

[00:08:54] So what is your answer to that? Don’t push through. No, we typically, [00:09:00] I mean, I think we’re, we’re, we’re the same. We’re, we’re the, um, we believe the same things and we, we, to scale back and give your tense, you give your body some time to catch up. It’s okay for it to take, um, longer than we originally thought to support the mold histamine piece.

[00:09:18] It’s definitely okay to scale back and. Listen to your body. If we’re skipping that, um, message, then um, the body can also get used to hearing being shushed. You know? Um, we don’t wanna do that. That’s definitely, we need, we need to be mindful of what our body’s telling us and scale back significantly. If that’s what what it means.

[00:09:40] That’s what it takes. And what are some of your favorite tools for if, for like, preparing someone? Like they’ve worked on the foundations, you know? Right. They’re, they’re eating enough, they’re getting their light, and they’re working on their nervous system. That’s a process. Right. That takes time. But they’re working on it.

[00:09:57] What, what are some of the things that you like to, [00:10:00] tools you like to use to calm that immune system reaction before you implement some of the like actual like mold detox tools? Yeah. I love, love. Um, quercetin is huge. I mean, um. I think that’s my number one. Um, one of my number ones that I go to nettles is huge.

[00:10:20] Um, um, I’m trying to think at a few others that, uh, were super, we we’ve used Barilla. In in client care as well. You like homeopathy too? I feel like you always know whenever I’m like crazy, what could I use for this? There’s a few different blends depending on like what you’re trying to support. Kidneys are always affected, um, and you help me out as well with where the kidney blends, but mm-hmm.

[00:10:50] There’s this line, there’s a company that I love to use and they have a lot of support for liver, kidney. I have a lot of. Even, um, mold blends [00:11:00] that can be super helpful. Um, so homeo, homeopathy is a big one too. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it’s a great one too for people that are really sensitive ’cause they tend to not react to it.

[00:11:10] So it’s you. Yeah. I love using a mix. Like typically you’re always gonna use like a mix, but, and then for like some of the people that have like their, their. Their symptoms are like more severe and they’ve, maybe they’ve been dealing with this, it’s not just like one mold exposure that triggered this, but it’s like they’ve been on this journey for a while.

[00:11:31] I’ll u like, I’ll use Pepcid. Zyrtec stronger over the counter, like antihistamines. It’s, some people don’t wanna do that and I totally respect that. Um. But sometimes like you gotta use the heavy hitters to get the histamines down at the beginning. Totally forgot about those. Yeah, those are our favorites really.

[00:11:48] I feel like you do more like herbal stuff. Like I’m always like, I love how gentle your approach is, you know, but it’s still effective and I think that’s something for people can look out for. If you are working with a [00:12:00] practitioner, you know, what are the, what’s the order of operations in, or if you’re interviewing practitioners.

[00:12:06] ’cause I will say. It’s like, it always makes me sad when people have seen like four to five practitioners before they come to us. I’m like, I wish you found us first. Um, because it’s like, they’re like, I’ve, the, usually on the application, the statement that I’ll read is I’ve, we ask what they’ve done before and like, did it help and.

[00:12:26] There’s, they’re out for the moldies. I love you that you call are kind the moldies for our sweet moldies that really need our care and support. We look, the application answer is always that they’ve tried X, Y, Z, they worked with however many different providers and they typically say, I could not tolerate anything that they recommended.

[00:12:47] And so that’s their main concern is like, are you gonna tell me to take stuff that I can’t tolerate? And I’m like, we are gonna help you find what you can tolerate. And again. Make sure that if someone’s going straight for a detox protocol, it’s [00:13:00] like, I, it’s, it’s so important to ask those questions. It’s like, what do you, what’s your approach?

[00:13:05] And no one can tell you. If someone can tell you exactly what they’re gonna have someone take, it’s like, that’s not a good sign because it should be customized to you, you know? Yeah. We do use a variety of homeopathy, a variety of supplement blends. I don’t stick to this one. As a matter of fact, if I, in the past, if I had providers who just stuck to one.

[00:13:27] One, um, like company I, that was a red black with me too. Oh yeah. Huge red. Yeah. And I get it. Sometimes it’s easier for the client if you’re just getting everything from one company, but. Can’t sacrifice how effective something is or like the approach, you know, for just making it more convenient because it usually like won’t work.

[00:13:48] So I think that’s like an important consideration if you’re like, okay, I’ve had this one exposure. I’m on these next steps. You work on your foundation and ev I’ve literally had clients see improvement in [00:14:00] symptoms just with circadian rhythm, just with working on nutrition or a good one that we didn’t talk about is.

[00:14:07] We talked about binders and how like generic mold protocols, those binders can stir stuff up, right? Because they’re not just binding and removing, they’re, they’re triggering a detox reaction in the body. I love food-based binders and incorporating those for super sensitive people. Um, I. I know you do that as well and it’s like, that’s another thing people could consider in the beginning if you tolerate it, depending on your digestion.

[00:14:30] But I love like chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, just raw carrots, like getting those beans, like those good fibers in and how that binds to that bile and gets it out of the gut. Because a lot of times your people are recirculating that. Absolutely. Insoluble fiber’s huge. There’s a lot of really good research.

[00:14:47] Um, and that’s actually where I start is food, you know, intolerable fiber from food. Um. In order of like least constipating. The most constipating I have found that like flax, Tia, uh, [00:15:00] rice, um, oats and then cilium. Huss. We lost cilium. Huss. Yeah. Cilium husk. Yeah, I forgot about that one. Yeah. Okra, kale, aloe.

[00:15:09] They all work is gentle binders and steamed is is where the research is too, like, um, versus raw. Um, but steamed okra, hale, aloe. I think even ground up okra finally ground up okra has been super effective. Um, as a binder. Yeah. So it’s, it’s like, it doesn’t have to always be like, let’s jump to a supplement in order to handle like the mold stuff.

[00:15:34] And so if we were gonna, so say like, you get through that order of operations, you’re working on the food binders, I would still wouldn’t add those in right away. I would focus on like the foundational stuff first. Then you can consider maybe experimenting with some food-based binders and also hydration, I mean.

[00:15:51] I feel like we could talk about that all day. Oh, absolutely. You know? Yeah. It’s like a huge one. If you’re not hydrated, that’s gonna affect your detox pathways, your [00:16:00] digestion, like so many aspects. Yeah. You mentioned there are always a four lows fast forward. Absolutely. You need to start to first. Yeah.

[00:16:07] And that’s where like those basic, you know, sodium, potassium can be very helpful. Um. What are some of your favorite ways to have people start hydrating if that’s like something that they’re not already doing? Well, the, our, the Adrenal cocktail recipes are, are amazing. Um, but starting simple. ’cause once again, they’re sensitive.

[00:16:26] So a lot of our clients probably don’t wanna do, um, by, by an in like an instant hydration or wanna, they don’t wanna buy a blend of, um. Electrolytes to start with, or minerals to start with. So single ingredient, coconut water, um, a dash of salt in the morning. It can just salt in the tongue. Soleil water is huge.

[00:16:46] Um, aloe, um, is a wonderful binder, but also very soothing and it has that mucin mucin poverty. It also tends to be the good bacteria. [00:17:00] Um. So aloe is also potassium rich tea, standalone root tea is huge. It’s also potassium searing. I think you, you spoke in town about that, um, in your course. And yes, it’s fantastic.

[00:17:13] Um, it is also bitter. And so there’s like a lot of these potassium rich, um, nutrients tend to have multiple things that they help you with. So single and readin is huge, um, and keeping it super simple. So that you can avoid sensitive, sensitive, re sensitive reactions or, or, um, just feeling worse. So just keep it simple.

[00:17:36] Yeah. And I love wic, especially if I have someone that we’re, we’re really trying to work on bile. Maybe they’re constipated. I see that a lot with mold or just like constipated loose stools, like the alternating, um, it’s. Like sea salt in your water or just like a little bit under your tongue, drink some water in the morning.

[00:17:55] Salt also helps stimulate bile, uh, or warm [00:18:00] lemon water, lemon that can also help stimulate bile. And it, they, they’re very gentle and they’re things that most people aren’t gonna have a reaction to. So again, it’s like those simple things, they seem small, but like dandelion tea, I mean, that. It’s so simple, but it not only helps support your minerals, uh, but it’s also gonna help support your liver and help with digestive juice production, which helps for detoxification.

[00:18:24] So those little things, they’re very, very helpful and I, I find that they make any supplements you take much more effective. Absolutely. Another thing too that I really loved during my, my, um, mold healing. About dandelion was, I couldn’t tolerate coffee at all. Like there was no way, one, I was probably drinking moldy coffee, but I was, I was probably like.

[00:18:48] Super depleted and I could not eat coffee, so I held off on it. And dandelion root roasted dandelion root, roasted dandelion tea was my favorite because it tastes earthy, you know, it’s quite [00:19:00] earthy. And so that was a huge replacement for me during that time. Yeah, and chi people like chicory root too, and that technically could be a good fiber as well.

[00:19:08] If you’re looking for a coffee replacement, that’s also gonna give you some other benefits. And then from there, it’s really getting specific to the person and what else they have going on. So we’re using all these like foundational things. Food-based binders. Hydration basics with mineral support, you know, that I’m always kind of talking about circadian rhythm, all that stuff.

[00:19:31] And then we do hair testing and stool testing with all of our clients. Um, let’s talk about. Mold testing because that’s probably one of the, I get a lot of inquiries on, like, should I test for mold? If, if, say we have a client that is struggling with, they know they had the exposure, we’re dealing with the mold issues, they’re like, well, how come we’re gonna do a hair test and a stool test versus doing a mold test?

[00:19:58] What would you say to that? Well, if a [00:20:00] person is, they’re, they’re known to be exposed to mold, then you know they have it. We still have to work on those foundations first and the hair test gives us all that information that we need to get started. Um, a stool test can be super helpful also to see like how to clean.

[00:20:14] Are we, um, how are those normal keystone commensals doing most of the time? Well, I’ve seen both things. I’ve seen locum menal and I’ve seen like major or reverse. Yeah. Um, I’ve also seen, you know, we also get that secretary IDA marker, which is super important in a liver marker ites, which is super important.

[00:20:32] Um. And so looking at those two, working on the gut, repairing, um, supporting our minerals, nervous system, ci, you know, circadian rhythm and having those foundations in place and then going forward and working on your gut. You’re doing that gently as you’re moving along, but then working through your gut sets you up for, um, even more.

[00:20:59] Uh. [00:21:00] Even, even better success, we wanna go through a, a DA mold protocol. So mold testing to me sometimes can be necessary. It depends on, on the person. I think if we have a real maybe sick, sickly person that might be beneficial to kinda, they’re not sure where they got, they were exposed from mold, but they, we know that they have mold like symptoms, so sometimes it can help help us.

[00:21:24] Um. Help us figure out which botanicals be, would be best for that particular person. Um, but there are four companies that I really, I’ve used three, the Mosaic, which used to be, um, great Plains. I’ve used Mosaic a ton, and I’ve used, um, vibrant Wellness, vibrant America a little bit. And then the, my Micro Lab is one that I recently started using.

[00:21:50] Um, and they all have different. Um, and then I think the other one was real time. The fourth one was real time. That, that’s a pretty, I haven’t either, but I know that that [00:22:00] one is used in the mold committee. Um, I just haven’t used it. But the first, the first three have been really effective. I have seen, like for instance, in the mosaic where the organic acid test, where you see the mold presentation there, but you don’t know exactly which, um, which mycotoxins you’re dealing with.

[00:22:19] Exactly. So that’s where the actual. Mycotoxin test is helpful. Um, and then I’ve also seen where that’s positive and in the stool test negative, like the candida piece is negative. I have seen that and I’ve also seen it present. So, um, it just depends on what we’re dealing with. So if a person is like, if we feel we need to get more information and more a data on like what exactly are we dealing with?

[00:22:43] Or maybe we’re not seeing any results of what we’re already doing with the protocols that we’re doing already. Um. Then we can move forward and do some mold specific testing, if that’s gonna be helpful. And I think there’s so many things you wanna consider with mold testing. Number one, if you have mold [00:23:00] symptoms, oh, well number one for anyone you depe, you can release a different molds, amounts and types like each day.

[00:23:08] What eats gonna affect your mold test? Um. And how well you’re detoxing things because I have seen clients that obviously have mold ex, they have the mold exposure, they’ve got all the symptoms, um, and then their mold test comes back. Not that bad. Very, very, uh, you know, underwhelming compared to what we’re thinking and it’s ’cause their body’s not eliminating well, which is why they’re so symptomatic.

[00:23:35] So I started to test. The person in the home that was not symptomatic and then I could see what mold is actually, ’cause they’re getting rid of it. You know, it’s usually the, it’s usually the husband or the kid and if there is one in the home. And I found that it’s like if we’d have both of ’em do the test and then it’s like the person that didn’t have symptoms, their test was completely different.

[00:23:59] [00:24:00] Yeah. I’ve had clients the same thing. Um, do elimination diets or like mold, like take out moldy foods. And, um, have a ton of mold present and I’ve had them take it out and not have a ton of mold present. Like I’ve seen so many different things. It’s really tricky. But you’re right, when we’re, when we’re trying to decide on what tests would be appropriate, and I’m still learning a little bit more about this, but, um, looking at your immune function, looking at your kidneys, your immune, um, threshold and looking at, um.

[00:24:33] So your ability to detox in general, those all impact which chest I would probably go with. Um, I’m starting to learn a little bit more about that, but that’s something else you can pay attention to. But yeah, the person’s detoxing well that might give you more bruise to like what you’re actually dealing with.

[00:24:49] I just was getting so frustrated. I’m like, I can’t. I’m not getting the information that I need to, and I’m like, it’s just so finicky. I still don’t think they’re like the best They, they can’t be the [00:25:00] only thing you look at basically, you know? But could they possibly be helpful for types of binders? Maybe.

[00:25:05] But I will say with my most sensitive clients, sometimes it just doesn’t matter. ’cause I can’t use that kind of binder with them. So I’m very much like a. Let’s do the foundations. I include hair mineral testing in that for sure. And then looking deeper at the gut so we can get that immune information.

[00:25:22] They, what is their, like are they, do they have a ton of fat in their stools? Should we really be honing in on vial even more? Like, I feel like you get. All the other pieces from those tests. And then again, if you need to take a deeper look at mold, then then you could consider mold testing. It’s just, I get that question a lot of like what mold test should, I’m like, well if you haven’t done anything else, then you probably shouldn’t.

[00:25:46] Do mold testing, and then sometimes it’s even more effective to do it once we’ve already been working on those foundations. ’cause then they’re eliminating it and then we can see it come up on their test. Um, yeah. And you had mentioned, uh, moldy food, and I know someone’s gonna [00:26:00] ask what those are, what food ha what, which foods are gonna be higher in mold?

[00:26:06] Yeah. So I think of, I think of, well, as far as like. Also being cautious of like B vitamins, yeast, yeast flakes. Um, medicinal mushrooms are also moldy. Um, I was, I got sick around that time where kombucha was a big thing too. I was doing a ton of kombucha and that was just awful. Um, I had so much brain fog, it wasn’t even funny.

[00:26:36] Um, Saccharomyces boulardii can be, can be moldy. It’s, it’s a fungal, it’s a fungal probiotic. And so, yeah, cheeses, um, certain beverages like kombuchas uh, coffee, g um, rains can be moldy. The list can be quite long. Um, and there I [00:27:00] have two tiers that I typically will work through with the client if we decide to do.

[00:27:04] It’s, um, it’s rare that I, well, I do, we do see a lot of sickly clients, a lot of moldy, but, um. There’s two tiers, um, that I tend to focus on in on and, um, like how much we’re gonna actually move. And for instance, like the second tier would be like carbs and working, minimizing a little bit of the carbs. But yeah, a lot of those foods tend to wreak havoc and make symptoms worse sometimes.

[00:27:32] And it just depends on the person, literally. I wonder supplements in general, like. I have never really looked into this, but I feel like supplements in general could probably be a pretty big exposure. Yeah, yeah. I know for me, I couldn’t tolerate, um, Cy Mylar at all, and I couldn’t tolerate, um, a b complex, so I didn’t understand why back then.

[00:27:58] No one can really tell me why. [00:28:00] Um, but yeah, those are brought on moldy mediums and, um, ESP like I mentioned, is. Uh, a fungal, um, probiotic strain that is beneficial most of the time, and it also helps boost your immune system when you’re in the right place. But I think for me, and for some, some of my clients, I think of mold or fungal overload as a histamine bucket.

[00:28:21] You know, use that same analysis. If you, if your fungal bucket is full, then that probiotic might just set you off, or that B vitamin might just set you off. I remember yeast flakes. I remember reading, um, seasonings, like, no, no other thing. Like I would read a seasoning and panic because there was yeast flakes in there and it would make my skin reactions worse.

[00:28:49] And so it was just that my fungal bucket was full and overflowing. Um, but yeah, those antibiotics are also, um, made through, [00:29:00] um, mold. Some of them, not all of them. Yeast flakes be medicinal. Mushrooms be, yeah. I don’t think a lot of people realize that. And yeah, it’s like you said, like it’s like histamine issues.

[00:29:14] If you. You can remove high histamine foods and still not get relief from your symptoms. You could probably remove moldy foods, but not notice a difference in your symptoms. It’s, it’s not the root, it’s not like you have to follow that diet forever. It’s just like you could do those things to reduce your load a little bit.

[00:29:32] Obviously the environment, I mean, the biggest one when it comes to mold, um. Yeah, I was like, I know people are gonna ask about those. So I have to ask you, and then before we wrap up, let’s just go through what are the major nutrients that are depleted when it comes to mold, um, in the body. And then we’ll leave it there.

[00:29:54] And then if people want more information on minerals and stuff, then I’ll, I’ll dig into like [00:30:00] all of that in the bonus episode. So the four lows, first four, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, magnesium. We use that up in detox. It’s a, we use it up in our stress response. Um, so mold exposure and inflammation can drive that loss.

[00:30:18] Um, calcium, I see that often dysregulated rather low, low in, in the, especially in HTMA. Um, but mold induces acidity and inflammation and the disturbs the calcium magnesium balance. Um, sodium and potassium. The adrenals are completely overworked in mold illness, and so low sodium is pretty common in that adrenal fatigue picture.

[00:30:43] And then also potassium tends to drop with it. Zinc, um, sometimes I may see it, um, higher on the HCMA test and they’re just burning through it really quickly. Um, or sometimes I’ll see a low. [00:31:00] On the HTMA, but zinc is huge. Um, we need that for tissue repair, immune balance, glu glutathione production. Selenium is another common one that we also may see what, it may see it high or low, um, where it’s crucial for glutathione, peroxidase, and fiber protection.

[00:31:18] So it is depleted during oxidative distress and when we’re exposed to all toxins. Um, manganese required for superoxide dismutase, um, and mitochondrial defense. And it’s often low with this, um, chronic exposure to mole or my mycotoxins. And then, um, molin none, which is my favorite. It’s critical for metabolizing ides and sulfur compounds from all our, all of our, all of our mycotoxins.

[00:31:51] And so. We use that quite quickly, especially um, when candida’s an issue and [00:32:00] sometimes I tend to see, well, finishing up through the hair test, copper imbalances, um, mold can dysregulate copper a ton and it’s antifungal so. That’s dysregulated. Just another thing that your, your mold, your mold bucket’s gonna get overflowed.

[00:32:15] Absolutely. And then sulfur compounds or sulfur using in glutathione for production and detox pathways, especially that phase two conjugation. So mold can impair that sulfur metabolism. And that’s where I also remember sour being an issue for me too. On the later basis. And so people tend to be sensitive to sulfur foods or supplements in like endo cysteine or um, cruciferous vegetables.

[00:32:45] And, um, iron, I tend to see iron. Um, mycotoxins can block iron utilization. And so sometimes in the blood work it may show up as a deficiency or uh, it may be imbalanced in the HTMA. [00:33:00] Um, when we do go with all the markers for iron. Glutathione is like game number one. It’s our master antioxidant. Super helpful, and we burn it out one really quickly when we’re exposed through mycotoxins and, um, sometimes we can’t tolerate an acetyl cysteine, which is a precursor to glutathione.

[00:33:17] So we look at other, other things like lysine and vitamin C. To help repeat it. I love glycine too, ’cause it’s so good for your gut and I don’t know anyone with mold issues that doesn’t always also need like, that gut support too. Oh yeah. I love glycine. Even to this day. I know it’s a very calming and it’s like it’s safe during pregnancy.

[00:33:38] Yeah, yeah. Glycine is safe. It’s super safe. Yeah. Yeah. Except the, the passion flower I was thinking of is not safe. But, um, ’cause I like to put. Glycine and passionflower together. It’s like, if you wanna chill, that’ll, that’ll make you chill. But yeah, it’s like one of my, one of my like more ta and like, people usually tolerate it even if they’re super sensitive.

[00:33:57] Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Glycine is [00:34:00] one of my number ones. I, I don’t think, I don’t think I’ve had a, a sensitivity to it and it’s really nice and convenient. You can get it in a powered form. And it doesn’t taste bad. So sip ringy prepares your gut. Go for methylation, you know, it does, does all the things. And then what about vitamins?

[00:34:17] Because I know that’s something that I feel like that often gets a, like if, when I see someone, like they go see like a functional doctor or naturopath it the, they’re like put on like super high doses of like B vitamins, vitamin C, D, you know, and then they’re like, I feel awful. I know. We have a very gentle per, if anything, we’ll add maybe B six initially, if we put the need for that detoxification and adrenal support, um, I usually see B 65, B12 Foley super low.

[00:34:48] Um, and sometimes you can see that in the cobalt, the HTMA, you can see that was away. Um, but be 12 when BB 12 and folate tend to, they’re often [00:35:00] impaired because. You have a lot of gut inflammation, so we’re not absorbing these be, and we’re not able to utilize them in our detoxification process like we were supposed to.

[00:35:08] But a lot of our bees, B one, B two, B three, B five, B six, um, B12, all of them tend to be used up quite a bit. Um, but with B six and B12 and folate being the stars there, as far as like where we see them, vitamin C, antioxidant defense tissue with hair we constantly spell. And that one’s also. Um, um, one that we see as far as like glutathione production.

[00:35:35] So vitamin C gets ated, it’s very common. And then vitamin DI think that one is, you know, twofold. Um, that chronic inflammation. I, I don’t think it’s that we’re not, we’re not, I mean, we’re not absorbing it at all. I think, you know, at my second exposure, the only thing that was really weird for me with mold was that my vitamin D was like a nine.

[00:35:58] I’ve never seen a vitamin [00:36:00] D that low. Yeah, I have. I’ve seen the 25 Oh h, yeah. Yeah. It was super low and I think I was thinking like 2000. I used a vitamin D back then. Um, I don’t, I don’t do that now, but. I think it was just more inflammation versus like, you’re not able, you’re not able to absorb it. I look at it as like this is a symptom, especially ’cause it’s always the people that are taking it or they get a ton of sun.

[00:36:25] They’re like, no, I spend a lot of time. I’m very much outside. And that’s when I’m like, okay, that. This is like a symptom of inflammation. It’s not like the cause of inflammation. Absolutely. So my one super low, I see it low a lot. Um, it’s just inflammation related. So taking 10,000 I use or 50,000 I use weekly is not gonna help.

[00:36:46] Um, so, and vitamin A and E is the other or the other two. They’re fat soluble antioxidants that protect. Protect us from, um, mold toxicity and they’re so important for your mu like, I just think vitamin A, um, and so many people are deficient [00:37:00] in it and they don’t realize. And then like you mentioned, low iron, my, and like high copper or dysregulated copper, it’s usually there’s like a vitamin A component there.

[00:37:09] So that’s why it’s like so much that we do with the hair test make such a big difference with mold. But it’s definitely not just that you, it needs a very mold, I think needs a very specific approach like we’ve gone through. We don’t recommend generic protocols. Get yourself outta the mold first and like work on the simple things, the foundations, the circadian rhythm, the nervous system support, work on your, just like eliminating properly, are you breathing deeply?

[00:37:34] Are you digging really shallow breaths? Like paying attention to all those things and then considering, okay, maybe I’m gonna add in some of those, like food-based supports. Um, even you could do all this before you even see a practitioner and start to see results, you know? Absolutely. Taking it easy, taking it super slow, listening to your body.

[00:37:55] Um. Don’t push through. Yeah, don’t push through. Major takeaway from the [00:38:00] episode. It’s not suppo, especially like if you’re in a more sensitive body because of the mold exposure. It’s like you, it’s not, that’s your body communicating with you. So, um, I hope that this episode is helpful for everyone and you’ve enjoyed our little mold series.

[00:38:15] Thank you so much, Gracie, for sharing your time and expertise with us. Um, and yeah, if, if you want more information on this, I’m gonna do a little HGMA review. Of a mold client so you guys can kind of see that in action. Inside Patreon is a bonus episode and then I have from the previous episode all the different things that we went through, the notes, the resources, things you want to consider if you think there is mold in your environment.

[00:38:41] So hopefully this keeps everyone outta the Facebook group off the record threads and gives you a stable place to start from. Um, ’cause I think that’s one of the hardest parts. With mold is that it then induces this fear and panic and anxiety, and you’re already having a hard time [00:39:00] dealing with stress. So I’m hoping this is a good resource for everyone.[00:39:05] All right, thanks guys. I will see you in the next episode.