Mold toxicity— It's REAL!

One of my colleagues who is also a member of the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI) shared with me and other group members a recent publication regarding the existence of mold toxicity and whether this is really a viable diagnosis. We were

all fairly taken aback by this “study.” I’ll let you read the publication for yourself (link provided below), but I felt strongly the need to comment on this piece and my belief that YES, mold-related illnesses are very real and afflict far more patients than we have yet to fully realize!
 
If you search online for things such as mold toxicity or mold exposure and disease, you’ll likely find many articles that support the very real existence of diseases caused by environmental exposure. This valid piece in Psychology Today is very succinct and thorough in its discussion and findings that definitely link mold toxicity and many chronic illnesses.
 
As an integrative and conventional medicine practitioner, I think it is crucial that we always consider a patient’s full spectrum of signs and symptoms before randomly dismissing something just because it may not have been previously identified. Surely the history of medicine includes many examples of ideas that were initially ridiculed or rejected by the medical establishment, but that later became widely adopted…think “penicillin” as just one example of something that was once rejected as useless!
 
Certainly it is a road less traveled that we choose to take, one that may at times be both unconventional and challenging. But it is also one that encourages leadership, expression of new discoveries, new meanings and new science that we may not have yet considered. And isn’t that what the evolution of medicine has always been about?!
 
I encourage all my patients and readers too to always discuss your concerns with your physician and with whom you have a good relationship and to look at the sources of what you may read on the Internet or elsewhere. Science and medicine is constantly changing and our field is always acquiring new information that I hope will be passed on to all patients. I know that together we can change the destiny and outlook for so many and I am glad to be part of this journey.
 
For more information about mold toxicity and environmentally acquired illness, please visit the ISEAI site at iseai.org. 
 
In health,
Dr. Suzy Gazda
 
Mold toxicity article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12016-019-08767-4