What is mold illness?

Mold illness, also called Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), is a multi-system, multi-symptom illness triggered by exposure to biotoxins produced by mold in water-damaged buildings. It affects the immune, neurological, hormonal, and gastrointestinal systems and is frequently misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, lupus, multiple sclerosis, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

What are the symptoms of mold illness?

Mold illness symptoms span multiple body systems and include fatigue, brain fog, memory problems, headaches, joint pain, muscle aches, shortness of breath, chronic sinus issues, sensitivity to light, mood changes, anxiety, depression, digestive problems, and sleep disturbances. Symptoms often worsen in water-damaged environments and improve temporarily when away from them.

Why do most doctors miss mold illness?

Most conventional physicians are not trained in Environmental Medicine and are unfamiliar with mycotoxin testing or CIRS diagnostic criteria. Symptoms overlap with many other conditions, and standard lab panels often miss mold illness entirely. Specialized testing including urine mycotoxin panels, inflammatory marker panels, and HLA-DR genetic testing are required for accurate diagnosis.

How is mold illness diagnosed?

Mold illness is diagnosed through a combination of a detailed patient history, environmental exposure assessment, and specialized laboratory testing including urine mycotoxin testing, inflammatory markers (TGF-beta, MMP-9, C4a), HLA-DR genetic susceptibility testing, and visual contrast sensitivity testing. At Deeper Healing, diagnosis begins with a comprehensive intake questionnaire and is confirmed through targeted lab panels.

How is mold illness treated?

Effective mold illness treatment requires first removing the patient from the source of exposure, then systematically reducing mycotoxin burden in the body using binders, detoxification protocols, IV nutritional therapy, cellular cleanse therapies, and immune system support. At Deeper Healing, treatment follows a sequenced protocol that addresses each phase of recovery — elimination, detoxification, and rebuilding — in the correct order.

Do I have to live in Charleston to become a patient at Deeper Healing?

No. Deeper Healing serves patients from across the United States. Many travel to Charleston for the Stay + Heal program, an immersive multi-day treatment experience designed specifically for patients who cannot access this level of care locally. Mycotoxin home test kits can also be shipped to your location before your first visit.

What is mycotoxin testing and do I need it?

Mycotoxin testing is a urine-based laboratory test that measures the presence and levels of specific fungal toxins in your body. It is one of the most direct ways to confirm biotoxin exposure. Deeper Healing offers both in-office and mail-in home testing kits. If you have unexplained chronic symptoms — especially fatigue, brain fog, or immune dysfunction — mycotoxin testing is an important diagnostic step.

Does insurance cover mold illness treatment at Deeper Healing?

Deeper Healing is a self-pay practice. Most environmental and functional medicine services are not covered by conventional health insurance. However, financing options are available to make treatment accessible. Patients frequently find that the investment in root-cause treatment reduces or eliminates the ongoing costs of managing symptoms through conventional care.

Can mold illness cause autoimmune disease?

Yes. Prolonged mycotoxin exposure and the chronic inflammatory response it triggers can activate or worsen autoimmune conditions. Mold illness is frequently misdiagnosed as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and sarcoidosis. At Deeper Healing, we assess environmental toxin exposure as a root cause in all autoimmune presentations.

How long does it take to recover from mold illness?

Recovery from mold illness varies significantly depending on duration of exposure, mycotoxin burden, genetic susceptibility, and whether the patient has been removed from the source. Some patients experience significant improvement within weeks of beginning a targeted protocol. Others with longer-standing illness and higher toxin loads require months of treatment. At Deeper Healing, patients typically report meaningful progress during and shortly after their initial treatment period.

Watch on DrTalks

From Patient to President: Why Root-Cause Medicine Isn’t Covered — And Who’s Stepping Up to Help

The financial burden of chronic illness. Danielle and Maggie discuss the reality that many patients — including firefighters and veterans — struggle to afford the environmental medicine treatments they need due to out-of-pocket costs.
The Deeper Healing Foundation provides a lifeline. The episode explores how the volunteer-run foundation operates, reviewing applications and interviewing patients to award grants that help fund their medical care.
Memory loss and heavy metals. Maggie shares her personal experience of severe memory deficiencies and social anxiety, which she later connected to a severe overload of heavy metals.
The role of chelation therapy in her story. Maggie reports significant improvement in her energy and cognitive function after pursuing chelation therapy at Deeper Healing. Results vary by individual.

About the Expert

Danielle Howley

The Deeper Healing Podcast

Deeper Healing, the renowned Functional + Environmental Medical Center recognized as one of the best in the world, is home to an elite team of practitioners that share the belief that true healing lies within. Using the DEEPER Healing paradigm as the foundation, they treat patients using a progressive medical toolbox that encourages healing the body naturally in a sustainable and lasting way. The state-of-the-art facility serves as a treatment center for those suffering with dis-ease and an educational hub dedicated to teaching practitioners the progressive, unique protocols and empowering individuals to take control of their health destiny.

Guest

Maggie Marlow

President of the Deeper Healing Foundation

Maggie is a passionate parent advocate and the President of the Deeper Healing Foundation. During the height of the COVID pandemic, Maggie became a leading voice in her community, organizing parents to advocate for their children's educational and medical freedoms in South Carolina.

Following the intense stress of the pandemic, Maggie began experiencing severe, unexplained memory deficiencies and fatigue. After a comprehensive evaluation at Deeper Healing uncovered severe heavy metal overload, she underwent targeted chelation therapy and reports significant improvement in her cognitive function and energy. Individual results vary. Today, she channels her passion for advocacy into the Deeper Healing Foundation, dedicating her time to helping ensure that financial barriers do not prevent patients from accessing functional medicine care.

More from Maggie Marlow on DrTalks

Honestly, it’s the fact that there are so many people out there that have been burdened by all of our environmental factors and are just so sick and just searching for answers and not understanding where to go.

I definitely, somewhere along the lines after all the COVID stuff, I started having some memory deficiencies. I was, like, forgetting people’s names. It made me want to be a recluse and not be social anymore.

Like, my neighbor. Looking at my neighbors, I’m like I know your name, but why is it not coming to me? And that ultimately brought me to Deeper Healing and to Danielle and all of the wonderful people here and just getting to know them.

And I said I need to part of this. Welcome to the Deeper Healing Podcast. I’m your host, Danielle Howley. This is for everyone who’s been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told to just live with it and refuse to accept that answer.

You’re going to hear amazing patient recovery stories, raw and real in their own words. People who found answers after everything had failed them. you’re gonna hear from medical experts we trust that are pioneering new approaches to healing the body because we deeply know we’re designed to heal.

Let’s dig in. Hi everybody, I’m here with someone that I love. This is Maggie. I remember the first time that my consciousness was elevated about who you were was during COVID.

She had organized the Parents Group in South Carolina, United Parents of South And her whole premise was, hey, parents, we need to be advocating for our children in the middle of this.

What was going on with the schools? What is going with just everything? And she took it all the way up the hill to literally the state hill. And so I was like, wow, this mom’s amazing.

I need get to know her. So that was the beginning. That was five years ago. But she is the president of the Deeper Healing Foundation. Wanted to talk about that today.

We actually had something really cool happen today, which was one of the thrift stores in our town in South Carolina. It’s called God’s Goods and basically it’s run by a bunch of retired volunteers and everything that gets donated and sold gets given back to a nonprofit.

So today they gave us a $5,000 check that was completely unexpected. And so generous. And so generous and they were so excited to learn about zebra healing, what we’re doing.

And we don’t do enough talking about the foundation. So tell me, Maggie, a little bit about what made you interested in being part of the Foundation. Honestly, it’s the fact that there are so many people out there that have been burdened by all of our environmental factors and are just so sick and our just searching for answers and not understanding where to go.

Me being one of those people. I definitely, somewhere along the lines, started having some memory deficiencies. I was like, forgetting people’s names.

It made me want to be recluse and not be social anymore because it was embarrassing. Like, my neighbor, I would think, like looking at my name, and I’m like I know your name but like why is it not coming to me?

And that ultimately brought me to Deeper Healing and to Danielle and all of the wonderful people here and just getting to know them. And I said, I need to be a part of this.

I mean, it was just like, there was no question. Like I needed to part this, and I had to pass it forward. And your husband is quite the cleanser. My husband does cleanses twice a month.

He’s just like, I feel amazing. I’m not going to stop. There’s a bunch of guys in here like that that are just, like I, feel so good when I am cleansing.

So one thing that I think we always talk about that is near and dear to my heart is that we have broken systems. And when I say that, some people talk about the snacks that they offer in the hospitals or the doctor’s training that doesn’t have nutrition.

We could pick a lot of different things to talk. But the other thing that I think about all the time is just the insurance model. Even back when the Clintons, I forget what years that was, but I was a lot younger.

And it was like, we have to fix health care. That was literally decades ago, it’s only gotten worse. It was completely, recognizably broken then. One of the things that we’ve evolved into is premiums are high and everyone has a high deductible plan.

So pretty much everything’s out of pocket. and it has gotten to the point now where people are looking at their kids like are you really sick? Yeah, I really got to go to the ER, you know.

And so then, so that’s one whole problem is people are paying almost a mortgage payment in their premiums, and still not really getting a lot from that until they’ve hit their 10,000, 6000, whatever.

So it’s pretty much all out of pocket, then you get to a place like I want something different. I wanted deeper healing, i want cash pay, And some people just do that proactively, right?

But a lot of the people that are coming here are desperate, broken. Literally, I’ll give one example, because it comes up a lots in the foundation, is it’s a family, they’ve had a big mold exposure, three people in their family is ill, and they have to literally leave their home.

they’re living in an apartment and a hotel, they still have to make the mortgage payment, They still to pay for the apartment. Then they have start the remediation process, which can be tens of thousands of dollars.

And you need medical treatments for three people. They literally call in desperation. That is why we created the mold course, because a lot of that information was like, it isn’t even relating to the body per se.

It’s a whole lot information. But then there’s people that are like The firefighter, you know, they come here, They’re having extreme occupational exposures.

They don’t make a lot of money. they know they need cleansing and they’re sick. And they were like, okay, double whammy. I can’t work. Right. and I also need to get medical treatments.

What is completely heartbreaking is when someone finally find deeper healing, and then they are like I don’ have any money to do this. So that is the purpose of the Deeper Healing Foundation.

And you can talk a little bit about that. The foundation is run by volunteers, and they’re all leaders in our community that donate their time. And the process is that every person who applies, they have to prove the need with a tax return, And they get a phone call.

So they actually get interviewed by one of the board members to make sure that they are eligible. It has to be prescribed. They’re coming for medical treatments that have been recommended for them, there’s a price tag to them.

What is it like when you make those calls? Like I told you today, it’s not one of those things where I see an application come through and I’m like, oh, I’ll just pick up the phone and do this really quick.

I definitely have to set aside some time because everyone has a story. They do. Like not to get emotional, but like the stories are just unbelievable and they’re sad and tough.

They’re tough to hear. And the foundation is just so important for these people because they’ve been through the conventional medical, you know, they have gone through doctors and doctors, and gone to prescriptions and tests and all of these things and nothing.

has touched the root cause of what’s actually making them sick, and they come to deeper healing because they’re just so sick and tired of being sick. And this incredible staff here and Dr.

B and Jules and everybody, I mean, they get to the Root Cause. They find that root Cause and these people are walking out of here four, six, eight weeks later with a whole new life ahead of them.

And we are able to provide that through the foundation for them. And it’s just incredible. But I do, I set aside at least 15, 20 minutes for each phone call.

It’s not just me looking through an application and being like, okay, you make this much money and here’s the application, this is what you need. Okay, your good or whatever.

What brought you here and how are we going to be able to help you? And it’s the background stories that keep the foundation alive and keep us wanting to fulfill the Foundation with money so that we can provide it for these people who need it.

the big map faster and manifesting a big million dollar bank account from the foundation so that when when a veteran with environmental exposures comes in here or there’s an entire firehouse that just had a major mold problem they all need to detox and I want to be able like hey guys we got you yeah like that’s my dream my drain is that the fund is robust enough that if someone has proven the need They are getting the life-saving treatments that they deserve and need, and there should be no reason why there are so many veteran suicides.

There should just be so much firefighters that are in a moldy house. They should come here and detox. No one’s doing mold remediation in the body like we are.

It’s tough. So I’m hoping just with this public podcast, if you’re out there, there are millions of dollars going to nonprofits that are very frivolous.

And I will not name names, but I can think of a bunch and also a hundred percent of the money in the foundation goes to people. All of the board member are volunteers and all of funds, the tax deductible donations go to people who need it.

And like, I swear it’s a God thing because every time the fund has gotten down to dangerously low numbers, someone has come with a check and I know that that’s God’s thing where it is like okay, you’re on a good path.

I want to do a better job of fundraising for the foundation and having more available for more people. It’s heartbreaking when someone really needs it and we don’t have it.

So luckily we’ve only gotten there once and, we have been very fortunate. We all can agree that everyone deserves medical care and that our insurance companies are not providing us what we need.

I never even told you this. In my previous life, I worked for one of the largest health insurance company in the United States. And one of the things that I really saw firsthand is the actual model in the United States is to get as many premiums as possible.

And then there’s this 20 page disclosure statement that is really like how we deny everything. Then there is denial. It’s not covered because of X, because you didn’t exhaust the three medications, cause you did not get this test, that test whatever.

The standard of care should be that you get what your doctor recommends fast. Not after you’ve failed all the things that he didn’t want you to do anyway.

And we’ve really lost our way with that. I say all of the time, and I’m going to keep clinging to, what deeper healing does should be standard of care.

Using light, using oxygen, looking for deficiencies, pulling out the thing that are holding your health back, that is jacking up your mind with neuroinflammation, depression, anxiety.

We have an epidemic of sickness and it can’t all be that we’re genetically defective. It just doesn’t make sense. And we’re not that different from our grandparents.

So I’m really going off on a tangent, but the biggest reason why people do not come to deeper healing is money, is the cost. That’s always what it is.

And you don’t, I always say you, don’ have to wait until you’re broken, you know, Marty and I did that. We were regular people. we went to the regular doctors hospitals and we did the holistic integrative and spent a lot of money on things that didn’t work.

That’s the worst when you’ve done a lot and it’s failed. So the two parts of this are, let’s be really smart about our decisions. Let’s shorten our runway.

let get more deeper healings around the country so more people can clean up, detoxify, or put this equipment in your home. And let raise money and let help people.

If you have the funds and you had extra, pay it forward by helping people get life-saving treatments. that otherwise would not be able to afford it. You’re saving somebody’s life.

Literally. It doesn’t matter how much you donate. Every single penny goes to somebody treatment and that person is praying and thanking you as well. One of the board members, he says all the time, Daniel, I’m involved in a lot of nonprofits I am involved with aren’t doing half of the life-changing work that you guys are doing at Deeper Healing.

So with that, I am manifesting it. I’m throwing it out in the world. And thank you, Maggie, for donating your time for this worthy cause and the other board members as well.

If you have a heart for being a part of a deeper healing foundation, we’d love to hear from you. Okay, thank you. We hope this episode inspired you, here’s how to go deeper.

Visit deeperhealing.com to become a patient. Online we have loads of courses and a free toxin quiz. Subscribe and please, please share this with someone who needs it.

It’s always that one on one support that really gets people to find deeper healing. Remember, this is educational content, not medical advice. The information shared here should be discussed with your own personal healthcare provider.

If you’re excited by listening to the medical experts or the personal recovery stories on here and you want to start your deeper healing journey, go to deeperhealing.com and start the process.