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

Occupational Chemical Exposure + Mold: Mike, Kansas, Deep Dives into His Body Burden

Most people with environmental toxicity never make the connection between their occupation, their environment, and their health. Mike did — because his work gave him the context to recognize what was happening. His story is a roadmap for everyone in a high-exposure field who has never thought to ask what their daily exposure is doing to their long-term health.
Occupational chemical exposure is systematically underinvestigated in conventional medicine. Years of daily exposure to cleaning products, solvents, and vapors can quietly push total body burden past the threshold where the body can keep up — producing chronic symptoms with no conventional diagnosis.
The concept of a toxic foundation explains why regenerative therapies may fail. Stem cells and other regenerative treatments may produce diminished results in patients still carrying high environmental toxic burden — because the body cannot effectively prioritize tissue repair while simultaneously managing a toxic load. Depuration first.
The Rejuvenace™ Cellular Cleanse is the core detoxification protocol at Deeper Healing. Mike experienced it during his Deep Dive Intensive and chose to build the system at home for his entire family. It is not FDA-approved to treat any disease.
Addressing the source of ongoing exposure is as important as clearing accumulated burden. A depuration protocol produces incomplete long-term results if the patient returns to the same toxic environment without addressing the source.

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.

More from Danielle Howley on DrTalks

The doctor said, hey, we need to do this. And I didn't think that was the solution. I think it was more toxin driven. So the nice thing with deeper healing is you're going to be able to take whatever you can home and have the equipment at home.

At the end of the day, the way to sustainable long-term health is to remove the junk that's making us sick and not put more in. 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 going to 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 am here today with an amazing guest. His name is Mike and he traveled to Deeper Healing from Kansas. And I just love what you're doing right now.

He's doing a deep dive looking for environmental toxins, he's done his deep blood panel, He is doing the rejuvenate cellular cleanse and what is so cool is he has already predetermined that he is going to be buying this whole setup for home, which honestly, that is huge.

That is really huge! So first question, how did we get here? Well, I had some issues with not feeling well and did some research and realized I probably had toxins in my body.

And then found out we had mold run some tests here. The cool thing with that is I was able to test and then do an at-home test for mold. You know, it's interesting that a lot of people ask for this deep dive thing that you're doing because of the movie.

Did you see the body burden documentary? I haven't seen that one yet. Okay. So in the movie, the guy from Canada comes down and he does a five day and does the cleanses and all the testing.

And then he makes all of the changes at home and then finishes the film with, it's been one year since I had my deep dive and this is what happened to me.

So you're basically doing that. You're doing what the movie recommended and we realized that's something that a lot of people around the country need because you don't have access to the kind of testing that we offer here and then also like the path.

So, you are going to get all of that, so amazing. But you had said to me you think some of your exposures were occupationally driven. Tell us a little bit about your history.

Um, so I've, I own a cleaning company and so we, you know, with the chemicals with I'm sure with, the plastics that I use and the environments that i'm in with houses, You know the doctor said, Hey, we need to do this.

And I didn't think that was the solution. I think it was more toxin driven. So the nice thing is with deeper healing is you're going to, do all the tests.

You're gonna be able to. To do it here and then take whatever you can home and do have the equipment at home. go that route and at the end of the day the way to sustainable long-term health is to remove the junk that's making us sick and not put more in and you know it's funny cleaners have a huge problem because not only are they using toxic products and a lot of times I'll say to someone like Lysol in your baby's not good for your body and they laugh But then other people will say, but yeah, I thought I was keeping my baby safe.

How do you know Lysol's bad? And I'm not picking on Lyssol. But you can just look at the label. They're very well toxic, bad for your skin, and bad your eyes.

Do not use in a room that is not well ventilated. Well, we know we're in bathroom. We're a closed room. It's winter time. it's in Kansas. People are using toxic chemicals.

that are so normalized, hotel rooms, schools, germiciding, everything. And around the children, around, the babies, every daycare center, Every surface is germicide.

Then what do the kids do? They put it right in their mouth. So, and anyone who's been in an occupation where you're high exposure to chemicals and a lot of times you wouldn't think of cleaning or hairdresser or flight attendant or, you know, there's so many golf course landscaper, I don't know, where you're just spraying herbicides, pesticides.

I mean, a farmer in here, he's like, the stuff was spraying all over me, because he was running the sprayers. And he said I did that every day for 10 years.

Then all of a sudden, everyone in my town had cancer. Yeah, it's airborne vaporous chemicals. Okay, so you are hugely ahead of the pack that you even knew to look for that.

So not only was it high chemicals, but also moldy environments. Correct. You had the one-two punch, which is a lot of people. Having the ability to not just do the mold protocol, also to be able to do rejuvenation at home.

Lots of the people that I've seen with a chronic illness, once they put the system at their brain improves, their skin improves their body aches, all the things.

But then all of a sudden, they're like, Hey, honey, you need to do it. You know, All of sudden it's like you're doing it, your wife's doing your kids are doing at like your you'll have a little setup in your house where you can be helping other people that you love and care about stay well for the long haul.

So tell me how did you find deeper healing? I kind of just do tons and tons of research and I find something and then and Then I get a call from Alexandria and i'm like, well, just tell me all this stuff I'm, like she knows more than most of my local doctors at home And I wanted just to know more.

Tell me more What are you talking about? I would stop her several times and And so then I realized I would take another look at this and if they would allow me to, to come and get a deep dive and try the cleanse out.

I mean, what I love is by doing the Cleans here, you're training yourself as well, because otherwise you'd be going home, putting the equipment up and you be like, okay, well now what?

Like, how do I actually do this? doing by learning is really how you absorb it in. So he's here this week, doing rejuvenase every day, getting the testing, having your lab review.

It's the full thing. And then you know what's going to happen. This is what always happens. Your wife's gonna go, well, wait a minute, what about me? You're feeling much, much better.

That's what happens. It always is the person with the most going on usually comes in first. And then once you see it, you're like, wait, I want to know.

Okay. So I need to talk about Alex a little bit because you mentioned her. Yes. She was probably one of the most skeptical people ever. She is a very sick person who came in and did her own treatments for her and her sick children after going to hospitals all over the country.

I'm sure she told you that. And I kind of thought it was too hard to believe. And then I started reading the reviews that she left and the stuff. I'm like, this is the real thing.

She also had a failed STEM treatment. and she talks a lot about that where she felt like she put a lots of money and effort into going, I think she went to Mexico and her thing was this was another failed thing that happened.

And what I love about deeper healing when we talk about stem cell, because stem cells is rebuilding. You can't rebuild on a toxic foundation. So if all of us are dealing with, now yours is high chemical, high mold, and to be determined with your metals, your metal test isn't even back yet, but we'll soon find out.

That's the trifecta right there and then if you're pushing stem cell into a body that is already pummeled with toxins, you are not getting the maximum efficacy out of it.

And that's assuming you getting good stem and that a whole other thing. I'm sure you did a lot of research and I know there's a lots of people doing a a research on that.

The rebuilding stem is sound theory but what no one is talking about is having a clean body to receive it and get the maximum out of it. So I think that's really huge.

What's your experience? What do you think of deeper healing? You've seen it, now you're here in person. Yeah, everybody has been amazing here. The help, the knowledge, pretty incredible.

Is it different than you expected? Yeah. Yeah, tell me how. I just thought it'd be more, I'm not even sure how to explain it, but it's so hands on and then they show you how do it and once you dive in there, you know what to do the next day.

And I think everything runs pretty smooth here. Yeah. Everybody works together well. Everyone's always surprised that it doesn't feel like a doctor's office.

Right. Exactly. That's what I was trying to say. I always say it feels like your favorite grandmom's house had a baby with a Starbucks. And then underneath all of that because it's like fun and it is good energy and its warm.

But underneath that is really high tech medical things and also a really clean environment because obviously if you're coming in to detox You need to make sure that you're offering a clean environment.

And I can say firsthand, many hospitals that I've been in and many doctor's offices that have literally been the opposite of that. So deeper healing is fastidiously chemical free, super clean, air, water, all the things.

You're drinking your really good water there from the center. So anyway, Michael, thank you for being willing to share your story. Coming in from Kansas, amazing big journey to come in to really look under his hood and see what's going on and also to take back the equipment that is going to change, honestly change your life.

And those effects are compounding over a lifetime. So you're doing something amazing and being to sharing your stories with other people because I know there's people out there that are just like you.

So one final thought that I was thinking is, this is going to help so many people. This is just the start of something huge. And like Sam from the Midwest, and this isn't in the midwest, so it'd be nice to have a deeper healing where we're at.

So many patients do that. They're like, I need this where I live. So what do I always say? You find us a practitioner. You bring us an MD, a nurse practitioner, you know, someone in your state with a medical license, and we will train them.

We have all the trainings. we have the courses built, we the environmental experts, And we want to spread this far and wide. And whenever people come, they're like, you need to make the center bigger.

And I'm like the Center doesn't need be bigger, we need more of them. We need places where people can go so that you don't have to go from Kansas to South Carolina or Maine or Seattle or Dubai or Germany to come here.

So maybe someone out there who's listening to this podcast is in Kansas and is like wait a minute, I want to do that. If you're that person, reach out.

All right, and thank you again, Michael. 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.