r/ToxicMoldExposure

SYMPTOM OVERVIEW

My primary symptoms are:
•  complete absence of morning erections and ED
• Very low libido and motivation
• Severely disrupted sleep — repeated entry into REM then bouncing back out , constant waking 2-5am unable to return to sleep
• Chronic fatigue and afternoon energy crashes
• Brain fog, poor concentration, difficulty with executive function and task initiation
• Low mood and motivation — markedly worse than my baseline before age 25

I want to be clear that before approximately age 25 I had none of these symptoms. I was functioning normally across all domains — and then one night I started feeling terrible and never came back.

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TIMELINE

2019-2020 — Age 24-25
First onset of symptoms. Noticed declining libido, loss of sleep and morning erections, and reduced motivation and needing for caffeine . Also noted SHBG was elevated at approximately 70 nmol/L on first testing. This was the first abnormal laboratory finding.

2020-2022 — Age 25-27
Symptoms progressively worsened. Multiple doctor visits. Standard hormonal workup performed — testosterone was high-normal to elevated throughout, SHBG persistently elevated 70-90 nmol/L, standard inflammatory markers largely normal on conventional testing. Sleep disruption worsening. Cognitive symptoms becoming more noticeable.

Interventions tried during this period:
• Danazol — similar temporary SHBG suppression with immediate rebound. No sustained benefit.
• High carbohydrate dietary intervention 400g daily — minimal SHBG response, SHBG climbed further over time.
• Multiple specialist consultations including urology, endocrinology, and primary care — no clear diagnosis established.

2022-2023 — Age 27-28
Further workup. Penile Doppler ultrasound performed — normal. Sleep study performed — no sleep apnea identified but notable finding of repeatedly entering REM sleep and boucing back out. Hormone levels continued to show high total testosterone with persistently elevated SHBG. Standard inflammatory markers continued to appear largely normal on conventional panels.

NO STD, NO hepatitis.   

Mercury identified as elevated on comprehensive nutritional testing. Dental amalgam removal performed using SMART protocol with charcoal binders. Followed by 4-5 rounds of IV DMPS chelation plus oral DMPS plus sauna and binders for mercury detoxification.

2023-2024 — Age 28-29
Continued decline despite interventions. Vitamin D crashed from 68 ng/mL in April 2024 to 31 ng/mL by October 2025 despite presumed intake — suggesting ongoing consumption or absorption failure. IGF-1 declining from 214 ng/mL in 2022 toward 169 ng/mL. Free T3 declining from 4.1 pg/mL in 2023 toward 3.0 pg/mL. SHBG climbed to 88.8 nmol/L then 108 nmol/L.

2024-2025 — Age 29-30
Extensive functional medicine workup completed.

Key findings:

Labcorp October 2025:
• Total Testosterone: 1,739 ng/dL — significantly above range 264-916 (would fluctuate between 700-800-1000-1500 for no reason)
• SHBG: 108 nmol/L — severely elevated, range 16.5-55.9( has always climied up and came down and then back up  but has never gone under 75)
• Free Testosterone: 191.1 pg/mL — above range despite high SHBG (but felt no different despite having more free T)
• LDL: 147 mg/dL — elevated
• Free T3: 3.0 pg/mL — declining trend
• IGF-1: 169 ng/mL — declining from 214 in 2022
• Vitamin D: 31.3 ng/mL — significantly reduced from 68 ng/mL prior year
• HbA1c: 4.8% — excellent
• Fasting insulin: 6.3 uIU/mL — excellent
• Liver enzymes: ALT 24, AST 21, GGT 11 — all normal

Genova ION Panel March 2025:
• Whole blood mercury: 7.71 ug/L — HIGH above reference 4.35
• Omega-3 Index: 3.4% — critically low
• HVA (homovanillic acid — dopamine metabolite): 0.7 mmol/mol creatinine — LOW, range 1.2-5.3, confirming severely reduced dopamine turnover
• Mitochondrial impairment pattern across multiple markers
• Tryptophan lower range with elevated quinolinate — confirming tryptophan shunting toward inflammatory kynurenine pathway away from serotonin and melatonin
• Essential fatty acid insufficiency
• Alpha-hydroxybutyrate elevated — oxidative stress marker

Mitome Mitochondrial Function Test May 2025:
• Complex I: 34% of normal — severely impaired
• Complex II: 80% of normal — relatively preserved
• Complex II+III: 32% of normal — severely impaired
• Complex IV: 29% of normal — severely impaired
• Citrate Synthase: 279% — massively elevated compensatory mitochondrial mass expansion
• Pattern consistent with mycotoxin poisoning of electron transport chain

Vibrant Total Tox Burden Panel:
• Chaetoglosin A: 35.72 ng/g — above 95th percentile, confirming Chaetomium mycotoxin body burden
• Mercury: 4.08 ug/g — above reference 1.61 even after chelation
• Phthalates MEHHP: 45.53 and MEOHP: 48.00 — both above 95th percentile

Mold Inflammatory Markers March 2026 (same panel and reference ranges for both measurements):
• TGF-beta1: 8,563 pg/mL — range 344-2,380. Nearly 4x upper limit.
• MMP-9: 562 ng/mL — range 0-332. Significantly elevated.
• MSH: less than 8 pg/mL — range 35-81. Essentially undetectable.

Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test February 2026:
• POSITIVE. Biotoxin score 42%. 11 of 13 CIRS symptom clusters positive.
• Greater than 95% probability CIRS diagnosis.
• Mold-related illness and post-COVID syndrome flagged as causes.

2025-2026 — Age 30-31
Treatment initiated based on confirmed CIRS diagnosis.

Cholestyramine binder protocol initiated April 2026 — 4 times daily with fat-containing meals as primary CIRS mycotoxin clearance treatment.

Mold Inflammatory Markers June 2026 — updated on same panel:
• TGF-beta1: 6,209 pg/mL — down from 8,563, 27.5% reduction confirming cholestyramine working
• MMP-9: 752 ng/mL — up from 562, rising despite TGF-beta1 falling. Primary current concern.
• MSH: less than 8 pg/mL — unchanged. Still essentially undetectable after 6 months of treatment.

MyMycoLab Mycotoxin IgG and IgE Antibody Panel June 2026: will include.

Now I've been on treatment for this and have been doing binders since May and if it was causing my symptoms I should have felt some relief at this point ? But I haven't felt much at all so I am not sure if I'm chasing the right thing that  contributes to my symptoms at this point.

CURRENT TREATMENT PROTOCOL

Binders:
• Cholestyramine 4g four times daily with meals — primary CIRS binder

Antifungal and Anti-inflammatory:
• Itraconazole 100mg twice daily with fat-containing meals

Nasal - Beg spray

Probiotics:
• MegaSpore Biotic once daily

Sleep:
• Low Dose Naltrexone — currently 1mg nightly, titrating toward 4.5mg
• Quviviq (daridorexant) 25mg nightly
• Magnesium Glycinate 400mg at bedtime
• Liquid melatonin 0.5-1mg sublingual at bedtime

Mitochondrial Support:
• CoQ10 Ubiquinol 400mg daily

Nutrient Repletion:
• Vitamin D3 10,000 IU with K2 200mcg daily
• Omega-3 Fish Oil 4g EPA/DHA daily
• NAC 600mg twice daily
• Phosphatidylcholine 900mg twice daily

Lifestyle:
• sauna 2 sessions weekly
• Resistance training 3 times weekly moderate intensity

Home HERTSMI-2 test -9

I had someone ask about data and of course, like my brain works different. I’m a little neurodivergent with heavy associative thinking. I’m sure anyone can look at my Reddit history and tell I’m a little hyper fixated.
I also post on TikTok on occasion, so when I saw this forum doesn’t allow for photo submissions I was like, meh, I can further dox myself. It’s not like I haven’t already been brain inflamed on the internet, might as well try to be a functional advocate.

Purposefully made this video non dressed up with no makeup, because I think it makes the change more obvious and clear.

Understandably this situation was messed up.
At this point I had been sick for 14 years, have a H-EDS, Fibro, POTS diagnosis with friends, and my body was just like nose diving off a cliff while I panicked.

For other people that might be dealing with mold and not able to prove themselves or someone who doesn’t understand what’s happening to them and trying to figure it out…

This is a hard one to share. It’s vulnerable. You’re looking at pictures cause I didn’t really plan on sharing.

I was trying to understand the trend for me because I was scared and sick.

Looking back it’s honestly… really triggering to see my healthy face after being in that mental ward.. They were awful to me there.

I’m nearsighted with a 4.75 prescription and one eye and a 4.5 in the other and I never was able to have my glasses.
I was on a low salt diet. They would give me antipsychotics when I asked for Tylenol and then make fun of me for being paranoid. My health issues were not taken seriously at all because everything I said was just “crazy”.

Yet, even though the stay was now a trauma I will cary forever, out of all of these unfiltered raw photos, that was the one that showed recovery.

I added in the last picture because I wanted you guys to see how quick the decline was really…. I was sleeping more eating better and I wasn’t being sedated every three days like I was in the mental ward, but my body was showing the stress.

Quickly, I went from being able to suddenly play soccer and run for the first time in my life to being right back where I started and the people around me told me it was because that whole experience was just euphoria, and I would never have that cause my body just is the way it was…
It’s a truly horrifying experience and yet I hope seeing this process helps someone.

It’s interesting because there is so many types of data when you’re dealing with an issue that affects so many different areas of your body,

Even my Reddit to an extent if you look through it and I do often, I don’t delete stuff not because my opinions might not change or how I’m wording things isn’t growing, but because it actually gives me a very clear snapshot of how able I was able to communicate in my comprehension level at that time, but also like clarity and cohesion of my thoughts. Because I was dealing with severe brain fog in that house, and I’m recovering from it still it’s an interesting experience to look back and see how much our personalities are kind of very much so affected by our capacity in any given moment.

I am now at day 19 out and moved to a new place, and I’ve never been healthier, and in correlation, happier. Living isn’t pain anymore. Makes a huge difference on someone’s mental health @.@

Anyways, I hope this is helpful to someone on a moldy path like I am, moldy peps have to stick together, thanks for the read, and if I can answer any questions I will do so as honestly and transparently as I can.

any tips are certainly welcome and accepted

Reposting this as i realize i didn’t put the front of the product on my last one..

I believe this to be the best all around binder if you’re unsure which to get individually this literally has them all plus some other goodies in there that are known to help detox mold from the body!

I got this on amazon and thought i would share with everyone!

someone in another post said Charcoal is not good to have in a blend as it will make all the other ones useless.. so this may not be as effective as i thought.

Hello, this is my first post, but me and my boyfriend moved into this townhouse , it’s small and has one connecting unit next door. Whoever sold this house hit lots of things. Someone had turned down the water heater because we would only get hot water for 3 minutes before it turned ice cold. After messing with the water heater we had a normal amount of hot water. I thought it was odd someone did this. Well after a couple of weeks black mold and yellow mold started to appear on the shower and my nose started to run or get stuffy. On top of this my arthritis has been so bad I have never been the same. After bringing up to my boyfriend that this is not okay to live in , he referring to his parents, who initially bought the house. The parents said they could not fix the mold until next year. Not to mention, The ventilation was terrible we had to hire some people to fix our vents for $6,000.
Am I crazy for staying in a house for a year with visible mold no one wants to fix?
We even had mold growing in our toothbrush holder that I bought from Ross??! I uploaded some pictures Brace urself how gross it is. The hair is from my boyfriend. I’m so disgusted
And yes I have cleaned this shower one too many times before it grows back and I give up

I have been dealing with a whole bunch of symtoms since Covid. Started learning about mold and how it can be the root cause of a lot of symptoms. Heard how moving out of a moldy environment can greatly help people. Right now, im just not sure if my house is considered a "moldy home" that would cause people to decline in their health like how you see on these mold horror stories. There is mold outside and in every house. Where do you draw the line on what starts to kill you and when you need to move out? I guess its the black mold you really have to look out for. There is no visible black mold anywhere in my home. Nor is there a moldy smell. I did get a mold test done and it came back positive with some levels of spore counts. Just not beyond what you would find in a outdoor count. I left some oranges out and when I came back five days later there with this black gunpowder mold growing on it. I left some at home pitri mold test kits out and they all came back with mold too.