Mold can actually cause Hashimoto's thyroiditis 😕

Did you know mould can affect your Thyroid Blood Test results and make them look normal while you’re feeling like crap?

Not only that but mold has been shown in a 2017 study to cause the autoimmune version of hypothyroidism.

Amazing isn’t it! Mold can actually cause thyroid disease including the autoimmune variety like I have which is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. 

Mold exposure symptoms can include brain fog, immune dysfunction, fatigue, depression, arthritis, respiratory issues, digestive problems, poor sleep, inflammation, and joint pain. Sound familiar?

Mold can be in your surroundings and in your body.

I had mold but if you stick with me till the end I’m going to tell you how I got rid of it. This can be a huge unseen obstacle to your hypothyroidism recovery. 

Mold will mean your blood tests show NTIS, which is the official name for basically distorting the whole thyroid picture. Mold exposure causes a thyroid lab pattern known as Non-thyroidal illness syndrome, sometimes called Euthyroid Sick Syndrome or Functional Hypothyroidism or NTIS for short. 

NTIS will not show up with normal thyroid blood tests, which are normally just TSH and free T4. 

Instead, you need to ask your doctor to add the free T3 and reverse T3 tests to your blood test lineup. 

NTIS shows up as the following thyroid blood test results …

• Low free T3 
• Normal to high reverse T3 
• Low to normal free T4
• Normal TSH

You can see how this could be an issue for you if your doctor is deciding on your levels of thyroid medication based on the 'normal' TSH levels.

You still feel fatigued and have brain fog and your doctor simply says you or bloods are normal. Yikes.

I found out I had mould (we spell it with a ‘u” here in the Southern Hemisphere after I had attended a conference in a hotel which was based in the basement, and while at the time I didn’t see any mould it did smell slightly musty in some areas. 

I didn’t know I had been exposed to it or that I had it in my system. When I got home my doctor tested me for it because I was feeling extra tired and first thought it was jet lag. Let’s face it, New Zealand is a long flight from everywhere! America means a 12 hours flight minimum. 

I got tested positive for mold which actually surprised me. 

Mould can be found in the obvious places like basements, bathrooms, and areas that have flooded. But mold can also be undetected because it’s not visible to the human eye. These places include: water pipes, carpet, inside pot plants, air conditioning units, and washing machines. 

You might also be surprised about one common source of mold that you may be consuming more than once a day!

Coffee!

No way - I know right!

Decaffeinated coffee is also more susceptible to mold. But the good news is good coffee brands are testing for mold and toxins now. I switched to toxic free mold free coffee several years ago. It’s called Bullet Proof. It’s more expensive but it actually tastes so much better. 

Other common foods that may contain mold are bread, wine vinegar, Mushrooms (I hate them anyway), aged cheeses, processed meats, tomato products, dried fruit, and overripe veggies and fruit.  

Don’t worry, I'm getting to the testing soon. 

The next interesting issue about this study was that patients that were on T4 and T3 medication after the mold exposure and treatment, recovered, and the patients on T4 only medication did not. 

Thyroid medication with both T3 and T4 often generally gets hypothyroidism sufferers better results in general but in this case especially if you’ve been exposed to mold. 

Synthetic thyroid medication only has T4 and (especially if you have mold) you need T3 and T4 thyroid hormones. 

The chronic nature of this condition and inflammation after mold exposure has a negative effect on some thyroid enzymes which then makes it impossible for your body to convert thyroid hormones T4 to T3. 

Mold makes this conversion almost impossible. 

That means that if you’re taking T4 only medication then your body then cannot convert T4 to T3. 

The only way to solve this is to provide your body with T3. 

I take whole thyroid which is desiccated pig thyroid.

I was actually vegetarian at the time of being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism and my holistic doctor recommended the whole thyroid because it has T4 and T3 which he said was also better for a lot of the hypothyroidism symptoms including also slow metabolism. I decided to take the pig thyroid and later I started eating meat again for my iron levels and protein. 

So what can you do about mold if you think you’ve been exposed or you’d like to try and find out?

You can get tested for mold and you can also get your house tested for mold. I suggest you do both if you have the symptoms I listed and normal TSH. 

To find out if mold is in your home, an air sample is taken by using a special pump which collects airborne spores. Then these are sent to the lab who will test for the amount of mold spores present in the air.

This type of home mold testing can be carried out by a professional but there are also home kits available if you’d like to try and test your home yourself. Labs will also provide testing for yourself. Just talk to your functional doctor or a good naturopath. 

If you do test positive you first need to get rid of the mold in your house and environment and then sort your own mold out. 

I used an activated charcoal supplement which I drunk daily and it actually didn’t take that long to clear it up so I really do recommend that.

A good toxin binder is what you need. It binds with the toxins and eliminates them out of your system safely. My horses actually have mycotoxin binders regularly to get toxins and mold out of their systems. If I don’t feed it, especially if we have wet weather and warm days, they have neurological effects. Some of these mycotoxins are nasty. My horses get exposed to the mold from the dirt or hay and grass.

It’s well known in the animal industry to feed mycotoxin binders so it’s incredible that as humans we basically ignore it. 

Mold can cause leaky gut and sinus infections so even if you don’t have that many of the symptoms I first listed but you have food intolerances and regular sinus infections then I’d recommend you get tested for mold. 

Treatment for sinus infections and mold in your sinuses can include nasal sprays.  I used to get tonnes of sinus infections and I use a colloidal silver nasal spray whenever I get the first hint of one… I get a kind of tingling in my sinus which tells me it’s coming and if I don’t do anything then I’m sick for at least a week. But I use the nasal spray and I’m all good the next day. I also take liquid echinacea just as a backup. 

You will also want to take a good probiotic. I'd like to recommend one that I swear by. Look for a probiotic which contains S. Boulardi. It's not technically a probiotic. It’s a gut-friendly yeast that functions like a probiotic. 

Probiotics that contain S. Boulardi are actually the perfect probiotic for leaky gut as well. The S stands for Saccharomyces and it’s a type of yeast that comes from the skin plants like lychee and mangosteen. (It’s pronounced “sack-car-oh-my-sees boo-lard-dee”)

Just as a side note if you ever get a funny tummy or diarrhea take a couple of these and it will clear it up straight away. On the flip side, it’s also really good for regularity. You know the toilet regularity kind. 😆

Some ways to eliminate mold from your house are;  get a dehumidifier for damp rooms like bathrooms, have your airconditioning filters replaced, remove mold from bathrooms, buy mold free coffee, repair any water pipe leaks in the roof or walls or basements, air out your washing machine and drier, air out your bathroom after using, and regularly clean walls and countertops. Monitor food in the fridge for mold and throw it away if moldy. 

Now just to complicate things ever so slightly. Sorry.

If you have hypothyroidism and mold and get sinus infections you will likely have candida. It’s very common with hypothyroidism but until I started linking all the hypothyroidism symptoms together that I noticed so many were linked to other conditions. So you may have to also treat candida too. 

I have a free PDF that lists all the hypothyroidism symptoms and actually links them to three other main conditions that can actually be easily treated, just like mold can be. You can download it here. 

There are also some prescription medications you can take to help treat the mold exposure, so talk to a good functional/holistic doctor about testing and treatment. 

Please let me know in the comments how you go. Xx

Vicki 💗