Mold toxicity symptoms as symptom imperative?

[julzibobz]

Hi everyone,

I have successfully tackled many symptoms using a TMS approach (fatigue, anxiety, brain fog etc). I have come up against a symptom which I am struggling to use my TMS approach for, mainly due to not being entirely sure it's TMS... meaning I don't have 100% belief, which can mean I get into the pain-fear cycle again.
The symptom is reaction to mold - this includes dry eyes, histamine reactions, brain fog, nausea, joint etc. It's actually very difficult to think when I am in mold, like my brain is inflamed almost and just isn't working properly, I don't feel well and stressed as well from the physical effects. Anyhow, I have developed an evidence sheet regarding whether it is TMS:
For TMS:
- When I tell my brain to cut it out the symptoms seem to dial down the symptom quickly, albeit only slightly
- I once had the symptom 'rotate out'
- the symptom can reduce at times
- have seen mold toxicity on Nicole's podcast
- I once had a moment where it dropped a bit (but this didn't last)

Against TMS:
- treating the symptom physically has an effect (e.g binders) and my body responds to it and I feel better
- I don't get the symptom when not in mold
- I can see the mold, not imagining it
- mold does have effects on the body that are negative, it's often recommended not to live in mold
- downstream problems I have (e.g candida and histamine sensitivity) are often downstream from mold

What do people think? Is this TMS? And if it is TMS, should I stop treating it completely, or do downstream effects (like candida) still need to be handled using physical methods?

Thanks in advance!

Jules

 

[BloodMoon]

I’m going to assume you’re not currently living or working in excessive mould, because that obviously needs addressing first, and that your reactions aren’t life-threatening. With that in mind, it could be totally or at least partly a learned or conditioned response and/or 'predictive processing' (where the brain generates physical symptoms based on anticipation, stress, and past experiences). So, if it were me, I’d consider tapering the binders very gradually in tiny 'baby steps' rather than going 'cold turkey'. That could let you 'fly under the radar' while making the change without strongly alerting your brain's automatic response(s) or triggering a big fear response.

 

[Booble]

Hi everyone,

I have successfully tackled many symptoms using a TMS approach (fatigue, anxiety, brain fog etc). I have come up against a symptom which I am struggling to use my TMS approach for, mainly due to not being entirely sure it's TMS... meaning I don't have 100% belief, which can mean I get into the pain-fear cycle again.
The symptom is reaction to mold - this includes dry eyes, histamine reactions, brain fog, nausea, joint etc. It's actually very difficult to think when I am in mold, like my brain is inflamed almost and just isn't working properly, I don't feel well and stressed as well from the physical effects. Anyhow, I have developed an evidence sheet regarding whether it is TMS:
For TMS:
- When I tell my brain to cut it out the symptoms seem to dial down the symptom quickly, albeit only slightly
- I once had the symptom 'rotate out'
- the symptom can reduce at times
- have seen mold toxicity on Nicole's podcast
- I once had a moment where it dropped a bit (but this didn't last)

Against TMS:
- treating the symptom physically has an effect (e.g binders) and my body responds to it and I feel better
- I don't get the symptom when not in mold
- I can see the mold, not imagining it
- mold does have effects on the body that are negative, it's often recommended not to live in mold
- downstream problems I have (e.g candida and histamine sensitivity) are often downstream from mold

What do people think? Is this TMS? And if it is TMS, should I stop treating it completely, or do downstream effects (like candida) still need to be handled using physical methods?

Thanks in advance!

Jules

Allergies are always a tough one but when you think about what's happening, it seems logical that we should be able to minimize the response.
By definition, an allergic response is the body reacting to a non-dangerous thing as if it's a threat. It's kind of like what we as TMS-ers do every day with non-threats. If it's not truly a threat, then our body shouldn't need to react but evidently some of us have bodies that are always on high alert.

I have been practicing trying to reduce my allergy symptoms through TMS work. I must admit mold is the tough one. Like you, I live in a moldy environment. Usually things improve in the summer when the hot sun kills the environmental mold but some years like this year it has been incredibly rainy through the summer season as well. Gah!

To answer your specific question, is it TMS? Well, an overactive system always, in my opinion, has some element of TMS. Does that mean you should stop treating it through other medical methods? I don't think so. I'm not taking anything for mine but if I was and it was working I'd keeping doing it. Just because our mind may contribute from deep level conditioning doesn't mean we necessarily have control over it.
Some of us I believe are wired with strong reactions, perhaps from things that occurred in infancy, medically. Such that our immune systems grew in a certain way that is beyond our current control.

Wishing you (and me!) good luck with the battle of the mold.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

To continue on from what's been said above, I'm not saying to stop using physical treatments, but to me treating things of this nature (as well as other allergies) and it helping is not evidence against TMS (so I'd take that off the list). Why? Because as Booble said, the explanation for it being TMS is that your system (in this case immune) is overreacting/overactive because of conditioning/emotional factors. When you take things for allergies you're working to settle the overactive system after it's been triggered, so it makes sense for that to work, but that says nothing about the root cause. Whether it's TMS or not is asking why your system is overactive - by saying that using such treatments would be evidence against TMS is equivalent of saying that because there's a reaction itself it means it isn't TMS, which isn't necessarily true. To use another example, it would be like saying that because medication to ease constipation works in the short term that the constipation itself isn't caused by TMS, not necessarily.

The other thing I would say is that the symptom "rotating out" I think is the biggest piece of evidence you have. If it was truly the mold (and not TMS, which means that you're just sensitive to mold and there's nothing you could do about it vs it being TMS which means you can work to settle your overactive system + unravel the conditioning and you don't need to have a reaction to it - I appreciate that being around mold isn't great anyway, but I'm taking about the specific reaction), then how on earth could this happen? If it was the mold it would be very consistent, so for you to have a time where it has rotated out (and presumably during that time you were still somewhat exposed to mold) doesn't make a lot of sense. This factor alone is making TMS highly likely to me

 

[Ellen]

I agree with the previous posters. It's TMS. In the late '90's there was an "epidemic" of something called environmental illness. In addition to having fibromyalgia I also was sensitive to many, many things. I was in a support group that called itself "the Canaries". After learning about TMS and experiencing a recovery from my symptoms, I don't experience this anymore. Yes, I have seasonal allergies, but I just treat them with OTC products and it's no big deal. I think this stems from being over focused on the body and hypervigilant.

 

[Bonnard]

I think mold situations have so many of the classic TMS kind of warning signs.

These kinds of things can be really problematic for us TMSers:
>Some validity that our brains can point to; our keyboards can go WebMDing, or MoldMD or some other site. Dr. Google Mold; questions can go out to non-qualified (but overly fearful) friends and family--and that random guy at the coffeeshop who gets the same cappuccino as me.
>Vague symptoms, like fatigue, headaches, lethargy, brain fog, congestion, etc.
>Symptom onset is extremely variable--for some it's a couple days, for others it's a couple months.
>Scary stuff--if you don't deal with it-- x, y, and double z can happen.
>Available horror stories (like lyme disease or chronic fatigue or long covid).
>No real specific treatment from your physician.
>Self-pity feels justified. Can't believe my landlord rents to me w/these conditions; or my employer; or how did it get into my home?
>There are good and bad days.
>There's the dreaded version, whatever that is. Importantly, you don't know much about it, except that it's awful. In this case, that's "Black Mold!".

Mold has all of these.

And, at the same time, there are valid reasons to get stuff checked out b/c people can get really sick from mold situations. Professionals are often brought in legitimately and for important reasons.