Can Mold Cause Parkinson’s Disease

Mold Health Impact : Paranoia And Anxiety

Paranoia can often be caused by high levels of toxic molds, such as the trichothecene black mold toxin or the Ocratoxin-producing Aspergillus Mold. Paranoia and anxiety can occur when a mold toxic brain produces excessive levels of glutamate and PEA, two powerful electrifying brain chemicals. These two chemicals in the brain cause an over-electrified nervous system. Since many doctors are unaware of the effects mold toxicity has on a patients body, doctors will address the symptoms produced by mold toxicity by prescribing drugs like Klonopin or Xanax to calm their over-electrified, anxious brain. Unfortunately, this simply masks a larger issue that can only be solved by detoxifying the body of these mold toxins.

Key Stats And Facts About Pd In The United States

Currently, there is no cure for PD.

PD is treated with medications, exercise programs, speech therapy. Deep brain stimulation is another treatment option that has worked on some PD patients.

The cause of PD is not known. There are many theories, including environmental factors such as pesticide exposure from two pesticides, paraquat and rotenone, commonly used by farmers affecting populations living in rural communities. The other main thrust of research focuses on genetic factors because 15% of PD patients have first-degree relatives that also suffered from PD.

As many as one million Americans live with Parkinsons disease, which is more than the combined number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrigs disease.

Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinsons disease each year, and this number does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected.

An estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinsons disease.

Incidence of Parkinsons increases with age, but an estimated four percent of people with PD are diagnosed before the age of 50.

Men are one and a half times more likely to have Parkinsons than women.

The combined direct and indirect cost of Parkinsons, including treatment, social security payments and lost income from inability to work, is estimated to be nearly $25 billion per year in the United States alone.

10 Key Stats and Facts About PD In The United States

Mold Health Impact : Short

Do you ever walk into a room and think, What did I come in here for? Mold toxicity may be the reason. When mold mycotoxins are present in the body, they destroy the myelin sheath through lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress. The most sensitive organ to this toxin-induced reduction of electrical activity is, of course, the brain. Additionally, the most sensitive brain region to toxin-induced down-regulation is our executive center, known as the prefrontal cortex, or PFC. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex houses our shortest of short-term memories. This is where our four second-learning and processing memory is most sensitive. So, when individuals initially become mold toxic, they start to experience brain fog, difficulty focusing, and forgetfulness.

Read More About The Impact of Mold Toxin on Short-term Memory

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Mold Health Impact : Parkinsons Disease

A Parkinsons disease diagnosis often results in a feeling of hopelessness. One of Dr. Sponaugles patients, Amy however, did not give in to depression. Amy credits the onset of her illness to her exposure to high levels of black mold during her time spent assisting with humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In just one month, Amy started to experience profound neurological interferences in her ability to walk. Eventually, Parkinsonian rigidity and episodic paralysis left her bedridden. After being unable to improve with the help of traditional Parkinsons medication and integrative approaches, Amy came to Sponaugle Wellness Institute. Receiving treatment at Sponaugle Wellness allowed Amys health to improve in ways she was unable to accomplish elsewhere. Learn more about her progression and treatment at Sponaugle Wellness in her VIDEO: Learn More About Amys Parkinsons Symptoms as a Result of Exposure to Black Mold

Mold Toxins And Parkinson’s Disease:

There is a strong link between specific mold neurotoxins and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.One can have a urine test for poisonous mold toxins to detect for elevated levels of these neurotoxins.Mold types, detection, mitigation and detoxification are all covered.

Climate change is causing more hurricanes, floods and rising water leading to water intrusions and an increase in mold infestation.Humans are spending record amounts of time indoors exposed to mold toxins harbored by drywall, carpeting, upholstery, ceiling tiles, ventilation ducts, plants , etc.There are over 100,000 species of molds but only about two dozen cause health problems for humans and even fewer are known to be related to Parkinson’s disease.

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What Were The Basic Results

Exposing wild Drosophila flies to low dose 1-octen-3-ol caused movement problems within the first 24 hours and 50% to die by 16.9 days. The control group all survived for at least 27 days, by which time the entire 1-octen-3-ol group had died.

In the second part of the study, exposure to 1-octen-3-ol reduced the number of all types of dopamine nerves except for one. This caused a reduction in dopamine levels of 28% compared to flies that were not exposed. It also increased the level of the waste product of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid by 40%.

In the human embryonic kidney cells, very low levels of 1-octen-3-ol did not have an effect, whereas low and higher levels caused a difficulty in transporting dopamine into the cells.

They found that overexpression of a different genetic neurotransporter cell in flies brains was protective against the effects of 1-octen-3-ol.

What Is Parkinson’s And What Makes You Think I Have It

Parkinsons is a progressive neurological disorder and is considered to be one of the most common neurological conditions.

Every case of Parkinsons is different and not everyone will experience the same symptoms. For example, not all people develop tremor and for some, rigidity is the major symptom. With modern medication, symptoms can be well controlled.

Our movements are controlled by nerve cells in the brain which pass messages to one another, and to the rest of the body, using chemicals called neurotransmitters. An area of the brain called the substantia nigra produces one of the neurotransmitters that controls movement: dopamine. In people with Parkinsons, 70-80% of dopamine-producing cells gradually deteriorate and are lost this is called neurodegeneration. Cell death occurs naturally with ageing, but in Parkinsons the process is much faster.

The loss of dopamine-producing neurons results in low levels of dopamine in the part of the brain that controls movement and balance. When nerve cells do not pass on brain messages properly due to a lack of dopamine, movement is no longer controlled smoothly and the symptoms of Parkinsons appear. The most common symptoms are tremor, stiffness and slowness of movement.

Difficulties that are not related to movement can also occur, such as pain, sleep disturbance and depression. These are known as non-motor symptoms.

See also About Parkinson’s.

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Very Very High Rates Of Mold Exposure In The Me/cfs Community

It turned out that the healthy controls were selected in part because theyd reported no prior exposures to water damaged buildings. That enabled the researchers to highlight the effect that type of exposure may have but made it impossible to be able to state that ME/CFS patients are more likely to be exposed to water-damaged/moldy buildings than healthy controls.

Several factors suggest the 93% rate of positive mycotoxin tests in ME/CFS may not be reflective of the general population.

• The authors defined water-damaged buildings broadly enough that many people must have been exposed to one. . They did note, though, that many of the ME/CFS patients had lived or worked in a building with visible mold an indication of a mold problem that went beyond a plugged up drain or a window leak).
• This study also emanated from a infectious disease specialist apparently with a focus in mold issues which means he may be gathering a distinct subset of mold exposed patients and this makes sense given the report that many of the study participants had lived/worked in buildings with visible mold.
• The most common type of water-based damage to residential dwellings occurs in basements and most of the participants came from the Midwest where basements/cellars are probably more common than in the western and southern states. People from these locations may be more likely to be exposed to high levels of mold.

To sum up.

Is There A Test That Can Be Carried Out To Confirm I Have Parkinson’s

Due to the complexity of the condition, there is no simple or accessible diagnostic test for Parkinsons, such as an X-ray or blood test. A clinical diagnosis is always required, which relies on an experts clinical assessment.

Parkinsons is difficult to diagnose because there is no specific test for the condition. Symptoms vary from person to person and a number of other illnesses have similar symptoms, which means misdiagnoses can occur, especially in the early stages when signs and symptoms are subtle. Therefore, the use of established diagnostic tools that detect the loss of dopamine in the brain may be useful and can help to reduce misdiagnosis. DaTSCAN is one such tool that has been shown to differentiate between Essential Tremor and Parkinsons in the majority of cases. It can identify a loss of dopamine a chemical known to be depleted in the brain of someone with Parkinsons – from those who have no loss.

Magnetic resonance imaging scans are rarely used for diagnosing Parkinsons since an MRI of a parkinsonian brain generally looks normal. But MRI can help to differentiate between Parkinsons and other types of parkinsonism, for example Multiple System Atrophy and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

See also Diagnosis.

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Could Mold Trigger Parkinson Disease

Parkinson disease , a common movement disorder in humans was discovered in 1817 by a British doctor, Dr. James Parkinson. The exact causes of Parkinson disease are poorly understood but recent studies suggest that several environmental agents including microbial volatile organic compounds , may be involved.

The symptoms of Parkinsons disease include tremor, rigidity, slowness and stiffness of muscles impaired balance and difficulty with walking loss of volume and clarity of speech tendency to shuffle when walking and handwriting difficulty.

Have You Come Across Advice That Those With Parkinsons Should Avoid Too Much Refined Sugar Or Perhaps Youre Aware Of New Research Linking Diabetes And The Condition We Go Behind The Headlines To Find Out What Is Actually Going On

Over the last decade, a war on sugar has started. In March 2016 the government announced that a tax on sugary soft drinks would be introduced in the UK from 2018. At the same time, weve seen a gradual increase in messaging that healthy eating, particularly limiting your intake of sugar, is essential for a healthy body.

The main aim of this war is to curb a growing obesity pandemic. And while its too early to draw any conclusions about these initiatives on the patterns of obesity in the UK, studies have suggested that simply reducing the sugar content of sweetened beverages by 40% over five years could result in roughly half a million fewer obese adults. As our collective national waistline shrinks, the hope is we will also see a reduction in a range of health conditions from heart problems to cancer, diabetes to osteoarthritis.

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Mold Health Impact : Irritability And Rage

Mold toxic patients often feel out of control in their own brain, describing the feeling by saying that it feels as if their brain is hot wired. This sensation can be hard to understand without personally experiencing it, often causing a mold-toxic person to feel misunderstood by their family and peers however, science has taught us that this hot-wired feeling is caused by the excessive electrical activity in the brain due to mold toxicity. With the understanding that those experiencing excito-neurotoxicity say that it feels like they have been plugged into an electrical socket, its easy to see why they feel aggravated or aggressive. Over time, as mold toxicity worsens in a patient, the over-electrified brain feeling causes a confusing emotional combination of anxiety and also depression. With this volatility of emotions, its no wonder mold toxic patients grow irritable and exhibit rage.

Read More About How Irritability and Rage Affect Health Here

What Did The Research Involve

Initially the researchers tested different molecules that fungi release into the air to see how toxic they were. They did this by exposing Drosophila flies to five different molecules. The most toxic was called 1-octen-3-ol.

At high levels it caused damage to the dopamine system in the Drosophila flies brains.

They then took two groups of healthy flies and exposed one group to low dose 1-octen-3-ol, similar to that found in mouldy environments. The other group was the control group and were left in normal air conditions. They measured any changes in movement of the flies and how long it took for them to die.

They then exposed more flies to 1-octen-3-ol and dissected their brains after 24 hours to look for any effect on the dopamine system.

In order to produce some applicability to humans, they also measured the effect of exposure to different strengths of 1-octen-3-ol on the dopamine system in human embryonic kidney cells in the laboratory.

Furthermore, the researchers looked at different genetic types of neurotransporters in the flies brains to see if this changed the effects of the fungi chemical exposure on dopamine transport.

Neurotransporters are specialised proteins involved in the transportation of neurotransmitters through the brain and nervous system.

This was done because some people also have the same genetically different dopamine transporters as found in some flies.

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Environmental Factors In Parkinsons Disease

Here are environmental factors that may play a role in the development of Parkinsons disease:

Although environmental exposure to these and other toxins is of continued research interest, its hard to determine if any one substance is a culprit. Most often, individual cases of Parkinsons disease result from a complex interplay between genetics and environmental and other factors.

Targeting Parkinsons-Linked Protein Could Neutralize 2 of the Diseases Causes

Researchers report they have discovered how two problem proteins known to cause Parkinsons disease are chemically linked, suggesting that someday, both could be neutralized by a single drug designed to target the link.

Mold Health Impact : Bipolar And Schizophrenic Tendencies

Glutamate is an amino acid found throughout every part of the body. In the nervous system, however, glutamate is used as a neurotransmitter. When patients are exposed to extreme levels of mold toxins, glutamate levels rise dramatically, causing patients to exhibit bipolar and schizophrenic tendencies. The sad reality is that most psychiatrists will not link their behavior to a mold toxicity issue leaving thousands of patients misdiagnosed. In fact, if a patient whose bipolar tendencies are a result of mold toxicity is prescribed bipolar medication, the result wont be a normalization of mood. Instead, it will result in a feeling of emotional numbness or detachment. Fortunately, when Dr. Sponaugle identifies mold toxicity in a patient who exhibits bipolar tendencies, he can utilize intravenous toxin removal to help resolve these symptoms.

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Mold Growth Might Cause Parkinsons

Just down the road at Rutgers University, a recent study has concluded that mold growth may cause similar symptoms as Parkinsons disease. The findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and how this team of researchers got to this conclusion regarding these shocking mold side effects is a fascinating story, and one that starts very close to home for the team leader, Joan Bennett.

Joan Bennett is Rutgers own resident fungus expert. Being a skeptic of sick building syndrome, which has been one of the main causes in the rise in mold inspections and mold remediation, she never fully supported the idea that the air inside of the places that we dwell can make us sick. Well, she was proved wrong.

Owning a home in New Orleans, she definitely experienced one of the leading causes of severe in-home mold growth when Hurricane Katrina cause her home to flood in 2005. She did what any biologist would do, and decided to take samples of the growth in her home so she could study them in her temporary home, New Jersey. While she was collecting these samples, she noticed that she felt ill, experiencing nausea, dizziness, and headaches despite the fact that she was wearing a face mask and protective gear. This experience led to the new research discovery.

Watery Or Irritated Eyes

When allergens are present, the body releases histamines as part of its immune response. This histamine release is what causes the eyes to water excessively when exposed to toxins from mold.

This reaction from histamine may be the bodys way of flushing out allergens and toxins. It can serve as a warning to you that your environment may contain dangerous black mold.

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Be Your Own Health Advocate

Every drug carries risks.The Save Institute recommends avoiding prescriptions drugs except in matters of life and death. The dire, life-altering consequences of DIP are a striking example of why this recommendation is so important for maintaining your health.

Do your own research about the potential side effects of any drug, and always seek a natural remedy instead of a synthetic drug. In the case of osteoporosis and osteopenia, reversal is possible through a combination of diet, exercise and bone-healthy lifestyle choices.

Coughing And Shortness Of Breath

The irritation and inflammation caused by mold often lead to frequent coughing that is otherwise unexplained.

The throat and lungs are irritated continuously when repeatedly exposed to mycotoxins. If the issue isnt addressed, this coughing can develop into more severe conditions such as pneumonia and bronchitis.

The same inflammation that causes irritated, constricted airways that lead to wheezing and coughing can eventually lead to shortness of breath.

This gives a feeling of tightness in the chest. It may feel like you are unable to take in a full breath.

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