[Healthgirl]

I am trying to figure this out since my only advice from doctors are to refer out for each member of my family to be evaluated separately.

I am the only one severely affected, but everyone has had strange symptoms and 3 of us have the confirmed photosensitive livedo, so I am trying to figure this out.

Maybe I can request some tests from my primary?
I am trying to do as much research on fungal/bacterial/ toxic exposure as I can.

Any recommendations on the type of blood work I should ask for?

[madisongrrl]

I don't think the connection between mold and neuropathy is commonly talked about or published.

I went on pubmed and tried to do some poking around; I didn't get many relevant hits when I searched just the pubmed section. Here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259425

On pubmed, you can also elect to search all databases. I had a decent find from pubmed's "bookshelf". There was a series that combined 55 people who have medical issues from environmental exposure. There were 55 mentions of neuropathy if you use the find function. It's long, but it's very interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231980/

Here is another site that speaks to mold, neuropathy, and autoimmune disease. It has a few good citations listed and you might want to chase some of those down.

http://www.nutri-spec.net/articles/envtox.html

Also try hitting up Google Scholar with mold, neuropathy, and/or autoimmune disease. You can often times get full articles from doing this.

I've also attached 2 pdfs that might be of use. Happy reading.

[northerngal]

It might make sense for every member of your family to do a 24 hour urine catch. Maybe you are the most exposed to something/someplace and are showing symptoms before others.
those were some good articles. I found it interesting about the elevated igg and igm, both of these antibody titers are high in my bloodwork but I could never get any Dr. to relate it to my neuropathy in any way.
To me, if we have something high or low and it's not causing symptoms, then yes it may be okay to think it does not signify anything, but if we have something coming up abnormal AND we are having symptoms like nerve damage then obviously something is not right.

[DejaVu]

Originally Posted by madisongrrl

I don't think the connection between mold and neuropathy is commonly talked about or published.

I went on pubmed and tried to do some poking around; I didn't get many relevant hits when I searched just the pubmed section. Here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259425

On pubmed, you can also elect to search all databases. I had a decent find from pubmed's "bookshelf". There was a series that combined 55 people who have medical issues from environmental exposure. There were 55 mentions of neuropathy if you use the find function. It's long, but it's very interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231980/

Here is another site that speaks to mold, neuropathy, and autoimmune disease. It has a few good citations listed and you might want to chase some of those down.

http://www.nutri-spec.net/articles/envtox.html

Also try hitting up Google Scholar with mold, neuropathy, and/or autoimmune disease. You can often times get full articles from doing this.

I've also attached 2 pdfs that might be of use. Happy reading.

Hi Madisongrrl,
Nice job with the research!
Very interesting!
Thank you!

Healthgirl,
Great question!



DejaVu

[Healthgirl]

Originally Posted by madisongrrl

I don't think the connection between mold and neuropathy is commonly talked about or published.

I went on pubmed and tried to do some poking around; I didn't get many relevant hits when I searched just the pubmed section. Here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259425

On pubmed, you can also elect to search all databases. I had a decent find from pubmed's "bookshelf". There was a series that combined 55 people who have medical issues from environmental exposure. There were 55 mentions of neuropathy if you use the find function. It's long, but it's very interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231980/

Here is another site that speaks to mold, neuropathy, and autoimmune disease. It has a few good citations listed and you might want to chase some of those down.

http://www.nutri-spec.net/articles/envtox.html

Also try hitting up Google Scholar with mold, neuropathy, and/or autoimmune disease. You can often times get full articles from doing this.

I've also attached 2 pdfs that might be of use. Happy reading.

Whoa! Madison girl... you have done some serious homework on this. Thank you so much! This is way more info than I have.
Did you go through any types of blood tests/ urnine tests to explore this route?

[madisongrrl]

I do lots literature reviews for work and often have to synthesize and summarize complicated science writing into summaries that are understandable and palatable. So me and pubmed go waaaaayyyyy back . I just never thought I'd be using my work skills to figure out what the heck is wrong with me.....

I haven't had much time to look through this stuff closely, but I will. This week I'm seeing my integrated MD about lyme testing. Then mold will be next on my list since I know we do have mold inside the walls of our bathroom from a longstanding leak. I will ask her opinion on mold testing, but I know these topics are not her area of expertise.

Just like Lyme disease, there are lots of differing opinions in the world of mold. Some docs have seen mold impact one person in a house, and not others. This topic just seems to be another rabbit hole to go down. Ugh.

[wildcovey]

Has anyone ever had mold and mycotoxin testing conducted? If so, what does one learn from it and what will it teach us? Where can one get the testing done and is it expensive? If exposed is there treatment????

I'm sure I have been exposed to lots of molds, toxins, etc growing up living in an older home and working on a farm in the Midwest throughout my teenage years. Heck I never paid a little mold much attention.

I would like to learn more about this as I find my exposure to these things more relevant than other things.

Tony
Idiopathic Small Fiber Neuropathy
Missouri

[madisongrrl]

I'm only just starting to do research but here is another decent pubmed article. This case study series that ties chronic illness to toxic molds.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3920250/

They analyze samples with a urine mycotoxin testing from RTL (Real Time Laboratory); there are 5 references to RTL in this paper. In addition, I've heard a well-known functional med doc recommend this test from this lab. This test identifies aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and trichothecenes.

Here is the link to the lab. The lab test is indeed expensive. $700 dollars comes to mind, but I'm not certain. You can call them for pricing.

http://www.realtimelab.com/healthcar...in-information

[bluesfan]

If you google "Hurricane Sandy mold remediation" there are a lot of articles - apparently mold was (and is still ongoing) a big problem after the hurricane.

[Neuroproblem]

Originally Posted by Healthgirl

I am trying to figure this out since my only advice from doctors are to refer out for each member of my family to be evaluated separately.

I am the only one severely affected, but everyone has had strange symptoms and 3 of us have the confirmed photosensitive livedo, so I am trying to figure this out.

Maybe I can request some tests from my primary?
I am trying to do as much research on fungal/bacterial/ toxic exposure as I can.

Any recommendations on the type of blood work I should ask for?

Not specifically. The mycotoxin released by black molds, usually cause respitory symptoms and headaches, some people are so senstive they will get severely sickened by the mold.
certain bacteria can trigger autoimmune diseases that can trigger neuropathy, but that is pretty uncommon as well.