What Is CIRS Due To Toxic Mold Illness?

Battling Chronic Mold Illness

Symptoms of CIRS due to toxic mold exposure:

  • Chronic Fatigue: My wife’s energy levels were severely depleted, and rest provided no relief.

  • Cognitive Issues: She struggled with memory, concentration, and often felt confused.

  • Musculoskeletal Pain: Joint pain and muscle aches became a daily struggle.

  • Exercise Intolerance: If there was a day that she felt better, too much physical exertion would trigger a massive crash the next day with a flare up of all her symptoms for weeks.

  • Mood Disorders: Anxiety, depression, and mood swings added to her distress due to the frustration of not knowing the cause of her symptoms.

  • Gastrointestinal Symptoms: She experienced frequent abdominal pains and irregular bowel movements.

  • Dizziness/Vertigo: She felt constantly dizzy and would experience random dizziness attacks that would cause her entire body to turn and sway in response.

  • Multiple Food and Chemical Sensitivities: My wife developed random food sensitivities that would trigger immediate fatigue, brain fog and dizziness attacks. She never developed many chemical sensitivities, but it is documented to happen in CIRS patients.

Diagnosing CIRS:

Diagnosing CIRS involves a combination of clinical evaluation and specialized testing. Based on the research and years of clinical experience from Dr. Richie Shoemaker, MD, he discovered the following key diagnostic criteria:

  • History of Exposure: We confirmed exposure to our water-damaged home environment.

  • Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) Test: A functional vision test that can detect neurological deficits related to biotoxin exposure.

  • Biomarker Testing: Laboratory tests identified specific inflammatory markers, hypopituitary function and genetic predispositions (HLA-DR genotyping).

  • Symptom Clusters: A detailed symptom survey form with 13 different categories and 37 cluster symptoms helps identify CIRS in a very inexpensive way.

If you suspect you or a loved one may be suffering from mold illness, be sure to schedule a free 20 min consultation with my office. Call/Text us at 512-399-4276 or email at frontoffice@drmedinaclinic.com

Dr. Medina has personal experience with CIRS and toxic mold illness wreaking havoc on his family. You can read more about his personal experience here.