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Can toxic black mold (stachybotrys) trigger Multiple Sclerosis?

I moved into a new place 2 years ago only to have found bad black mold (independently verified as stachybotrys) in the house. Now, I have
a ton of MS symptoms from it.

Could this be something that could trigger MS in some but not others and therefore never been given the caution it may really deserve?

As the doctors know so little (ie nada) as to what causes MS, anything can be put into the category of a "possibility" for individuals, as we may all have a different trigger... or not... we just don't know either way. sorry.

Anything which is toxic to the body can result in MS. Pesticides, heavy metals, GMO's, fluoride, viruses, bacteria, ........etc. When these things attack the brain or nervous system you can get MS. When they attack another part of the body you get some other disease. If you can relate your symptoms to moving into the house there is something in the house which is not good for you. Pay attention to the environment and how your body response to it. It is not just a coincidence when someone gets sick. It is the result of too many toxins in the body. We are surrounded by toxins everyday but the mold in the house may have push you over the edge. Might try living somewhere else for a while and see if the symptoms go away.

want2bike wrote:Anything which is toxic to the body can result in MS.

Can I presume that you mean a "possibility" exists that this could lead to MS?

To the topic at hand the link below seems to indicate a tie between mold and autoimmune diseases. While researchers state there is an "environmental component" to MS, they are just guessing because they cannot locate all the triggers in the lab. I don't know that I have every lived in a moldy environment and grew up in a very dry climate. Seems very unlikely in my case, but each person is unique.

http://www.whatech.com/members-news/man ... ienist-fry

We know that toxins are bad for your system. They can cause a whole array of problems to your health. Some of the symptoms can mimic those MS patients experience. We know that heavy metals can cause neurological problems.

But what nobody knows at the moment is whether these toxins are responsible for the cause of MS or just exacerbate an already compromised system. They have been studying MS patients for years now and have found elevated white blood cell counts, lack of B12, obstructed jugular veins, certain deficiencies in some minerals and vitamins, low histamine 2 levels, high metal levels, etc etc. What isn't known is whether these deficiencies are a result of the MS, influences the cause of the disease or have nothing to do with it.

The MS patients who take treatments for these issues often start to feel better but is their MS getting better or is their overall health improving with the MS progressing in the background which often happens.

Does this mean that MS is a multitude of different diseases or one cause that doesn't involve these other issues?

Research has been going on for over 70 years yet nobody knows the actual cause of the disease and been able to scientifically prove it. You would think someone, somewhere will find the answer! Until then all we have is a lot of theories.

YES mold has been tied to MS, specifically a couple species found in water-affected buildings, incl. the common "black mold".

The Seattle area has the highest rate of MS in the nation and surprise surprise, why do you think that is? I will tell you why. Most of our buildings here have a problem with black mold, especially older ones or ones built without appropriate thought to the climate. The house I spent birth through age 10 in had black mold in the closets, windows, behind dressers, and I'm sure all through the walls. It was a cinderblock house which is basically a form of cement that wicks water up and holds it in dampness of the walls. There were many suburbs outside of seattle built of cinder block houses as post-WWII houses for returning GIs and the new suburban lifestyle. However, this material couldn't have been more poorly chosen for the damp pacific NW climate. It is extremely difficult to keep a cinder block house from becoming a toxic black mold factory in this climate. It's difficult enough even with 2 and 3 story wood houses with airspace between floor and ground (floors raised above ground level or with basements) in sunny locations with woodstoves to dry out the air and materials, much less ranch style cinder block houses built flat on the (wet) ground in shady areas with non-drying electric or gas heat, etc.

The other area in the world with extremely high MS is Scotland. The environment of Scotland and Seattle are extremely similar in many ways: they are on almost the same latitude, they are both maritime climates with average temperatures between 40's-60's farenheit with 100% humidity. Both places rarely get strong heat or clear strong sun of enough UV rays heat and drying to dry out moldy houses, cars, etc and dry out or kill spores in the air, nor does either place get much of a hard freeze to arrest mold growth and dry out air. in both places, most of the year conditions are perfect for rampant proliferation of mold growth. The southern equivalent of the same latitude and problem is that MS is seen in New Zealand which also has a large number of people of celtic descent (seattle is also largely white, although not particularly celtic, more Scandinavian however there is also a Scandinavian connection with MS, and Scotland is largely Scandinavian in its DNA due to Viking contact and settlement. Scandinavian culture and American culture influenced by it is to drink a lot of milk and there is a milk-MS connection as well).

The reason that areas that are damp enough to have mold problems but in a warmer area i.e. New Orleans don't have the rate of MS that Seattle, Scotland, and New Zealand have, is because the sun is what creates vitamin D in the human body, with sufficient D we have strong immune systems able to better ward off effects of mold etc but with deficiencies in D the immune system does not work as well. there is a known correlation between vitamin D deficiency and MS, and also mold exposure and MS, both of which relate to lack of sun and a cool cloudy damp climate. we know that damp, cool climates (by the sea usually) have higher MS. also, I suspect that the strains of mold that grow in a cool range of temperatures average 50* f are different than those that grow in warm temperatures of average 80* f. BUT there are a couple more things involved - feeding babies and children animal milk, first as formula and later in the diet, either/or or both, can trigger latent MS genes which is why MS is seen in damp cool moldy climates where also the babies and children are fed animal milk formula or in childhood in the mistaken assumption that it helps build bones (the opposite is true - check the Harvard nurse's study. Harvard removed dairy from its food pyramid due to results of this study). There are societies where the climate conditions would indicate high MS but without the immune disruption of the animal milk trigger their rates seem to be less. however with the spread of bottle feeding and dairy use in japan the rate of MS is rising and their climate in many areas is unfortunately prime MS territory (damp oceanic cool temperate climate average temp 50* f). the Hep B shot also raises risk of MS many times, areas that vaccinate with this shot are more likely to see MS rates be high especially if they have the climate risk and the dairy risk in addition.

there are a couple hot weather areas that have fairly high MS including Sardinia and Palestine, however, in the case of Sardinia it is suspected to be genetic due to a gene prevalent in the small gene pool on island, and in the case of Palestine, it is suspected to be possibly caused by an STD spread by polygamy and practice of mix and match marriage/divorce (epidemiologists look at some areas of the world with MS and say that it reads like an STD by all indicators). Palestine also has high dairy consumption (goat and camel more than cow) and one of the world's highest birthrates, which indicates bottle feeding of infants.

Every state in the US and every country I would think has laws on the books about mold in rental housing, and there are federal laws about housing and building safety, toxic mold, sick building syndrome etc. Look up the housing authority website of your local area, or your local area's tenants union. look up your state's laws about toxic mold, black mold, or sick building syndrome. a landlord cannot legally rent a building with toxic mold in it. a professional mold remediation or environmental toxicity company needs to come out and do an assessment of the situation. they will probably do a free assessment and write up a report and remediation plan and cost quote, this report of findings and estimate of what is necessary to remediate it can be used in court. if they find mold in amounts and species known to be toxic to health, the landlord is required to put you up in an alternate residence while the remedication work is done, which can include ripping out wall board, insulation, floors etc down to the studs, cleaning, proofing against mold with anti mold agents, and re-insulating and putting walls back together. however, the chemicals used to prevent mold can be toxic in and of themselves. however, one of them is now being used as an MS drug, tecfidera. The ingredient used in tecfidera is also used to protect wood furniture made in china from molding while being shipped on freighter ships to the US, and also has been proven to prevent mold in bread. so this anti mold substance is also being used as a medication in the body to counteract and prevent effects of toxic mold in the body as it also protects other organic things against mold damage.

if you are noticing MS symptoms in a moldy house, you already knew what you felt and the research is all there that proves toxic mold i.e. mycotoxin effects on both neurology and immune system and connection to MS. GET OUT NOW and turn your landlord to the law in for moldy house rental. there may be a law firm in your area that specializes in these cases. talk to your tenants union. I would call a mold remediation specialist and see if they will come out and do a free assessment, get their assessment in writing, find a lawyer who will take the case without payment from you i.e. pay on winning the case (if there are other residents, get them in on the case as well), and then turn your landlord in to the housing authority with a toxic mold property rental case to get them to do the remediation. inside the bathroom walls tends to be some of the worst but it can be anywhere in the residence, and what you see is only the tip of the iceberg, even if you see little, the inside walls and under the floors can be infested. black mold on window seams is common. single pane windows that sweat tend to gather mold at the window seams and prevent the inside of the house air from being able to dry out due to window condensation. window replacement may be necessary to fight mold in the house and many cheap scheisty landlords don't want to do it because it is expensive. however most landlords are living in the rich side of town and making money off renting properties in the poorer area of town so they are not hurting for $ and don't feel bad for making them do their job, they are not allowed to profit off making people sick.

I had a landlord who would make half assed gestures at maintenance but there was water damage all through house that continued to happen, water dripping down inside walls (place had a flat roof that was leaking somewhere - who builds a flat roof in seattle? where puddles will stand on it almost all the time, recipe for roof leakage, etc.) and it contributed to my onset of MS, however I think in my case it was more that my formative years of immune system being established were in severely mold toxic damp cinderblock house with black mold and even small fungi growing out of walls behind dressers, in closets, etc. The data shows that when people live in a cool damp cloudy rainy climate in childhood the higher MS risk effect follows them even if they move to a warmer climate later, and this is partly because it is before age 15 that our immune system develops and is established in childhood and if altered by mold toxicity in that time it can lead to autoimmunity later in life (autoimmunity is one of the effects of toxic mold exposure).

Every state in the nation has laws against renting or selling property with mold in it due to the health effects and the owner or renter of the property is liable for mold remediation. look up the laws in your area and get AWAY from that exposure ASAP it's not worth MS the rest of your life.

OK looks like I'm a day late and a dollar short again since I'm replying to a post started a year ago.
Anyway I've been wondering about the mold connection too. So has anyone seen their condition improve by moving away from a moldy house?

let me throw a monkey wrench in the mold argument. I did grow up in a house with mold and I sneeze like crazy when I breathe mold. The first time an air conditioner runs in the spring will send me to misery land quickly. Even going into stores, etc. can make me sneeze hundreds of times, and no allergy pills will touch it. Other days, I am fine. It is quite weird, and even connected to diet. But, as pointed out above, there is sufficient evidence, in my view, at least anecdotal, to link MS to diet. You have the dairy connection, the numbers of people who improve with diet changes, so if there is a mold/mycotoxin issue, it may not be from breathing, it could be from eating. How so? Well, when cows are fed from mounds of moldy grains, those mycotoxins get into their meat and milk, and cannot be cooked out. One of the changes of the industrial revolution that happened around the time MS popped up, was the move towards factory farms. Cattle and pork are fed from stores of grains as opposed to grass growing in the field. This would account for MS in places like Kuwait, where there should be little mold. The meat gets imported. Plus, with the advent of air conditioning, places like that that are are dry and very sunny, are seeing an explosion in MS.

Why does Wisconsin have more MS than Alaska? It's not just about sun. So maybe the moisture/mold issue makes sense. If it's just about dairy, then why does Texas have about one fourth the MS of Minnesota? Lots of beef in Texas. They you can look at Brazil where lots of beef is, yet the rate of MS is a tiny fraction of what it is here. ONe explanation could be that the climate is so dry, that the feed for the animals does not get the mold. While in Alaska, they eat more wild caught game and fish, since the weather makes it harder to have grazing animals. So I do think mold could be a legit culprit to examine, but I would push it beyond mold in the air.

I agree that mold doesn't just get to us by breathing it. Many grains have mold so it can enter the food supply too. And as you point out the mycotoxins are not destroyed by cooking. So I don't think you're throwing a monkey wrench into the argument. You're just just expanding it.

Maybe the folks who go on wheat free diets are reducing their exposure to mycotoxins.

The article suggests epsilon toxin specifically targets the myelin-forming cells, a selectivity for oligodendrocytes, where apparently other cells in the CNS are unaffected. http://mbio.asm.org/content/6/3/e02513-14

I am not sure whether this is a coincidence but the herpes/EBV virus also prefers the OPCs, the precursor cells of of the oligodendrocytes. I was told the virus prefers these cells, just like the cells in the bone marrow, because it helps them to proliferate as each time the cell divides, the virus duplicates as well.

Could there be a connection? That is to say, could it be that epsilon toxin, but perhaps other bacterial cell molecules and transportable proteins as well e.g. from the naso pharynx and/or from the gut, trigger transgene / herpes EBV primed cells to activate intra-cellular events e.g. through sharing segments of DNA, leading to the release of pro-inflammatory lipid mediators, enzymatic activities and modified cell signaling events? And -eventually- a loss of epi-genetic control of the virus and cell death? In other words, is it 'synergetic effects' of virus and bacterial toxins working together that Buhner talks about in his book Healing Lyme disease coinfections that misguide or reduce the effectiveness of the cellular immunity?

Our cells are highly complex machines, each one of them, and the product of 2 Billion years of evolution. Our metasystem must have started develop some 500 Million years ago, perhaps not quite so complex... And perhaps, besides epsilon toxin, there are many other toxic substances that may trigger events in transgenic cells one way or the other...

see also last posting on this page: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... 8-705.html

An other consideration, an other angle to look at it really, is that IgG3 is depleted due to a continuous high EBV load. Mold control by the immune system gets less. And things like toenail fungus arise...

I believe it is 100%. I am suffering the same thing you are. The way I confirmed it was by reviewing my blood work verses times I was in a mold environment and times I was not each of which showed significant peaks. Then I had a Mycotoxin UA which confirmed it. I had a very good Dr. who is in agreement with me which is hard to find. If allowed I will be happy to send you her info. As time passes my condition is deteriorating now affecting my heart and glucose production so be careful and don't let it go too long. I find that lesions on the brain are typically associated with the frontal and parietal lobe which makes sense because that is the enter passage from your sinus cavity to your brain.

Look into Dr Richie Shoemaker's neurotoxins website. He says it can cause brain lesions