When People Carry Mold with Them: Understanding Reactions to Others

One of the hardest parts of living with mold sensitivity is that it changes the way we experience other people. Most of us know what it’s like to react to someone’s clothing when they’ve been in a moldy house or workplace - that disorienting, invisible hit when they walk past, or the instant rage, brain fog or heart palpitations when they sit beside us. 

But what many of our customers report, and what we’ve experienced, is that it can go far deeper than just clothing. It’s the person themselves. Their breath. Their sweat. Their saliva. Even the way the air in a closed space feels after they’ve been in it. It sounds impossible until you’ve lived it, but when you know, you know.

Here’s what’s actually happening. Mold toxins don’t always stay in the environment. When someone is living or working in a moldy space, their body becomes a carrier. These biotoxins don’t just sit in their lungs or on their clothes ̶ they circulate through their bloodstream, and the body does its best to eliminate them through every available route. Sweat. Breath. Saliva. Urine. Menstrual blood. Even gas or skin oils.[1] 

For those of us with hypersensitivities, every one of those elimination routes can become a point of exposure. Sometimes, these are mycotoxins passing through almost unchanged.

We’ve seen this documented in environmental medicine for years: ochratoxin A and other mycotoxins detected in urine, sweat, and breast milk, even months after leaving a contaminated space.[2][3] Sometimes it’s fragments ̶ microscopic pieces of mold or biofilm that get trapped in hair, skin, or sinus cavities and hitch a ride on everything we exhale.[4] And sometimes, it’s the body trying to clear what has been stored in deeper tissue, slowly detoxifying layer by layer, with small bursts of release triggered by stress, heat, exercise, or even hormonal shifts.[5] 

This is why reactions can vary so widely. One person might have been in the same environment but elicits almost no response, while another can cause severe symptoms with a single breath near you. Some of this comes down to genetics - our detox pathways, our immune reactivity, our ability to bind and excrete toxins effectively - but much of it is about the simple math of exposure and elimination.[6][7] The more a body is carrying, the more it will try to push out. 

For those still living or working in mold, this isn’t just an abstract problem. It’s a cycle that keeps them reactive and keeps those around them reactive too. That’s where the thoughtful use of binders can come in. 

Binders, when used consistently and appropriately, do two things. First, they reduce enterohepatic recirculation ̶ that constant loop where toxins dumped into the bile are reabsorbed in the gut and sent back through the liver again and again.[8] And second, they act as a kind of buffer. By giving the body a safe, inert place to offload toxins in the digestive tract, binders can reduce the pressure on other elimination pathways. Fewer toxins coming out in sweat, less volatility in the breath, less secondary exposure to those around you.[9] 

We’ve seen this in real time with our own family and with our customers. People still in exposure who start on a gentle, daily binder often find that their partners and children react to them less. Their own reactivity starts to come down a notch, not because the source exposure has stopped - it hasn’t - but because their toxin burden is shifting, ever so slightly, toward a safer channel of elimination. 

It’s not a cure, and it doesn’t mean they can stay in a bad environment without consequences, but it can be the first step toward calming the storm while they plan their exit or work toward a full decontamination. 

For those already in clean spaces and beginning the deeper work of detoxification, binders take on another role: they prevent reabsorption of toxins as they are mobilized from storage. Detox is never a straight line. There are layers, and as the body starts to unseal old injuries or old storage pockets, symptoms can surge. Headaches, skin burning, anxiety, rage flares, cognitive crashes ̶ those are all signals that something is moving.[10] 

Having binders onboard during these times can help catch what is being released before it re-enters circulation, reducing the severity of those flares and making the process more tolerable and more sustainable.[11]

None of this is easy. We live in bodies that are working harder than they should have to, in a world that doesn’t yet understand what we’re up against. But there is power in knowing what’s happening  ̶ in being able to name it, to say, “This isn’t in my head. This is a measurable, chemical reality.”

And there’s even more power in learning how to use the tools we have, imperfect though they are, to create even a little more safety and space for healing. Whether it’s through binders, careful decontamination, or simply moving toward cleaner air and cleaner ground one step at a time, every bit of burden we can take off the body makes room for recovery.

References

 [1] Shoemaker, R.C., et al. (2010). Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome due to Water-Damaged Buildings.

Mold and Mycotoxins.

 [2] Hooper, D., Bolton, V., Guilford, F. (2009). Mycotoxin detection in human samples from patients exposed to environmental molds. Toxicology and Industrial Health, 25(9), 617‒626. 

 [3] Brewer, J.H., Thrasher, J.D., Straus, D.C. (2013). Detection of mycotoxins in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Toxins, 5(4), 605‒617.

 [4] Gorny, R.L., & Dutkiewicz, J. (2002). Size distribution of fungal fragments in indoor air. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 68(7), 3522‒3531. 

 [5] Kilburn, K.H. (2009). Neurobehavioral and pulmonary impairment in adults with indoor exposure to molds. Toxicology and Industrial Health, 25(9), 681‒692. 

 [6] Shoemaker, R.C., House, D.E. (2006). Genetic susceptibility to biotoxin illness is associated with HLA-DR haplotypes. Genetics in Medicine, 8(12), 873‒882. [7] Begas, E., et al. (2021). Genetic variability in detoxification pathways and susceptibility to mold-related illness. Frontiers in Genetics, 12, 633769.

 [8] Rao, P.V., et al. (2015). Enterohepatic circulation of mycotoxins and the role of bile salt transporters. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 63(37), 8182‒8190. 

 [9] Shoemaker, R.C., & Hudnell, H.K. (2001). Possible estuarine-related illness symptoms and use of cholestyramine. Environmental Health Perspectives, 109(5), 539‒545.

 [10] Hope, J. (2013). A review of the mechanism of injury and treatment approaches for illness resulting from exposure to water-damaged buildings, mold, and mycotoxins. The Scientific World Journal, 2013, 767482.

 [11] Berndtson, K. (2016). Biotoxin illness: Consensus statement. International Journal of Toxicology, 35(6), 537‒546