Kevin was 36 years old when he signed up for Quantify, after years of struggling with cognitive symptoms—impaired focus, processing, and recall—that had developed seemingly out of nowhere.
His primary care doctor had ordered a complete blood count (CBC), comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to investigate what was going on, but when all of his test results came back normal, he suggested that Kevin was “probably just stressed,” and offered to refer him to a psychiatrist for further evaluation.
A software engineer at a venture-backed startup, Kevin knew that making decisions based on data, rather than intuition, was almost always a more effective strategy for solving complex problems, so he was understandably reluctant to accept his doctor’s suggestion that his symptoms were caused by stress, without having any test results to back this up.
What’s more, his brain fog was utterly debilitating—he would often forget things his colleagues had told him just hours before—so it seemed unlikely that stress alone could cause such a significant breakdown in cognitive function.
In his first appointment at Quantify, Kevin’s health coach recommended an immune panel, mycotoxins test, and comprehensive genetic panel, to evaluate his immune function, exposure to toxic mold, and genetic predisposition to certain conditions.
Test results
His first time conducting a comprehensive evaluation of his health, Kevin’s immune panel showed low total IgM and IgG antibodies, indicating compromised immune function, and validating that his symptoms weren’t just in his head.
Further revealing the causes of his symptoms, Kevin’s mycotoxins test showed significant exposure to Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium genera, some of the most common types of toxic mold that can cause brain fog, fatigue, joint pain, anxiety, depression, and other chronic symptoms.
Completing the puzzle, Kevin’s comprehensive genetic panel showed the presence of the HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 gene mutations, indicating a genetic predisposition to developing mold toxicity due to compromised detoxification pathways.
Affecting around 25% of the global population, HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 are disproportionately found in people who develop severe chronic symptoms from mold exposure, while the 75% without the variants tend to experience more mild symptoms from the same exposure.
Recovery
Kevin was shocked to learn that his brain fog was caused by mold exposure, but he wasn’t surprised.
His symptoms had started just a few months after moving in to his current apartment, a modern studio in a newly constructed building.
The apartment seemed great at the outset—everything was new, so the appearance of newness gave the impression of sturdy construction—until, at some point, the ceiling started to leak, and Kevin’s dream apartment soon became that of a nightmare.
Repeated attempts to get building management to fix the issue were met with radio silence, so Kevin ultimately resorted to grabbing a mop whenever it rained in his apartment, recognizing the futility of his approach, but also increasingly tired of trying to chase someone down who could actually help.
Armed with test results that showed the water-damaged apartment was compromising his health, Kevin soon cancelled his lease (with no pushback from his landlord) and moved in to an Airbnb temporarily while he searched for a new place.
At the same time, to support immune function and detoxification, he started following his health coach’s recommendations to eliminate processed foods, sugar, grains, and dairy from his diet, take certain supplements, such as activated charcoal, milk thistle, and NAC, exercise every day, and use a sauna at least once per week.
Within a month of leaving his apartment, not only did Kevin’s brain fog start to improve, but he also reported better energy, a likely side effect of no longer living in a toxic environment.
Within a year, his brain fog had completely resolved, he was back to full capacity at work, and a follow-up mycotoxins test showed no detectable mold exposure, now on the other side of a run-in with an often underestimated environmental factor.