Terry was 64 years old when she signed up for Quantify, after struggling for years with respiratory symptoms—shortness of breath, wheezing, and coughing—and not getting anywhere with conventional medicine.
A pulmonologist had diagnosed her with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after a panel of lung function tests showed lung inflammation, compromised lung capacity, and increased mucus production, but he didn’t have anything to offer, other than an inhaler, for when her symptoms intensified, and a quick comment about trying to lose some weight.
While Terry knew that being overweight was likely a contributing factor to her COPD, she didn’t think her weight alone could have caused the condition, given that her symptoms had started abruptly—seemingly out of nowhere—suggesting there was something else going on.
What’s more, Terry wasn’t a smoker, she wasn’t diabetic, and her blood pressure was normal, so she didn’t exactly fit the description of someone who was prone to developing COPD.
Unwilling to accept that she would have the condition for the rest of her life, Terry decided to pursue a more data-driven approach.
In her first appointment at Quantify, Terry’s health coach recommended a cardiovascular panel, immune panel, and mycotoxins test, to evaluate her cardiovascular health, inflammation, immune function, and exposure to toxic mold.
Test results
Her first time conducting a comprehensive evaluation of her health, Terry’s cardiovascular panel showed elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), indicating systemic inflammation, and validating that her situation was indeed more complicated than her doctor had assumed.
Further revealing the causes of her symptoms, Terry’s immune panel showed low total IgM and IgG antibodies, indicating compromised immune function, which was likely both a contributor to, and a result of, her chronic lung infections.
Completing the puzzle, Terry’s mycotoxins test showed significant exposure to Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium genera, some of the most common types of toxic mold that can cause COPD, sleep apnea, asthma, and other chronic respiratory conditions.
Recovery
Terry was shocked to learn that her COPD was caused by mold exposure, but she wasn’t surprised.
Her symptoms had started just a few months after moving in to her current home, an old farmhouse in a notoriously rainy area of the country.
While the place had been renovated to appear more modern, whatever construction had been done over the years, prior to her moving in, had somehow failed to address the source of a musty smell that pervaded every room in the house, and that would increase in intensity whenever it rained, or when the humidity was high.
No longer able to ignore the possibility that her home was making her sick, Terry hired a mold inspector, who soon found the culprit: a poorly rebuilt roof that allowed water to enter and stagnate within the infrastructure of the building, ultimately causing mold to grow behind the walls unchecked.
Recognizing that the old house was probably a lost cause, Terry moved out a month later to stay with one of her kids, while searching for a new place.
At the same time, to support immune function and detoxification, she eliminated processed foods, sugar, and grains from her diet, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, started drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day, and took certain supplements, such as activated charcoal, milk thistle, and NAC.
Within a few months of moving out, not only did Terry’s breathing start to improve, but she also reported better energy, a likely side effect of no longer living in a toxic environment.
Within a year, her respiratory symptoms had completely resolved, she had moved in to a newer home with better construction (after first having it inspected for mold), 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.