What is toxic exposure?
How do you know if you have it?
Toxic exposure can cover a variety of things, including self-inflicted toxins (such as drugs, and alcohol), medical treatments such as chemotherapy, and environmental exposures to carbon monoxide or mold. It can be very difficult to know that you have one of these, unless you look for it, which is something we’re passionate about in our practice.
Too often, memory problems are dismissed as something that happens with age, or because of life being too busy and we don’t take the proper steps to realize that this may be a symptom of something larger. When these toxins attack the brain, they affect one’s ability to learn, love, and behave. It may feel like your spouse is always forgetting something, but could it be something bigger? When there is a sudden change in personality, mood, memory, or sleep, it’s important to investigate the possible causes that may not seem as obvious.
Is it Depression or is it Mold?
Toxic mold exposure has also been linked to more serious, long-term effects like memory loss, insomnia, anxiety, depression, confusion, trouble concentrating, and confusion. In a 2003 study by the Environmental Health Center-Dallas, 100 participants were examined in an effort to uncover how toxic mold exposure can affect the brain and lead to cognitive and emotional impairments. After the mold exposure, nervous system challenges were observed in all 100 patients tested. Brain SPECT scans also identified abnormalities in a significant portion of the patients studied.
In many cases mold, carbon monoxide poisoning, or other toxins damage the brain, and result in decreased neurological function including memory loss, small personality changes, difficulty concentrating and other symptoms that often lead to misdiagnosis. It’s important to realize that this toxic exposure and its affects on the internal structure of your brain can trigger both long and short-term effects that may be treatable.
In our experience there is hope for recovery.