Inhalational Alzheimer’s is a real thing. And it's one of the most overlooked drivers of cognitive decline in clinical practice today. Chronic exposure to environmental biotoxins like mycotoxins can trigger a distinct, inflammatory subtype of Alzheimer’s identified by Dr. Dale Bredesen that we actually can identify and address.
When it comes to preventing Alzheimer’s or reversing symptoms of cognitive decline, testing for mycotoxins, metals, and other environmental toxins is an essential part of a personalized, root-cause approach. The lab tests I order for my clients often reveal a high toxic burden, usually dominated by mycotoxins. It happens so often, I’m not even surprised anymore.
While our bodies are able to detoxify and clear everyday exposures, chronic mycotoxin accumulation can eventually overwhelm those pathways—especially when specific genetic susceptibilities impair clearance. These toxins can cross the blood-brain barrier, provoke neuroinflammation, and disrupt cognitive function.
The inflammation that occurs in response to these toxic exposures can cause widespread health problems, including progressive neurodegeneration. Mycotoxins from molds in water-damaged buildings are among the most common contributors to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease that I see.
The majority of people have no idea they have been exposed, and well over half of my clients who are dealing with this type of cognitive decline do not have a family history of Alzheimer’s or the APOE4 gene. They do have another gene in common that makes them more susceptible to illness from mycotoxins. Sometimes they have both genes.
Toxins should be investigated for anyone diagnosed with MCI or Alzheimer’s, as well as for anyone with cognitive symptoms or who wants to protect their cognitive longevity before symptoms appear. Having a family history of Alzheimer’s is irrelevant.
I recently had symptoms that I was eventually able to connect to mycotoxins in my home. A home I had tested a year or so prior with no issues. It started with reactions to certain foods that caused facial flushing, like a severe sunburn. Something that’s commonly a result of mast cell activation. Each time it happened, it a took a full week to resolve. It was unusual for me to react to anything, and concerning.
Then I started experiencing issues with word finding and trouble completing sentences. I tested myself and my home.
About three days after I received the ERMI mycotoxin test results for my home, which included a very high HERTSMI score, I got myself – and my cat : ), out of the environment. Instead of Florida, I’m writing this post from North Carolina, where I’ve now been living and working for a month while communicating with an excellent mold inspector and reading remediation proposals.
My husband has handled scheduling and being home for the various appointments, while staying with a friend when he isn’t working. I’m just as serious about him not getting Alzheimer’s as I am myself! The test results convinced him not to stay in the house.
His father had Alzheimer’s, and his mother is currently in memory care. He does not have the APOE4 gene, but I can tell you for a fact that there was a high level of mycotoxins in his parents’ home.
I’m fortunate to have an alternative place to live while this issue is being addressed. Even if I didn’t, I would have found a way to get out because my number one priority is not getting Alzheimer’s. As you already know, my maternal history of the disease is daunting.
I’ve worked with far too many people who have been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, in whom test results revealed mycotoxins to be a major contributor, to stay in a toxic environment.
Removing yourself from the environment is the most critical first step, yet it is often the hardest to execute, either because an alternative location isn’t readily available or the threat is invisible and easy to discount as “not that bad”.
After a diagnosis of MCI or Alzheimer’s, people stay in a toxic environment because they don’t know it’s toxic. The standard medical approach doesn’t include a conversation about mycotoxins, let alone an investigation for them. Because a spouse living in the same environment is usually completely unaffected, the issue is easily dismissed, if it comes up at all.
Most of the time, the only symptom my older clients have related to mold is cognitive decline and eventually a diagnosis of MCI or Alzheimer’s. In clients under 65, they usually start having difficulty with calculating and/or reading comprehension; sometimes visual disturbances - that aren’t just near or far-sightedness. The majority do have a genetic susceptibility to mycotoxins and don’t have the APOE/4 gene. Some have both.
My symptoms are gone, and I’m in the midst of a detox that I’ll continue for 3 months before retesting. I’d really like to go home, but I won’t stay there again until remediation is complete and the test results after remediation are to my satisfaction. The process to get to the point of remediation has so far taken a month. We hope to have it scheduled in the next 2-3 weeks, and I hope to be back home in a month.
Here’s why investigating your toxic load is non-negotiable even if you don’t have symptoms, and especially if you do:
Toxic Accumulation: Over time, our bodies store various toxins in tissues, where they can continuously disrupt cellular signaling and cognitive function.
Chronic Neuroinflammation: Ongoing immune activation drives neuroinflammation, which damages synapses and accelerates processes that lead to cognitive decline.
Oxidative Stress: Excessive free radicals damage brain cells.
The Gut-Brain Axis: Toxins frequently compromise the intestinal barrier and alter the gut microbiome.
The Alzheimer’s pathology connection: Amyloid and P-Tau
Mycotoxins breach the blood-brain barrier and trigger defensive amyloid-beta plaques, while simultaneously blocking cellular energy production, which starves neurons and causes tau proteins to misfold into tangles (p-tau).
Once that cascade begins, without intervention, the damage doesn't stay confined — over time, it spreads outward across the entire brain. As more cells break down, the neural networks that control everything begin to fail, resulting in a progressive and ultimately unstoppable loss of brain tissue and function.
Toxicology and neurodegeneration literature substantiates this pathway, confirming that environmental biotoxins, including mycotoxins, trigger oxidative stress, M1 microglial activation, and neuroinflammatory cascades that drive this progressive brain destruction.
It’s the total body burden—driven by both the magnitude and the duration of exposure—that is the critical tipping point that can lead to Alzheimer’s.
Other factors, such as increased intestinal permeability, can also play a less obvious but significant role.
Early action is your best friend. This has been stopped, and people have gotten better. But there are a lot of variables, and you need to get help with it as soon as possible.
Common symptoms of chronic biotoxin illness—from any source—are often dismissed or misattributed. They can include:
Cognitive impairment and brain fog
Anxiety and mood fluctuations
Sleep disturbance and insomnia
Fatigue and exercise intolerance
Executive dysfunction (difficulty organizing, planning, or word-finding)
Difficulty with reading comprehension, math, or spelling
Visual disturbances
Persistent digestive issues
A typical conventional doctor’s appointment for these symptoms usually results in separate diagnoses—MCI, chronic fatigue, insomnia, IBS, or anxiety—complete with corresponding management medications, but absolutely no investigation into toxins a potential root cause.
If toxins are driving the problem and are never discovered and addressed, true healing remains out of reach.
As a ReCODE-certified practitioner, our data-driven approach is designed to pinpoint precisely what to look for when assessing cognitive decline. Testing for toxins is always part of the protocol. For the client and the home. We also test for specific genetics related to biotoxins. All are listed, with links, below