The modern generation of children spends more time indoors than any previous generation. Remember your own childhood; going outside was always a joy for us. We had friends, games, and couldn’t be dragged back home in winter or summer. Now you can’t even persuade children to leave the house!
It’s no longer a punishment when you say, “Don’t go outside today!” It’s exactly what children want – not to go anywhere and sit in front of their phone, computer, tablet, or television screen. But there is an opinion that this is one of the main reasons for the high prevalence of health problems among today’s youth.
What are biotoxins, and how can they enter a child’s body?
Biotoxins are toxic byproducts of other microorganisms. They can be mold, bacteria, fungal infections, viruses, and parasites. Biotoxins poison the body, causing hormonal dysfunction, brain fog, memory issues, outbursts of aggression, and other problems.
Biotoxins can enter a child’s body through snake or spider bites, tick bites, or exposure to mold, which may be present in the environment where the child spends extended periods. This could be their home, daycare, or school. If your child has undergone significant changes recently, it’s essential to check the places where they spend several hours each day.
There may be other sources of biotoxins as well. For example, the PANDAS condition is also caused by the impact of biotoxins on the brain. After a child recovers from strep infection, their body may develop an autoimmune reaction to specific proteins in the bacteria. Subsequently, the child doesn’t necessarily have to get sick again; merely encountering an infection carried by someone else is enough. That’s why the exacerbation of this problem often occurs in the fall when all children return to school.
Another way for a child to acquire biotoxins is through the mother, who carried a significant burden of such toxins even before the child was born and passed them on during pregnancy. For example, I know of a case where a child developed autism when the mother was bitten by a tick during the eighth month of pregnancy.
Biotoxins and childhood illnesses
If you look at the usual associations with the presence of mold in indoor spaces, you will likely see that it is often linked to asthma. Even if a child hasn’t been officially diagnosed with asthma, it may manifest as a persistent cough that troubles them during the night. If the child wakes up from this cough, you might think it’s due to the pillow or that the child has a dust allergy. The child may even be diagnosed with a dust allergy and given medication. However, the underlying problem may be mold, and the symptoms it can cause are much broader.
Symptoms of Biotoxin Poisoning
When children first show symptoms of biotoxin poisoning, it is not a whole-body effect but rather affects a specific system of the body.
For instance, they may develop hyperactivity. Or you may perceive your child as becoming lazy, not wanting to do anything, but it could be constant fatigue experienced by your child. Delayed speech development or speech difficulties such as dyslexia can also occur.
Sensory issues are generally the first problems that arise in children exposed to biotoxins. In a recent report by the Center for Environmental Health in Dallas, 100 participants were analyzed to determine the impact of mold exposure on the mind, leading to psychological and emotional disorders. After exposure to mold, sensory system issues were observed in each of the 100 patients.
This study linked mold exposure to more serious long-term consequences such as memory loss, sleep disruption, anxiety, depression, and attention/concentration problems.
Most Common Symptoms in Children
These are the things you should always pay attention to. Children are more sensitive, and they are likely to show symptoms first in your family if the entire family is affected by biotoxin exposure, such as mold exposure.
Abdominal pain: Chronic abdominal pain is quite common in children suffering from biotoxin poisoning. The pain persists for one or two months every day and may even lead to a hospital visit where no cause for the pain is found. While there are other reasons for abdominal pain that require medical attention, if no cause is found, consider biotoxins.
Fatigue: It is atypical for a child, especially a three-year-old, to lie on the couch and do nothing. Children are typically active, curious, and restless compared to adults. So when you see your child behaving like a perpetually tired old person, it should raise concerns.
Prolonged growing pains: Growing pains are generally considered typical in children. However, we are talking about prolonged growing pains that persist for an extended period. The pain can last for months and may not be related to the child’s physical activity. On the contrary, it hinders their active lifestyle. If the child experiences such pain without any connection to physical activity, it should concern parents.
Headaches: Of course, it is always necessary to consult a neurologist and rule out any other serious causes that could lead to headaches. But if everything has been checked and no cause has been found, yet the child continues to experience severe headaches, you should consider the possibility of biotoxin-related issues.
Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting): If bedwetting persists in a child after the age of six, it can also be a symptom of biotoxin exposure.
Please note that while these symptoms may indicate the presence of biotoxin poisoning, it is important to consult a medical professional for a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
Have a conversation with your child
Have an open conversation with your child. Don’t immediately accuse them of laziness and tell them how things were in our time, and that it’s a sin for them to complain about their life. In our time, we spent much more time outdoors, and there weren’t as many toxins in our environment. If you often saw worms in apples, it means you ate organic apples in your childhood. So, it’s not worth comparing the problems of modern children with what we had in our childhood.
Your child may tell you that they find it difficult to concentrate at school and that they sometimes feel detached, as if they’re observing everything from the sidelines. They may say that they can’t listen to the teacher, constantly thinking about something else, and that they struggle with assignments compared to other students. They might also share about pain that feels like a needle prick or problems with falling asleep, nightmares that haunt them at night. It’s not necessary for the child to have all of these problems! Remember: initially, a child may have only one problem, and that’s the best time to provide them with help.
Treatment prospects
Children recover faster than adults. However, at the same time, children require significantly fewer toxins to cause problems for them. Additionally, children’s immune systems are not yet fully developed, and their brains are still in the process of forming. Therefore, children are more vulnerable to the effects of biotoxins.
Furthermore, if the problem is not identified quickly in early childhood, it can be missed because the child often doesn’t lose skills but simply cannot develop them. This may not seem unusual, especially when you see other children with similar problems; there are many children with such issues nowadays.
But the longer you wait for everything to pass on its own, the more difficult it will be for the child to catch up on missed time. It’s not just about detoxifying the child’s body but also about compensating for the missed developmental milestones through additional therapies such as speech therapy and occupational therapy. You may also need the help of a psychologist to change the established behavioral patterns that developed during the illness.
When to seek help from a specialist
If you observe the symptoms listed above in your child, you need to consult a specialist who can help you identify the cause of these problems. If mold contamination is suspected, the specialist will inquire about possible reasons for mold presence in your home. This issue may be related to other sources of biotoxins as well. For instance, it could be Lyme disease, so the specialist will likely ask about a history of tick or spider bites, or any insect bite that persisted for a long time, even if you initially thought it was a mosquito bite. In any case, the presence of such symptoms requires the attention of specialists. It’s necessary to eliminate the source of the problem, remove toxins, and undergo a series of therapies to reduce the risk of such issues in the future.