“Brain on Fire”
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) is a complex, multi-system, multi-symptom condition resulting from a deficient immune response to biotoxin exposure. While CIRS affects multiple body systems, it is often felt acutely in mental faculties. Common symptoms include fatigue, headache, light sensitivity, blurred vision, memory issues, confusion, brain fog, vertigo, and mood swings.
Biotoxins are microscopic particles, gasses, and chemicals released from living organisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi. Biotoxin exposure could include brown recluse spider bite, Pfiesteria, Ciguatera, blue-green algae, and tick-born infections, including Lyme Disease.
However, 80% of CIRS patients are linked to biotoxin exposure in Water Damaged Buildings (WDBs).
Which is why CIRS is most commonly associated with mold. But as you’ll discover, that association is nuanced. There is still a lot of misinformation that needs be be untangled surrounding mold & CIRS.
Infographic
While CIRS is complex, we’ve distilled many of Dr. Hartman’s insights into a single infographic. Explore the Biotoxin Pathway to better understand the labs necessary for diagnosing CIRS, and the protocol prescribed for treating it. (Click the image to expand.)
Primer Series
If you haven’t yet read Dr. Hartman’s first series on CIRS, this is the place to begin:
CIRS: A New Paradigm for Chronic Disease | Part 1:
Understanding Our Mold Problem
About half of U.S. buildings have water damage, and a quarter of us are built to hold on to whatever grows there. This is how mold becomes an unnamed epidemic.
CIRS: A New Paradigm for Chronic Disease | Part 2:
Diagnosing CIRS
CIRS follows a proven diagnostic sequence, from exposure history to symptom cluster analysis, that has already identified the illness in more than 10,000 patients.
CIRS: A New Paradigm for Chronic Disease | Part 3:
Understanding the Biotoxin Pathway & Lab Tests for Diagnosis
For a quarter of us, biotoxins never leave. Follow the pathway from exposure to inflammation, and the lab tests that finally make an invisible illness visible.
CIRS: A New Paradigm for Chronic Disease | Part 4:
CIRS Treatment Protocol
A year after starting treatment, Steve had his energy, his memory, and his strength back. This is the step-by-step protocol that got him there.
CIRS: A New Paradigm for Chronic Disease | Part 5:
Appendix
Every symptom cluster, pathway diagram, and lab chart from the CIRS series, gathered in one place for patients and practitioners to reference.
Additional Articles on Mold & CIRS
Mystery Illnesses | Part 3:
CIRS: The Poster Child of “Mystery Illnesses”
When Environmental Illness Hides in Plain Sight
Many chronic illnesses appear mysterious because symptoms cross multiple systems. Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) may explain why.
Low-Dose Naltrexone
The Tiny Dose That Tricks Your Body Into Healing Itself
After 25 years treating chronic conditions, I’ve found one therapy that consistently delivers results where conventional medicine fails. This simple, affordable treatment has helped my patients overcome Long COVID, POTS, chronic fatigue, and autoimmune conditions by teaching their bodies how to heal naturally.
Made for Health | Part :
CIRS vs. Hypothyroid
Stop the Guesswork & Reclaim Your Energy
Confused by overlapping symptoms of CIRS & low thyroid? Discover how to spot the difference, test properly, and reclaim your energy.
Made for Health | Part 0:
Lyme... Covid... Mold... Oh My!
The Puzzle of Chronic Illness — Unraveling the Truth
Discover the complex web of factors behind chronic illnesses like Lyme disease, long COVID, and mold toxicity. Dr. Richard Horowitz, a leading expert on…
Made for Health | Part :
Finding Balance
TCM & Today's Health Crisis
In today’s high-stress, high-toxin world, where chronic illnesses are on the rise, could the answer lie in a 2,000-year-old tradition?
Made for Health | Part :
Healing Hypersensitivity
Understanding & Transforming Our Skyrocketing Sensitivity to Almost Everything
Why are so many people becoming hypersensitive to foods, chemicals … even technology? Dr. Neil Nathan believes that this isn’t a coincidence.
Paradigm Shift
Exploring the Impact of Mold & CIRS on Medicine
It would be difficult to overstate how dramatically my medical practice has been influenced by CIRS—not because I went looking for it…
Medical Misinformation | Part 2:
Top 10 Myths About Mold
Because I see so many patients affected by mold toxicity, and I hear so much confusion, I’d like to clear the air (literally and metaphorically) by dispelling the top 10 myths I hear surrounding mold-related illness.
Micro Courses | Part 1:
Creating a Healthy Home
Transform Your Home Into a Safe Haven
You spend 65% of your life inside your home (and a third of your life in one room!). Your home = your health. It’s that simple.
Mold Wars | Part :
Five Battlegrounds in the ‘Mold Wars’ Debate
There’s a lot of debate, even in the functional medicine world, about chronic illness related to mold toxicity. Let’s look at five specific battlegrounds in the debate.
Crawlspace Encapsulation to Reduce Mold… Worth it? Effective?
Did you know that 30% of the air in your home comes through the crawl space? Airstacking…
Free Resource from Harvard School of Public Health
