CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome)

Have you been experiencing a multitude of symptoms, but your regular blood tests were all normal? Did you have exposure to a water-damaged building or tick bite, and you have never felt the same since, but no one can tell you what has been wrong? You might have experienced CIRS. 

CIRS was first used as a term in the 1990s by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker to describe a particular multi-symptom, multi-system chronic illness.

Exposure to certain environmental organisms called biotoxins is understood to trigger this chronic inflammatory response in the body. The exposure can be from water-damaged building, Post-Lyme syndrome, a fish-borne illness called Ciguatera, and some other less commonly found biotoxins in the U.K. The susceptible person (having a certain gene) exposed to these biotoxins experience a multitude of symptoms in multiple systems of their bodies. These are 37 most frequent symptoms.

If you think your health may have been affected by possible exposure to any of the triggers noted above, please consider completing the following assessment. The symptoms are grouped in clusters (13 in total). If you have at least a score of 8/13 (for adults) there is a probability you might be suffering from CIRS. We can discuss in more detail during a 30 min call with Andrea, who is one of the only three Proficiency Partner Diplomates certified by Dr Shoemaker in the U.K. Visit Dr Shoemaker's website here.

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You might need to repeat it with a practitioner to make sure the obtained score is accurate, however based on research, there is a 97.2% sensitivity for this cluster analysis, which means it is a high predictor of CIRS. However further testing is necessary, starting with an eye sensitivity test. If that is failed as well, the probability that we are dealing with CIRS increases further. This is a very affordable way to assess, however further blood testing is advised to confirm and to start treatment.

Some of the blood test markers are following: TGF Beta, MMP-9, aMSH, VIP, VEGF, C4a, Leptin, Anti gliadin antibodies/tissue Transglutaminase antibodies, ADH/ Osmolality, ACTH/Cortisol, MARCoNS, HLA gene, GENIE, MRI, ERMI – we can work by running all of them, or adjust based on budget.

Unfortunately, CIRS is not yet a recognised diagnosis currently in Europe, however in the United States because of the work of Dr Shoemaker it is described as a syndrome where there has been evidence of exposure (e.g. biotoxins from a water damaged building), the symptoms are consistent with the exposure, laboratory tests are consistent with results seen in published studies and improvement is noted with appropriate therapy.

You can review the 12-step Shoemaker protocol here. As Andrea started to work with clients suffering from CIRS, she realised that the first step is sometimes the hardest: Removal from exposure, both because it's not always clear where the source of the mould in the property is, but also because there are only a handful of Mould Remediator that are prioritising the removal of the mould and NOT killing mould. The International standard of IICRC's S520 Standard of Professional Mould Remediation requires the removal of building materials that are affected by mould using a containment area, so the mould spores don't spread over to other areas of the building. Most of the regular builders are not aware how dangerous this can be. As a result, Andrea has done additional training and now is a Council Certified Structural Mould Investigator and can help her clients with their home inspection. Andrea also partnered up with a trained Mould remediator - you can review their work at this website. 

Biotoxin Pathway

According to a growing body of evidence in peer reviewed studies biotoxin exposure can contribute to significant changes in health for many at-risk people (having a certain gene type), rendering some people more at-risk than others for environmental-related illness. Dr Shoemaker outlined the pattern of possible response via his Biotoxin Pathway below.