Brain Power with Dr. Eko

S2|E3 Mold Exposure and Maternal Health: Insights and Empowerment, with Dr. Brandy Cummings

• Dr. Hokehe Eko • Season 2 • Episode 3

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Battling through a haze of vertigo, anxiety, and depression, Dr. Brandy Cummings discovered the hidden culprit of her chronic health struggles: mold exposure. In this episode of Brain Power with Dr. Eko, Dr. Cummings shares her personal journey from illness to recovery, offering hope and guidance to other mothers facing similar challenges. Her story underscores the necessity of identifying root causes over merely addressing symptoms and has driven her to dedicate her career to supporting women with chronic illnesses. Learn from her wealth of expertise in clinical nutrition and environmental health as she provides actionable insights into improving quality of life and embracing the joys of motherhood.

Unlock the mysteries of mold exposure with practical health tips and testing methods discussed in this compelling conversation. Understand the role of mycotoxin and organic acid tests and how traditional blood chemistry can offer cost-effective insights. Dr. Cummings shares holistic health approaches, emphasizing clean air, clean water, and the power of aligning with natural rhythms and consuming local, seasonal foods. We also explore the significance of community support, highlighting how connecting with others can provide essential resources and guidance on your health journey. Join us for a transformative discussion that seeks to empower listeners with knowledge and community.

COMING SOON: The Resilient Motherhood Summit! February 28, 2025 12:01 AM PST.
A 7-day virtual event to teach you how to overcome chronic symptoms, build resilience, and be fully present for the moments that matter most —sign up now! 

Connect with Dr. Cummings:
IG: resilientmotherhood.health
TikTok: @resilientmotherhood 

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Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Hello parents, welcome to another episode of Brain Power with Dr Eko. It's such an amazing day today and I have a wonderful guest to introduce to you. Her name is Dr Brandy Cummings. She's a doctor of clinical nutrition and experts in environmental health, and she especially takes care of moms with chronic illnesses. So welcome to the show, dr Cummings.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for this conversation.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah, me too. I want to hear all about your story about mold, so please introduce yourself further to our guests.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Sure. So, as you mentioned, I'm Dr Brandy Cummings and I have been in practice for nine years now and I primarily focus on supporting moms with chronic illness. Now I wasn't always in that space. I used to focus a lot on fertility and then, before that I focused more on before I went to graduate school, I had my practice, just a basic nutrition practice, and I was more focused on, you know, just basic education around nutrition for people. And then, as time went on and my own life experiences happened, I just wanted to get more and more clinical in my practice. And then the chronic illness piece just really called to me because of my own experience with molds and I live in Idaho I've got two little girls and we love to homeschool and just spend as much time as we can together. Well, it's still little because it goes by so so fast. So between practice and homeschool and mom, that is pretty much that takes up my day. Like that's not enough.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right, right, right. Oh, my goodness, yeah, so wonderful. So, yes, you mentioned you have a mold story, so I'd love to hear it.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, so in 2015, I started getting really bad vertigo spells, getting really bad vertigo spells, really really bad. And you know, I tried all of the kind of first line things that people recommend to you different Epley maneuvers and I got screened for Meniere's disease and I did a bunch of testing and I bounced around to a lot of doctors and nothing was helping and it was just getting worse and worse. And then I started having a lot of increased anxiety, a lot more brain fog. I was having erythema nodosum on my legs. It's just like bumps on your legs that are really red and hot and irritated, and that was weird. I had that symptom before as a reaction to birth control when I was a teenager, so it wasn't my first time with that, but I was like something's up with my hormones, because I know that my body does this when something's up with my hormones and so I just went from practitioner to practitioner to practitioner, unable to find any answers.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

I suffered a miscarriage during that time and, as time was going on, my mental health severely suffered. I was getting extremely depressed. It was a very, very low, dark time in my life. I got to a point where I wasn't able to work. I wasn't able to shower myself, and it was just no quality of life. And so I got to a point of desperation, really, where, finally, I was like, ok, I either need to get better or I need to like not live anymore, which sounds very extreme, but at the time that's how I was feeling. I just could not do what I was doing.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

I had to go one way or the other, and I just so happened to meet this practitioner and I started working with him and we did a lot of, we did some additional testing, we dove deep into my genetics and genomics, and he was the one that really saved my life, I feel. And once I started working with him, it was like I could. I just knew it was working. Like in my head I was like, oh my gosh, for the first time in years, this is working. Like I felt like I was coming back into my body, where I had just felt like I was just a host and I was coming back online in a lot of different ways and being more present and fully in my body.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

And so I worked with him for several months, and then I got pregnant again, actually, and then I gave birth to my first daughter. So I kind of had to halt any kind of heavy duty detoxification work at that time. But I had my daughter, a healthy baby, and four years later went on to have another baby. And so you know all that time of also having babies and giving birth and raising kids, that's when I was like you know what, I'm not the only mom that is struggling with these kinds of things, and it took me years to figure out the missing piece. And if I could save any mom time, especially when their kids are little, I don't want you to miss that time. It goes by so fast, and so that's when I really pivoted my practice to focus primarily on supporting those mamas.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wow. So with the testing that was done, that's when they discovered it was mold that was fueling the symptoms you had.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah. So we did some mycotoxin testing and then also my genetic testing was very eye-opening as well, that I just had more susceptibility to, you know, decrease detoxification capabilities, and so that was very eye-opening as well. And then, once that seed was kind of planted in my head, I was like where's this coming from? And at the time I was working in a building that was. It was actually registered with the city as a historical building because it was over 100 years old and so I went down in the basement and there was just like black mold everywhere and I was like, okay, this makes sense. So, yeah, I had to quit that job and it was a whole thing.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wow, so painful. You went in the meds to look, yeah, you would be doing all the treatment, but nothing was getting better. Right, and that's why it's so important to go to the root of what's driving behavior that you see, and not just use medications as a band-aid. So I'm so glad that you found the person that you did. That's wonderful. So, oh my gosh, yes, me too.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

It was like the universe dropped him in my lap because I had actually gone to a conference. I wasn't feeling well enough really to be going to that conference and in fact I had to. The keynote started on day one. I had to leave, I had to go outside, I had to go take a nap under a tree, like I just couldn't function. And he was at that conference and it was like the universe just brought me there so that I could meet him and get the right people on my team. That's wonderful.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

So you mentioned the symptoms that you had, but I know that there are other symptoms of mold. So can we talk about the things that moms can look out for, Because I'm hoping that somebody will hear this and say, wait, that sounds like me and now can go get the help they need.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, they're very nonspecific, which is the tricky part, but the top ones that I hear anxiety, joint pain, constipation or other GI distress, hair loss, infection that's going along with this, like if somebody has Lyme disease or co-infection or something.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

There could be migrating pain, that could be part of it, weird skin rashes could be, related to the mold or the co-infections as well, or the co infections as well, and then some other symptoms that are maybe not as broad and specific. There's changes in your vision. That can happen. There's actually a visual screening test that you can do online where you sit in front of your computer and take this test. It's not diagnostic but it's just a tool to kind of help give you some more information. So changes in your vision Also, like ice pick headaches, could be a sign. The vertigo like I had could be a sign Any time where you know that there's just something really not right and you, especially if you've done all the other things you know, then it's really time to kind of start considering that as a possibility.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah, yeah, that's so important. So for the moms who may be listening to you and say, wait, you just mentioned a few things. That sounds like me.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

What do they do next, Like where do they go from here?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, I mean that visual task which we can, which we can put a link, I'm sure, in the show notes, but that's very helpful place to start just to give some additional insight and information. I do like testing. I do like doing some mycotoxin testing. I usually like to pair that with organic acid testing because the organic acid testing can give us insight into where, into if there's colonization of the molds that has happened. It's one thing just to be exposed to the mold, but if we're having, you know, microbial colonization and growth in the body, that's a different thing. So we can get, we can pick that up or have clues to that.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

On the organic acid test and those, I mean those are functional tests and everybody likes to jump to functional tests because they're colorful and pretty and exciting. But let's not forget about how powerful blood chemistry is Like. Let's not skip over that. We can get so much information on what's going in the body for a much lower price point if we run good blood panels and have good comprehensive analysis there. Some markers that I add, with these people of course looking at like inflammation. So C-reactive protein can be helpful. Mmp9 can be helpful, another kind of inflammatory marker that I often see that's elevated and then just looking I mean standard blood chemistry as well, all of those traditional panels looking at thyroid iron lipids, cbc, all of those as well can give us some insights. But I think it's important to do some testing, you know, and really kind of figure out what is going on here.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

To do some testing, you know, and really kind of figure out what is going on here, Right? No, absolutely important. And so we've talked about the testing. But can you speak to that mom who's just struggling, Like, how did you get to? You mentioned it was some years, right, that you were going through this process and you're really struggling. How can they? What are some tools that they can use as they walk?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

through this really rough time for them. Yeah, so I mean, the best thing is clean air. So I would start there and just make sure we're getting clean air. If you can have an air filter in your house, or at least in your bedroom, that can be really helpful. But if not, you know, opening up the windows especially if you're living in a newer house a lot, you know these houses are built to be very airtight and so if we're not having that circulation of air, then the air inside can actually be more problematic than the air that's outside. And so opening things up, getting that air circulation and fresh air, that can really make such a world of difference for people. Drinking clean water really makes such a big difference. And then you know there are supplementations where I think it's important to work with a practitioner before starting any supplementation protocols. But you know, certain binders can certainly be helpful just to kind of alleviate some of the symptoms while you're working through this. And then one thing I think is probably like it's like the easiest thing that can move the needle.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

So much I'm so huge on light exposure and circadian rhythm syncing. You know we are really circadian beings and the more we can sync up to our circadian rhythm, the more water our cells are going to produce, and that water is called exclusion zone water. It's very special water and that water, when our cells are hydrated in that capacity, it increases our resilience and so we're not as susceptible to mold, to viruses, to parasites, whatever it may be. We can interact with our world in a more robust way, and one of the best ways to increase production of that cellular water in the mitochondria is to sync up our light exposure. So getting outside in the sunrise, letting, seeing the position of the sun outside sends a message to our eyes about what time it is, and so the more breaks we can take to get outside, protecting your eyes if you're in front of a lot of blue light, especially after the sun has gone down, eating in a way that supports your circadian rhythm.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

So not having a big carb, heavy breakfast in the morning, which can interfere with leptin and the hypothalamus, which can create a confused message about what time it is and like, wait, are we fasted or what's happening. It interferes with that download of information that leptin offers in the morning. Having eating food that is local and seasonal when possible, because that food, if it's grown in your same zip code is going to have the same light imprint as you do, because it was grown in the same place, so that's another way to help sync up our circadian rhythm. Going to bed earlier, not staying up after it's been dark for so long All of these things can really really move the needle when we're talking about environmental illnesses, because it does so much to support the body on a cellular level and increase that cellular hydration, which then increases resilience. Oh, my goodness.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

I have never heard anyone tie the local food and seasonal to circadian to the circadian system.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

That's so good. You know, when I first learned that, I too was blown away because I've always heard to buy local right and I was like, okay, it's because it supports the local economy, it's because it cuts down on emissions and transportation, okay. But then when I started diving into the research on this part of it, I was like, oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. What a sense, hey thank you.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

It just makes me think, is that teaching my parents this? Oh my goodness, yeah, aside from the fact that, hopefully, sometimes the local farmers maybe less fertilizers, less hormones?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

At least the ones that say they're organic. You're most likely going to really. They're most likely going to really be organic versus the big store chains.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

So that makes sense.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Oh, my goodness.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

And you know, it is like when we're talking about chronic illness, when we're talking about mold, and testing like that can be expensive. It can take a long time to fully recover from mold, like, especially for the moms who are just embarking on this journey. That might feel like a huge mountain but like, this light piece is so accessible and it's free or very low cost. You know, maybe you get some blue light blockers, you know, but it can really move the needle in a really big way and it's such a good place to start.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah, no, that's. That is wonderful. So start there, get basic blood work, then build up to the functional testing. But you need somebody that's going to interpret that basic blood work, the functional testing, but you need somebody that's going to interpret that basic blood work the right way yeah. And get to the right direction.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

A hundred percent. I mean, you know like, analyzing blood chemistry is a bit of an art, right. You can't just like, you know, just like, look down the column to see if anything was flagged and call it good. You really have to look at it and understand the physiology of what's happening in the body. The column, to see if anything was flagged and call it good. You really have to look at it and understand the physiology of what's happening in the body.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Right, right. So is there a place where people can go find the list of practitioners that may be in their local area, or do you serve people anywhere in the country?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, I work with people virtually, so I can help people who live in most states not all states, but most states and then there's also directories of like mold literate doctors or Lyme literate doctors or people who have gone through some additional training as well, if you're really wanting to work with somebody who is local to you training as well, if you're really wanting to work with somebody who is local to you.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wonderful, and please, if you don't mind, providing that for us so we can link it in the show notes. That would be helpful.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Of course.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yeah, yeah, no, that's really good. So, in terms of the emotional because I know the emotional piece is as linked to the environmental piece how do you talk to moms who are going through this time and how can they protect their emotional greens or just their emotional self?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, the emotion piece, the nervous system piece, is so crucial, it's really a non-negotiable. We can't just go down this like detoxification pathway or just this mold specific pathway where we're just really focused on the mycotoxins and leave the nervous system and the emotional piece out of it. It doesn't work like that. The body has to have messages of safety being sent to it in order for it to close that loop in that cell danger response, in order for it to feel safe and go ahead and finish that repair and healing cycle. So it has to be on board. So there's lots of different ways that I do that. You know I work when I work with people.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

I have my program which is called the Resilient Mother Program, and resilient is an acronym and the R stands for reconnection and that piece is so important because it's reconnection to the earth, it's reconnection to our food source, it's reconnection to our self and our purpose, which we can really lose sight of as moms, our community, which we can also really lose sight of when we become a mom.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

We just don't have a big village of support like we used to, and so, being able to curate that and have that village, have that sense of community, remember who you are as a person and not just a mom, but who you are and what your goals and your purpose and the legacy you want to leave is. Having those conversations is so important. And we have to have those conversations because if I just talk to you about okay well, this is your protocol to detox from this mold, I would be doing you a disservice or missing a whole big, huge component. Because when a mom feels supported and has a sense of purpose and is working on her own self-improvement and her own self-goals and is connected to her food and just has this whole reconnection piece that is so often missing, the rate of improvement just goes much, much, much faster.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, yes, absolutely. I totally agree with that, because I mean you can't move anything forward unless you're in alignment right. With yourself Totally At peace, even in spite of what's going on on. You can still be at peace with yourself, even though it doesn't seem like your life is going right.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

so that's right no matter what is happening, there's always things we can do yes, absolutely so.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

What's the rest of your acronym stand for?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

I'm curious so the e is environment. You know nothing heals the body, as well as the body heals itself right, given the right inputs and environment. So making sure that our environment is good. We have S for sleep and stress, which is very important to healing, and then we have I, which is for inflammation or underlying infections, and then L, lab testing, and then I. The second I is improved digestion, and then the second E is energy and mitochondria work. So really looking upstream and how we can support the body on a cellular level. N is the nervous system piece that we just talked about, and then T is the toxins. Wow, you're very comprehensive.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

And then T is the toxins. Wow, you're very comprehensive, I'm pretty confident.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, I mean, when we're talking chronic illness and where people have been suffering for years, that's the kind of approach it takes and it's not all of those things at one time, but it's like over time. These are as I've. I mean I packaged it. You know I, when I was actually creating this acronym, I had this piece of paper and I had all the things that, like I do and focus on, and when I looked at everything, you know, I really distilled it down, like these are the things that at some point, we need to work towards and address Right, Absolutely.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wow, this has been really. Thank you. I have learned some. I have learned things from this, from talking with you, and I'm so glad we're we're talking about this, because millions of moms are suffering from chronic illnesses, and their kids as well, because if mom has mold illness, that means the kid has probably has it too if they're exposed and they're in the same house and if we, if I always say that's why I spend so much time talking to my moms, because if the moms are good, then the kids for sure that's right and as a pediatrician, it's like I can't get my kids well if my mommies are no good.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

So I I have formed the practice of actually spent. I had a patient once tell ask me, is this appointment for me, doctor, or is this for my mom? I was spending so much time talking to the mom I was like you have no idea, just I'm getting to you next. So thank you for what you do, because you're not just saving one person, it's the whole family, you're helping. And you're helping too, because once mom can get her life together, she's of course doing it for her whole family and generations to come. And so thank you for what you do. And so can you please tell the parents or moms listening how they can find you?

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

So my website is resilientmotherhood. health, and that is also my Instagram handle is resilientmotherhood. health and those are the places I am most active.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Okay, and you mentioned before we started you had a summit coming up, so tell us about that too.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Yeah, the Resilient Motherhood Summit is launching in the beginning of March, and so that is available as well. We have a panel of 40 speakers that I have invited that are experts in all different kinds of areas this environmental med piece that we're talking, but also things like breast implant illness and EMFs, and we're going deeper into testing and HPV and all these things that we could be dealing with in motherhood. So my goal was to just bring the people together in one room, so to speak, so that you can have who you need when you need it and more easily be able to identify what is the very next step, best next step for me at this moment.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Wonderful. So, yeah, we will have all of that information for you. Thank you again for what you do and for coming on today.

Dr. Brandy Cummings:

Thank you so much for having me. This has been great.

Dr. Hokehe Eko:

Yes, my pleasure, and so parents listening. If you know anyone that needs to hear this, please share it with them and thank you for listening. Until the next episode, have an amazing day.