cirs lab

Approximately 45% of the US population suffers from a chronic illness. Many of these illnesses, including obesity, neurological disease, autoimmunity, mental disorders, cancer, and chronic infections, are on the rise. Yet, despite multiple scientific and medical efforts, the underlying causal factors of such diseases remain poorly understood and many patients continue to suffer. 

At the heart of this mystery is our evolving understanding of how our environment, specifically, chronic exposure to environmental toxins, impacts human health. Increasing awareness has emerged on a relatively unknown, though highly prevalent and serious, illness called Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS).

CIRS is an acquired dysregulation of the immune system that may be triggered by exposure to specific microbial toxins produced by bacteria and fungi/mold that grow in the interior of water-damaged buildings, tick bites, certain algae (i.e., cyanobacteria, pfiesteria, and dinoflagellates), as well as recluse spider bites.

An estimated 20-25% of the US population has been tagged as susceptible to developing CIRS at some point over the lifespan. In this patient population, chronic exposure to biotoxins has been found to impair the function of many organs, leading to a long list of unexplained disabling symptoms, and ultimately cause brain abnormalities that may result in severe cognitive impairment and neurological injury.

It is for these reasons that CIRS is often misdiagnosed as many other diseases, including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disorder, and/or mental health disorders. In more severe cases, patients can be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and/or Parkinson’s.

Fortunately, the future looks incredibly bright! Medical practitioners and other experts are increasingly becoming trained and aware about the diagnosis and treatment of CIRS. There is now over two decades of research documenting and validating the use of a medical treatment protocol (i.e., The Shoemaker Protocol) that corrects these abnormalities and can put the illness into remission. We are at the brink of a scientific and medical revolution that will change the way we think about health and end a lot of suffering.