How to Test For Toxins: Symptoms + Testing Options

We live in a toxin-filled world. From the products we use, foods we eat, and water we drink to the air we breathe and the homes and buildings we live and work in, it’s hard to get away from toxins even when we’re making a conscious effort to live a clean life.

Almost all of my functional medicine telehealth patients are dealing with some level of toxin buildup that is impacting how they feel. This might be related to mold, heavy metals, pesticides, other environmental toxins, or a combination of these.

I recommend both minimizing toxin exposure and regularly detoxing as standard practice for healing and staying well.

But if you’re struggling with ongoing symptoms, it’s worth going deeper and getting more specific. Just what kinds of toxins is your body dealing with, how bad is the problem, and what can you do next?

Let’s explore how to test your body for toxins, why it matters, and how you can use this information as wellness power.

Why Testing For Toxins Is Important

High toxin levels can cause or contribute to all kinds of chronic diseases and symptoms.

While there are several general detox methods you can follow to reduce your overall burden (more on this below), functional medicine lab testing can help you identify the most significant toxic culprits for you specifically.

This is important because:

1. It helps us choose more targeted supplements, detox methods, and treatment options for better results.
2. It helps to narrow down where we can reduce toxin exposure and prevent or minimize future problems.
3. It gives us a baseline, so that we can more accurately measure progress as you start to heal.

In conventional medicine, testing for toxins is typically only done if you have reason to believe you’ve had a very serious level of exposure to a specific toxin or heavy metal, or if you’re experiencing severe symptoms in line with poisoning.

In functional medicine, we recognize the myriad common symptoms of chronic, lower level toxin exposure. We understand how much these symptoms interfere with your life, and how important it is to pay attention, investigate, and get you better.

With that said, it can be difficult to identify toxin overload as the primary cause of symptoms, because symptoms of toxin overload can be varied, nonspecific, and overlapping with symptoms caused by other things. This is a big part of why testing in general is important!

Here are some of the possible symptoms and signs that you may want to get tested for toxins: 

• Unexplained fatigue and/or weakness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory problems
• Frequent headaches or migraines
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Respiratory issues including chronic cough, wheezing, congestion, or shortness of breath
• Digestive symptoms including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, or abdominal pain
• Skin rashes or itchiness

Recommended Toxin Testing Options

There are a number of different testing options available to identify the burden on your body from heavy metals, mycotoxins (mold toxins), environmental toxins, and more.

A comprehensive testing protocol will likely also look into the possible effects of toxin buildup (such as inflammation, oxidative stress, hormonal imbalance, gut dysbiosis) to help paint a more complete picture of what’s going on in your body.

A functional medicine practitioner can help you figure out which testing options may be best for you, in part by taking a detailed health history to help pinpoint what your most likely sources of exposure might be, and whether your symptoms or other conditions correlate closely with a particular type of toxin.

Here are some of the toxin testing methods that we most often recommend to our telehealth patients.

Mold and Mycotoxin Testing

If you think your body might be reacting to mold exposure, the best place to start is with a urine test for mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are compounds that certain mold species produce which are toxic to the body. A mycotoxin profile or panel will look at the presence and levels of multiple different mycotoxins.

Depending on the individual case, a functional medicine provider may sometimes recommend additional blood and/or saliva tests that can help to put more of your mold toxicity puzzle pieces together. These may include testing for:

• Immune system biomarkers like C3a and C4a (higher levels can indicate a greater degree of mold and toxin overload)
• Hormones including vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), which can become depleted when your body is fighting mold toxicity
• Genetic testing for variants that may increase your susceptibility to mold related illness

LISTEN: Mycotoxin Masterclass: A Functional Medicine Approach To Healing From Inflammatory Mold Illness 

Heavy Metal Testing

Heavy metals including lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic can build up in the body through exposure from unfiltered water, paint in older buildings, dental fillings, certain kinds of fish, and other sources.

While conventional medicine doesn’t generally address this issue unless it’s very severe, a “low level” toxic metal burden can trigger numerous symptoms and health problems.

If your symptoms, exposure history, and/or health history suggest possibly high levels of heavy metals, testing can help us understand what’s going on. We run blood and urine testing to look for heavy metal toxicity, as well as your mineral status to get a better picture of any imbalances.

We also recommend hair analysis, which looks more at long-term exposure to toxic metals. The combination of the three testing methods helps to give us the most complete picture of your toxic metal burden.