How to Identify and Treat Mold Illness (CIRS) | Ariana Thacker EP 228
The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast
Mikhaila Peterson
4.7 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, I had a conversation with Ariana Thacker, founder and CEO of MoldCo, to discuss mold-related illness and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). In 5-10 years everyone will know and understand how pervasive this is.Ariana shares her personal journey from chemical engineer and venture capitalist to patient—and ultimately founder—after severe mold exposure left her cognitively impaired, exhausted, and searching for answers the conventional medical system couldn’t provide. We break down how mold illness actually presents in the body, why it’s so often misdiagnosed or dismissed, and how inflammation can affect the brain, hormones, immune system, and mental health.We also discuss genetic susceptibility, what proper testing actually looks like, and how treatment protocols like the Shoemaker approach work in practice. Ariana Thacker is the founder and CEO of MoldCo, a healthcare technology company and virtual care clinic redefining how medicine approaches environmental illness, starting with mold. My experience with CIRS: Biotoxin.comFree evidence-based questionnaire to help make the mold-health connection and determine your environmental risk score: https://access.moldco.com/signs. Use ‘MIKHAILA’ for 15% off Ariana’s Mold Home Test Kit, Complete Health Panel, and CIRS Lab Panel: https://www.moldco.com/—Ariana’s Links—Testing: https://www.moldco.com/productsFree Questionnaire: https://access.moldco.com/signsCompany LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moldco/Ariana's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianadthacker/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themoldcompany/Ariana's X: https://x.com/m0ldilocksMoldCo's X: https://x.com/themoldcompanyFor a high quality education and community consider enrolling in Peterson Academy: https://petersonacademy.com/—Follow Me—All Platforms: https://linktr.ee/mikhailapeterson Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikhailapeterson TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mikhailapeterson Website: https://mikhailapeterson.com Lion Diet: https://liondiet.com Biotoxin: https://biotoxin.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/mikhailapetersonpodcast X: https://twitter.com/MikhailaFullerTelegram: https://t.me/mikhailapeterson —Chapters—00:45 Why I Wanted Ariana on the Podcast01:30 Ariana's Background04:24 How to Identify CIRS06:18 Why Women Are Hit Harder12:23 Where MoldCo Steps In12:40 In Depth CIRS Diagnosing with MoldCo17:40 Ariana's Vision For Filling Biggest Medical Blindspots20:00 What To Do If You Have CIRS24:20 Mental Health Impact25:25 How Widespread Mold Is32:50 Mold, Long COVID, Lyme35:50 Mold & Metabolic Health40:28 Turtle Bites or CIRS, Which is More Dangerous?44:01 Some Promise For Awareness and Solutions 54:15 Remediation Pitfalls58:45 MARCoNS Explained1:02:20 Recovery Outcomes1:04:00 Immune System Deregulation 1:22:03 Autism and CIRS Connection1:22:05 Treatment for Kids1:24:28 Where to Find More Info on Ariana and MoldCo#moldexposure #moldtoxicity #mycotoxins #indoorairquality #moldremediation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're probably going to find this surprising. |
| 0:01.5 | There isn't an ICD code for mold-related illness. There's a code for if you got bit by a turtle, but there isn't a code for if you have mold-related illness. And also, if you think back over the last, like, 200 years, there have been decades where people have been exposed to certain chemicals without knowing they were making them sick. So lead, people were putting it on their face and makeup. Oh, my gosh. because they didn't know it was making them sick. |
| 0:23.4 | And it was only face and makeup. |
| 0:21.0 | Oh my God. |
| 0:21.6 | Because they didn't know it was making them sick. |
| 0:23.4 | And it was only banned in gasoline in the 80s because they figured out, oh, we can't |
| 0:27.5 | even have lead in gasoline because that makes people sick. |
| 0:30.9 | This place gives me the creeps. |
| 0:32.5 | So people have been exposed to biotoxins repeatedly. |
| 0:35.9 | But then you grow up and we have AI and you're like, well, we don't have that anymore. |
| 0:47.5 | Ariana, welcome to my podcast. |
| 0:49.7 | Hi, Michaela, excited to be here. |
| 0:51.5 | I am so excited to talk about this. |
| 0:53.8 | Before we get started, so we're going to cover mold, amongst other things, immune system |
| 0:59.0 | issues. |
| 1:00.0 | But I wanted to, I know I've done this before in my podcast a long time ago, but I wanted |
| 1:05.8 | to bring you on to talk because I think that this is a bigger problem for people to know about than diet. |
| 1:14.0 | I know it's missing in a lot of the biohacking spheres. |
| 1:17.0 | They're kind of onto it, but it's not a major focus. |
| 1:19.3 | And I think mold and people's awareness of mold really needs to grow because it's everywhere. |
| 1:24.9 | And it's making a lot of people sick and they're being misdiagnosed |
| 1:27.8 | with random autoimmune symptoms. So I've brought you here to talk about what you're doing |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mikhaila Peterson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mikhaila Peterson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.