Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome: Treatment & Recovery Tips That Actually Work
You’re sure you have Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. The symptoms check out – unrelenting fatigue, muscle pain and brain fog that makes you question your sanity.
Unfortunately, after running test after test, your conventional medicine doctor is out of options. Or, if you’re like many people with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome symptoms, you are diagnosed and treated for everything but CIRS.
When a patient is suffering from CIRS, they have already likely been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), irritable bowel syndrome, depression, or anxiety. Some patients are placed on SSRIs or prescribed low-dose naltrexone. Others are sent for cognitive behavioural therapy or handed a stack of supplements.
These modalities may work for a time, but eventually the symptoms will come back. And if you’re like other patients with CIRS, you turn to the internet for help.
But as soon as you start searching for treatment and cures, you immediately fall down the rabbit hole reading about all of the options. Every alternative promises quick answers and fail safe cures.
You are already so sick and overwhelmed. How are you supposed to know what treatment is the best for Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)?
What Is Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)?
CIRS is a complex, multi-system, multi-symptom illness that occurs when a genetically susceptible person is exposed to a biotoxin—most commonly from water-damaged buildings (mold), though it can also come from Lyme disease, cyanobacteria in freshwater, actinobacteria from your home or skin, endotoxins from sewer pipes, and most recently beta glucans. Instead of clearing the toxin, the immune system becomes dysregulated. This results in widespread inflammation that can affect nearly every system in the body.
A landmark study by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker identified that approximately 24% of the population is genetically predisposed to develop CIRS after biotoxin exposure. (Shoemaker et al., 2010)
Why Most CIRS Treatments Fail
As you have found, the internet is full of quick cures and easy treatments for CIRS. These treatments likely include:
- ‘Natural’ binders such a charcoal and bentonite clay
- Sauna treatments
- A detox for mold, parasites or fungal treatment.
And increasingly, patients are being diagnosed via urinary mycotoxin testing, which sounds promising but is not a valid method of diagnosing CIRS. In fact, a 2019 review concluded that urinary mycotoxin testing lacks specificity and reliability in diagnosing mold-related illness.
Unfortunately, just like CIRS is incredibly complicated, treatment is as well. However, there is one scientifically validated method that is proven to work: The Shoemaker Protocol.
The Shoemaker Protocol: The Best Treatment for CIRS
The Shoemaker Protocol is the only medically recognized and peer-reviewed method to diagnose and treat Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). It is evidence-based, structured, and highly individualized.
The Shoemaker Protocol involves a sequential, step-by-step process that addresses the root immune dysfunction rather than just managing symptoms. Here’s a simplified overview:
- Remove exposure to biotoxins** (most often mold from water-damaged buildings).
- Bind and remove biotoxins from the body using a bile acid sequestrant like cholestyramine or Welchol.
- Test for and correct (if needed) MARCoNS colonies
- Rebalance hormones (primarily androgens)
- Correct ADH and osmolality
- Correct inflammatory markers such as C4a, MMP-9, TGF-beta1.
- Address neuroinflammation and VEGF (common in long-term CIRS) using therapies like intranasal VIP.
Now that the Shoemaker Protocol is becoming more well known, there are many non-certified practitioners that use one or more of these steps when treating CIRS patients. However, what they don’t realize is that skipping steps can worsen symptoms. That’s because the immune system remains dysregulated until inflammation is corrected at the cellular level. It’s like trying to drain a flooded basement while the pipes are still leaking.
Every week we have a potential patient tell us that the Shoemaker protocol didn’t work for them. After further discussion we quickly learn that they’ve been treating MARCoNS or tried DHEA supplementation and neither helped. And it never will. The Shoemaker protocol is designed to be completed in sequence. We need to start at the beginning – every time.
The beginning is always removing you from exposure. It’s the hardest and most important step in all of treatment. No treatment is going to work so long as you remain exposed to biotoxins. Period.
Do you think you have CIRS? Book a complimentary 15-minute phone chat with one of our Shoemaker practitioners!
The Role of Neuroinflammation in CIRS
One of the lesser-discussed but critical features of CIRS is its effect on the brain. MRI studies (NeuroQuant imaging) have shown that patients with CIRS often have volume loss in the caudate nucleus and gray matter, along with swelling in the forebrain and amygdala. This leads to symptoms like memory loss, emotional instability, poor concentration, and sleep disruption.
The Shoemaker Protocol includes tools to reverse these changes—not just manage them. Treatment with VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide), for example, has been shown to normalize brain inflammation, reduce symptom clusters, restore grey matter nucleic, and improve Visual Contrast Sensitivity, which is often impaired in CIRS.
Why CIRS Treatment Is More Than Supplements
CIRS is not a condition that can be solved with supplements alone. In fact, indiscriminate supplement use can sometimes worsen symptoms—especially in patients also dealing with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) or multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). These conditions often overlap with CIRS, and they require a careful, medically guided approach.
At Flourish Clinic, we specialize in helping patients with CFS, fibromyalgia, MCAS, and MCS navigate the Shoemaker Protocol. Our team is trained to interpret the specific lab markers required to make an accurate diagnosis, and we understand how to modify the protocol to suit each patient’s biochemistry, environment, and tolerance level.
Do you think you have CIRS? Book a complimentary 15-minute phone chat with one of our Shoemaker practitioners!
Real Recovery Is Possible
Let’s be honest: recovery from CIRS is not fast. It’s an ultra-marathon, not a sprint. But with the right roadmap, it is possible to feel like yourself again.
Here are some lesser-known recovery tips that go beyond the protocol:
- Prioritize sleep hygiene: Deep, restorative sleep reduces neuroinflammation and supports immune regulation.
- Avoid immune triggers: That includes not just mold, but fragrances, certain foods, and stressful environments.
- Use nasal sprays wisely: MARCoNS (multiple antibiotic-resistant coagulase-negative staph) colonization in the sinuses is common in CIRS. However, treating it out of order will make symptoms worse.
- Track your VCS test: This visual test offers a reliable, non-invasive way to measure recovery over time.
- Address emotional trauma: Limbic system retraining, somatic therapy, and gentle neuroplasticity work can help calm the overactive danger response wired into many CIRS patients’ brains.
- Balance your blood sugar: A lot of CIRS patients have extreme dysregulation in their blood sugar levels. Using a continuous glucose monitor can give you invaluable data regarding how your food choices are affecting your energy.
Why a DIY Approach Can Backfire
Because CIRS is still relatively unknown in conventional medicine, many patients try to cobble together their own recovery based on forums, social media, and guesswork. While it’s empowering to take charge of your health, the truth is: CIRS is too complex to DIY. I’m not saying this as a practitioner wanting you to work with my clinic. I’ve seen the DIY method hundreds of times. I’ve never seen anyone complete the protocol successfully on their own.
Some of the most common missteps of the DIY method include:
- Misdiagnosing yourself with mold illness based on urine tests. This can lead to unnecessary detox protocols.
- Misinterpreting lab values.
- Using binders that don’t work.
- Pursuing treatments for parasites, hidden infections, heavy metals, or other mystery illnesses.
- Skipping necessary lab testing.
- Improper sampling techniques for home testing that lead to false negatives.
- Applying contractor-level remediation techniques when a medical-level of remediation is required.
- Mis-identifying which biotoxin is triggering/maintaining the illness.
- Ignoring or not identifying environmental exposures outside of the home. This can lead to endless relapse cycles.
DIY initially seems like it will save you money. But what I see time and time again is years wasted, thousands of dollars spent, and a deep distrust in any future treatments being beneficial. The fastest, most cost-effective way to overcome CIRS is to work with a Shoemaker trained provider.
That’s why Flourish Clinic is committed to a medically guided approach. We’re not here to sell you products—we’re here to guide your recovery using the only proven method that gets to the root cause.
Do you think you have CIRS? Book a complimentary 15-minute phone chat with one of our Shoemaker practitioners!
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been living with unexplained fatigue, pain, sensitivities, or brain fog—and nothing has worked—there’s a chance you’re dealing with CIRS. With the Shoemaker Protocol, there is hope. Real, clinical, measurable hope.
Are you ready to find out what’s actually causing your symptoms?
Mark Volmer has attained the highest level of Shoemaker Protocol certification and is one of only two of Canada’s Shoemaker Protocol practitioners. The Shoemaker Protocol is the only scientifically proven method of treating CIRS.
