Mold Illness: What It Is And 17 Signs You Have It

image 1 Wikipedia (PD); image 2 © adam88xx – fotolia.com; image 3 © Roger McLassus 1951 – Wikipedia – lic. under CC-BY-SA-3.0

There are numerous ways that a building can come to host a variety of fungi, bacteria, mycobacteria, and actinomycetes. Inappropriate ventilation, faulty construction of crawl spaces, incomplete basements exposed to groundwater and not correcting water intrusion are just some of the construction defects that can make a building water-damaged. If you have water-damaged buildings then in all likelihood you have mold spores in the air. ^[1]

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in its June 2006 report that excessive exposure to mold-contaminated materials can cause adverse health effects to susceptible individuals regardless of the type of mold or the extent of contamination. ^[2]

Back in 2002, a consensus panel tried to tell the public that mold illness didn’t exist; yet the Institute of Medicine recently acknowledged that exposure to molds can cause respiratory problems. More recently, data presented by Dr. Shoemaker and other practitioners shows that mold illness can cause chronic fatigue, joint problems, and adverse neurologic and cognitive effects. ^[3]

25% of the population is considered to be sensitive to mold illness. These sensitive individuals need to be extra careful to avoid mold exposure. ^[5] However, unlike typical viral or bacterial infections, there is currently no test that will confirm if you are ill from mold toxin exposure.

Here are seventeen symptoms that you should be wary of: ^[4]

1. Memory problems and having trouble with focusing on doing tasks
2. Fatigue and weakness.
3. Muscle cramping and persistent nerve pain
4. Numbness and tingling
5. Headache
6. Light sensitivity, red eyes, and/or blurred vision
7. Sinus problems, cough, shortness of breath, air hunger, asthma-like symptoms
8. Tremors
9. Vertigo
10. Persistent nerve pain
11. Abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, appetite changes
12. Metallic taste
13. Weight gain despite sufficient effort
14. Night sweats or other problems with temperature regulation
15. Excessive thirst
16. Increased urination
17. Static shocks (I have to say, found this one very strange and can’t see how this is affected by mold).

You may not be able to test for symptoms, but you can test for mold. Professional inspectors will do air sampling tests for mold spores and we had this done recently.

Your best strategy is to simply get away from the mold and see if your symptoms get better. This is one thing you can pay attention to. Do the symptoms only appear when you are in one location? Note however that there may be other allergens causing your problems. Air purification is another valuable strategy and if you believe you have serious mold-related sickness – or allergy to other airborne pollutants – you might wish to investigate a “serious” air purifier such as the IQAir Healthpro.

Mold requires damp conditions in order to thrive – so the first step in mold remediation is to fix the cause of moisture that is creating the moldy conditions, whether it is faulty plumbing, appliance problems, roof or gutter issues, ground drainage issues etc. The second step is locating and remediating the mold itself. Mold can grow anywhere there is damp; in the ceiling, basement, wall cavities, storage boxes, clothes, air ducts, insulation, furniture, windows, carpet, floor and anything else made of wood. If the mold is covering a large area then it needs professional treatment due to the toxic hazards presented.

See also:

How To Remove Mold With Tea Tree Oil