Mold Could Be Making You Sick, These Are the Signs It Is Lurking in Your Home
Have you been experiencing a lingering headache that you can’t find a reason for? No matter how much water you drink or how much you rest your eyes, it just won’t go away?
How about your breathing — are you having allergy-like lung reactions to something you can’t quite pinpoint? Are you getting more nosebleeds?
If so, you might be dealing with something besides a bug or seasonal allergies. Your house might be hiding mold.
Many people discover mold lurking in their homes because, well, they see it. That’s one sure-fire way to know that it’s present. The bigger problem is that by the time you see it, the mold has taken hold and you’ll need to take serious measures to combat it.
One expert, Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who was the HomeSafe Campaign in California director at one point, told INSIDER just how serious spotting the intruder is.
“Once you see it, you’ve got a big mold problem because what you’re seeing is literally just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Some people can smell it, and apparently some molds smell more than others, but Laureen Burton with the Environmental Protection Agency told Health.com that just because you don’t smell mold doesn’t mean your house is mold-free.
This is especially true if you know your house has experienced flooding at some point — it doesn’t even have to be recent flooding. But if there are any damp corners or soggy areas of the house, chances are that mold is present.
Not all molds are created equal, and not everyone reacts to their presence, but those who do usually experience one or more symptoms that can easily be mistaken for other illnesses.
According to The Kaplan Center website, mold toxicity presents in a multitude of ways, and once you read the list it’s easy to see how confusing the symptoms can be.
“The painful symptoms of mold toxicity are similar to the symptoms of a variety of other disease conditions, including fibromyalgia, migraine or chronic headaches, depression, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Lyme Disease, recurrent sinus infections or chronic sinusitis and asthma that is unresponsive to conventional therapy.”
“Symptoms also can mimic those of certain autoimmune diseases, such as psoriatic arthritis, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. For this reason, mold toxicity is quite often overlooked as the root cause of pain.”
Many people might tackle visible mold with hot soapy water and spray it with disinfectant for good measure, but sometimes that’s not an adequate treatment plan. You have to be able to reach down to the roots and kill those and prevent it from spreading, otherwise your efforts will be in vain.
A professional will be able to determine if mold is present and will know how to really treat tough-to-reach places. It’s important to remain vigilant and aware of our surroundings and selves to make sure we’re not suffering unnecessarily.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
