The presence of mold in your home is more than just a destructive nuisance: It can have a major detrimental impact on your and your loved ones’ health. As mold grows and spreads, it produces byproducts known as mycotoxins, which can lead to a condition known as mold toxicity.
Not every person who is exposed to mold spores in their home is affected the same way, and mycotoxin symptoms can often be confused with other illnesses. If the problem is not addressed, however, it can lead to chronic diseases and even put sufferers at risk of serious conditions, such as cancer and heart disease.
In this blog post, we’ll help you to understand and identify the symptoms of mold toxicity so that you can address the problem quickly, before it escalates.
What Is Mold, Really?
The umbrella term “mold” actually refers to a large number of different organisms, all of which belong to the fungus kingdom.
Usually appearing as a green, gray, or brown fuzzy growth—although it can come in a wide range of colors—mold requires an organic substrate on which to anchor itself and spread. That’s why mold species are frequently found growing on food, wood, and other materials used in the home.
Mold also requires continuous access to water. For this reason, mold is most commonly found in damp areas, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and under sinks.
How It Spreads
Like most fungi, mold reproduces by releasing spores into the atmosphere. These spores will drift, airborne, and fall on anything and everything nearby. They can also be carried further by humans and animals, which they do by hitching rides on clothing, skin, hair, feathers, and fur.
Once mold spores land on a surface with favorable conditions for growth, they anchor themselves with tiny roots called hyphae and begin to reproduce further and further, consuming the substrate underneath them as they do so.
Why Mold Is So Bad for Your Health
The presence of mold in the home is not only destructive to your property—as it weakens and damages critical foundational structures—it also has a harmful impact on human health. It can actually affect all seven of the body’s major systems. As it grows and develops, mold produces dangerous compounds called mycotoxins, which have a variety of damaging effects on the human body.
Mycotoxins are contained in every part of the mold, including the spores, which are continuously being released into the indoor atmosphere of a contaminated home. This means that if you live in a home with a substantial amount of mold growth, you are constantly breathing in mycotoxins, as well as consuming them inadvertently as they come to rest on the food you eat.
Symptoms of Mold Toxicity
As we mentioned in the opening paragraph of this post, not everyone is affected by mold in the same way. Some people are significantly more susceptible to health risks than others, especially children, the elderly, and individuals with CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) or otherwise compromised immune systems. Even so, constant exposure to mold spores is not good for anyone, and the problem should be addressed even if the symptoms are mild.
Here are a few of the most common symptoms that occur as a result of mold toxicity:
1. Allergies and/or Asthma
As it is most often breathed in, mold can frequently cause or exacerbate many different respiratory conditions. Data suggests that mold can cause allergic reactions, even in individuals who do not normally suffer from allergies, by irritating their bronchial lining and other respiratory pathways. Allergies and asthma are caused by an overactive immune response, as the body identifies mold spores and other allergies as invaders and attempts to destroy them. Other respiratory issues, such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis, are not caused by an allergic response but by the direct effect of mycotoxins damaging the cells of the body.
2. Chronic Fatigue
Far beyond simple tiredness, chronic fatigue saps your ability to perform basic tasks throughout the day, as you find yourself continually exhausted and unmotivated. There are many potential causes for fatigue-related disorders; however, mold exposure can be a major contributor, as mycotoxins may decrease the body’s ability to absorb oxygen, directly affecting its ability to produce the necessary energy to remain awake and alert.
3. Neurological Problems
Mycotoxin symptoms range in severity from the annoying to the deadly, and neurological problems are among the worst health complications that can result from mold toxicity. They include everything from depression to anxiety to brain fog, all of which can greatly impact a person’s ability to function on a daily basis. Mold exposure may also trigger the brain to mimic symptoms of dementia or delirium or cause movement disorders and other psychomotor problems.
4. Long-Term and Chronic Diseases
Mycotoxin exposure may also place the inhabitants of a building at risk for long-term health complications, including cancer and heart disease. The toxins produced by mold can, like any other toxin, gradually build up in the body over time, eventually exacerbating pre-existing conditions or causing symptoms that were not present before.
Stop the Problem Before It Spreads
It’s worth mentioning that while there are now studies that have drawn a direct connection between mold and human illness, the conditions that are conducive to the growth of mold (such as high humidity) tend to be unhealthy in general, contributing to disease in other ways as well. So it’s critical to detect the beginnings of a possible mold outbreak early, either by addressing the conditions that can lead to mold growth or treating the above possible mycotoxin symptoms as potential indicators of an infestation and having your home tested.
If you do believe mold is present in your home, contact Biodynamic. Our team of professionals will be able to assist you in its detection and removal. It’s important to remove all traces of the outbreak to prevent recurrence, which is why we use advanced sterilization techniques, HEPA filtration, and bio-remediation to render your home clean and free of harmful mycotoxins.
