How To Recognize Black Mold Sickness Symptoms

Most black mold commonly found in the home is non-toxic. If, however, you have a toxic variety of black mold in your home, you may suffer from black mold sickness. Recognizing black mold sickness symptoms is the first step in dealing with toxic black mold in your home.

Common black mold sickness symptoms include:

Sinus Trouble – If you have any kind of mold in your home, toxic or non-toxic, you will probably experience symptoms similar to sinusitis. These include nasal congestion, sore throat, cough and headaches. If you continually suffer from sinus trouble, or if you notice that certain parts of the house such as the kitchen or bathroom seem to trigger sinus symptoms, it may be an indication that you have a mold problem.

Personality Disorders – Toxic mold sickness can cause a variety of personality disorders such as anxiety or mood swings. Mold spores become airborne, and toxic mold spores will make the air in your house toxic. These spores interfere with your body’s myelin levels. Myelin is important for your nervous system. It helps protect your nerve endings and assists the proper functioning of your immune system, digestive system, lungs and skin.

Loss Of Memory – These toxic spores can have an effect on your brain cells. Toxic mold can destroy your brain tissue and cause memory loss. If children are exposed to toxic mold on a continual basis it can have permanent damage on their mental functions. This is why it is very important to keep black mold out of schools and other facilities that children use.

Exposure to toxic mold can also make it hard for you to concentrate and focus. Neurological toxic mold sickness symptoms may not appear for days or weeks after exposure. This makes it hard to determine the cause of the symptoms of toxic black mold sickness.

Trouble Breathing – Tiny black mold spores can enter your body in a variety of ways, but the most common is through your respiratory system. The initial symptoms of black mold sickness are often trouble breathing. You may experience shortness of breath, nosebleeds or abdominal pain. In asthma sufferers, exposure to toxic black mold brings on asthma attacks and can be quite dangerous, especially among kids.

Numbness in Fingers and Toes – This is caused by the spores’ affect on your nervous system. In severe cases of black mold sickness, sufferers may lose feelings in their extremities. It is often common to suffer from tremors and soreness.

Eye and Skin Irritation – Black mold spores can easily enter your body through your respiratory system, but they will irritate any part of your body they come in contact with, including eyes and skin. You may suffer from rashes, red or itchy eyes or even hair loss.

It is difficult to tell whether black mold growing in your house is toxic or not. The best way to know for sure is to hire a professional mold inspector, which you can easily find in the yellow pages. Whether toxic or not, it is best to remove mold and prevent it from growing again, as soon as possible.

Health Problems Related To Mold

Common household mold causes a variety of health problems, but it is difficult to prove the exact cause of these symptoms. Mold spores can become airborne and contribute to a variety of respiratory and eye problems.

Because the symptoms of mold allergy resemble those of sinusitis, common cold and asthma, it is often difficult to determine the exact cause of these symptoms.

Most people suffer an allergic reaction if exposed to mold. The symptoms of mold allergy include:

-Stuffy and runny nose.

You may feel suddenly congested when you walk into a certain room, basement or other part of the house. This is likely because there is mold. Areas that are humid or have had water damage are ideal places for mold to grow.

-Itchy eyes.

These same mold spores can make your eyes red and itchy. During clean up of mold, it is important to protect your eyes, because the irritation can be severe. Itchiness or redness around the eyes may be a sign that you have mold.

-Wheezing and coughing.

If you have no prior condition or cold, but find yourself wheezing and coughing, this may be because of mold. To test it, you can try moving around to different parts of the house and see if it clears up. If so, the area where you find yourself coughing may have mold.

-Skin rashes.

This occurs only in pretty severe cases. If you experience skin rashes, you might have a lot of mold hiding out somewhere. You may have also come into contact directly with mold and your skin is reacting to it.

These are common symptoms of health related mold problems. Some people are more sensitive than others to mold, but all of us experience some of the above symptoms when we come into contact with mold.

Doctors are not sure exactly what health problems are mold related. But, it has been observed that those with asthma suffer especially bad in the presence of mold.

Some mold is toxic and researchers believe that constant exposure to mold over time might possibly contribute to certain types of cancer. This is not proven yet, but some species of mold, like the common household aspergillis, contain toxins similar to those found in those who suffer from liver and kidney cancers.

Have you ever heard of “sick building syndrome?” This refers to old buildings which may have some toxins in their building materials and cause those who work there to suffer various symptoms such as fatigue, headaches and respiratory problems.

Recent research suggests that sick building syndrome may be in part caused by mold. The symptoms of those who suffer from sick building syndrome are similar to health problems related to mold, and it is known that often old buildings were not built well to protect against mold.

Household mold has not been shown to produce any life-threatening diseases, but exposure to it can be a health problem. For this reason, it is best to keep your home and workplace as mold-free as possible.

Mold And How It Effects You: Mold Related Health Problems

Mold is ugly and gross, but it is also potentially dangerous. There are a variety of health problems related to mold. This is why it should be cleaned immediately and prevented whenever possible.

If there is a lot of mold in your home, it can cause problems breathing. Mold most commonly causes respiratory problems.

Many people are sensitive to mold. For these people, being around mold can cause them to get a stuffy nose, headache, itchy eyes or a rash.

While many people suffer from a mild mold allergy, some people are more sensitive, and these problems can be quite severe. This can include trouble breathing and a fever.

If you have asthma, or any other chronic respiratory disease, you should definitely avoid mold. Exposure to mold will trigger your asthmatic symptoms, and it is very dangerous for you to be exposed to it.

How mold effects asthma is being studied by researchers. The exact relationship is not clear. However, most molds make spores which are released into the air, and mold-related health problems are caused by breathing them in. Some reports suggest that frequent exposure to mold in childhood may be a factor in developing asthma.

Mold is most often taken into the body through the nose and lungs, but you can also develop health problems from eating or touching mold. This is why it is important to make sure you don’t eat moldy bread or cheese, and also why you should always wear rubber gloves when cleaning mold in your home.

If you are allergic to mold, you may feel it before you see it. You may not even know that it is a mold allergy that’s causing you to have a constant stuffy nose and headache.

Have you ever been cleaning and suddenly had nasal congestion or a headache? The probable cause is dust or mold that you have just uncovered. This is a mild form of mold allergy which most people have.

This is why it is important to keep your home as mold-free as possible. Mold grows in places that are wet or humid. This includes the bathroom, the kitchen and any part of the house that has water damage, or has been wet for a long time.

If you live in a humid environment, your home is especially susceptible to mold. In this case, you may have to do some routine mold cleaning once in a while.

While most molds are relatively harmless, some varieties are toxic and interfere with your body’s natural functioning. Exposure to toxic molds may cause you to feel fatigue or nausea, in addition to the regular symptoms mentioned above.

If you are suffering from mold-related health problems, the best thing to do is to consult a doctor. If the symptoms are severe or persist over a long period of time, it’s always a good idea to get expert advice. You may be suffering from more than just a minor mold allergy.

What You Should Know About Testing For Stachybotrys Mold

Stachy-what??

Stachybotrys is the name of that nasty black mold that you commonly see growing in homes. It causes all kinds of health problems and should be removed immediately.

Unfortunately, we don’t often see black mold. In many cases it remains hidden in the home. It may be difficult for you to pinpoint your own mold problem.

Why Testing For Mold?

There are generally two reasons why you might want to seek testing for stachybotrys mold:

-You are suffering from mold-related health problems but cannot find the mold yourself. There are people all over the web who tell you how terrible mold in your home can be, and then follow it up by telling you that they’ll test it for you. You might be surprised to learn this, but mold cleanup is a big business and there are mold scams out there!

Because mold can be a serious health risk, testing for stachybotrys mold may be a good idea if you suspect there’s hidden mold in hard-to-reach places. But, keep in mind that it is not cheap, and the money you pay for testing does not go towards cleanup. If you are sure that you have a mold problem, you might be better off shelling out the cash to just have it cleaned.

-You are a landlord, you are selling your home, or you are making an insurance claim. In this case, someone may ask you to get evidence of stachybotrys in your home. If you are asked for a sample, you may want to just send them a sample. Carefully get a tiny bit of mold on some material in your house, carefully seal it up (this point is very important!) and give it to the interested party.

There are no federal standards for testing. In other words, there is no “rate of mold infestation” or “spore count” or any kind of yardstick like that to measure it against. A mold test can basically tell you whether you have a mold problem or not.

What Do They Do When They Test For Mold?

If you definitely need the tests done, you will have to have a mold inspector come to your home and take samples. These samples must be laboratory inspected and certified (that’s why it costs so much!). This will provide official lab-tested evidence that there is mold in the home.

You may be able to get a mold inspection done for as little as a couple hundred dollars. Other companies charge much more than that. Another option is to get a mold inspection kit that you can use by yourself to determine how much mold there is in your house. You can buy them at your local hardware or home goods store.

A mold inspection kit is especially good if you are trying to find hidden mold in your house. It will tell you exactly where the problem is, and you can save your money for the cleanup.

When testing for mold, or doing anything at all involving mold, make sure you are protected. Wear goggles, a face mask, gloves, and protective clothing. When handling mold, make sure it does not get onto anything else in your house. Make sure you have proper ventilation, because the mold spores may get all over the place while you clean.

What’s This Green Stuff? Vinyl Siding Mold Problems

Have you ever seen vinyl siding mold problems? That’s when you see green stuff all over the vinyl siding of your house. It’s not a pretty sight.

You’re looking at our old enemy, mold. At it again!

Actually, it may be more subtle than that. If you have mold growing on your vinyl siding, chances are it will just be a shade greener than the rest of the gray. It’s subtle, but it’s noticeable.

Why MY Vinyl Siding?

You may have water dripping from somewhere above, like a broken drainpipe or a misplaced gutter. You should always keep an eye on those things. If your vinyl siding develops a mold problem, this is a sign that something needs to be adjusted. Fix the drainpipe or the gutters, and you prevent the mold from growing again.

You may also have mold growing inside the vinyl sidings. Vinyl sidings are great because you never have to repaint, but mold can easily be trapped inside. This mold is particularly hard to get out and usually needs to be removed by a professional.

Clean-Up Time: Call The Professionals

One options for cleaning vinyl siding mold problems is pressure washing. This is best if professionally done. What they do is spray pressurized hot water on the trouble spots. The water is mixed with a mold-killing agent, similar to bleach.

Do It Yourself

If it is not all over the house, you can do the job yourself. The high pressure water makes it much easier to do large areas of mold cleanup, but if you have a mold problem on parts of your vinyl siding, you can do it yourself with a little elbow grease (and some chemicals, of course!)

Bleach is not always recommended for mold cleanups. Using bleach can sometimes cause other problems on the materials you are cleaning. But, vinyl siding can withstand the bleach onslaught. A little bleach, a good cleaning product and water and A LOT of intense scrubbing will do the trick. You should use some kind of brush that has a long handle so you don’t get bleach on your hands.

Instead of highly pressurized water, use your good old garden hose. High pressure water used improperly can get water into everything, so it is recommended that only professionals do that.

You can also buy vinyl siding cleaner, which is especially designed for cleaning up mold, at the hardware store.

Do The Whole House!

The bad news is that if you have mold growing on one part of your vinyl siding, you should probably go ahead and do the rest. This means hours upon hours of intense scrubbing, so space it out over several days or even weeks. Stopping that mold before it becomes a problem will make all the hard labor worth it.

Vinyl siding is convenient and easy, but developing mold problems on your vinyl siding is a major headache. Keep your eye out for the green shade and take care of business, and you can enjoy your vinyl siding forever!