How to Know If Mold in Your House Is Making You Sick?

You just came home after spending the entire day at the office, where you felt healthy and active. However, a few minutes after returning home, you feel a headache, have a runny nose, and your eyes feel itchy. This could be a sign of mold in house. 

You might ask yourself, but what if it's just exhaustion or a dust allergy and not mold poisoning? Well, certain signs can affirm if you have mold in the house. Let's explore this further.

How Can You Tell If You Have Mold Poisoning?

The above-mentioned signs usually relate to an allergy. Now, this could be anything you came across on your day. However, some signs can confirm if you have mold poisoning. 

When you are living in a space where mold is growing, you are bound to inhale mole spores, which leads to feeling sick whenever you are in the same environment. If you are experiencing any or all of the following mold poisoning symptoms at home, you must take immediate action:

• Sore throat

• Headache

• Skin rash

• Runny nose and congestion

• Eye irritation

• Lung irritation

• Wheezing

• Coughing

• Sneezing

How Dangerous Is Mold to Your Health?

The next question in your mind might be: is mold dangerous? The answer is yes. Mold can be potentially harmful to your health. 

How severely it affects your health depends on the type of mold you have. For instance, Aspergillus is a type of mold that can cause aspergillosis. This disease also has different types and can affect the lungs and nose, creating breathing problems. 

One of the types of aspergillosis is chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, where the person experiences breathing problems, cough, and weight loss. 

Mold poisoning may also aggravate symptoms in people who already have breathing problems, asthma, or a chronic lung condition. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), having mold in house can trigger an inflammatory response. Living in a space that has mold can increase the risk of the following diseases:

• Bronchitis

• Hypersensitivity pneumonitis

• Allergic fungal sinusitis

• Chronic rhinosinusitis

In addition to this, children who were previously healthy may develop lower respiratory tract problems.

Black mold is also a very toxic type of mold. The black mold symptoms are the same. However, you may also experience frequent nose bleeds if you have black mold at home. 

What are the Long-Term Effects of Mold in Your House?

Experiencing just one or two symptoms, like coughing or sneezing, might make you disregard the seriousness of mold in the house. However, it is essential to know that ignoring the problem and staying in a moldy environment can have certain effects on your health. 

Long-term effects of mold poisoning can even last after you have removed the mold or moved to a new place. The short terms effect may be mild. However, the long-term effects are not restricted to physical health. In fact, long-term effects can also be related to your mental health. 

The following are some of the long-term effects of mold in the house:

1. Long-term exposure to mold in the home can affect your cognitive abilities. It affects your concentration and judgment skills. It also affects your short-term memory.

2.  The stress of feeling sick all the time can cause depression and anxiety. You may also experience more frequent mood swings. 

3. Your immune system is constantly at work to make you feel better when you are sick all the time. It makes it harder for the immune system to fight other illnesses as it remains focused on the mold poisoning symptoms you display. This can cause you to feel fatigued since your body systems are continuously working to keep you healthy.

4. Mold in house can cause you to develop lung issues even years after you had this experience. Mold spores primarily attack the pulmonary functions in a person, which causes issues related to the lungs and their functionality.

Mold Symptoms to Lookout for in Your Home

Since mold can harm your and your loved one's health, the best practice is to contact a service provider and immediately remove the mold. However, first, you must see if there is mold in house. How do you do that?

Simply look for mold symptoms around the house. Following are the mold symptoms that will help you figure out if there is mold in house.

1. Getting regular headaches

2. Breathing issues and other symptoms mentioned above

3. Moisture build-up on walls

4. Strange stains on walls and ceilings

5. Soggy tiles on the ceiling

6. A peculiar damp or musty stench in the air 

7. The home has a history of flooding.

If you are looking for black mold symptoms, try to decipher the stains and discoloration on walls. If the fungus appears dark and blackish, it could be black mold. A professional can help you decipher which mold it is.

How to Avoid Molds in Rooms?

Everyone tries to keep their home clean and tidy, yet mold still begins developing without even the residents knowing. So, what can you do so how to avoid molds in rooms?

Here are the following tips for avoiding mold in home:

1. Keep your home dry. Standing water or high levels of moisture are significant triggers of mold.

2. Fix leaks and other plumbing issues. 

3. Avoid using carpets in bathrooms and basements to prevent moisture build-up in case they are soaked. 

4. Immediately take action to dry the carpets and upholstery which is soaked. 

5. Have a sound ventilation system that ensures air flows freely throughout the house.

Mold in home can be quite dangerous to health. It will constantly make you feel sick, and the more you are exposed to the mold, the more severe effects you will experience in the long run. Hence, it is crucial to contact a professional so they can evaluate the property and assist you in removing the mold. 

AdvantaClean of Fort Lauderdale is an experienced mold removal service. Our professional and well-trained team can help you spot mold in the trickiest of places and brief you about the steps we must take to make your home mold-free. Get in touch today!