Mysterious Mold Part 2
The day that I opened our guest room closet door and spotted mold growing on the ceiling was a day of great relief and fear for me. On that day, everything that I had been experiencing came into focus and made sense to me… the cystic acne, the 12 day menstrual cycle, the weight gain, the fatigue, the mood swings… I could relate it all back to the mold.
For months the frustration about my declining health had been growing. I had been racking my brain, looking in every hole, searching for any answer as to why things had suddenly changed.
My diet was on point, I was exercising the same, I was meditating daily to relieve stress, I was taking care of myself in more ways than I had in the past so my new health issues just didn’t make sense.
That was, until I physically saw the mold with my own eyes.
At the time, our guest room was my office and I had been working in there 5 days a week for almost 2 years. I have no idea how long the mold had been there prior to my discovery. But I can trace all of my more recent health issues and symptoms back to when I started working from home, in that room, full time.
The sight of the mold and the truth of its existence also brought on an abundance of fear. A flurry of questions crossed my mind after I discovered the mold…
Did we need to move?
Was my home safe for me to live in?
Would I ever be well again?
Living in fear of your own home is a very strange feeling. A part of me felt let down by life, violated and downright dirty. In the beginning I didn’t know if I would ever be able to overcome those feelings and feel safe again.
As most people, my knee-jerk reaction to get rid of mold was simply to cut it out or to attempt to “clean it up” with something like bleach or another cleaning solution, but after much research I came to find that neither of these methods are effective.
Mold is invasive, it’s mysterious and mutagenic.
Since fungal organisms such as mold can reproduce as quickly as every 30 minutes, adaptation happens much faster and easier than it does in, say, humans who reproduce less frequently. This unique feature makes mold resistant to treatments with bleach, certain fungicides and simply painting over the infected area.
In this week’s video I talk more about mold’s mutagenic tendencies, how to properly remove it and what to do in order to create a safe living environment again.
As mysterious as mold can be, the negative impacts it has on one’s health can be very serious.
To truly fix a mold illness problem, the most important action you can take is to physically remove the mold from your environment, not just “treat” it with something. In some cases this might mean actually removing yourself from your home or work while the mold is remediated by a professional.
Because mold is mutagenic and the mycotoxins become airborne by means of mold spores, it’s important to also take steps to clean the air in your home and all porous surfaces that the mold spores can cling to.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to rid your environment of toxic mold and make it safe for you again…
- Identify the Source – find the source of the water leak, dampness and/or damage and take the necessary steps to fix it so it doesn’t happen again and lead to more mold in the future
- Remediation/Removal- this should be done by a profession to protect you and your loved ones. Proper remediation includes sealing off the infected area with plastic and using air cleaning machines during the process to prevent the airborne mold spores from spreading even further.
- Clean Your Air – since the mold spores are airborne it’s also important to clean your air. This includes hiring a professional to clean air ducts, changing out HVAC air filters for filters that have a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 16 and getting some HEPA air purifiers (such as the ones listed here) to place in your bedroom and other other room where you spend large amounts of time.
- Spray and Wash – because mold spores can become embedded in porous surfaces such as clothes, wood and fabrics it can be critical to also clean these items in your home. Citrisafe has a variety of products such as antifungal laundry detergent and upholstery spray, air fresheners and even pet shampoo. You might want to also consider cleaning furniture with a HEPA vacuum.
Once you’ve removed the mold and cleaned up the environment, it’s best to retest the space using an ImmunoLytics home-test, ERMI or HERTSMI periodically until you feel safe and confident that you’re mold free.
The mold disrupted my body, but it did not making me as severely sick as it can for some. More severe cases of mold infestation or illness might require a more extensive approach. More details about how to handle mold can be found in the book “Is It Mold” by Karen Wright, a functional nutritionist, traditional naturopath and a transformational health coach.
Stay tuned for next week’s Mysterious Mold Part 3 and finale all about how to support your body in healing from mold toxicity!
