Symptoms of Mold Toxin Illness

People experience different symptoms based on a variety of factors such as length and level of exposure and the strength or weakness of different systems in the body such as the immune system. Symptoms usually don’t all hit at the same time, making them seem unrelated. One or more of us experienced almost all the symptoms on this partial list:

Common symptoms: irritated eyes or lungs, runny nose, fatigue, fever, chills, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, headaches, skin rash, muscle or joint aches and pains, congestion, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, chest tightness, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, sensitive to sunlight, diarrhea, and constipation.

Long-term exposure can result in: frequent colds or delayed recovery, slow-healing injuries, recurrent or hard to control infections, asthma, allergies, frequent urination, unexplained menstrual changes, alternating diarrhea/constipation, leaky gut, food sensitivities, chemical sensitivities, reactions to musty smells, plugged ears, tinnitus, disorientation, balance issues, brain fog, memory loss, insomnia, anxiety, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

System Disruptor

Mold is only one form of toxicity. A high-stress, fast-food, low-movement, poor-sleep lifestyle spent in the built environment makes you very vulnerable. Mold toxins, alone or combined with other toxins, add up to become system disruptors. This allows preexisting weak points and opportunistic pathogens to take advantage of the situation and grow out of control.

A common problem among mold victims is Chronic Lyme Disease. It is caused by a bacteria called borrelia that is most commonly contracted through a tick bite and often comes with coinfections. Around half of the victims get a short-lived bullseye rash around the bite site. The other two most common symptoms that indicate Lyme are Bell’s palsy (paralysis of half your face) and arthritis in a large joint such as the knee.

I was bitten by a tick while living in Virginia and didn’t notice a bullseye rash but I experienced both of the other common indicators of Lyme Disease. I had Bell’s palsy for a few weeks (which is usually how long it lasts) and arthritis in my left hip that never went away entirely, it just varied in intensity. These happened at different times and I never attributed them to Lyme or mold.

Lyme and Mold Toxin Illness go hand in hand. Someone with worsening, long-term Lyme symptoms – made possible by Mold Toxin Illness – has what’s called Chronic Lyme Disease. Innumerable cases of Chronic Lyme are associated with toxic mold. These two conditions also share many overlapping symptoms.

The Built Environment

Mold spores are everywhere! This is why it’s called mold remediation, not elimination. But most mold isn’t harmful and some is even helpful. In the natural outdoor environment there is abundant microbial competition so the toxic varieties aren’t usually a problem. But toxic mold loves the modern indoor environment where people often hamper mold’s competition with disinfection efforts. When mold is under attack or there is more than one type of mold they ramp up toxin production to engage in chemical warfare – fighting over turf. People who get caught in the crossfire suffer for it.

Growing awareness of Mold Toxin Illness is slowly coming about as the number of people affected continues to increase. Modern building techniques and sanitizing regimens have unfortunately resulted in widespread Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). This short video illustrates this powerfully:

If you wanted to be a mold farmer, modern homes would provide a perfect environment. Rows of buildings in cities are like rows of crops on farms – but with an unwanted crop. Invisible, airborne mold spores are constantly entering buildings. All they need to grow is food and water. Toxic mold can feed on a variety items, including indoor dust with enough humidity, but one of its favorite foods is cellulose (ie. anything made of wood/paper). This is what modern homes are made of and filled with. Cardboard and particle board allows mold to grow like wildfire when it gets moist. Unfortunately, cheap fiberboard has replaced solid wood in much of today’s furniture and cabinetry.

Most walls and ceilings are made of sheetrock backed by paper. Behind the sheetrock is water pipes and HVAC tubing. The sheetrock paper can get wet from indoor spills, roof leaks, pipe leaks, condensation either from the pipes, the HVAC tubing, or temperature differences between inside and outside the house, etc.

You’ve probably seen condensation on the outside of a cold drink on a hot day. Where the temperature differences meet is where the condensation occurs. In the case of houses and RVs, that’s inside the walls. As soon as it gets wet, mold starts growing. It’s not so much a matter of if, but when. It can go dormant and then start growing again every time there’s sufficient moisture, such as from enough humidity.

Condensation also occurs on home and vehicle AC and dehumidifier coils. We had a high-quality dehumidifier that seemed to blow toxic air whenever it ran. I took it apart and there was black mold growing all over the wet parts inside. We also had a vehicle air conditioner become moldy inside so we couldn’t even use the heater.

These are some of the most common causes of mold in the built environment, but there are many more! The Bible had instructions for dealing with these issues over three thousand years ago. But modern man has created some problems of epic proportions! Over half of all buildings have a mold problem and RVs are even worse.