Tuesday, July 6, 2010

What is mold illness?

Mold is a toxin and can cause illness in certain individuals that possess the HLA genotype. About 24% of the population have the dreaded genotype where exposure to mold makes people sick. I like to give people the analogy of a person that is allergic to strawberries. If a peson is allergic to strawberries, that person can not even be around them, the smell alone could set off an allergic reaction. The same with mold, its like kryptonite to Superman. It depletes the bodies organs to function properly. It can cause brain fog, allergic reactions, asthma like symptoms, chronic fatigue, headaches, depression and anxiety, just to name a few.

The best thing to do is to get away from the mold, which may be near impossible since there is mold everywhere in our environment, but we can try to limit our exposures the best we can. If we report leaks in buildings we work in, and the buildings we shop in, and the schools our sons and daughters attend we may have a fighting chance to get better.

It doesn't just happen in older buildings either, there is an example of a $41, 000,000 building that was only 4 years old, where the air handlers were leaking all over the ceilings, the air handler drains that would stay clogged, the sprinkler heads would leak onto the sheetrock. Where there is water on porous materials, there is probably mold to follow.

Keep your eyes open for water leaks, they are a major culprit to mold growth. Report any water leaks you find. If you think you have mold illness there is a doctor in Maryland named Dr. Shoemaker who has written a book on mold illness.

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