What long term health problems can mold inflict on a person living in a house wi

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November 12, 2008

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mold-inflict-on-a-person-living-in-a-house-with-a-mold-problem/

What long term health problems can mold inflict on a person living

in a house with a mold problem?

Can you get cancer? If it gives you sinus infections can that turn

into something worse for your health?

Talk business with an experienced mold remediation contractor or an

indoor air quality consultant nowadays and you are certain to hear

stories about some unusual characters. In fact, a common topic of

conversation at industry conferences and mold remediation training

classes is the exchange of bizarre customer stories. Difficult

clients are an expected element of conducting a service-based

business, but now it also seems that odd customers are to be

expected when dealing with indoor mold contamination.

In recent years, the mold work that we have been involved in has

brought us into contact with what seems to be an abnormally high

number of individuals demonstrating strange behavior. There was the

man who informed us that mold knows when you are coming and if you

get too close, it " sporinates " in a different direction. He

explained that " sporinate " is the term used to describe how mold

escapes capture by shooting its spores away from a person. One woman

told us that she and her children could feel something growing in

their heads as a result of mold exposure - that something

was " moving up there. " We have had numerous customers who initially

contacted us for assistance, but later believed we were " out to get

them. "

After discussing these cases and others encountered by our

colleagues, we began to notice similarities. The people who exhibit

odd behavior have usually been exposed to a mold-contaminated

environment for a long time, often years. In addition to an array of

physical symptoms, they report (and we frequently observe)

personality changes, depression, paranoia and loss of mental acuity.

We have been contacted by individuals who have said that we (an

indoor environmental consulting firm), all lawyers and the media

were against them; who state that they are being poisoned; and who

describe themselves as hysterical, sad and about to go crazy. A

tenant of one of our clients has attempted to take legal action

against our organization more than once, has made personal threats

by way of e-mail and voice messages, and has harassed our employees,

all with no factual foundation, but a very real, intense perception

of personal offense.

Many of the characteristics observed in these people who speak or

act strangely are consistent with delusions. Rudimentary research

into psychology reveals two sub­types of delusional disorders

(persecutory and somatic) that closely match the symptoms of mold

exposure that we've seen. The persecutory subtype is characterized

by a persons belief that he is being conspired against, poisoned,

maliciously maligned or cheated. Such individuals may make repeated

attempts to obtain justice through the courts. People with

persecutory delusions are often angry and resentful, and sometimes

resort to violence against those they believe are harming them.

Delusions of the somatic subtype involve the belief that something

is physically wrong with the individual, such as an infestation of

insects on or in the skin. Further research shows that disorders

such as these can be caused by certain medical conditions or by

changes in brain chemistry.

Some types of mold that are commonly found in water-damaged

buildings can produce potent poisonous substances called mycotoxins.

Scientists believe that certain molds produce these poisons to gain

an advantage over competing molds and other microorganisms, and any

harm caused to human health is a byproduct of this natural survival

trait. Even so, the toxins produced by Stachyhotrys (the most talked

about black mold) are widely recognized as having the ability to

affect a person's central nervous system. It is our experience that

when a person has been exposed to these mycotoxins for a long period

of time, the incidence of delusions or other psychotic disorders

seems to increase.

The notion that exposure to mold spores can cause significant ill-

heath effects in humans goes way back. One of the first mentions of

mold and people being a bad mix is in the Bible. The book of

Leviticus gives specific instructions for mold/mildew cleanup and

destruction of the building if cleanup is not effective. Rye mold

(which contains the chemical basis for LSD) has been blamed for

incidents ranging from Medieval Dancing Mania to some of what went

on during the Spanish Inquisition.

Poor people of northern Europe were plagued for hundreds of years,

beginning as early as the 1200s, by chronic illnesses, mental

disturbances, gangrene, hallucinations and seizures brought on by

ingestion of moldy rye. Even the Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials

during the late I600s are thought to have been closely related to

human ingestion of the same rye mold. Clearly, the linkage between

mold contamination and human health problems, including mental

health problems, is not new.

Most of the historical cases mentioned here involve ingestion rather

than inhalation of mold spores. Although scientific evidence of the

effects of inhalation has not yet been established, real life

experience is making it apparent that negative health effects, often

including psychological disorders, seem linked to breathing mold-

contaminated air.

Dealing with an individual who has been exposed to a mold-

contaminated environment and, as a result, is exhibiting some kind

of psychosis-like behavior can be a real dilemma. The person may act

in a way that makes it difficult for him or her to be taken

seriously and to get the help needed to solve the root problem of

mold contamination in the living or working environment. The

person's experience may be similar to delusions, but could very well

have a chemical cause. Health symptoms that are clearly physical,

like bleeding lungs or hair loss, demand attention and sympathy and

are easy to understand. But psychological symptoms, even if they

have exactly the same cause as the physical symptoms, are much less

accepted and understood. We may not accuse these people of being

witches or devils, and we certainly don't execute or torture them,

but we do put them in the " crazy " category and dismiss their claims

as imagined.

Equipped with this information about the likely connection between

mold exposure and unusual behavior, even psychotic behavior, mold

investigators and remediation contractors may have to develop a more

holistic perspective of their customers' situations. By

incorporating psychological factors as well as physical evidence and

symptoms into their investigations and subsequent remediation plans,

the industry may take another step toward appropriately meeting the

customers' needs.