You can find black mold by tracing its odor around the house. Black mold gives off an earthy, musty smell that can become rather pungent when growth is profuse. "Smelling around" is the best we can do when looking for black mold growth because they can be rarely seen.
Especially problematic areas are hard-to-reach nooks and crannies in a room, small spaces behind furniture or kitchen appliances that rarely get cleaned, behind walls, and inside ceilings.
You could experience several different symptoms when exposed to black mold. The non-toxic variety may cause a stuffy, congested nose, coughing, sneezing, difficulty in breathing, headaches, and skin or eye irritation.
Since many doctors are not too familiar in dealing with black mold exposure, mainly because its symptoms are so similar to those of other illnesses, you have to give him a little help. When at home, keep a journal. Try to keep a log of the rooms you enter and where or when you start experiencing the symptoms.
This will help you in locating the black mold growth and eventually eliminating it. Once a particular area is cleaned out, your symptoms are expected to improve, but if not, then there may still be other areas that could require looking into.
When exposing a certain section of the home, don't forget to turn off the airconditioning and heating systems. The ducts run throughout the house and the airborne spores can easily travel from one room to another. In addition, always wear gloves to protect your hands and a face mask to keep from inhaling the spores.
What about toxic mold?
Ordinary black mold exposure may be easy to deal with, but exposure to toxic black mold is a whole other story. The spores can immediately attack your healthy cells, impairing not just the respiratory system but the digestive and nervous systems as well.
It attacks myelin, a component of the covering of the nerve cells, and has been linked to mood swings and severe depression. The worst part of it all is the effects can be long-lasting and may remain in the body even after the toxic black mold has been eliminated from the home.
There is little that can be done to reverse the effects on someone with long-term toxic Black Mold Mold exposure, but the insidious harm it brings can be stopped with a detoxification process. Your doctor may not be an expert in detox but he can refer you to a detox specialist.
Asthmatics, people with histories of allergies, children, and the elderly have weak immune systems and are thus highly susceptible to the effects of black mold exposure. If you believe that you, too, have a weak immune system, don't try to handle the mold cleanup yourself - hire the services of experts who can do a quick and thorough job for you.