Mold exposure might be more prevalent than you think. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates there could be more than 300,000 species of molds and fungi in existence. With spores that are easily airborne, molds can get just about anywhere, but they really thrive in damp, humid environments, like certain areas in your home. When learning how to detox your body from mold, the first place to start is your home.
Common Places Mold Can Hide in Your Home
While you may not think you have a mold problem, there are many places in your home that are a perfect breeding ground for mold spores, such as:
- Showers
- Near heating and cooling appliances
- Crawlspaces
- Carpets
- Basem*nts
- Bathrooms
- Attics
If you’ve had any water incursion into your home, such as a leaky roof or flood basem*nt, your home is at high risk for developing mold.
Symptoms of Mold Toxicity
If you’ve been exposed to toxic mold, you may notice an increase in allergy-like symptoms, such as:
- Watery eyes
- Itchy eyes, nose, throat
- Sneezing
- Stuffy or runny nose
- Postnasal drip
- Cough
- Dry skin or rash
Mold exposure symptoms can also trigger, or exacerbate, an asthma condition. If you are experiencing wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing — you should see a doctor immediately. Mold likes warm, wet areas and it tends to linger in your respiratory tract, where there’s plenty of nice, wet mucous to make a home in. This can lead to chronic respiratory illness like infections and bronchitis.
How to Detox Your Home of Mold
If you suspect you have mold in your home, you’ll want to remove it as soon as possible for your health and well-being. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that if your moldy area is greater than about three square feet, you should get a qualified mold remediation company to handle the removal. For smaller areas, you can do the job yourself, if you follow some simple rules:
- Make sure all leaks and water incursion are fixed. Dry the area completely.
- To avoid getting mold or mold spores in your lungs, wear an N-95 respirator. These are available at hardware stores and online. They will help trap spores in a disposable cartridge, so you can eliminate them safely.
- Wear long gloves, especially if using bleach and water to destroy mold.
- Wear goggles to avoid getting bleach — or mold spores — in your eyes.
- Scrub mold with detergent and water, and dry completely.
- Throw away porous or absorbent materials like carpets if they’re moldy.
Always make sure everything is completely dry once you’ve scrubbed off the mold. Never paint, caulk, or otherwise cover any area that’s been mold-infested until it is bone-dry.
How to Detox Your Body from Mold
If you are experiencing the symptoms of mold toxicity, you’ll want to treat them quickly and naturally before they do damage to your respiratory and immune systems. Learning how to detox your body from mold is not very difficult. A few natural treatments that give good results include the following:
Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal has been used by the medical community for years to rid patients of poisons and toxic substances gently and easily. Studies show that activated charcoal is successful in treating patients with mold-related toxicity symptoms. To use activated charcoal, take capsules by mouth with water as directed. Do not take with drugs for constipation or with tricyclic antidepressants, digoxin, theophylline, or acetaminophen.
Probiotics
Probiotics are a wonderful, natural way to detox your body from toxic mold — and they’re good for you, even if you don’t have a mold issue. Studies show many strains of probiotics directly attack mycotoxins and remove them safely from your system. Probiotics come in capsules, liquids, and are present in many fermented foods.
Bentonite Clay
In a way similar to charcoal, bentonite clay binds mold toxins and eliminates them from your system. A series of studies using a similar clay, Novasil, showed that the clay safely and effectively removed the mycotoxins without inhibiting micronutrient absorption or interaction with other substances. To take bentonite clay for mold, take one capsule per day. It can be taken in addition to activated charcoal for better results.
Heal Your Body After Mold Exposure
After detoxing your body from mold toxins, you still need to repair the damage that might have been done from the mycotoxins. Consuming certain foods can help restore your gut microbiome and bolster your immune system back to good health after being exposed to mold and mycotoxins.
Collagen
Mycotoxins in the body have been linked to the reduction of type II collagen, as well as overall collagen production (1, 2). We need an abundance of collagen as it’s the foundation of our skin, bones, joints, muscles, connective tissues, etc. Consuming collagen can be one way to help heal your intestinal barrier and other parts of your body that might have been damaged from mold exposure.
Probiotics
In order for your body to get rid of those mycotoxins that might be wandering around your body, we’ll need some help from probiotics. Certain probiotics have been linked to binding with mycotoxins and removing them from our systems (3, 4, 5). More than the removal of mycotoxins, probiotics can help heal damage that was dealt onto your gut, restoring your gut microbiota and lining.
Bone Broth
Speaking of healing any damage done on your body, bone broth is filled with amino acids and collagen that repairs gut damage. The nutrients in bone broth have been linked to gut healing (6, 7) and providing your body with the needed collagen that might have been damaged from mycotoxins.
Detox Your Body and Your Home of Mold to Feel Better Fast
If you’ve been feeling wheezy, itchy, and tired with allergy symptoms that just don’t seem to go away, check your home — or workplace — for mold overgrowth. If you find you’ve been exposed to toxic mold, don’t panic. Just use the simple techniques set forth here to detox your body from mold — quickly, safely, and naturally. Make sure to clean the mold from your home — either on your own or using a mold remediation expert — and seal any leaks to prevent mold from invading your home in the future. Once you’ve fully detoxed, you’ll begin to enjoy the health and vitality a mold-free life can bring.
