Do your kids start sneezing every time they enter the family room? Are they suffering from headaches or skin rashes, and you aren’t sure why? If any of these sound familiar to you, then your home may be suffering from mold. Below, we take a look at the top 5 mold symptoms to look out for, as well as how a mold restoration company can help.
Let’s get started!
How Serious is Mold to Children?
First: how serious is mold? Mold is quite serious for people of any age, but especially children. Children may face worsening respiratory conditions and neurological problems.
Because of how serious the impact of mold on children is, we gathered up five common symptoms parents need to be on the lookout for.
Coughing and Shortness of Breath
As with any type of allergy, you may notice your child coughing more often or experiencing shortness of breath. These are common signs of a mold allergy.
But how can you differentiate between a mold allergy and a regular cold (especially if it’s in the middle of winter)? The easiest way to determine whether or not it’s a mold allergy is to take notice of when the symptoms start. If your child is coughing both inside and outside of the house, then chances are it’s not mold.
However, if they are fine at school or while out hanging with friends but start coughing once they get inside, take notice. Also, pay particular attention to when these symptoms flare up. If they’re fine in their bedroom, but start coughing in the attic or basement, then you’ve found the source of the mold.
Skin Rashes
While not as common as coughing and sneezing, your child may also start developing skin rashes as a result of mold exposure.
These skin rashes can appear anywhere on the body. They’re usually sensitive patches of dry or scaly skin. The onset of this symptom usually happens quickly – in a matter of a few hours.
Headaches
Has your child complained to you of headaches? Maybe they’re showing up more than normal. This can be an indicator that mold is affecting your child. A headache due to mold exposure is going to be more in line with the symptoms of a sinus headache.
This means that it will feel more like there’s pressure on your inner ear, nose, and forehead rather than just a throbbing headache. Mold causes this by irritating the mucous membranes and immune system, causing a number of different symptoms (including headaches). This can lead to even more serious health issues if the mold isn’t removed from your home.
Changes in Personality
This is one of those symptoms that you won’t be able to see develop overnight. Rather, long-term exposure to untreated mold leads to changes in one’s personality – particularly anxiety and depression.
These severe symptoms are the result of the common toxins found in mold. While these symptoms are generally associated with long-term exposure to household mold, they shouldn’t be ignored. Look out for any changes such as a lack of interest in once-favorite activities, lax hygiene, and irritability.
Memory Issues, Including Confusion and Disorientation
Like anxiety and depression, these symptoms result from prolonged mold exposure. But they’re nonetheless important mold symptoms to be aware of.
If your child seems to be confused or disoriented or experiencing what’s known as “memory fog,” call a medical professional first to get them treatment. And then, make your next call to a mold restoration company to conduct a mold inspection.
If it’s determined that your home has mold, we’ll take every step to treat it and kill it at the source so it doesn’t come back.
Want to Remove Mold from Your Home? The Mold Restoration Team at PNW Restoration Can Help!
Mold growing in your home not only causes harm to you, but it can also have a severe effect on the health of your children. While this is scary, don’t try to remove mold on your own. You need a professional to clean up the mold and remove it from your home.
This is where PNW Restoration comes in. We have an IICRC-certified team of experts that specializes in mold removal and restoration. PNW Restoration gets to the root of the problem and fixes it permanently.
We offer free estimates and will work with your insurance to help cover the cost of getting the mold removed from your home. Our 24/7 rapid response team can be there at a moment’s notice for any emergency you might find yourself in.
If you’re looking for a team of mold restoration experts to remove the mold from your home for the health of yourself and your loved ones, contact PNW Restoration today at (971) 247-3381.
