Mold Causes Vertigo, Rash, Backache and Chronic Fatigue

Mold toxicity is not regarded as a nuisance, but rather, a major life-altering crisis.

Mold Contamination is Serious

The title scratches the surface of symptoms. Effects of toxic mold read like a list of patient illnesses in a Chicago trauma department. Going beyond dermatology or pulmonology, effects transcend immunology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, and neurology.

Typical neurological symptoms include headache, extreme fatigue, dizziness, weakness, nausea, disorientation, memory problems, slowed reaction time, peripheral neuropathy, sensory neuropathy, and personality/mood changes. ^[1]

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The chemical toxicity is not regarded as a nuisance, but rather, a major life-altering crisis. Unfortunately, toxicity symptoms are not easily observable by a physician and often seem anecdotal as reported by the patient.

Are Symptoms Spinning Out of Control?

According to Ritchie Shoemaker, MD, “Symptoms exhibited from the exposure to biotoxins (poisonous substances produced by living organisms) affect everyone differently. This extensive list of 73 symptoms is here to help you understand the many ways biotoxin illness can manifest itself. The listing does not mean that those who suffer from biotoxin illness will exhibit all of the symptoms listed here:” ^[1,2]

1. Abdominal cramping
2. Abnormal circulation
3. Allergic reactions to foods
4. Allergies
5. Anxiety
6. Appetite swings
7. Bleeding ear
8. Bleeding gums
9. Blurred vision
10. Body aches (joints, muscle, sinus)
11. Body tempera­ture deregu­lation
12. Bronchitis
13. Burning tongue
14. Burning, red, or watery eyes
15. Charley horses
16. Chills
17. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
18. Cognitive problems *
19. Constipa­tion
20. Coughing
21. Delayed normal activity recovery
22. Depression
23. Diarrhea
24. Dizziness
25. Endo­metrio­sis
26. Fatigue
27. Fever
28. Fibromyalgia
29. Frequent urination
30. Headaches
31. High cholesterol
32. Hypoper­fusion (decreased blood flow)
33. Inflamma­tion
34. Insomnia
35. Insulin resistance
36. Interstitial Cystitis
37. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
38. Laryngitis
39. Leaky Gut
40. Light sensitivity
41. Lyme Disease
42. Metallic taste in mouth
43. Migraines
44. Mood swings
45. Morning stiffness
46. Muscle cramps, jerks, twitches
47. Nausea
48. Numbness in the extremities
49. Pain **
50. Rashes
51. Raynaud’s Phenomenon
52. Respiratory problems
53. Rosacea
54. Seizures
55. Sensitivity to bright light
56. Shortness of breath
57. Sinus congestion
58. Sinus infection
59. Skin sensitivity
60. Sleep apnea
61. Sleep disturbance
62. Sore throat
63. Static shocks
64. Stiffness
65. Sweating
66. Swelling
67. Tingling
68. Tremors
69. Vertigo
70. Weakness
71. Weight gain
72. Weight loss
73. Wheezing

* Difficulty assimilating new information; difficulty finding words; difficulty focusing; difficulty thinking or accomplishing other executive functions such as organizing and planning; difficulty with math or handling numbers; difficulty with short-term memory; short-term memory loss.

** Abdominal, arm, back, chest, chronic, cycles, feet, growing, hip, joints, leg, lungs, mistaking cold and hot, sinus, stabbing, or vulvar pain.

That is a vast amount of symptoms. As indicated, not all affect everyone exposed to toxic mold. But patients are not limited to just one. A skin rash can develop. ^[3] You may feel powerless to get out of bed. When you do, you can experience pain.

Brain fog can hinder your motiva­tion to complete tasks or even remember what tasks you need to do. Extremely cold or hot weather may rob you of the motivation to do anything outside the house.

Symptoms Grouped by Mold Strain

There’s more. Researchers have linked specific symptoms to various strains of mold and mildew, as the following table demonstrates. ^[4]

Asper­gillosis [5]	Description
Invasive Asper­gillo­sis		Invasive pulmonary asper­gillo­sis (IPA) remains a major cause of mortality in diabetics, infants, the elderly, people under­going cancer treatments, AIDS patients, the immuno compro­mised and trans­plant recipients. It has also become suspect as a cause of “SIDS” Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and chronic ob­struc­tive pulmonary disease (CNS). Asper­gillus fungi have been docu­mented to colonize previ­ously damaged lung tissue and commonly colonize the air­ways of patients with cystic fibrosis, emphy­sema, asthma, smokers and healthy lungs. [3] Invasive asper­gillo­sis can occur in up to 3 percent of solid-organ trans­plant recipients and is asso­ciated with mortality rates of 20–76 percent. (Agnieszka Wójtowicz, et al.)
Entry into the human body by breath­ing
Coloni­za­tion: Sinuses, Lungs, Bones, Muscles, Skin, Eyes, Heart, CNS
Sino­nasal Asper­gillo­sis	Ear, nose and throat problems. The Ethmoid sinus is the most common sinus affected by Asper­gilli­ous growth in the body. Head­aches, sinus infec­tions, chronic sinus infec­tions, ear infec­tions and pain in the ears has been docu­mented as a result of these infections.
Sinus and Lung Infec­tions
Osteo­my­elitis	Osteomyelitis is an infec­tion of the bone, resulting in joint stiff­ness and joint pain. It can be caused by a variety of micro­bial agents includ­ing mold. Certain species of mold have been suspect to cause bone marrow cancer, other situa­tions known to cause infec­tion include: Open bone injury, such as frac­ture with bone ends piercing skin. Infection from else­where in the body, such as a urinary tract infec­tion that has spread to the bone through the blood. Minor trauma, which can lead to a blood clot around the bone and then a secon­dary infec­tion from seeding of bacteria. Blood-borne bacteria deposited in a focal bone area. This bacterial site grows, resulting in bone des­truc­tion. However, new bone often forms around the site. Chronic soft tissue infec­tion can even­tually extend down to bone surface, leading to secon­dary bone infec­tion.
Skeletal System Infec­tions
Endoph­thal­mitis	Endophthalmitis refers to intra­ocu­lar inflam­ma­tion involv­ing the vitreous and anterior chamber of the eye. In most cases, endo­phthal­mitis results from an infec­tious organism. Fungal (mold) endo­phthal­mitis can be divided into the less common endo­ge­nous infec­tions and the more common exo­ge­nous infec­tions. These infec­tions are generally caused by persons touching mold con­tami­nated surfaces and then rubbing their eyes and skin. If left un­treat­ed this condi­tion can lead to blind­ness. Treat­ments may take up to two to three months for a person to recover and there is no guaran­tee that 100% vision will be restored. Endo­ge­nous fungal Endo­phthal­mitis is frequently an ocular (eye) mani­festa­tion of a systemic disease, usually occurring in people with one or more of the following risk factors: immu­no­sup­pres­sion, intra­venous drug abuse, bac­terial sepsis, prolonged hyper­alimen­ta­tion, systemic anti­bio­tics, cor­tico­steroid therapy, recent abdomi­nal surgery, malignancy, alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, trauma, and hemo­dialy­sis. Candida albicans is by far the most common patho­gen isolated in endo­genous fungal Endo­phthal­mitis. Other patho­gens include Aspergillus, Cocci­dioides, Crypto­coccus, Blasto­myces, and Sporothrix species.
Eye Infec­tions
Endocar­ditis	Endocarditis is an inflam­ma­tion of your heart's inner lining. The most common type, bacterial endo­carditis, occurs when germs, mold or other micro­bials enter your heart. These microbials come through your blood­stream from another part of your body, often your mouth. Bacterial endo­carditis can damage your heart valves. If untreated, it can be life-threaten­ing. It is rare in healthy hearts. Risk factors include having: An abnor­mal or damaged heart valve A severe case of mitral valve prolapse An artificial heart valve Certain heart defects Symptoms include: Fever Shortness of breath Fluid buildup in your arms or legs Tiny red spots on your skin Fingernail splinter hemor­rhages Weight loss
Heart Problems
Renal Ab­scess­es	An abscess is a localized collec­tion of pus in a hollow area formed by the break­ing up of tissues. A renal abscess is one that is confined to the kidney and is caused either by fungal (mold) or bacteria from an infection traveling to the kidneys through the blood­stream or by a urinary tract infec­tion traveling to the kidney and then spread­ing to the kidney tissue. A renal abscess can develop from a source of infection in any area of the body. Multiple skin abscesses and intra­ve­nous drug abuse can also be sources of renal abscess. Complicated urinary tract infec­tions associ­ated with stones, pregnancy, and diabetes mellitus may also put a person at risk for renal abscess. Symptoms include: Fever Chills Abdominal pain Weight loss Feeling of bodily discomfort Urination may be painful and some­times the urine is bloody
Kidney Problems
Cuta­neous	The cutaneous mycoses are super­ficial fungal infec­tions of the skin, hair or nails. Essentially no living tissue is invaded.
Skin, Hair and Nail Infec­tions
Blas­tomy­cosis [6]	Description
Blasto­mycetic dermati­tis	This fungi/mold, mimics bacterial pneumo­nia and is commonly misdiag­nosed as such. This also has been linked to affect the human body in the following areas and manners: Mass mimicking broncho­genic carci­noma, or fibr­onodu­lar infil­trates Either a verrucous or ulcera­tive lesion with an indolent course. Subcutane­ous nodules, abscesses commonly associ­ated with syste­mic mani­festa­tions, inactive pulmo­nary or extra­pulmo­nary disease. Bone and joint infec­tion with well-defined lesions, most commonly affecting long bones, ribs and vertebrae. Geni­touri­nary tract infec­tion usually affects the pros­tate and epidi­dymis. Can cause sexual dysfunc­tion, prema­ture ejacu­la­tion and reduced volumes of semen. Other organs can be involved, including the Central Nervous System, Thyroid, Pari­cardium, Adrenal Glands and gastro­intes­tinal tract.
Entry into the human body by breath­ing
Coloniza­tion: Sinuses, Lungs, Skin, Heart, Bone & Joint, Geni­tourary Tract
Candidi­asis [7]	Description
Pulmo­nary Candi­dia­sis	Candida spp. are the most frequent fungal agent causing cardiac infec­tion both in adults and children. Candidal endo­carditis is a severe condi­tion that has been tradi­tionally associated with excep­tional­ly high mortality and recur­rence rates. Candida pneumo­nia is one of the most challeng­ing of all the Candida infec­tions The kidney is one of the most fre­quent­ly involved organs in this form of disease. Imaging studies of patients with chronic renal candi­dia­sis show renal abscesses in about one third of cases. Infection of the pancreas with Candida spp. is another form of intra abdomi­nal candi­diasis that was once consi­dered extremely unusual for many years, but now it is being recog­nized as a more fre­quent problem.
Entry into the human body by breath­ing
Coloni­za­tion: Sinuses, Lungs, Pancreas, Kidneys, Heart, Bones, Urinary Tract
Acute Pan­crea­ti­tis	This may occur in pan­crea­ti­tis including gall­stone pan­crea­titis, alcoholic, traumatic, post-surgical, post-traumatic or idio­pathic. Candidal infec­tion maybe the cause of possible complica­tions of pan­creati­tis.
Candida Osteo­myelitis	Can involve any bone, however, the long bones are the most frequently affected in infants, while in adults the spine is most commonly involved. In order of fre­quency, the following sites are affected: The spine (vertebral osteo­myelitis). The lumbar spine (lower back) is the most frequently affected site. Long bones. Usual sites are humerus, femur, fibula and tibia (legs and arms, knees and elbows). Sternum (chest and ribs) The involve­ment of this bone has been reported both in associa­tion with candi­demia. Symptoms include: Localized pain (commonly the back) Soft-tissue swelling or (sinus) drain­age Fever (50% of patients) Gall­bladder inflam­mation (bio­chemi­cal abnor­mali­ties)
Fungus Ball in the Urinary Tract	This condition, sometimes called fungal “bezoar,” can be caused by Candida spp. However, peni­cil­lium and Asper­gilli­ous have also been reported as the cause of fungus balls. Fungus balls are commonly associ­ated with the following under­lying condi­tions: Diabetes mellitus Nephro­lithia­sis Any other cause of urinary obstruc­tion
Cocci­dio­do­myco­sis [8,9]	Description
Cocci­dioi­des immitis	Cocci­dioido­myco­sis is acquired from inhala­tion of the spores (arthro­conidia). Once in the lungs, the arthro­conidia trans­form into spherical cells called "spherules." An acute respira­tory infection occurs 7 to 21 days after exposure and typically resolves rapidly. However, the infec­tion may alterna­tively result in a chronic pulmo­nary condition or dis­semi­nate to the meninges, bones, joints, and sub­cuta­neous and cutane­ous tissues. About 25 percent of patients with dis­semi­nated disease have menin­gi­tis.
Crypto­coc­co­sis [10]	Description
Crypto­cocco­sis	The infection commonly starts following inhala­tion of the organism. The primary infection may remain localized into the lungs or dissemi­nate through­out the body. Some authors have made the distinc­tion between localized and dissemi­nated crypto­cocco­sis, based on the number of organs involved. However, crypto­coccal meningitis can only occur once the fungus has reached CNS tissue from the primary point of entry.

Do Not Neglect Mold Remediation

Unless you have pathology back­ground, are an immunolo­gist, or microbiologist, most of the data within the table above will likely soar straight over your head. The main takeaway is that the effects of mold on health are well documented.

Transmission is often through the lungs from airborne spores. Once inside the body, there are endocrine, pulmonary, neurologic and dermatologic manifestations of infection.

The microorganism most frequently associated with vertebral osteomyelitis (infection and inflammation of the bone and bone marrow) is the bacteria staphylo­coccus aureus. Another strain of staphylo­coccus aureus, commonly known as methicillin-resistant staphylo­coccus aureus (MRSA), is a particularly harmful microorganism that is more difficult to treat than other related strains. ^[11]

Streptococcus equisimilis may also be responsible for the onset of vertebral osteomyelitis, though it is thought to be less virulent than staphylococcus aureus. ^[12]

Spinal infections are often treated without surgery. Intravenous antibiotics are given in the hospital and may continue at home for four to six weeks. Oral antibiotics may need to be taken for several months.

Too many homeowners play fast and loose with water damage—reasoning the water will simply evaporate or soak into the soil. There is a high probability that mold and mildew are triggers if somone is manifesting several of the above symptoms and discovers a leaky roof, dampness in the basement or crawl space, or sees other evidence like puckering paint on interior walls, white powder, or black spots.

Allergies Compound Effects of Toxicity

Compounding toxicity, some individuals are allergic to mold. This frequently triggers a rash or hives that may persist as long as the patient remains in contact/proximity with the allergen. For conclusive diagnosis, a physician can perform various lab tests. ^[13] Visit the Infectious Disease Society of America for information about treating invasive mycoses if appropriate.

Those allergic to molds may need to relocate either temporarily or permanently.

Agnieszka Wójtowicz, et al. reports that single-nucleotide polymorphisms increase susceptibility to invasive mold infection following solid-organ transplantation. The clinical study included 715 kidney transplant recipients, 190 liver transplant recipients, 102 lung transplant recipients, 79 heart transplant recipients, and 15 recipients of other transplants. ^[14]

It is apparent that mold and mildew can cause vertigo, rashes, backaches, chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis) and much more. A problem with chronic fatigue is that patients have little energy to leave the environment that is exacerbating the ailment. ^[15]

Drinking plenty of water and applying various creams may be helpful. But it is essential to eliminate the mold from the home or workplace as quickly as possible. Correct drainage problems before masking with paint or replacing carpet. In some cases spores penetrate the fabric of furniture and clothing.

People who are allergic to molds may need to relocate either temporarily or permanently. Professional remediation services are required when there is extensive contamination, following a flood, or after water extinguishment of a building fire.

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