There are few things more exhausting to cope with than allergies. From springtime sneeze attacks to missing out on playing with your friend’s new puppy, allergies keep you from many things. However, if you suffer from mold allergies, you face daily triggers that are everywhere, and don’t disappear with springtime. Are you looking for simpler methods to ease your day-to-day symptoms? Well, the experts at RestoPros are here to help by telling you about some common mold allergies and homeopathic solutions.
Identifying Your Mold Allergies:
First of all, you must identify the type of mold that’s causing the reaction. Moreover, it’s important to identify the type of mold so you can understand the symptoms that come with exposure. Therefore, to help you navigate your own symptoms, here are some common mold allergies:
1. Alternaria Allergy
• Characteristics:
Dark green, black, or grey with long velvety hairs, Alternaria is a mold that requires very little moisture to grow.
• Where it Grows:
Because it requires minimal moisture to grow, Alternaria is commonly found on carpets, clothing, basements, windows, and doors.
• Symptoms:
If you’re suffering from exposure to this type of mold, you’ll experience symptoms similar to hay fever. In addition to the hay fever symptoms, you may also experience respiratory problems and asthma.
2. Aspergillus Allergy
• Characteristics:
Because it can be grey, brown, yellow, green, white, or black, Aspergillus is often tricky to identify from other molds. That being said, this type of mold grows very quickly once the spores are released.
• Where it Grows:
Although Aspergillus mold grows quickly, it does require more moisture than Alternaria. As a prevalent household mold, it grows in walls, soil, insulation, basements, and clothing.
• Exposure Symptoms:
Particularly harmful to people with weakened immune systems, such as young children and the elderly, Aspergillus can cause serious infections. Releasing aflatoxin, a chemical that can cause liver damage and cancer, Aspergillus is one of the more dangerous household molds to encounter.
3. Cladosporium Allergy
• Characteristics:
With a powdery texture and grey, brown, or black in color, Cladosporium can have dark-pigmented conidia that occur in simple or branching chains.
• Where it Grows:
As a mold that can grow on both dead and living matter, it is commonly found on food, dead plants, insulation, wood, and dark, damp environments, such as basements.
• Exposure Symptoms:
If exposed to Cladosporium, you may experience allergic reactions similar to hay fever. This can include dry skin, sneezing, runny nose, scratchy throat, coughing, and watery eyes. On the more severe end, you could also suffer asthma attacks, fungal sinusitis, tightness in your chest, and difficulty breathing.
4. Memnoniella Allergy
• Characteristics:
Although very similar to Stachybotrys, Memnoniella mold is smaller and is usually a dark green or black color.
• Where it Grows:
Growing in damp areas like bathrooms and basements, Memnoniella can also be found on cotton, wool, canvas, walls, and ceilings.
• Exposure Symptoms:
While this mold is less common and poses a lesser health risk than others, you can experience severe symptoms. Most commonly, these symptoms include respiratory problems, coughing, and headaches.
5. Penicillium Allergy
• Characteristics:
With over 300 species, Penicillium mold is typically blue or green. Named after the Latin word for paintbrush, the spores of Penicillium form into what closely resembles a paintbrush.
• Where it Grows:
As a mold that has been identified world-wide, Penicillium can grow anywhere. From air and soil to leather, food, and insulation, this is a prevalent household mold.
• Exposure Symptoms:
Although Penicillium has saved countless lives, there are species of Penicillium that produce toxic compounds. If a mold-sensitive individual is exposed to the spores, they can experience congestion, eye irritation, and coughing. If food with Penicillium mold is ingested, it will also irritate the stomach.
6. Stachybotrys Allergy
• Characteristics:
More notoriously known as toxic black mold, Stachybotrys is dark green or black in color with a slimy texture.
• Where it Grows:
Because it thrives on material with a high cellulose and low nitrogen content, Stachybotrys is commonly found on fiberboard, gypsum board, paper, dust, and lint. Therefore, this toxic mold can grow in walls, ceilings, and floorboards as long as there is consistent moisture present.
• Exposure Symptoms:
As its commonly-known name denotes, Stachybotrys can cause severe headaches, asthma, dizziness, and joint pain. In addition to the physical symptoms, it can cause fatigue and mental impairment. Furthermore, exposure to Stachybotrys has been linked to cancer, internal organ failure, and multiple deaths infant deaths.
Homeopathic Solutions
Although general practitioner-prescribed medicines address the symptoms of mold allergies, they often miss the mark in tackling the cause. Moreover, many of these medications come with a laundry list of unwanted side effects. As a result, you may start to wonder if the mold allergies are worse than the side effects of the medication.
Rather than just address the symptoms, you can explore homeopathic solutions. As a better long-term option, homeopathic solutions tackle mold allergies from within, alleviating the stress on your immune system. To lay out some natural alternatives, here are some homeopathic solutions to explore:
1. Change Up Your Diet
For many mold allergy sufferers, the exposure doesn’t end with airborne spores. In fact, many foods contain mold spores that can wreak havoc on your immune system, if you’re mold sensitive. Consequently, simple changes in your diet can produce dramatic results in lessening your symptoms. Here are some examples of the diet changes you can make:
Remove These Foods from Your Diet:
- Mushrooms
- Cheese
- Pickles
- Sour Cream
- Vinegar
- Buttermilk
- Beer
- Wine
- High-Yeast Breads, like Pumpernickel
- Sauerkraut
- Soy Sauce
- Pickled and Smoked Meats
- Dried Fruit
- Processed, Canned, and Bottled Foods
- High Sugar Fruits, like pineapple, mango, bananas, melons, oranges, and grapes
Add These Foods to Your Diet:
- Pastured and organic animal products, like beef, bison, lamb, veal, wild-caught seafood, poultry, and pastured eggs
- Ginger, garlic, cayenne, and horseradish
- Organic fresh fruit, like berries, apples, lemons, limes
- Yeast-Free Breads, such as flatbreads and tortillas
- Low-Carb veggies, like broccoli, spinach, kale, cabbage, arugula, cauliflower, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, yams, onions, leeks, asparagus, garlic, and artichokes.
- Raw nuts and seeds, like sunflower, pumpkin, flax, and chia seeds, and low mold nuts like almonds
- Extra virgin olive oil, coconut milk, coconut oil, organic butter, and avocados.
- Filtered water, non-fruity herbal teas, mineral water, fresh veggie juice, low-mold alcohols like vodka and gin.
2. Add Some Herbs and Supplements
Another homeopathic measure to alleviate your symptoms is adding beneficial herbs and supplements to your diet. Here are some to include:
- Garlic
- Pau d’arco
- Oregano Oil
- Tea Tree Oil
- Ginger
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Grapefruit Seed Extract
- Turmeric
- Powdered Licorice
- Lemongrass Oil
- Berberine
- Echinacea Angustifolia (Purple Coneflower)
- Grape Seed Extract
- Aloe Vera
- Chamomile
- Tannate Plant Extracts
- Flaxseed Oil
- Bioflavonoids
- Probiotics
- Vitamin C, A, and E
- Zinc
3. Explore Some Herbal Medicine
In order to relieve your symptoms with more natural methods, you can explore some herbal medicines. Here are a few to consider:
- Dong Quai
- This serves as an effective anti-inflammatory and antihistamine.
- Eyebright – Use this medicine to reduce congestion, as well as itchy eyes and sneezing.
- Gingko – Containing bioflavonoids, this medicine is also an antihistamine and anti-inflammatory.
- Milk Thistle – In addition to reducing allergic, inflammatory, and histaminic reactions, milk thistle supports your liver function.
- Red clover – This medicine serves as a resistance-builder to mold.
- Yarrow – Yarrow alleviates congestion and reduces secretion.
- Stinging nettles – Stinging nettles are another anti-inflammatory and antihistamine.
4. Take Some Natural Remedies
If you’re looking for a way to fortify your immune system against mold, here are some natural remedies to explore:
ThyroLiver Protect
- To help detoxify your liver and support the production of glutathione, take 1-2 caps, twice a day of ThyroLiver Protect. Using selenium, milk thistle extract, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, and N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine, this medicine helps your liver neutralize and process mold spores.
Super Glutathione
- For added support to your liver and digestive tract, take 1-2 caps, twice a day of Super Glutathione.
Coconut Charcoal
- To help your digestive tract detoxify mold spores, use 1-2 caps of coconut charcoal between meals and before bed.
Allium Cepa
- Use this supplement to help with discharge from your eyes and nose, and to alleviate hoarseness.
Euphrasia
- To alleviate discharge from your eyes and nose, a dry cough, sneezing, and diarrhea, take Euphrasia.
Natrum Muriaticum
- For discharge from your eyes, cold sores, a loss of your sense of taste and smell, and headaches, take natrum muriaticum.
Wyethia
- WWith Wyethia, you can alleviate extreme itchiness in the nose and throat, a swollen throat, and blocked nasal passages.
Nux Vomica
- If you have a runny nose during the day and a dry nose at night, Nux Vomica may be what you need. Additionally, it can relieve sneeze attacks and outdoor reactions to pollen.
5. Reduce Exposure
Keep Your House Clean
Most harmful indoor mold growth starts with dust, dander, and moisture. Therefore, your best bet at keeping mold at bay in is keeping a clean home. This means regularly dusting and vacuuming with a HEPA filter vacuum to eliminate dust and dirt. Furthermore, you should keep damp places like your bathrooms, kitchen, and basement clean and dry.
Reduce Humidity Levels
Another important way to keep your home mold-free is regulating the humidity levels. In order to best track and control indoor humidity, we recommend purchasing a hygrometer and dehumidifier. In fact, many dehumidifiers contain a built-in hygrometer, allowing you to easily measure and maintain a healthy level of humidity.
Keep Outside Spores Outside
In order to avoid bringing harmful mold spores into your home, there are plenty of simple measures you can take. Since many mold spores are found in piles of leaves, grass, and dirt, your shoes can track them into your house. Therefore, you can avoid bringing them inside by taking off and leaving your shoes by the door. Also, you should wash your clothes and shower each evening, so you’re not taking any lingering spores to bed with you.
Filter Your Air
Because mold is everywhere, it’s impossible to avoid bringing it into your home. However, you can eliminate a large portion of it from your air. With the right air filtration system, you can breathe easy with clean, mold-free air. Additionally, there are many different air purifiers on the market with HEPA filters that are very effective in providing mold-free air.
Invest in Some Houseplants
One of our favorite natural ways to remove mold spores from your home air is keeping some purifying houseplants. In many cases, certain houseplants can even help improve conditions for asthma sufferers. For some 2-in-1 natural relief, here are some plants to consider keeping:
- Peace Lilies
- Mums
- Spider Plants
- Bamboo Palm
- Areca Palm
- Dracaena Plants
- Snake Plants
- Boston Fern
- Aloe Plants
Stop Mold in Its Tracks with RestoPros
Although you can treat your mold allergies with homeopathic solutions, there are preventative measures you can take to keep a mold-free home. With our knowledgeable mold removal experts, the team at RestoPros is dedicated to helping residents of the DFW area fight back against mold. For help from mold removal experts you can trust, call us today at 855-587-3786 or fill out a service request form on our website!