Avoiding illness from water damaged buildings

To our fellow Melburnians experiencing damage to property due to the flooding, firstly we are sorry for your pain and loss. As water damage may be a new experience, we want to help you understand how you can look after your health following a water event.

Firstly, not everyone’s health will be impacted by water damage and the effects of mould. For others, serious illness can occur.?

It only takes around 40 hours of a surface being damp for mould to start growing, and once it starts growing it can be extremely tough to remove.

Beyond being unsightly and a bit stinky, the real problem with mould is what it makes.?

Mould produces mycotoxins, and the immune system of around one in four people don’t handle those mycotoxins very well.?

For some of those, exposure to mycotoxins can completely disrupt their wellbeing, sometimes leading to CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome).

Let’s hope that this isn’t you, but file away the below in your mind just in case your health begins to change in the coming months when spending time in an environment which has been exposed to water damage.

What do you need to look out for?

Keep an eye out for symptoms like:

• Fatigue
• Body aching/pain, weakness
• Headaches, trouble assimilating knowledge, difficulty finding words
• Hair loss
• Skin conditions, like eczema and dermatitis, as well as skin sensitivity, itchy skin, the feeling of bugs crawling on the skin, easy bruising, skin sores, pimples that itch, thick skin, peeling skin, redness in the face, sweating, vitiligo, hives, burning sensation, and bumpy skin
• Tingling or cold hands and feet, numbness, foot falling asleep, shaky hands, and clawing or curling or the hands or feet
• Respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat (tachycardia), asthma-related symptoms, coughing, wheezing, edema (swelling), a pounding heart, and heart palpitations
• ENT symptoms like blurred vision, light sensitivity, watery eyes, night blindness, ringing in the ears, dizziness, vision loss, hearing loss, odour sensitivity, congestion, throat burns, sore throat
• Digestive symptoms like a metallic taste in your mouth, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bile reflux, weight changes, abdominal pain, and frequent urination

It’s a big list and as you can see, those mould mycotoxins can affect almost every system of the body. If in the coming months, you notice a change in how you feel, come back to this list and see if any of the above have become a common symptom.

If you are affected adversely by mycotoxins, by far and away the most important thing to do is eliminate environmental exposure. The longer mould sticks around, the harder it is to remediate, so doing what you can now can save you a whole lot of hassle down the track.

What can you do now to minimise the impact of water damage?

• Completely dry the house out with fans and dehumidifiers.
• If you have a dehumidifier, this will help draw out unseen moisture. You can even put your belongings in one room with a dehumidifier to focus on completely drying them out.
• Wipe over anything non-porous you suspect to be water damaged with dilute white vinegar.
• Porous textured items (wood, paper, clothing, bags, furniture etc) are the most affected, and may need to be discarded :-(??
• Wash clothing with borax.
• Mould likes dark places, so often it is worst where you can’t see it. Pull up floorboards, look in the roof cavity, behind walls etc.
• If you’re unsure, you can hire a building biologist to inspect your property (see https://www.buildingbiology.com.au/)

What do you do if you notice mould illness in the future?

• Find an expert. Typically a GP won’t be aware of the details of how to recognise or treat mould-related illness.
• Seek a Functional Medicine practitioner who knows about mould management
• Act quickly - the sooner you attend to it, the easier it will be to treat