Is Your Headache a Symptom of Mold Sickness?

Mold exposure can cause headaches

If you spend time in a water damaged building, it is highly likely that mold exposure is causing your headaches or migraines.

How mold causes headaches

To be clear – your brain cannot feel pain. However, mold exposure causes a variety of health issues that can cause headaches.

1. The nervous system & headaches

Studies show mold negatively affects the central nervous system. Mold can easily enter the nervous system through inhalation, IV drug use, surgery, and even contaminated medical supplies. Headaches can be a symptom of problems in the central nervous system.

2. Rhinitis & headaches

Mold exposure can cause rhinitis, which is irritation/inflammation of the mucous membranes inside the nose. And people with rhinitis suffer from more headaches and migraines.

3. Sick buildings & headaches

If you only get headaches at work or at home, you need to look into the health of the building. A building full of toxic mold could be the root cause of your headaches.

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a medical condition where people in a building become sick for no apparent reason. Nearly 30% of buildings may have sick building syndrome.

One cause of sick building syndrome is mold. About half of residential and commercial buildings have mold growth from water damage.

Properly identifying mold in your house or building is no easy task. All too often, mold growth occurs in areas you can’t see, like HVAC systems, crawl spaces, attics, and exhaust fans.

In most cases, symptoms improve after exiting a sick building. But if sick building syndrome illness is anything like toxic mold illness and CIRS, some people will continue to experience symptoms after they’ve left the building.

Be suspicious of your home and work environments. Both have a 50% chance of harboring molds and their dangerous mycotoxins. If either environment has water damage, your headaches may be caused by mold.

4. Asthma & headaches

Mold has been linked to respiratory conditions like asthma for some time. And asthma increases your risk for headaches and migraines by 45%! More than 30% of all asthma cases may be caused by mold. Even conventional medicine recognizes that mold can be a potential cause of asthma and respiratory conditions!

As you can see, mold is the common thread of every headache trigger discussed – whether it’s asthma, inflammation, sinus infections or sick buildings.

Mold is behind most headache triggers. If you’re dealing with chronic headaches, you need to investigate your home and work environments for mold.

Even worse, if you have genes that react to mold, this mold exposure can turn into a mold illness (CIRS).

5. Chronic toxic mold illness and headaches

Mold and its mycotoxins are dangerous, even more so if you are one of 25% of people who has a specific gene that prevents their immune systems from expelling mold toxins.

This is known as mold illness, or Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS).

Mold illness puts the body into a state of chronic inflammation. This state of elevated inflammation can trigger headaches.

Patients with toxic mold illness (CIRS) commonly experience headaches. So toxic mold may be causing your headaches whether you have been exposed to mold or have mold illness (CIRS).

The dangerous world of toxic mold

Mold may be the cause of many complex, poorly understood illnesses including:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Gulf War Syndrome
• Multiple chemical sensitivities
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Another condition to add to the list is chronic headaches and migraines.

More than 50% of people experience headaches. Often, the cause of the headache is unknown. 

Did you know that your brain can’t feel pain?

It’s true – the human brain does not have any pain receptors. However, there are plenty of pain receptors in the tissues surrounding the brain. This includes tissues like your veins, arteries, sinuses, nerves, muscles, and even your teeth.

It’s when mold exposure affects these tissues that you may get a headache.

There are a wide range of effects mold can have on your health. I’ve written a number of blogs you may want to check out:

•  The mysterious symptoms of mold sickness,
• How to tell if you’re suffering from toxic mold sickness,
• The difference between a mold allergy and CIRS,
• How to know if you have mold in your house

Mold is not the cause of everything that ails you. But it could be the cause of some of your conditions. And mold exposure isn’t safe. Exposure to toxic mold may make you sick. Very sick. And toxic mold will make you even sicker if you have the genes that cause mold illness (CIRS).

If you believe your headaches and migraines are a symptom of mold sickness, your number one priority needs to be exiting the contaminated space. If your symptoms don’t clear up, it’s time to contact a mold sickness specialist.

Flourish Clinic specializes in the treatment of mold sickness – learn more!

Now, I want to hear from you!

What causes your headaches?

Leave your answers in the comments section below!