Black mould in your home is a worrying sight, and one woman has shared the ways in which she claims it wreaked havoc on her body.
Dealing with mould in your property isn’t pleasant, as it can be found in various places such as walls and ceilings. Black mould is a microscopic fungus that looks dark green or black and can have negative effects on your health.
Autumn Clayman claimed to experience some physical symptoms of black mould after living in a mouldy apartment. She outlined these in a video posted on TikTok.
Burning sensation on skin
Autumn said: “So the first thing was burning, like a burning sensation. I would feel this all over my skin, specifically my face and my neck. I would walk into my apartment and my neck and face would burn.”
The health enthusiast included a picture in her TikTok post showing marks on her lower face near her jaw and on her neck resembling red burns. She added that she felt the burning sensation “immediately” after entering her apartment and it got “progressively worse over time.”
Eczema
Secondly, Autumn experienced eczema, which started off as a “little speck” on her neck before spreading quickly on her body, including her arms and legs. She noticed small eczema “bumps” all over her body and they would then “form into clusters.”
Allergies and congestion
Autumn continued: “I was feeling congested more than ever. I have sinus issues but I couldn’t breathe most of the time, breathing in my apartment was difficult.”
Irritated eyes
The fourth black mould exposure symptom she experienced was burning, itchy eyes. She claimed that her eyes were “always irritated.”
Extreme fatigue
Autumn shared: “No matter how much sleep I got I constantly felt exhausted and tired.” She also recalls feeling “depressed” and “drained” often but she thought this was just due to stress.
The holistic health coach revealed that she spent “a ton of money trying to figure out what was going on”. She concluded that it was her apartment that was causing the problems as she had “never experienced health issues like this before”, her stress levels weren’t any different than they had been in the past and she had “never dealt with eczema before.”
Autumn admitted that getting your home tested for mould is expensive but she decided to do this and found out that she had black mould. Since moving out of her apartment, her symptoms “healed rapidly”, her skin cleared up and she started to feel better overall.
NHS Inform warns on its website that if you have damp and mould in your home, you’re more likely to have respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies and asthma. It adds that some people are more sensitive to damp and mould, such as babies, children, older people, people with existing skin problems, like atopic eczema, people with respiratory problems, like allergies and asthma, and people with a weakened immune system, including those having chemotherapy.
The health resource explains that moulds produce allergens (substances that can cause an allergic reaction) and they can also produce irritants and sometimes toxic substances. Inhaling or touching mould spores may cause an allergic reaction, like sneezing, a runny nose, red eyes or a skin rash and mould can also cause asthma attacks, according to NHS Inform.
Mould and damp are caused by too much moisture so if you are dealing with either of these issues, it is advised to find out why you have too much moisture in your home and then you can make sure your home is repaired or take steps to limit the moisture in the air. NHS Inform states: “You may need to get a professional to remove mould for you. But, if it’s only a small amount you may be able to remove it yourself.
“It’s important to wear gloves and a facemask if you’re removing mould. Always open a window if you’re using bleach products to remove it.”