When Black Mold Invades Your Home

by Connie Hernandez, ND

We were relaxing upstairs in our apartment, when a workman attending to a leaky pipe in the adjoining apartment burst through our wall, throwing black mold-laden plaster into our kitchen. Within an hour, our kitchen was cordoned off and we were out of the apartment.

Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND

Wearing protective facemasks to gather a few personal items, we returned a few days later to the stunning sight of the contents of our kitchen cupboards strewn unceremoniously across the living room carpet. The kitchen cabinets had been deconstructed and deposited on our small patio where they lay soaking in drizzling rain amidst a heap of heavy-duty black trash bags that contained who knew what toxic substances.

Chronic coughing and sneezing, irritation to the eyes, mucus membranes of the nose and throat, rashes, chronic fatigue and persistent headaches can all be symptomatic of black mold exposure or black mold poisoning.

It was a humbling experience to survey the used and useless items that our cabinets had harbored. Our minds went first to the easiest first steps of our enforced spring clean‑up – to get rid of those items we no longer needed or wanted and that were just cluttering our environment. “Cluttered environment, cluttered mind.”

Needing a home away from home, we landed in an Airbnb with virtually nothing in it, personal or otherwise. No clutter, no art, neutral colors, minimal necessities. Just enough. We found the empty anonymity oddly restful to body and mind – like a cross between a modernist spiritual Zen temple and a motel room. We found ourselves fairly disconnected from electronic pollution, since the Internet connection was third-world quality, our cell phones worked intermittently, and there was no landline.

Our minds went to the complicated steps of clean‑up. We won’t be able to sort through the clutter until we’re back in our apartment. Contractors and mold experts are working full-time there as I write this. But we’re thinking ahead to how we’ll clean every possible surface using ozonators, HEPA filters, and Bulletproof Homebiotic. We’re game‑planning how we can increase the airflow in the apartment and keep all those under-attended hidey-holes under sinks, in window sliders, and in the shower dehumidified and dry.

Then there’s the step of detoxing our very own personal selves from the long-time mold exposure. The process of detoxing our bodies from black-mold will be more drastic than a standard spring detox.

A close friend of ours in Hawaii discovered that the nasal congestion and itching and sneezing that had disrupted her sleep for over thirty years, and for which she had tried virtually every known cure, responded instantly to a nebulized mixture of one-half colloidal silver (Results RNA 200 ppm, sold in our office) and one-half 3% food-grade hydrogen peroxide.

Most chronic sinus infections are now thought to be due to mold. But cleaning our living space will be only the beginning of an effective detox.

Dietarily speaking, fungi LOVE sugar. As in the case of any anti‑yeast protocol, ridding our diet of sugar and simple carbs, hard cheeses, alcohol, and mold-contaminated foods like peanuts and corn will go a long way toward starving out any harmful internal overgrowths. Raw garlic and ginger are helpful dietary additives, and high-quality probiotics are also beneficial.

Read more about the medical services Dr. Connie offers here: http://www.naturopathichealthconsultations.com