If you had told me years ago that my home was the reason my health was unraveling, I would have pushed back.
Not because I didn’t trust science — but because no one in a medical office ever suggested it.

I was given explanations that sounded reasonable on the surface: stress, anxiety, burnout, postpartum changes,
hormonal shifts. Each symptom was treated like a standalone problem, never connected to the environment I was
spending most of my life inside.

It took getting very sick — and watching my children change in ways I couldn’t explain — before I realized
something important:

Mold doesn’t always show up the way medicine expects it to.

Why Mold Symptoms Are So Often Missed

Most doctors are trained to look for mold exposure in the context of allergies or asthma.
Sneezing. Wheezing. Coughing.

But mold exposure can affect the nervous system, immune system, and brain — and those symptoms don’t fit neatly
into a single diagnosis.

According to the CDC, mold exposure can cause a wide range of symptoms depending on the individual and the
environment (CDC Mold Overview).
What they don’t always explain is how subtle and non-respiratory those symptoms can be.

The Hidden Symptoms I Lived With

Looking back, these were the signs that should have raised red flags — but didn’t.

1. Brain Fog That Felt Like Cognitive Loss

This wasn’t distraction. It was forgetting words, losing my train of thought mid-sentence,
rereading the same paragraph five times.

I wrote more about how mold affected my brain here:

What Mold Does to Your Brain
.

2. Anxiety That Came Out of Nowhere

I had never struggled with anxiety before, yet suddenly my body felt like it was stuck in fight-or-flight.
Racing heart. Tight chest. A constant sense of unease — especially at home.

Mold-related inflammation can dysregulate the nervous system, which helps explain why anxiety is so often
misattributed to psychological causes alone.

3. Emotional Reactivity and Overwhelm

I cried easily. Loud noises felt unbearable. Small tasks felt huge.
This wasn’t weakness — it was a nervous system under constant stress.

4. Fatigue That Sleep Didn’t Fix

I could sleep eight hours and wake up exhausted. The kind of tired that sits in your bones.
Mold exposure can tax the immune system continuously, leaving the body stuck in a low-grade inflammatory state.

5. Symptoms That Improved When I Left the House

This was the clue that changed everything.

I felt clearer, calmer, and more like myself when I was away from home.

That pattern — worse inside, better outside — is one of the most consistent indicators of environmental illness.

What Mold Looked Like in My Children

My kids didn’t present with “classic” mold symptoms either.
At ages two and seven, their struggles showed up as behavioral changes, sleep issues,
emotional sensitivity, and difficulty focusing.

I share their story here:

What Mold Did to My Kids
.

Children’s symptoms are often brushed off as phases or developmental quirks — but their bodies are especially
sensitive to environmental stressors.

Why These Symptoms Get Misdiagnosed

Mold symptoms overlap with many common diagnoses:

• anxiety disorders
• depression
• ADHD
• chronic fatigue
• hormonal imbalance

Without asking about the home, the building, or water damage history,
the environmental piece is almost always missed.

The EPA emphasizes that mold growth indoors always indicates a moisture problem
(EPA Mold Resource).
But most medical appointments never reach that conversation.

What To Do If This Sounds Familiar

If you recognize yourself or your child in this list, you don’t need to panic —
but you are allowed to take it seriously.

• Notice symptom patterns in different environments
• Pay attention to musty smells or moisture issues
• Don’t dismiss recurring symptoms without clear cause
• Learn how to clean mold safely if you find it

I created a detailed guide on safe cleaning here:

How to Clean Mold the Right Way
.

And if you’re questioning whether staying in your home is safe:

Can I Live in a House With Mold?

The Hardest Truth I Learned

Mold doesn’t always make you cough.
Sometimes it makes you forget who you used to be.

If doctors haven’t connected your symptoms to your home,
that doesn’t mean the connection isn’t real.

Trust patterns. Trust your body.
And don’t let anyone convince you that something you feel every day is “all in your head.”

With you in this,
Ava

If you’re new here and want to understand how my journey through mold exposure and environmental illness began,
you can read more about it on my About page
here.