According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness or NAMI, as it is popularly abbreviated, almost 5% of the entire global population has shown symptoms of clinically diagnostic hoarding disease. Usually shaken off as a personality quirk or an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), hoarding isn’t regarded as much of a serious ailment as its other mental health counterparts.

However, it is far from the truth. Hoarding shouldn’t go untreated. Yes, much to your surprise, there is such a thing as a “hoarding disease,” which can easily compromise an average person’s lifestyle and living conditions if gone untreated. Additionally, it can have far-reaching, long-term adverse effects compromising the quality of the person’s life.

Describing Hoarding Disorder

We all carry minor tendencies of hoarding. From keeping cards and love letters from high school to refusing to throw out our favorite childhood toys, there is a hoarder inside all of us. While we understand that these things are of sentimental value, a classified hoarder may not be able to tell the difference and keep on collecting things that make no sense.

As depicted in the popular medical genre sitcom House MD, episode 18 of season seven called The Dig – the patient’s wife is depicted as a class-A hoarder. With one scene showing that she has collected even ear wax from the year it first began, you can only imagine how deeply rooted, and far-fetched, hoarding can become.

Therefore, the difference between drawing the line where you throw out your old stuff amidst spring-cleaning and someone who just caters is where hoarding becomes a problem. In fact, apart from being a mental health ailment itself, it causes additional health implications in people’s lives who hoard or have someone with them hoarding stuff.

Health Implications of Suffering from a Hoarding Disorder

Here are some of the most common health implications that can result from a hoarding disorder:

• Major Fire Hazard

Naturally, if you will continue to collect anything and everything with no one seeing an end of it, there will be a continuous upcycling pile of rubbish. And like any pile of rubbish, it will start to degenerate, rot, and become more and more dangerous. It may even become flammable due to the gases being omitted during the degeneration process, making it a major fire hazard.

• Dust and Infestations

Additionally, the junk piling up will attract dust, and dust will attract infestation from all sorts of bugs and insects. While the dust itself is a dangerous allergen and can trigger an allergic reaction, an infestation is far more severe and dangerous. The rubbish would become a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria.

• Mold Growth

Mold is another increasing health issue for homeowners who have or live with someone with a hoarding disorder. Not only is mold a known allergen, but it can also trigger respiratory problems in even a perfectly healthy person. The patient may become susceptible to flu-like symptoms with coughing, runny nose, and skin irritations, to name a few.

How Does Hoarding Impact Health Insurance?

Given the many health implications that a hoarding disease can cause, it is quite obvious that health insurance is also tied up in a mess. Even if you are not someone suffering from a hoarding disease but live with someone who does, you may want to know how health insurance costs can help you cover up the mess created by hoarding.

However, health insurance providers have recently been given a new legal agenda to abide by, binding them to the health insurance eligibility law. If it were before 2014, things would have been different with how health insurers worked over free will and were under no legal pressure to undertake health implications caused by hoarding disorder.

Therefore, the new legal reforms of health insurance state that health insurers have to recognize and provide coverage for pre-existing mental health conditions such as a hoarding disease. Any and all ailments caused by it shall be covered by health insurance carriers who aren’t allowed to spike premiums over these pre-existing medical issues.

Take Help from Professional Cleaning & Restoration Service 

Like any mental health disorder, people suffering from a hoarding disease may also be reluctant to reach out for help. Therefore, it comes down to us to distinguish the people around us who may have a problem. It is essential to talk to them without committing any abrupt changes in their environment, negatively impacting them.

From paranoia to embarrassment, anything may drive them away from ever reaching out and asking for help. Hence, talk to them gently. Try to eliminate stuff one by one and make them realize how it doesn’t serve a purpose. Moreover, you can showcase to them how they are compromising their quality of life by continuously hoarding junk.

Lastly, you can take help from professional learning and restoration service providers like 911 Restoration in San Francisco. With everything from mold removal to disinfection, sanitization, and other clean-up and restoration services, you can trust us. Our compassionate staff will help restore the balance in your life, one item at a time.

For support, call one of our agents today at 415-230-2959.