Our Mold Infested Home!

Two weeks ago we had our home tested for mold by a Mold Specialist because I am highly allergic to certain types of mold which can trigger my auto-immune disorder. When my system is triggered, I suffer irreversible hair loss as well as neurological problems. We knew we had mold even though it wasn’t detectable by smell, because I started suffering again with hair loss and tremors as well as going numb and not being able to move sometimes. My husband goes ripping through the house like a mad man looking for hidden mold and he found the mother load! Mold was colonizing in the air conditioner/furnace room. We just got the air conditioner fixed because it crapped out on us one very hot day this past July. After having it fixed we didn’t realize that condensation was building once again and mold was forming. This happened last year as well and we had to have the walls and carpet ripped out and replaced.

At most, I thought the mold problem was isolated to me alone, but there was a series of events that have caused us to go back and recount the illnesses not only of my husband and children, but to my grand daughter as well.

My grand daughter in is only 17 months old and has a long list of medical problems which involve her development, neurological system, gastrointestinal system and her skin. She still can not speak or say any words. There is a lot more to her story which I will save for another time. But for now, knowing the amounts of mold we have as well as the concentration levels may hold the key to her many medical problems.

Here is a list of the molds present in our home:

1. Agrocybe/Coprinus
2. Alternaria
3. Ascospores
4. Aspergillus/Penicillium (the highest percentage of 65%)
5. Basidiospores
6. Chaetomium
7. Cladosporium
8. Epicoccum
9. Stachybotrys (black toxic mold)
10. Pithomyces

I am allergic to five on this list, but what is most concerning to us is the high concentration of Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Chaetomium and also the toxic black mold. Stachybotrys (toxic mold) does not usually become airborne. It colonizes where it is (non-airborne) unless it is disturbed or dried out, then the spores shoot into the air, contaminating everything it lands on. My husband is highly allergic to Aspergillus/Penicillium, which explains the hair loss on his head, in his eyebrows and his chest hair. He also has other health concerns that he just chalked up to being achy from work. Now we have cause to reconsider.

Stachybotrys can be safely removed by a mold remediation specialist IF it is intact and has not become airborne, but once it does become airborne, according to a few specialists “It’s all over!” The mold specialist who took the air samples of our home said that in all the time that he has tested different sites, he has NEVER seen such high amounts of Stachybotrys airborne!

So what does it all mean for our family? Since we already knew there was mold I was allergic to in our current home, we had planned to give away or sell our things because only I was allergic to it and then move out west to New Mexico with just our clothing. But since we just found out today that we have toxic mold, we have to throw EVERYTHING away! That’s right, everything, including our clothes. Nothing can go with us, or given to relatives for storage, or sold, because of the contamination. If the toxic mold was not airborne, in theory could take our stuff, but it still poses a threat to our health because of the nine other molds and we run the risk of contaminating a new home, starting the process all over again. It’s like losing everything in a fire. All the things I held precious, like my father’s original artwork, my art that I held onto since I was nine years old, all my children’s art, photographs, important documents, books that I treasure, things I have made my children…all gone. We have to start all over.

The following is a list of symptoms related to toxic mold, and the information I list is from http://www.mold-survivor.com/symptoms.html

• Fibromyalgia/mps (and several correlated symptoms)
  
• Respiratory distress, coughing, sneezing, sinusitis
  
• Difficulty swallowing, choking, spitting up (vomiting) mucous
  
• Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
• Burning in the throat and lungs (similar to acid reflux and often misdiagnosed as such)
• Asthmatic signs; wheezing, shortness in breath, coughing, burning in lungs, etc.
• Irritable bowel syndrome, nausea, diarrhea, sharp abdominal pains, stomach lesions

Bladder, liver, spleen, or kidney pain

• Dark or painful urine
• Dirt-like taste in mouth, coated tongue
• Food allergies/leaky gut syndrome/altered immunity
• Memory loss; brain fog, slurred speech, occasionally leading to dementia
• Vision problems
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Large boils on neck (often a sign of

anaphylaxis)

• Yellowing of nails, ridges, or white marks under nail
• Thyroid irregularities, sometimes leading to complete dysfunction; adrenal problems
• Headaches
• Anxiety/depression, heart palpitations - confusion,

PTSD

• Extreme blood pressure, cholesterol, or triglycerides irregularities
• Ringing in ears, balance problems (very common), dizziness, loss of hearing (aspergillus niger)
• Chronic fatigue (also included under this classification directional confusion)
• Intermittent face flushing; almost always systemic, Called the Mylar Flush (neurological))
• Night head sweats, and drooling while sleeping, profuse sweating
• Multiple chemical sensitivity; only upon exposure to Stachybotrys and Chaetomium
• Nose bleeds (stachybotrys)
• 
  

Bruising/scarring easily; rash or hives, bloody lesions all over the skin (Often systemic, see images; skin)

• Reproductive system complications; infertility, changes in menstrual cycles, miscarriage
• Sudden weight changes (Detoxifier genotypes tend to gain weight, non-detoxifier genotypes tend to lose weight)
• Cancer
• Hair loss, very brittle nails, temporary loss of fingerprints (in rare cases)
• Joint/muscle stiffness and pain
• Irregular heart beat/heart attack
• Seizures, inadvertent body jerking, twitching, inadvertent facial movements or numbness in face
• Hypersensitivity when re-exposed to molds, which can lead to anaphylaxis
• Anaphylaxis upon re-exposure to mycotoxin producing molds
• Death, in extreme cases

This was incredibly long, but I feel it is so important not to mess with mold. If you feel your home has mold problems, please get it checked out.

Here are some helpful links about mold and mold exposure:

http://www.mold-help.org/