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In over 50 years of living, I have never given much thought to mold. I've never lived in a building with a mold problem. I have never had allergies. I have never owned a dehumidifier or air purifier or even looked into owning one. All of that recently changed.
I recently rented a small house with a mold problem. The first time I toured it, it smelled a little musty but chalked it up to the windows being closed for a long time - i had been unoccupied for at least a couple of months. For the last three days before I moved in, it had been raining. When I arrived there was a strong mold smell. I opened all the windows. That night,, the smell of mold was intense and intolerable. I actually wore a scarf around my mouth and nose to breathe through in order to sleep. The mold is giving me headaches.
It is most intense in one room but not so that it seems localized, as it is strong throughout the length and breadth of the house. There is no visible mold in the interior living spaces. I suspect it is extensive either in the basement crawl spaces or behind the walls and attic crawl spaces. The building has a metal shell, and so I researched condensation. Whether it was basement or behind the walls or between the roof and ceiling, it was a major, extensive and had to have been ongoing for a long time. It odor was strong enough to sort of knock you out. My mold remediation research began the next morning, as soon as I woke and has consumed hours and hours and hours of my time.
The landlord sent a mold specialist who completely dismissed the notion that condensation related tot he metal shell could be the issue, pointing out that the problem always rises from below, and so he focused on the basement crawl space, which has a dirt floor. He said it needed to be remediated there, that because of the dirt floor, it needed a moisture barrier installed and then a dehumidifier installed to run pretty much all the time.
There may also be a leak in a water drainage pipe or water pipe under the floors/in the basement.
At first I thought I could make a go of it by addressing the air in the living space with a dehumidifier and an air purifier but unless the landlords do remediation in the basement, I am not so sure.
Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have never lived in a place where you can't leave a wet wash cloth on the bathroom counter for two days. I did an experiment here - I wet a thick piece of cotton jersey, wrung it out, folded it once, and left it on the bathroom counter. 48 hours later there were 8 round black mold spots on it at least a 1/4 inch wide each. I was horrified. Those spores are everywhere in the air inside and I am breathing them. I read that there is NO treatment for inhaling large quantities of mold spores and that they can get stuck in your lungs..
Luckily this is a rental and I am thinking I should just leave.
I think because of the difficulty of nailing down the science of mold exposure it gives rise to two things: 1) pseudoscience and quackery; 2) wrongly declaring there are no serious health effects caused by mold
But the fact is, from my research anyway, we have long known that moldy environments are not healthy for us and there is plenty of science on toxic sorts of spores as well. People with mold symptoms shouldn't be made to feel like they are crazy. As for me, I am looking to move. My gut is telling me that no air purifier and dehumidifier in the world (That I can afford anyway) s going to solve this for me if the landlords aren't going to remediate it at the source. I am having headaches from it on a daily basis - this is constant now. Sometimes very mild headaches but it is there, wearing my down. Moldy environments are not healthy to live in
Replies to "In over 50 years of living, I have never given much thought to mold. I've never..."
Hello this is Glenb and I have been going through a horrible experience with mold for over 3 years. I moved into a house and within a few months I began having all kinds of crazy symptoms: headaches, rash, hypertension, fatigue, joint pain , trouble swallowing and choking, and many more and this progressively got worse and to the point where I felt on fire most of the time. My head felt like it was on fire. I went to 15 doctors and they kept referring me to more specialists and finally they were about to send me to Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic.i had a family doctor, cardiologist, oncologist, pulmonologist, Dermologist, kidney, ENT, so many I cannot remember all and I am on the road right now . My IGE level was elevated to 12 times the normal, my BP got as high as 223/118 , I went to the ER several times . I was hopitalized for a week because they thought I had a heart issue . I had dozens of lab tests, sonogram, chest X-ray, cat scan, MRI, bone marrow procedure where they took sample it out of My spine ( not a good experience ) because they thought I had an auto immune: mast cell disease which is not good, colonoscopy, endoscopy, enhanced swallow text , and many more. The more my Friends and relatives thought I was crazy, the more symptoms I would get and the others had gotten worse to the point where I felt like my Brain was on fire and I was starting to question my own sanity.
Then we found the mold. It was very bad. It had been growing for what appears to be years between the exterior wall and the inside wall .
Mold inspectors came out and found 3 of the most toxic molds there is and they did air quality test and it was 300ppm outside and 18000 ppm inside . It was very bad . It was in the AC/heat system also. Well not very many doctors know anything about mold and the health insurance industry tried to sweep in under the rug so to speak, because there are millions of potential cases and law suits were beginning to emerge . This is why you see major medical institutions making statements about how there is no proof about toxic mold causing specific medical problems . You can even go back to older articles and Mayo even had mad similar claims; but it is slowly changing. In the last 18 months or so I am seeing more info and major
Medical institutions stating that it can cause organs to shut down, cancer, lung damage leading to death, diminished cognitive ability ( brain fog ) , and ravages immune system.
Well I guess I am a bit lucky because so far not much lung damage and no cancer yet, but I have all of the rest . There no cure. There are some treatments to help your body eliminate the mycotoxins, which is a must or like several “ doctors “ have told me if I do nothing it will eventually kill me . I am 67 ( high risk group ) sand Medicare will not lay for the blood test . I haven’t tried to appeal this and it probably will probably pay eventually . The urine test is the least expensive and they will pay for that and according to the specialist I go to now if you have mycotoxins in your urine they are in your blood . They also did a nasal swab , not sure what they call it but it was not fun and I had fungi and bacteria from the mold there. My body is producing way too much histamine now which causes so many problems . Any allergy I had before they seem like they are 10 times worse now . I forgot to mention : I have adult asthma now so I carry an inhaler 24/7 and have to use it frequently. I live in DFW Texas and it was difficult to find a doctor to help me . I had UTSW set up an appointment with a immunologist ( took 3 months ) and his office called and cancelled 2 days prior and doctor said he does not treat mold . It is crazy . This is a real issue and there are probably thousands of people that are having a variety of symptoms and don’t even realize they have been exposed and doctors have misdiagnosed and labeling it auto immune ( which they don’t know that much about ID either ) it is shameful what the health insurance big bucks has covered up . I got lucky and was referred to a Dermologist that actually spent 2 year off of work dealing with personal mold poisoning and she has helped me with much info . She told me that 75% of people metabolize the mycotoxins and eliminate these naturally but 25% of people don’t , I am in that lucky group. Check the laws in your state and there may be something about mold and landlord tenant statutes where they have to refund you and you move . I would get out of ASAP. The longer you stay the more damage to your health. Contact me and I will be glad to give you all the info I have . I don’t want any money or anything out of this . I want this information to get out to as many people as possible . I hired a lawyer and going after the people on the house legally because we have proof they were aware of it . Take care . Good luck . Glen B
I posted a reply but you are welcome private message me. I am not selling anything just a victim of mold poisoning and I want to share the information I have learned over the past 3 years of suffering . Good luck GlenB
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Hello @chm, Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on mold toxicity. I think you are spot on and I would have to agree with you especially since it's a rental property. It would be interesting to find out if the landlord/owner would be willing to remediate the mold problem. Have you considered talking with them?