Mold Toxicity?

[Augie]

I was wondering if anyone have ever had any experience with mold exposure/mold toxicity before? Beginning of September I began having some pretty serious health issues including: severe headaches that don't go away, brain fog, vertigo, difficulty remembering things mid conversation, fatigue and spasms in the back of my legs. I went out of state to hunt for over two weeks and my symptoms completely disappeared within a few days. Upon returning home within 36 hours all of my symptoms were back and haven't subsided since October 2nd. Went to my PCP and they told me I had hypertension and blood work showed my vitamin levels to be extremely low. Went on a BP med and vitamins but now my blood pressure is fine and the headaches, brain fog, memory loss, fatigue and spasms still remain. I went to the ER last week due to my head pain lasting so man y weeks and they found nothing wrong with my CT scan or bloodwork and also tested negative for lyme. I live in an old house that I rent which was once gutted but the basement remains very damp especially in the spring/summer/fall months. My landlord put in a french drain in the basement when he gutted the house but even when I run a commercial dehumidifier in the basement the humidity is still over 50%, would be close to 70%-85% in the summer if I didn't run the dehumidifier. We have even had mushrooms grow on our basement floor one time before we got the dehumidifier. My basement had a fair amount of mold in different areas though my landlord denies it and have had to throw out the majority of my clothes/shoes that were in the basement due to being covered in mold.

Though no doctor has yet been able nor willing to test me for mold mycotoxins yet, I believe this is from mold toxicity. Has anyone else ever dealt with something like this before which resulted from mold toxicity exposure? This Thursday I get tested by a holistic doctor for mold mycotoxins so I'm hopeful that will finally tell me what's wrong, but I feel crazy because no one believes me and doctors just want me to go see a neurologist. Attached are some picture of my basement. This has greatly affected my day to day life and have been barely able to work let along hunt or spend time with friends or hunt.

 

[MallardSX2]

Mold is serious business. It can and will kill you.

 

[Augie]

I was wondering if anyone have ever had any experience with mold exposure/mold toxicity before? Beginning of September I began having some pretty serious health issues including: severe headaches that don't go away, brain fog, vertigo, difficulty remembering things mid conversation, fatigue and spasms in the back of my legs. I went to Montana to hunt for over two weeks and my symptoms completely disappeared within a few days. Upon returning home within 36 hours all of my symptoms were back and haven't subsided since October 2nd. Went to my PCP and they told me I had hypertension and blood work showed my vitamin levels to be extremely low. Went on a BP med and vitamins but now my blood pressure is fine and the headaches, brain fog, memory loss, fatigue and spasms still remain. I went to the ER last week due to my head pain lasting so man y weeks and they found nothing wrong with my CT scan or bloodwork and also tested negative for lyme. I live in an old house that I rent which was once gutted but the basement remains very damp especially in the spring/summer/fall months. My landlord put in a french drain in the basement when he gutted the house but even when I run a commercial dehumidifier in the basement the humidity is still over 50%, would be close to 70%-85% in the summer if I didn't run the dehumidifier. We have even had mushrooms grow on our basement floor one time before we got the dehumidifier. My basement had a fair amount of mold in different areas though my landlord denies it and have had to throw out the majority of my clothes/shoes that were in the basement due to being covered in mold.

Though no doctor has yet been able nor willing to test me for mold mycotoxins yet, I believe this is from mold toxicity. Has anyone else ever dealt with something like this before which resulted from mold toxicity exposure? This Thursday I get tested by a holistic doctor for mold mycotoxins so I'm hopeful that will finally tell me what's wrong, but I feel crazy because no one believes me and doctors just want me to go see a neurologist. Attached are some picture of my basement. This has greatly affected my day to day life and have been barely able to work let along hunt or spend time with friends or hunt.

 

[Crusader]

Not sure about the mold toxicity aspect but if I were you I'd find another place to rent as soon as you can, depending on the length of your current lease. You might even be able to use the mold conditions in your current house as reason to break the lease if you needed to.

 

[DWinVA]

There is bloodwork that can help diagnose you. My wife is working with a DO who specializes in Mold & Lyme. As others have said…mold is nothing to mess with. Hopefully there is someone like her close to you.

Account Suspended

God Bless.

 

[IH8Cali]

Mold is serious business. It can and will kill you.

I agree wholeheartedly, but will only add that mold WANTS to kill you. Unlike a virus that needs the host alive so it can transmit, mold wants you dead so it can feed on you during decomposition. Not trying to be hyperbolical, it's just the reality.

Get out of that house ASAP!!!! I had the same symptoms as you @Augie, an absolutely dark chapter. At the direction of my functional doctor, I ordered some labs and tested positive for high levels of Stachybotrys. I picked up a copy of Break The Mold by Jill Crista and never looked back. I'm honestly not sure where I picked it up, but i've stayed in some S-hole places during the military and when a guy was single.

Do NOT take it likely, your life depends on it.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I ended up in the hospital for seven days with pneumonia due to mold in my lungs. Mold did not cause the pneumonia but it cause the infection which led to it. It damn near killed me, Dr. told me I was lucky to be alive. Mold is some nasty crap.

 

[Maki35]

I agree with the comments above. Find another place to live. If the landlord doesn't let you out of the lease, hire an expert to test it. If it tests positive for unsafe levels of mold, go to town hall to report it. They may deem the place unlivable until the landlord gets it cleaned up.

 

[NEPrepper]

my old house had mold and i constantly was sick

 

[Pdzoller]

Super common in the PNW. I’ve had to move once because of black mold, my wife and I were suffering from the same symptoms you are dealing with. We just had to move her mother from a house that is overrun with mold. It has caused her some serious breathing and neurological issues.

 

[william schmaltz]

For your records with potentially breaking your lease and potentially for “evidence” to get your doctor to do the test, buy a few mold test kits. You can get several online or at places like Lowe’s. You just set out the Petrie dishes for like a week, spores will attach and grow on them, and then send them in for speciation. Whole process takes 10-14 days.

 

[diamond10x]

Mold affects everyone differently, some at most it might cause small allergy type symptoms and others it will cause full blown sickness. There is no set standard with specific contaminant level, threshold, or unsafe levels in which is considered deadly or toxic.

To those that are terrified of mold, we breathe it in with every breath whether we are indoors or outdoors, you're breathing and touching mold while you're reading this. If it was so dangerous there wouldn't be a person left on the planet, as there is mold on virtually everything in every environment around. Even the "deadliest" of ones, its when they become highly concentrated in a confined space that it's a problem.

Having said all of that, some places have higher concentrations than others. I wouldn't put any faith in the little home test kits you get at Lowe's/Home Depot as they will obviously show you have mold and the results will just give you a type but not the counts, which just freak people out even more. When an actual mold assessment is taken, spore counts from indoors are compared to spore counts outdoors. If the indoor spore counts are higher, there is an issue.

OP, you could be one of the lucky individuals that mold affects more severely. I am by no means downplaying your symptoms or experience with it. If I was you, I would get out of the place you're at and find somewhere that doesn't have a moisture problem like you're in currently. If the landlord won't let you break the lease I would make him pay for an actual mold assessment. That way if mold is the cause of your symptoms, it will show the high concentration for proof as well as give your doctor some direction.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

you're describing virtually the same symptoms a friend in FBKS was going through, while his wife wasn't. They eventually found black mold and opened the wall to realize it was an extensive area that had been moist and rotting inside the wall for years. His symptoms went away once the reconstruction and air quality improved.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Black mold. is especially bad. That's what put me in hospital...

 

[Beendare]

You can buy cheap mold test kits at Home depot and many hardware stores

 

[Rich M]

Get out of the house... Take another 2 weeks and see if you clear up again.

Find a way out of the lease and move on. Your health is all you got...

 

[displacedtexan]

Mold affects everyone differently, some at most it might cause small allergy type symptoms and others it will cause full blown sickness. There is no set standard with specific contaminant level, threshold, or unsafe levels in which is considered deadly or toxic.

To those that are terrified of mold, we breathe it in with every breath whether we are indoors or outdoors, you're breathing and touching mold while you're reading this. If it was so dangerous there wouldn't be a person left on the planet, as there is mold on virtually everything in every environment around. Even the "deadliest" of ones, its when they become highly concentrated in a confined space that it's a problem.

Having said all of that, some places have higher concentrations than others. I wouldn't put any faith in the little home test kits you get at Lowe's/Home Depot as they will obviously show you have mold and the results will just give you a type but not the counts, which just freak people out even more. When an actual mold assessment is taken, spore counts from indoors are compared to spore counts outdoors. If the indoor spore counts are higher, there is an issue.

OP, you could be one of the lucky individuals that mold affects more severely. I am by no means downplaying your symptoms or experience with it. If I was you, I would get out of the place you're at and find somewhere that doesn't have a moisture problem like you're in currently. If the landlord won't let you break the lease I would make him pay for an actual mold assessment. That way if mold is the cause of your symptoms, it will show the high concentration for proof as well as give your doctor some direction.

To add to this, there are THOUSANDS of types of mold. Some are benign, some are helpful, others are deadly.

Color is pretty irrelevant.

Involve a professional.

 

[Bubblehide]

Don't buy test kits. Film yourself taking samples, take the samples to a certified lab and have them test the samples. Should cost you under 100 dollars. Once you establish actual evidence, you can choose to let the landlord fix the issue, hire an attorney, or both.

 

[DisplacedHusky]

Augie, My parents went through something similar and it was a huge process. The cognitive effects on the mold exposure were evident. They had to get rid of furniture that was exposed. They had a naturopath guide them through detox. I wish you luck on your journey.

 

[Dos Perros]

I had a good friend go through it. Lost a job over it. I'm just here to say I know mold is real and you're not crazy. Hope you get it worked out.