Mold tests

[Guest guest]

I have a small amount of visible mold in my basement and a larger

amount in my garage ceiling. Both spaces tested positive for mold.

Above the garage is a room of my house but it tested negative for

mold spores, as did the rest of my house. I am ill with many

symptoms which I thought were caused by the mold. My question is

this: Is it possible to be sick because of mold even though no

significant spores are showing up in my living space???..Jeri

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/16/2004 7:56:48 AM Pacific Standard Time, glypella@... writes:

significant spores

I would like any experts out there to discuss what significant spores are - I certainly reacted in both of the room referenced in this elementary school spore trap test - both the Conference Room (Counseling Office) and Resource Room made me very ill. Yet, perhaps some might say the spores were negligible as they were not too different from the outside. But the outside was near festering dumpsters full of rotting food from the cafeteria! This test was done by a private firm, hired by my district when I complained about being ill from suspected mold. They tried to keep this test from me, but I finally obtained it from OSHA, who came out to the school and said that because there was no visible mold, all was ok. OSHA ignored (did not comment on) this attached private spore testing.

Comments, anyone?

[Guest guest]

, I'm know not to look for stachy in mold plates, but other mold. In my

house I didn't have stachy but a problem with aspergillus. I have immune system

problem so alot of any kind of mold is troublesome. I'm so sensitive to mold,

I'm sure I would know if a place was so moldy as to have stachy without doing a

test from looking for evidence of past maintenance issues, condition of

building, odor, etc, because where there is stachy there is lots of other mold

and bacteria.

>

> Reasons why mold doesn't show up on tests:

>

> * Stachy spores are very heavy. They fall to the ground almost immediately

after the are released. They thus are rarely found in air tests and don't land

on plate tests.

>

> * Stachy spores are released in waves. A colony can release huge numbers of

spores during a half an hour period and then none for the rest of the day.

>

> * Mold plates do not give stachy the conditions it's necessary to grow. It

needs a good bit of cellulose and a whole lot of water for 24 hours to get

started.

>

> * Stachy easily d

[Guest guest]

I think I have the same (aspergillus fumigatus actually).

I went to my friend's clinic on Saturday--out in Riverhead. She renovated a cute

house. As soon as I walked in I smelled mold. Not the same mold as in my place

(which smells slightly musty esp in the closets; and which I was somewhat masked

to, but when I left for two weeks I could smell it distinctly when I came back).

I looked around and nobody else--patients nor staff seemed aware yet the smell

was so obvious to me. I feel like a dog sometimes with my acute sense of smell.

Everybody else was oblivious--and nobody seemed to be suffering health effects.

I got slightly wheezy there, not much else. Stayed a few hours. I got muscle

tested for molds at my request. Every single mold vial I held against my sternum

caused weakness of my arm, some more than others. But one vial made me feel ill

and anxious in some profound but indefinable way. I couldn't stand holding it. I

asked what it was, and it was aspergillus fumigatum. I've figured I have some

kind of aspergillus (as well as alternaria, cladosporium, and maybe bacteria)

but this proves it to me.

I don't know what mold was in the clinic/house but it smelled different than my

apartment. We washed our clothes and took showers when we got home. I told my

friend, " You have a mold problem in that house. " She said, " No I don't I fixed

it. " Hmmm. " I had a flood in the basement a few months ago and I put out mold

plates and we cleaned up everything and I put them out again and there was no

more mold. " Totally false. It's probably growing on the drywall or in the wall

cavities or floor. But since nobody there seems to be particularly allergic I

guess it's not my business.

>

> , I'm know not to look for stachy in mold plates, but other mold. In my

house I didn't have stachy but a problem with aspergillus. I have immune system

problem so alot of any kind of mold is troublesome. I'm so sensitive to mold,

I'm sure I would know if a place was so moldy as to have stachy without doing a

test from looking for evidence of past maintenance issues, condition of

building, odor, etc, because where there is stachy there is lots of other mold

and bacteria.

[Guest guest]

The predominant fungus that was in my house was aspergillus 'flavus' and my

symptoms mirrored it. Aspergillus Flavus has a spore too large to cause lung

infection as it is large enough for lung to filter out, but causes havoc with

skin and I have the scars to show it and puts out toxins which can cause cancer,

which I have had. It took while for me to put all this together as most people

with problems with aspergillus have lung problems as Aspergillus Fumagus (sp?)

is a smaller spore that can infect lung. This made it hard to get diagnosed by

even by mold aware doctors as they first looked your respiratory system. I

couldn't figure out why the disconnect until I came across an article about

Aspergillus Flavus which sounded like it was describing me and my symptoms to a

tee and remembering seeing it as the predominant mold on my own tests with

plates I got from Dallas environmental center that identifies to the species, or

tries to at least. Anyway, with that said, with fumagus (sp?), take care of

your lungs!!!

I have to laugh at your statement that you feel like a dog with your heightened

sense of smell. I do too! It's been there all along, the odors, but I used to

ignore them. Now I don't and that is the difference. People don't any longer

know what fresh air smells like. We have gotten used to " common indoor odors " .

They should be paid attention to but we have learned to ignore them. Afterall

everyon else is.

It reminds me of when that huge wave engulfed a coastline area and most of the

people there were killed but the animals weren't because they had already

evacuated the area due to ground vibrations and sounds. That's because animals

still used all their 'senses' and we have learned to ignore them and instead get

information from a newspaper or television or each other instead of using our

senses. Tsunami, the word I was looking for. All the animals in the area were

okay, they took off way ahead of it coming to shore.

So my feeling is you aren't smelling something that they aren't, you're just

paying attention to it. I have examples that illustrate this but won't go into

them here.

--- In , " cocopollyphenol " <cocopollyphenol@...>

wrote:

>

> I think I have the same (aspergillus fumigatus actually).

> I went to my friend's clinic on Saturday--out in Riverhead. She renovated a

cute house. As soon as I walked in I smelled mold. Not the same mold as in my

place (which smells slightly musty esp in the closets; and which I was somewhat

masked to, but when I left for two weeks I could smell it distinctly when I came

back). I looked around and nobody else--patients nor staff seemed aware yet the

smell was so obvious to me. I feel like a dog sometimes with my acute sense of

smell. Everybody else was oblivious--and nobody seemed to be suffering health

effects.

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Barb. I have lyme so I really don't handle my mold sensitivities well at

all...

I do have asthma from the mold, and sinusitis/ear pressure etc.

These are the symptoms that got better when I went away for two weeks (and I

wasn't doing 'radical' mold avoidance, and I brought my clothes and some bedding

with me):

1) Severity of asthma--got much better

2) Irregular heartbeats (get worse when wheezing)

3) Sinusitis/ear pressure improved

4) Weirdly--incessantly cracking toe joints and periodic cracks in other joints

went away. I seem to crack my toes a lot--like there's a pressure buildup

5) Depression lifted

6) Toxic agitation went away

7) Numb hands went sleeping (hands 'fall asleep') went away

I hope to move--this has been in process for quite a while and the endeavor is

overwhelming a total life change for me and my bf.

I'm not sure if I can pull it off and in what time frame as I have MCS too so

finding a place without mold and chemicals is quite challenging...

But anyway, I have to figure out at that point what to take with. No upholstery,

no beds etc. I have some hard furniture and a glass/metal desk, container store

(enamelled metal) drawers, etc. Will be taking the computers. Probably leave the

tv (I somehow have a suspicion tv's can harbor mold spores.) My wool blankets--I

think airing in the sun will suffice. But since I felt so much better even

though I took a pillow and blankets...I figure secondary exposure will not be

too bad. But I really don't know.

The other thing is--mold is everywhere, my friend's house/clinic has serious

mold...and while we were away, everything was fine except one b & b which had a

horrible mold problem and we left at 2 a.m.

There were at least 80 reviews of this b & b on TripAdvisor and not one person

complained about the mold. So really, most people seem not to notice! Amazing!

As you say, they may smell it. But if they don't get sick from it what do they

care.

>

> , with that said, with fumagus (sp?), take care of your lungs!!!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

They do smell it. They just don't know it. I went to check into a hotel. I

came back to desk and asked to see another room because my room had an odor to

it. They apologized, sent a man with me to help me move from there to one of a

few empty rooms they had. The man said he didn't smell anything when he entered

but when I got to room I had chosen, he said " it does smell fresher here " ,

sooooo he DID smell something after all.

Another time, in my own house before fixing problem here I decided to try to

create positive air pressure so air leakage from wall wouldn't come into room

until house repairs were done. In an air leaky house, that isn't easy. This is

a little complicated if you haven't read about air pressure in house before BUT

I decided to put those plastic air seals on windows that you buy for winter

insulation with hair drier, AND some other things..won't go into here. Anyway,

I asked a couple people to help me and they said 'your house doesn't smell'.

Other person said the same thing. We did whole first floor and then we did

about a third of the second floor and then one of them said, " you know, it DOES

smell better in here now. I can tell the difference " and the other one agreed,

so they DID smell something! You see... they smell something but they were

ignoring it or had become used to it. These stories times many, many times

over. I've come to realize people DO smell things like I do, they just ignore

it and I know I used to also.

--- In , " cocopollyphenol " <cocopollyphenol@...>

wrote:

>

> Thanks Barb. I have lyme so I really don't handle my mold sensitivities well

at all...

> I do have asthma from the mold, and sinusitis/ear pressure etc.

> These are the symptoms that got better when I went away for two weeks (and I

wasn't doing 'radical' mold avoidance, and I brought my clothes and some bedding

with me):

>