A Visit to TWO moldy libraries...

[Guest guest]

....one was a " Health Sciences " library! The whole basement reeked of

mold and made me sick. The other was a new Law library. It was the

lobby that you had to go through to get to the law library that was

the issue, it had large potted plants with mold in them.

Thanks for your patience as I try to understand the nuances of

dealing with this affliction. So, say I had clothes which were

apparently " mold contaminated " by my wearing them to my workplace,

which is the place that made me sick. Then, I either 1) replaced

those clothes with new clothes, 2) washed them in borax, or 3) washed

them six times with bleach, depending on how strict a person is being

about avoiding toxin exposure. Next, I went to the library once and

unwittingly exposed myself to mold, or went to a friend's place and

realized I was exposed to mold there, or to a place of business and

got a whiff of mold...you know what I'm talking about. Well, are

these NEW clothes (and the papers I had at the library) now " mold

contaminated " as well from this one exposure and now I need to throw

these clothes and papers out and start all over? If that's what is

required to stay healthy, then how are we supposed to live?

Signed: Get Rid of Mold

[Guest guest]

I don’t quite understand the full effects of cross-contamination either. My

employer just terminated me because I wouldn’t return to the office to

work – the landlord’s inspector just did a retest and the mold spores

outside are higher than inside, but now stachy appeared on there, so I

refused to return to the building. I went on an interview last week and the

minute I walked in the building I could smell it. It was very faint though.

I did the interview and they said they would be moving the office in August,

so when they called me back for a second interview on Friday, I went back.

Ugh!! The smell was even worse and nearly knocked me on my butt! Even

going up in the elevator to the 2nd floor was horrible. I had bought new

clothes for my interviews too. By the time I left the interview this time,

I had sinus pressure building up. Even though they plan to move in a month,

I won’t be able to accept a position with this company because I can’t put

myself through that. But, I can’t afford to keep buying new clothes either.

:-(

[Guest guest]

I guess you won't be training that replacement after all, then. (You're such a

meanie!) Hope you find a new gig soon!

I have noticed that I go through periods of higher sensitivity. That is, I find

certain locations tolerable for shorter or longer periods of time. That may or

may not be related to spore counts and toxin levels going up and down in those

particular locations. For one thing, all my internal regulation of inflammation

and response is already busted. I catch strong hits and move away from them, but

lesser amounts of mold presence are unreliable. Some days, Big Whammy. Others, I

sail right through.

So, there are just too many variables to make a bold statement about it. Things

outside me change, and things inside me change, too. Plus, there's the delay

factor, which makes it tough to track a response directly to any one item or

place sometimes. Ask one of the MCS people, and they'd probably freak right out

at what they might perceive as a totally lax attitude on my part. Ask a " normal "

person (should you ever encounter one : ) and they'd probably swear I'm a

paranoid nutcase. Most of us have to try to live somewhere between the two

extremes. I do think you have to take laundry and cleaning seriously, but trust

your own reactions and instincts. It's impossible to practice extreme avoidance

and simultaneously lead anything like a normal life. You can really only work at

improving your own awareness of your reactivity and then act according to that.

( " Use the fungdar, Luke. " )

Serena

www.freeboards.net/index.php?mforum=sickgovernmentb

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[Guest guest]

--- In , SERENA EDWARDS <pushcrash@y...>

wrote:

>It's impossible to practice extreme avoidance and simultaneously lead

>anything like a normal life. You can really only work at improving

>your own awareness of your reactivity and then act according to that.

>( " Use the fungdar, Luke. " )

>

Well, I'd have to agree this statement, but the flip side is that

living with toxicity is not a normal life either.

I lived a fairly gypsy existance for years in my previous lifestyle as

an adventure sport bum, and this helped me with my acceptance of the

" Avoidance Lifestyle " . The skills for car camping can be learned to

make this a very pleasant experience comparative to the hell of

biotoxin illness.

Avoidance is a key aspect to understanding your mycotoxicity. For our

readers in the Northern hemisphere, summer is the time to take time

and get outside to gauge your reactions. People tell me all the time

they are too sick to camp. The unfortunate truth is they are too sick

too live in most structures. This can be changed, but through self

awareness of your condition.

As Serena said, once you understand what exposures do to you, then

addressing treatment protocols like Cholestyramine is much more

effective, as you can gauge improvement in known circumstances.

Lee