Making Connections to Mold Sensitivity

June 30, 2008

The last six months or so I've been making, increasingly, connections

to my mold sensitivity. I'm not using my small bedroom at all, door

always closed, window open (as it smells musty like an attic, almost,

when I go in there, and as I had significant congestion issues when

sleeping in there, and generally, for the last 18 months, ever since

major demolition and leaks in our building)...and keeping bathroom

door closed (did have my grout mold analyzed and its cladosporium

(sp?) the common grout mold, can be allergenic but no

mycotoxins)...using camping mats at the moment, no bedding that can't

be washed, no upholstery, but did get my half of a wool mattress that

is FABULOUS, soft, cushy, another half is yet to come, and I haven't

put it together yet as I need to get a platform bed for it...

Anyway, some months ago I went to a reading at the 92nd Street Y in NY

and noticed the building smelled moldy. I was in the building for

about 3 hours total. I came home, noted that in my diary, and as I was

sitting there got an incredible horrible jaw pain that lasted about 20

minutes. For the next 2 days I was sick as a dog in bed, can't really

explain it and used to chalk this up to lyme but at the time I was

beginning to make connections and wondered about mold.

Yesterday I went to a Broadway theater Sunday Matinee, with

Freeman starring. As soon as I walked in the building, the doors were

open, the a/c was on, I smelled mold. I knew the entire building (both

the 92nd Sreet & and many theater buildings are old NY buildings that

probably have significant longstanding mold issues) was contaminated,

in fact the ducting system, as the a/c was blowing it around. By the

end of the performance, which I enjoyed, I had a headache and a very

dry mouth. Over the course of the night I developed a migraine and

just sort of lay sick in bed all day today sleeping it off and even

feeling slightly feverish.

I believe it's the mold! I am making the connections now I did not

make before even though I knew I was mold sensitive and in certain

homes infested with mold would get very ill, but I never really made

the connection to my own home or public places.

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