Gott: Mold can cause health problems even in a desert

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Gott: Mold can cause health problems even in a desert

Ventura County Star - Camarillo,CA*

Dr. Gott

Sunday, October 5, 2008

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/05/mold-can-cause-

health-problems-even-in-a-desert/

Dear Dr. Gott: I am responding to the person who coughed for six

months for no explainable reason. I had a hacking, dry cough and a

horrible headache for over a year while my doctor did test after

test and tried many treatments. I had no mucus drainage, no sore

throat and no visible evidence of illness. I got no relief with any

of the meds, including sinus headache pills. There was no diagnostic

reason for my cough, which continued to worsen day and night for one

year.

The doctor finally gave me ketoconazole 2 percent and ketoconazole

200-milligram tablets, which he said was treatment for mold. Within

three days, my headache stopped. It took nearly three weeks for my

cough to begin to subside. After this medicine worked, it was

decided I had mold growing in my sinuses. What a relief!

A specialist in mold treatment had diagnosed my husband with lung

mold growth two years earlier based on sputum tests. Before we got

the test results back and knew he had this problem, he died from

other causes. We lived in a moldy apartment for four years before

this developed. The mold was in the walls of the bedroom from a

previous water leak. We did not associate that mold with my problems

until two years later, when the ketoconozole worked to alleviate my

cough and headache.

Someone said, " You don't have mold in Arizona, " but that's not true.

Whenever water comes in contact with mold spores, they grow,

especially in a dark place like walls of buildings. I reported it to

various agencies, but no one acted on my information. I moved out of

the apartment in 2001. I don't believe there was ever anything done

to correct the problem. I believe it is still there and probably

worse now.

This information should be used to warn the public of this

potentially dangerous and hidden medical danger.

Dear reader: I am publishing your letter for general interest.

Arizona is the last place on Earth that I would expect significant

mold pollution, so I learned something interesting today.

— Questions may be sent to Dr. Gott in care of United Media

Services, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Those of

general interest will be answered in future columns.