I think my house made my infant terribly ill

[Guest guest]

Hi. I am not a physician or a researcher, so take my words for what they

are worth. But yes. It COULD be mold, or it COULD be something else in the

house, or it COULD be not environmentally related at all. Although from what

you write, I would be inclined to highly suspect the indoor home environment

as a cause. Maybe mold. Maybe something else. If there is a mold problem, it

would be a logical suspect. So know that you are not crazy to think this. It

is widely recognized that infants are at high risk from mold exposure

indoors.

Just like if your child was having a food allergy, you have to do some

investigating to understand what environmental illness may be causing your

child's

problem, if it is environmental. You have to tease it out. The first thing

would be to determine if the home is the cause of illness. Take the baby

away for a few weeks and see if he does better. Bring him back for a day and

see if he does worse. If you can tell a difference, then it is probably the

home environment.

If it is, then the next step would be to try and determine what aspect of

the environment causes the symptoms. (and keep the baby out of there) For

that, you would need an environmental building investigator. The Indoor Air

Quality Association is the org known to have reputable members that could help

you with a residential situation.

Good luck to you and your family,

Sharon K

(http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-980)

In a message dated 1/15/2009 11:58:16 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,

life4christian@... writes:

Hello everyone I just joined this group yesterday. I think this might

be a long shot for our problem with our son but from the things I

have been reading you never know. Here goes....

[Guest guest]

life4christian,

You have come to a good place for your questions. There are lots

of people here who have vast experience and great wisdom.

The biggest issue overall is our lack of literacy that houses can,

and do, affect us.

Our biggest difficulty is to protect ourselves even when we don't

know anymore than you do - that you son becomes fine when out

of the house and reverts upon returning.

Do you need to know exactly what it is that is the cause before

you act? Does it make at difference at this point whether it is

mold or bacteria or chemicals or something else? Protect your

son first, then figure it all out if you still need to. If you can't

identify or remove " whatever " is in the house then you must

remove yourself from " whatever " it is.

Because you mentioned nearby refineries and shipping, if may be

the location more than the house itself. (Or the combination). So

pay attention to where you go when your son gets better. Same

area or different outdoor exposures?

This is a simplification of your dilemma but sometimes the first

(and most effective) response should be no more than just

stopping the exposure. Your observation indicates this to be true.

Other factors such as job location, money, mortgage crisis,

family, etc complicate how it can be done.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

>

> Hello everyone I just joined this group yesterday. I think this might

> be a long shot for our problem with our son but from the things I

> have been reading you never know. Here goes....

>

> About 3 years ago my husband and I bought and older home built in the

> 70's. At the time it was just the two of us and our small dog. A few

> months after we moved in our dog started to have seizures and

> breathing issues. We took him to the vet and they stated that it was

> normal that some dogs just had issues like that(so we thought). This

> was just the beginning of our nightmare.

>

> Through out the years in the house I would get headaches on and off

> and recently its been alot of them. But in 2007 I got pregnant with

> our son, I had him a month early because I was always sick. He was

> born healthy and developed normally until 3 months he started having

> seizures too! In March 2008 he was 4 months and spent a whole month

> in the hospital, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't look at us, wouldn't

> smile, he was basically a ragdoll. The doctors couldn't give us any

> explanation as to why he developed seizures or asthma or lost all his

> developmental milestones. In March my gut feeling as a mom told me

> that it was something in my house because what were the odds of my

> dog moving in and started having seizures and now my son develops

> seizures and other issues! It's about to be a year and my son is

> 15months old and he is still having seizures and trying to catch up

> on his milestones. The doctors in two childrens hospitals still have

> no explanation to all of his illnesses. But the odd thing is that

> everytime we leave the house for a week or two he does great and

> learns something new like to sit or stand and even crawl! He hasn't

> learned anything when he is at home. Could it be mold or some sort of

> toxin causing him and my dog all these symptoms? or am I just going

> nuts? It's getting to the point where I just want to move out and

> find a new home far away from this ship channel where the refineries

> are and see if he does better with cleaner air and a new home. Please

> I would like some imput, I'm trying to do whats best for my son.

>

>

[Guest guest]

As others have suggested, your first task is to determine whether the house is

the source of the problem, which what you have described, seems likely. But

then, as Carl suggested, just what is the problem? I assume you have looked for

water intrusion. Mold grows on wet organic material. Are there water stains on

walls or ceilings? Have you looked in the attic? Does it smell, or do you see

mold? Is attic humidity high from insufficient or improperly designed venting?

How about carpet? Is it old? Is the house on a slab, crawl space or basement?

Crawl space houses can have mold down there which can enter the house. This is

particularly true if there is no vapor barrier on the crawl space floor, or if

water doesn't drain from around the house. The problem can be made worse if the

duct work runs through the crawl space and has leaks on the low pressure side.

Basements with leaks can grow mold. Even without leaks, basement relative

humidity is always higher than upstairs during summer, contributing to mold

growth. Ideally, you should always run a basement dehumidifier in summer.

Houses on slabs are now required to have water barriers under the concrete.

That was not so in the 1970's. If you have carpet in such a house, the

possibility of mold in the carpet padding, and maybe even the carpet, is very

high.

Does your house have replacement windows? Were they installed right? Improper

installation can lead to water intrusion into walls. Maybe not enough to see

stains, but enough to grow mold.

Do you run a furnace humidifier? These can be significant mold sources, and

generally aren't needed. Air conditioner drain pans can be similarly bad, and

need frequent cleaning and disinfection. Related to this is ductwork. Old

sheetmetal ducts can get dirty and have some mold growth, particularly if only

cheap fiberglass filters have been used. But far worse is fiberglass ductboard.

It has a far higher tendency to be a mold problem than sheet metal, plus it

cannot be cleaned. It must be replaced when contaminated.

All the above discusses mold, the problem source of many of us at this site.

Another possibility is overuse or misuse of pesticides. Many people freely

sprayed Real-kill or Raid for years, not realizing that the chlorpyrophos active

ingredeient breaks down very slowly indoors, and is cumulative, and is a

neurotoxin, as well as an irritant and poison. Older homes also might have

chlordane or similar termite treatments. Malathione used to also be common for

professional exterminators. Any pesticides on the floor would affect a dog far

worse than human adults, since they are always sniffing around, and children who

are crawling can be similarly affected. There have also been reports of

improperly applied pesticides being injected into floor cavities used as cold

air returns.

So, yes houses can cause health issues, and must be suspected if nothing else

is determined to be the problem source. And don't discount fumes from the nearby

industries. Good luck in determining the problem source, and hopefully

eliminating it.

Gil Vice

Posted by: " life4christian " life4christian@... Date: Thu Jan 15, 2009

11:57 am ((PST)) Hello everyone I just joined this group yesterday.

[Guest guest]

It siynds like you have already deturmined it's something in the

house. I think you should remone yourself and the baby from there

asap. and look for a reliable co. to check out the home and do

testing. if they find anything. please dont go digging around looking

yourself or stirring anything up trying to clean it. do you have new

carpet that may be offgasing chemicaks? it may also be the padding

under the carpet that was absourbed moisture or a slow leak from

somewhere causeing mold growth. thinking of my own grandson who got

very ill from grawling around on my mold infested carpet and with

your dog also being so ill it sounds like it may be a problem close

to the floor or in the carpet. if you get sicker when you vaccum,

moldly carpet seems a probable cause. also crawl spsces under the

house and heating and cooling ducts are a bad combination. it may be

blowing out your vents. tc.

>

> As others have suggested, your first task is to determine whether

the house is the source of the problem, which what you have

described, seems likely.