Re: cross contamination please help

December 30, 2009

>

> Rather than paint more doom and gloom into my life would you care to enlighten

us as to what you took into the new house the caused the cross contamination?

I hope this doesn't throw more confusion into the mix, but let me tell you how I

myself did it.

After I moved out of my moldy house, I spent some time trying out a few other

places. I left behind all my possessions and stayed out of buildings that

obviously were moldy, but otherwise I didn't do anything in particular. I call

this " moderate avoidance. "

I got only slightly better right away. But I'm not convinced that I'd have

started to feel much better right away even if I'd done the " tent in the

desert. " Someone I know told me that it took six months of acting like a " mold

maniac " before he got any better, for instance.

My sensitivity increased only a bit during this time. I did react to my car and

my little office, but a thorough cleaning of each made them tolerable.

I moved out in December and got an apartment in Chicago a few months later

(staying in interim places prior). I experienced a huge amount of detox over

the six months (into summer).

By June, I'd made a good bit of progress. My chemical sensitivities and food

sensitivities had gone away. I gradually moved from being in bed 18-22 hours a

day to being up and about for eight, lying on the couch for eight, and sleeping

(reasonably well) for eight. My cognitive functioning improved somewhat.

I wasn't well enough to go back to work, but it was a big improvement!

Then I did the " tent in the desert " sabbatical, getting my sensitivity way up.

When I went back to Chicago, I found the apartment that I was in to be

intolerable. I started having problems with things like laundry (meaning that I

had to hang them to dry rather than putting them through the dryer). A whole

lot of buildings were intolerable.

Then winter came. Cities are a LOT worse in winter, outdoor moldwise. I

decided that the city would be too hard to live in during the winter and thus

left.

At that point, I was pretty much fully functional (as long as I kept up the mold

avoidance). During the subsequent year, I've remained functional except for a

few " blips " when I've had unexpected big exposures from which I've had to

recover. I've been really careful not to let that happen much, and to beat a

quick retreat when it has.

During the two years since I left my house, my reactivity has gradually gone

down. This wouldn't have happened if I'd not been so careful as time goes on

and made a commitment to gradually decrease my exposures to the point where I

was well though.

I'm not convinced that the way I went on the journey was wrong for me. Just

getting out of the moldy house to a better-but-not-perfect place gave me a good

start toward wellness. Eventually when I got some strength and equilibrium

back, moving to a higher level of avoidance and wellness became possible.

If I'd done the " tent-in-the-desert " thing to start out with, my intensification

reaction would have been so high that I wouldn't have been able to handle a

better-but-not-perfect place. Then I'd have HAD to stay in the tent in the

desert for a long time, which wasn't something I was equipped to do at the time.

What I wish is that I'd not signed a lease and bought a lot of new possessions

when I was still in that " in-between " stage. A month-to-month lease, a camping

cot and some inexpensive easily washable clothes would have been perfectly fine

and saved a lot of money for me.

By all means, I'm not saying that this is the way that anybody else should do

this. It's just one possible option that (if it works) might provide some

breathing room.

Best,

December 30, 2009

Hi, Dave. I know you are getting a lot of good advice from the Sickbuildings

Group. You should also check out this website:

http://truthaboutmold.info

> > >

> > > Thank you ,

> > >

> > > Im not concerned about the townhouse because if worst comes to worst I'll

let the bank have it.

> > >

> > > The inspector I hired completely missed not one but two major water leaks

in the crawl space, one was a sewage leak that had been thought to be coming

from the sprinkling system 3 months prior to me reporting it and the HOA digging

out a 20 foot piece of cast iron pipe to stop the leak.When the HOA finally did

have the crawlspace remediated and I was still getting sick they told me they

had done all they could and if I wanted anymore testing done I would have to pay

for it myself which I did at the tune of $850.00.

> > >

> >

> > >

> >

>

December 31, 2009

Hi ,

Thanks for sharing, this is close to what we are doing not because it is

necessary optimal, but because it is doable. We have moved temporarily

from our moldy SF house and city to a short-term rental in Sedona AZ, I

picked this rental because the owner has some chemical and mold

sensitivities and it sounded about as clean a place as I could find site

unseen. We didn't discard all possessions, but don't have that many

possessions with us, we have air filters running 24/7, and my sick

family member is doing Dr. Gray's detox and nutritional protocol. So

far absolutely no improvement but it has been less than 2 months...we

shall see... It is hard for me to believe, that if mold is his primary

problem, that he will not see some improvement being in a much less

moldy environment along with internally detoxing, even if there is some

trace cross contamination, if he sees improvement, then maybe he will

self motivate to create a " clean room " environment for himself....

Sue

>

>>

>> Rather than paint more doom and gloom into my life would you care to

>enlighten us as to what you took into the new house the caused the cross

>contamination?

>

>I hope this doesn't throw more confusion into the mix, but let me tell

>you how I myself did it.

>

>After I moved out of my moldy house, I spent some time trying out a few

>other places. I left behind all my possessions and stayed out of

>buildings that obviously were moldy, but otherwise I didn't do anything

>in particular. I call this " moderate avoidance. "

>

December 31, 2009

>

> Hi ,

>

> Thanks for sharing, this is close to what we are doing not because it is

> necessary optimal, but because it is doable. We have moved temporarily

> from our moldy SF house and city to a short-term rental in Sedona AZ, I

> picked this rental because the owner has some chemical and mold

> sensitivities and it sounded about as clean a place as I could find site

> unseen. We didn't discard all possessions, but don't have that many

> possessions with us, we have air filters running 24/7, and my sick

> family member is doing Dr. Gray's detox and nutritional protocol. So

> far absolutely no improvement but it has been less than 2 months...we

> shall see... It is hard for me to believe, that if mold is his primary

> problem, that he will not see some improvement being in a much less

> moldy environment along with internally detoxing, even if there is some

> trace cross contamination, if he sees improvement, then maybe he will

> self motivate to create a " clean room " environment for himself....

>

> Sue

I'm really glad to hear that you're out of San Francisco. It's my understanding

that there are a lot of pockets of really horrible outdoor mold there. Nobody

could get well if they had even a bit of exposure to that stuff.

I liked the air in Sedona. The town itself is fine. The campgrounds in the

area are even better. So if you've found a decent living space, it seems to me

a really good start.

I'd make a really strong effort to get anything from the old house out of the

bedroom. And hopefully you've gotten rid of all clothing and bedding, at least

for your sick family member.

I'd encourage getting outside as often as possible.

It sounds to me like a good start anyway.

Best,

December 31, 2009

,

Well San Francisco probably does have a lot of outdoor mold because it

is damp and foggy a lot of the time plus near the ocean, but also the

houses are mostly old and most have seen water intrusion somewhere along

the line I imagine. We own our home so can not blame it on landlords,

and anyway I don't think we can totally throw the blame on landlords

because most of them are as clueless about the dangerous health effects

as we were before we or someone we know got extremely sick from it.

We had our house inspected at the time we bought it 20 years ago and

there was absolutely no discussion of mold, did not come on the radar

screen...

Thanks for your suggestions. Sue

>

>>

>I'm really glad to hear that you're out of San Francisco. It's my

>understanding that there are a lot of pockets of really horrible outdoor

>mold there. Nobody could get well if they had even a bit of exposure to

December 31, 2009