Re: Some questions about heat tolerance, mold, leaving

[Guest guest]

Well, now I have to nix the dizzy = heat intolerance idea. I am icredibly dizzy

and the heat and humidity are both way down. Just thought I should add that...a

log is not a bad idea.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 15, 2010, at 7:52 PM, " advocate_now " <advocate_now@...> wrote:

Hello all,

I posted my story awhile ago, but realized my full name was showing up, which

made me uncomfortable, so now I've joined with an anonymous email. If you

remember my real name, please don't use it.

I have had some questions that I've been dying to ask that I can ask now.

So I posted about how there is a ton of mold in the basement of my building and

that the condo association voted to remediate it but not fix the moisture

issues. The moisture issues are from negative sloping around the foundation:

rain has come in, and then, too, in the spring, I think, snow melts and dumps

into the storage areas.

I do not go into the basement at all anymore. I can go into the front of the

building and avoid the basement altogether. However, this isn't a tight

building, as it was built over 80 years ago. So I'm not sure how mold works--if

it can float up to a unit through the stairwell. I know that before we realized

there was a problem, we would walk from the basement into our unit, sometimes

with shoes on. Is it possible that there is mold from the basement that has come

into the unit though I can't see it? One of the molds I am allergic to is

penicillium, which as Dr. Thrasher will know, and I'm sure many of you, too, is

found in wet basements.

The other thing I am wondering about, since the heat intolerance discussion, is

if some of my symptoms are from the heat. I used to have a house (oh boy, I wish

I still had it! I had made it a chemical-free environment where mold was

non-issue for me--but the entire roof collapsed and the rebuild made the

mortgage impossible for us to maintain) with central AC. I remember that on hot

days, when I would walk to my job, I would be dizzy after.

I have been generally weak and dizzy and spacey. My top-floor vintage condo unit

has been an oven. The window AC only sort of cools it down, and there are many

days I have spent sweating. So I'm starting to wonder if the mold is not really

causing every symptoms. Sure, the sinusitis, sure the weeping, nose problems,

etc., and more importantly, the lung inflammation, but I'm not sure about

everything. I know I feel better when I leave. I feel best when I am in a cooled

environment (that's the other thing--humidity makes all my symptoms worse--so

probably at that point, I am reacting to outdoor mold as much to my friend the

indoor penicillium). I guess I am puzzling through all of this because leaving

is going to cause a financial disaster. We have almost no money in the bank and

would end up foreclosing. This would only affect my husband's credit, as he is

the one on the bank note, but he's also the one with income. So good luck to us

to get any

affordable loans in the near future.

We don't have friends and family to take us in. And I'm not sure where we would

go next. Every rental I've seen seems fraught with potential to make me sick. I

am hypersensitive to natural gas (heck, I just lived through nine gas leaks in

the basement) and every place has a gas stove. There's always, always the

potential for moisture or mold. If we left, then wherever we chose to stay, we'd

have to stay for a couple years, as our credit will be in the toiler. Right now,

we could leave and, as far as any landlord knew, we'd have perfect credit.

It's just really hard when you don't have money to start over or to go get fancy

medical treatment.

I love the story about living in the car (camping?) all over the U.S. I am

getting a very small settlement from a car accident. If I could focus long

enough to make a plan, I would map out forests I could stay in in the next

several months until the market picked up and my husband could sell the condo

with full disclosures.

Any thoughts on any of the above?

Casey

[Guest guest]

I bought 2 books that I highly recommend - Don 's Guide to Free Camping

Western Edition & Don 's Guide to Free Camping Eastern Edition. Before

every state listed is a crude map of the state w/ numbers where the campsites

are. It lists ones that WERE under $10 when the book was written too. The free

ones with no facilities (just public land) were the least toxic of course &

where I stayed until I need to do laundry under a spigot. I learned how to take

a shower with gallon water jugs heated in the sun but still had to druve for the

water. There is also a book that lists Walmarts & another that lists ones that

do not allow overnight parking. I bought another, buried in the truck in the

dark at the moment, that lists TA Travel Centers & the like where you can pay a

fee to take a shower. The TA's clean only with scalding water & the towels don't

stink ! I was still afraid to use them because of possible masking fragrance.

The gasoline is the biggest expense -to & from shopping more often if you don't

have room, to drive away from toxins & to leave unbearable heat or cold. 2 x I

found non-stinky washing machines at a campground. If you're not too sensitive &

find one that allows extended stays you're home free. Many years ago I camped at

one with RV's that were permanently set up - picket fences & gardens and all.

don't know if you can handle this but all campgrounds offer a permanent camping

sopt with no pay & unlities paid for the campground hosts, Some require

groundkeeping & hard work but some only want someone to insure admission fees

are paid. Check workamper.com for this.

I managed, rather miserably sometimes, in a SUV. A van would be pretty awesome.

>

> Hello all,

>

> I posted my story awhile ago, but realized my full name was showing up, which

made me uncomfortable, so now I've joined with an anonymous email. If you

remember my real name, please don't use it.

>

> I have had some questions that I've been dying to ask that I can ask now.

>

> So I posted about how there is a ton of mold in the basement of my building

and that the condo association voted to remediate it but not fix the moisture

issues. The moisture issues are from negative sloping around the foundation:

rain has come in, and then, too, in the spring, I think, snow melts and dumps

into the storage areas.

>

> I do not go into the basement at all anymore. I can go into the front of the

building and avoid the basement altogether. However, this isn't a tight

building, as it was built over 80 years ago. So I'm not sure how mold works--if

it can float up to a unit through the stairwell. I know that before we realized

there was a problem, we

[Guest guest]

Until your HOA address the water intrusion issue mold will always be a problem

in your complex unfortunately it effects you more the the other tenants. If I

were you I'd start asking your neighbors if they've been feeling sick lately,

headache, dizziness, balance problems basically the same symptoms your

experiencing.

There's a good possibility that your condo has been cross contaminated which

means your belongings possibly have mold spores on them, if that's the case

there's a good chance that whatever you wear may also effect you.

Have you talked to an attorney? The one thing I found out about attorneys and

mold no matter how strong your case appears unless you have the money very few

will take it only because mold cases are so hard to prove and can be extremely

expensive.

Lastly if I were you I'd get out of your condo ASAP and find temporary housing.

There may be a time that you could possibly go back but for the time being I'd

find a safe place to live. If you do decide to move just to be on the safe side

take nothing with you, buy some cheap clothes, when you get to your new

residence before you even sit down take a trash bag in the shower with you, take

a shower and put your contaminated clothes in the trash back and tie it up. Buy

Nizoral or another antifungal for your hair, mold spores love to stick to hair.

>

> Hello all,

>

> I posted my story awhile ago, but realized my full name was showing up, which

made me uncomfortable, so now I've joined with an anonymous email. If you

remember my real name, please don't use it.

>

> I have had some questions that I've been dying to ask that I can ask now.

>

> So I posted about how there is a ton of mold in the basement of my building

and that the condo association voted to remediate it but not fix the moisture

issues. The moisture issues are from negative sloping around the foundation:

rain has come in, and then, too, in the spring, I think, snow melts and dumps

into the storage areas.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Tug,

There are three other units and so three other owners. One rents out her unit to

a guy who travels all the time. Another left a couple of weeks ago, moved out;

she is trying to sell her unit. She has asthma and it did seem to get worse as

the summer went on. The third is not sick, I don't think--but she lived through

nine gas leaks. Then again, she's dumber than a bag of nails so she may be more

affected than she thinks. I'm the one that's here all the time--at first because

I am a writer, or was trying to be, and then because the sicker I got the more I

was/am in bed, though I know it makes it worse in the long run. My doctor just

confirmed what I've known all summer: that I have a ton of fluid in my ears.

Probably why I am so dizzy.

I did talk to two attorneys. Both told me this could all get very expensive. One

did say that he could do a partial cobtigency, but that I'd have to pay a

retainer and any expenses (e.g. mold forensics).

It just hurts to be going through this after what we went through with our last

house.

I don't have enough energy--as it is, I have CFS and mild to moderate CFS. And I

don't know where to go. Vintage buildings will jus be more of the

same--difficult to dry out in the tropical summer, heated with gas heat in the

freezing winter. There is a new apartment development I would have loved to try,

as it uses some green technology--plywood sheathing and low VOC paint, but it

was being built all through the major rains. Plus, all these companies use cheap

metal frame windows that do not hold heat--and so water condenses all over them

in the winter. I saw a review on another property this company owns that

mentioned this. And I was in an apartment briefly that had this trouble in

spades. Actual ICE on the interior window frames, a lot of it, which would melt

and then refreeze. It makes me shudder to think of it.

So some of this reluctance to get out is really despair that anything better

exists. I know we can't afford to both rent a place and pay the bills on this.

And we put most of our meager savings into a downpayment.

Thanks,

Casey

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 16, 2010, at 10:02 AM, " Tug " <tug_slug@...> wrote:

Until your HOA address the water intrusion issue mold will always be a problem

in your complex unfortunately it effects you more the the other tenants. If I

were you I'd start asking your neighbors if they've been feeling sick lately,

headache, dizziness, balance problems basically the same symptoms your

experiencing.

There's a good possibility that your condo has been cross contaminated which

means your belongings possibly have mold spores on them, if that's the case

there's a good chance that whatever you wear may also effect you.

Have you talked to an attorney? The one thing I found out about attorneys and

mold no matter how strong your case appears unless you have the money very few

will take it only because mold cases are so hard to prove and can be extremely

expensive.

Lastly if

[Guest guest]

I meant to say " CFS and mild to moderate MCS " --Dr. Thrasher, do you have any

thoughts? Thanks.

On Aug 17, 2010, at 12:28 AM, Advocate_Now <advocate_now@...> wrote:

Hi Tug,

There are three other units and so three other owners. One rents out her unit to

a guy who travels all the time. Another left a couple of weeks ago, moved out;

she is trying to sell her unit. She has asthma and it did seem to get worse as

the summer went on. The third is not sick, I don't think--but she lived through

nine gas leaks. Then again, she's dumber than a bag of nails so she may be more

affected than she thinks. I'm the one that's here all the time--at first because

I am a writer, or was trying to be, and then because the sicker I got the more I

was/am in bed, though I know it makes it worse in the long run. My doctor just

confirmed what I've known all summer: that I have a ton of fluid in my ears.

Probably why I am so dizzy.

I did talk to two attorneys. Both told me this could all get very expensive. One

did say that he could do a partial cobtigency, but that I'd have to pay a

retainer and any expenses (e.g. mold forensics).

It just hurts to be going through this after what we went through with our last

house.

I don't have enough energy--as it is, I have CFS and mild to moderate CFS. And I

don't know where to go. Vintage buildings will jus be more of the

same--difficult to dry out in the tropical summer, heated with gas heat in the

freezing winter. There is a new apartment development I would have loved to try,

as it uses some green technology--plywood sheathing and low VOC paint, but it

was being built all through the major rains. Plus, all these companies use cheap

metal frame windows that do not hold heat--and so water condenses all over them

in the winter. I saw a review on another property this company owns that

mentioned this. And I was in an apartment briefly that had this trouble in

spades. Actual ICE on the interior window frames, a lot of it, which would melt

and then refreeze. It makes me shudder to think of it.

So some of this reluctance to get out is really despair that anything better

exists. I know we can't afford to both rent a place and pay the bills on this.

And we put most of our meager savings into a downpayment.

Thanks,

Casey

Sent from my iPhone