What mold has done to me

[Guest guest]

Hi

I'm new to the group and excited that I will be able to talk to people who will

actually know and understand what I am talking about!

I have been chronically ill my entire adult life and have not been able to work

since I was 25. Four and a half years ago I became bedridden for a while and had

to move in with my parents in an area where I didn't really know many people.

After years of searching for an answer to my health problems I amazingly found

out what was wrong with me six months after becoming bedridden: systemic fungus

(candida) overgrowth. I thought I had found all the answers when I learned that.

It finally explained everything I had been suffering, and tied together all the

many diagnoses I had received over the years. But I had to learn one more thing

the hard way. Mold aggravates fungus overgrowth, and how!

Last year after weeks of unknowingly sleeping on a moldly foam mattress before I

discovered it I started becoming very reactive to things in my environment. At

first it was just the swamp cooler, which had never been a problem before. Then

it was other things, and it escalated to a point where I couldn't be in the

house at all without reacting severely. I lived outdoors for 6 weeks (thankfully

it was spring). I was too sick to travel to see either my health professional,

or my naturopathic doctor, both of which lived 3 hours away. Finally I got help

from both of them over the phone and stopped reacting and could get back in the

house.

Later that fall I started to suspect I was being exposed to mold again because I

was handling less and less probiotics yet again. Soon I couldn't take it anymore

at all without severe nerve symptoms. But where was the mold? I found out this

year when I accidentally tipped a glass of water over on the windowsill right by

my bed and started smelling mold. It was there from years of having plants in

the window and water now and then running underneath and being trapped there.

So this last spring the reactions began again, and other serious problems worse

than before. I was so sensitive and intolerant I couldn't even eat fruit or

vegetables without severe nerve symptoms, and I didn't realize for a long time

that I needed to be doing the same things as last year to gain tolerance.

I finally got moved out of the room and this time was able to find a health

professional an hour away and go there for help. By then it was summer and I was

still reacting all the time to the swamp cooler and even my unscented detergent.

And a new problem caused me an even worse nightmare situation. My mom's

breathing problems finally necessitated she use a nebulizer, but I was so

reactive to the medicine she had to stop using it. Later she tried an inhaler to

see if that would be better but it was worse. What to do? She couldn't just

struggle for breath all the time. So again I was living outdoors, getting even

more mold exposure from the night air. I needed a new place to live.

By then it was fall and getting cold and occasionally raining. How would I find

a safe place before winter in an area where I didn't really know anyone? My

brother and sister-in-law had moved near us to help us, but their house has mold

issues (old leaky mobile home, this rural area is mostly mobiles) and they

didn't believe what I told them about the fungus and the mold and my reactions.

They wanted me to see a mental health professional! I finally did to get some

peace, and of all things I didn't expect, she was instrumental in helping them

see that I needed a new place to live! What a blessing!

My sister-in-law started helping right away and found me a place to live with a

friend. I reacted in her house at first to detergents, cleaning products,

fragrances, etc, but she wanted so much to help me and cleared out everything I

was reacting to. Wow! What another awesome blessing! I also got mold testing

done so I know what rooms I can safely be in. Good thing too, one room had

elevated levels. I am ever so slowly gaining tolerance, but have a long way to

go.

Looking back I started remembering when I first began to be exposed to elevated

levels of mold (that I know about) 9 years ago. It finally explained why I

suddenly became so sensitive to medicines, herbs, and anything that affected my

nervous system, and how the continuous exposure to molds from one thing or

another, or place, finally caused me to become reactive to so many things in my

environment.

I am hoping now that I can continue to keep safe from elevated levels of mold,

continue my treatment which is footbaths (can only handle 1 minute at a time,

sheesh) to remove the toxins (I know about intestinal, liver and kidney

cleansing, and have done lots in the past, but my body just can't handle that

right now), antifungals, flora, vitamins, minerals, etc, so I can finally gain

tolerance and health again.

I know this was long, so thanks for listening. :-)