Fungus Among Us

Where I live in the land of no sun and overabundance of rain, mold is taken for granted. It infiltrates our lives living in the walls and basements of our homes, wafting through our car's heating system, floating in the air, and buried in the dirt. If I don't wash my van a few times each winter, green fungus-y growth can be seen in the outside seams of metal. Lovely. Our environment is so saturated with mold that state real estate laws were changed regarding disclosure statements. It doesn't matter if your home is crawling with the fungi, and no one cares if you disclose it because they won't be allowed to sue anyway. It's assumed if your house is located here, it's moldy. Everyone's house is moldy. That's life. Get used to it. Mold is our official state...flower? Animal? Is there such a thing as an official state environmental health problem?

Since I've lived here most of my life, I have a history of mold exposure. It's always fun to watch the eyes of a new doctor light up when I start confessing the highlights of my life: the basement of my family home used to flood every winter, I grew up around apple trees and my sensitivity tests claim an intolerance to apple mold, I lived in Arizona for a short time and I've tested positive for molds that grow in air conditioners, and right around the time my chemical sensitivity began disabling me I was living in a basement apartment with carpeting from the 1970s. Just saying basement apartment and holistic health practitioners get very excited.

Although conventional allergy testing rated me negative for mold, I don't know if it really matters in terms of danger.  There are thousands of different kinds of molds. Which molds did they test me for?  I never take the information from any doctor at face value.  Do you really need to be formally allergic to mold for it to affect your health?

One of my neighbors has never had allergies of any kind throughout his life, but his sinuses and lungs have been messed up since moving to the state of mold. His house is very old and wasn't very well cared for. He has since repaired it, rebuilt parts of it, and after getting rid of the water-rotten wood and termites, it all dried out so he claims there shouldn't be a mold problem. While inspecting the thick layer of dust on his computer I replied, "So you DRIED the mold and it is now AIRBORNE? Floating around like toxic dust?"  The furrows appearing on his forehead betrayed his confidence. Breathing for him has become uncomfortable for sure, but he's pretty lucky. At least he's not dying from it. Yet.

I knew a woman who's newly-constructed house came down with a bad case of black mold. Before she realized what was happening, all her pets died mysteriously, one after the other. The house was eventually condemned, unable to even be sold and her family after losing everything moved into a tiny apartment. Shortly after that her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she died from ovarian cancer about a year later. She was only in her thirties.

So, I am properly afraid of mold. I should have seen the signs when I considered buying this house but I was so eager to get out of that basement apartment, I wasn't thinking rationally. First, there were air fresheners all over. Normally, I would walk away from any house that had air fresheners, but for some reason I held my mask tightly to my face and didn't run. The laundry room had walls removed and the floor removed down to plywood. I figured someone must have been remodeling. I justified purchasing this house because there were no obvious signs: no black fuzz crawling up the wall, no drips, no visible water leaks, the crawlspace didn't smell either. I had seen all manner of mold infestations in my very, very long search for a new home.  This house looked awesome in comparison, even with the air fresheners. I told the house inspector of my mold concerns and he said, "I don't know why people worry about mold. Mold is good for you!" I should have fired him on the spot, but I was desperate to get out of the basement apartment. And I really loved the house.

On purchase, I immediately removed the air fresheners and got a closer look at everything. I could smell the mustiness. Oh god, what have I done? I assumed it was the heating system that I found out hadn't worked for years and yeah, I got under the house and animals had made nests out of the heat vents. This was another clue I missed since lack of heat during the winter would have created a whole lot of dampness. I later found out the house was unoccupied for a few years, too. Who knows what can happen when tenants aren't there to watch over a house? I went to work eradicating the problem: spraying the whole crawlspace with Four Thieves Oil (herbal stinky stuff, but tolerable), re-covering the ground under the house with thick plastic, getting the heating system fixed, replacing the missing walls, having all the plumbing inspected, redoing the floors, fixing the rain gutters, and re-roofing the whole house. No more musty smells and I felt safe and secure. It worked.

Or did it?

Since I've been in this house I been in a constant state of fatigue. Every doctor I've seen is quick to assume any fatigue must be my thyroid, but thyroid medications don't help. My thyroid labs aren't really bad enough to cause these symptoms and the Kharrazian diet hasn't improved my energy on any level. In fact, nothing seems to work. During the spring and summer months when everything warms up I experience periods of exhaustion on top of the fatigue. Mold loves wet and damp, but warmth enables it to grow and spread.

My early theories were mold. I had an online chemically sensitive acquaintance from California who told me when she visited her friend in the moldy state she could smell the mold in the yard. Another chemically sensitive person said she was tested for dirt mold and came up positive. This got me thinking.  If it were thyroid, I'd be tired in the winter when the weather is cold.  Instead, it's seasonal during the warmer months, when the environment begins to heat.

In addition to the fatigue and exhaustion, about three years ago I started experiencing burning. It started at the back of my head, crawled up and over my head and down through my body. It's constant. I've been to many doctors and no one seems to have any idea. I've read a few possible theories online, but most information comes back to MOLD. Mold keeps popping up. Mold, mold, mold.

Is there a connection between mold and chemical sensitivity? Did the mold in the basement apartment contribute to my overexposure? Has continued mold exposure in my current house kept me from healing or detoxing adequately?  

So what to do?

There are diets that lower your yeast/fungus levels but that involves giving up fruits which are naturally moldy and I'm not sure I want to do that since the foods I can eat at this point are so limited. Besides, I really don't think if you live with mold as a roommate changing your diet is really going to make a difference.

I think the best plan is to move...easier said than done in this economy...but eventually. Where to go? Is there really any place that is safe?

I've heard Colorado doesn't have mold.