Well, that’s the thing, sara. I have a hard time determining which of my symptoms are from mold/mycotoxin exposure.
Something happened Tuesday at the house. My mom was trying on clothes she had bought at a store that’s probably moldy. We both started to have burning lips and gums (mold symptom) when she got those clothes out. She had them out in the garage but walked into the house with one outfit on. Right before trying on clothes, she also pulled her moldy car partway into the garage with the windows down. It started raining soon after, and I had her move it. I can’t stand her car and won’t go near it.
I had the burning from that point on (after
opening the bag of clothes she tried in) and then numbness in my face and back of head and neck. Been having a lot of burning and numbness in face, scalp, upper body ever since Tuesday.
On Wednesday, I still felt all that after getting up and walking around the house. I was pretty upset and feared that somehow the whole house had gotten cross-contaminated. I had the miserable back pain, too. That afternoon, I left the house, and the burning, numbness, and back pain all dissipated quickly after leaving the house and returned when I came back.
Yesterday, I had bad symptoms again but still went to the relative’s house to clean out more of our stuff. Even though I was lifting things, my back didn’t bother me at all, and I felt good while working and after leaving. Within minutes of getting home, the back pain, burning and numbness started up again.
I feel devastated. As much as I talk about
mold and try to help others, I am grossly incompetent in helping myself. I think my own cognitive impairment is partly to blame. Additionally, I can’t control what my mother does and doesn’t do and trying to keep her from doing things that could harm me or the house is like herding cats.
Even though I am recognizing a major change that started Tuesday, I have not had any symptom improvement since moving in, and the back pain started the first night we spent there. I had little back pain sleeping reclined in the front seat of my car since last July. Then the first night I stayed in the house, I tossed and turned all night in misery with awful low back pain.
I had bought a camping cot that has a 2” padded mattress. Two nights ago, I moved the pad onto the floor on top of a polyolefin pad. That helped my back some but makes my hips hurt. I need a bed, but I’m scared to buy one. Afraid nothing will work.
I haven’t ERMI tested the house yet since remediation. The mold dog came back and did a post inspection and determined no remaining sources, and I was able to come in the house without too much symptoms, although I never felt completely comfortable in the house. There were still some mild smells from new materials at first, but I don’t really smell anything now.
I could just be adapted to it and don’t notice things. Environmental exposure is really weird that way. Once you adjust to an environment, it’s super hard to detect problems unless you get away long enough and act like a detective when you return.
I just keep thinking about
all the times during the 3.5 years at the relative’s house when symptoms would increase or change and I would question if it was from mold. I was always hoping and trying to connect it to other things - a dosage or ncrease, a new supplement, a flare up due to hormone fluctuations. In reality, my first instinct (mold) was right. During the time I was there, her HERTSMI-2 went from 4 to 14 and asper/pen went from 90 to over 900.
Post Edited (WalkingbyFaith) : 6/27/2020 10:01:07 AM (GMT-6)