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Why now am I reacting to mold?

Messages
18
The last two weeks have been pretty dreadful with a day or two of a serious crash. My main complaint is "mold". I found this charming nearly 100 year old farmhouse to rent. As my husband says "It's a dump", with hard work wonderful landlord I fixed it up pretty well.

We moved in May 2015 when I was healthy, by August I noticed I was having trouble going up the stairs and had less energy and strength. I assumed my SIBO was back, whilst waiting for insurance auth for rifaxamin I was treated with Cipro and my chronic diarrhea was gone! Then rifaxamin, my bloating was gone. My fatigue, weakness, leg muscle wasting continued to get worse. At first rains, November I developed sore throat, congestion, chronic cough, SOB, that lasted til February when rains stopped, humidity lowered and the temperature was warm.

In March my cpk was elevated 435 so we tried prednisone, doxyclcline to no avail By April I was on disability, Valtrex, LDN, and Prozac for EBV and Coxsackies B elevated titres. My energy is better, strength is better, but..... I am reacting to the mold in this old beloved farmhouse.

My symptoms are unusual, very heady affects my eyes first tension blurry, confusion, very foggy, inability to focus, weakness, lack of strength, numbness in feet. As soon as I leave bathroom or kitchen I can feel it subside, but the feeling lingers. My morning coffee or tea make the symptoms worse.

All of these symptoms I had in 2008! But i recovered to about 80%. I lived in a moldy house then and was very hypersensitve. I moved and over time my symptoms resolved.

I am trying to understand why am I reacting to this house NOW the way in which I do? Is it because of anti-virals? I don't see the house has changed but that I have. Have I been reacting to the mold all along with my other symptoms of fatigue and weakness? Is this ME/CFS or just a moldy old house with a moldy old gal?
 

Dufresne

almost there...
Messages
1,039
Location
Laurentians, Quebec
I'm a bit confused about your info.

So you previously got better after moving from a moldy house? Now you've moved into a new house and you see symptoms returning? Don't you believe there's a good chance you're reacting to the house?

Do you have any reason to believe the antivirals factor into your reactivity? You have a history of reactivity. I don't see how the drugs could account for a change.

You moved into the farmhouse in May 2015 and by August you were noticing a decline in health? So when you ask:
I am trying to understand why am I reacting to this house NOW the way in which I do?
You're asking about "NOW" as opposed to when? Seems to me your health declined pretty quickly upon arrival at a new house. Where's the mystery?
Have I been reacting to the mold all along with my other symptoms of fatigue and weakness? Is this ME/CFS or just a moldy old house with a moldy old gal?
What do you mean by "all along"? You once got better after leaving a moldy house, now you're worse off living in another.

As for the ME/CFS, a lot of us with the condition have various sensitivities. Mold is certainly an issue/deal breaker for me. If it helps, a few years ago long-time CFS clinician, Paul Cheney remarked that mold illness and ME/CFS are indistinguishable.
 
Messages
18
I'm a bit confused about your info.

So you previously got better after moving from a moldy house? Now you've moved into a new house and you see symptoms returning? Don't you believe there's a good chance you're reacting to the house?

Do you have any reason to believe the antivirals factor into your reactivity? You have a history of reactivity. I don't see how the drugs could account for a change.

You moved into the farmhouse in May 2015 and by August you were noticing a decline in health? So when you ask:
You're asking about "NOW" as opposed to when? Seems to me your health declined pretty quickly upon arrival at a new house. Where's the mystery?

What do you mean by "all along"? You once got better after leaving a moldy house, now you're worse off living in another.

As for the ME/CFS, a lot of us with the condition have various sensitivities. Mold is certainly an issue/deal breaker for me. If it helps, a few years ago long-time CFS clinician, Paul Cheney remarked that mold illness and ME/CFS are indistinguishable.

Thank you so much for your reply-you make complete sense! I guess I am confused as to why my symptoms that I have been experiencing the last 2 weeks"the extreme reaction" hasn't shown up earlier. Since I have lived here I have 3 sets of symptoms.

1. Fatigue, weakness (since August)
2. In winter, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath , congestion (Nov- Feb)
3. heady,foggy brain, unable to think,increased weakness kitchen/bathroom specific, coffee makes worse (last 2 weeks)

We had increased humidity and showers that started 2 weeks ago!
Why am I more reactive now?
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Thank you so much for your reply-you make complete sense! I guess I am confused as to why my symptoms that I have been experiencing the last 2 weeks"the extreme reaction" hasn't shown up earlier. Since I have lived here I have 3 sets of symptoms.

1. Fatigue, weakness (since August)
2. In winter, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath , congestion (Nov- Feb)
3. heady,foggy brain, unable to think,increased weakness kitchen/bathroom specific, coffee makes worse (last 2 weeks)

We had increased humidity and showers that started 2 weeks ago!
Why am I more reactive now?

Some genotyes are more sensitive to molds then others and if you know from your past you are sensitive to molds, you should never move into a home which has been mold affected as it will just end up wearing your health down. It seems to be what happened here and after a few months of living with the mold you were feeling fatigued and weak.

winter.. more dampness.. more mold. so it makes sense things just went like that and with increased humidity.. it makes sense the issues further increased.

If you know its your house, you need to move as things will continue getting worst and issues like this can then Ive found flare into other areas eg can flare into other kinds of sensitivities too once your immune system is like primed in this manner.

Dont stay there and end up with your health completely destroyed .. and yes mold sensitivity can end up turning into ME/CFS. You are knocking your health down which can leave one open to ME/CFS and whatever this illness is if you are susceptable to it. (i wouldnt thou say you have this yet as it could be just the mold but living in a moldy house and staying there reacting to it, sounds like a possible ME/CFS risk factor).
 

Dufresne

almost there...
Messages
1,039
Location
Laurentians, Quebec
Yeah we tend to grow increasingly reactive with continued exposure, and of course some places are worse than others. Shoemaker calls it "sicker quicker" or something along those lines. I know if I were reacting as you are I wouldn't be staying.
 

Forebearance

Senior Member
Messages
568
Location
Great Plains, US
I'm sorry to hear about your health troubles, @roxnhead.

My experience has been that taking antivirals increases my reactivity to mold toxins.
When my body starts killing viruses or anything else, it increases the level of general inflammation that I have. Mold toxins cause inflammation, so it adds together.

Taking VIP and GcMAF also increased my reactivity, even though they made me feel better also.
I hope you can get out of there.