Ugh ok, may as well start investigating mold.

seamyb

Senior Member
Messages
560
So, I've seen mold mentioned before. And straight away ruled it out because as a student I've lived in some proper moldy houses, you could see it on the walls. The worst I had was a chest infection.

But now, it's entirely possible because I've become so desperate for answers. So, I've a couple of questions for you wise wizards of the mold.

1. Is there any way to detect mold in the house? About 2-3 years ago I moved into a new house. I'm sick one year... I can't physically see any mold in my house.

2. Is there any way to blast stuff all over the house and get rid of the mold?

3. Is there any way to detect mold toxicity in the body?

4. Is there any way to treat mold issues without moving house or moving to the country in a caravan? I own this house, it is my first. Moving would be the PEM to end all PEM.

Thanks mold wizards.
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,495
Is there any way to detect mold in the house

there seem to be companies who specialize in finding and getting rid of mold.

There is one down the road from me, and I knew somebody who worked there briefly answering phones.

https://www.venturacountymoldremoval.com/Types-of-Mold

Here they mention black mold is not the only one.

Check inside your shower drains for: a mold creature- I found one there already growing when I moved in.

You could try being a detective - are there old leaks? was your house adequately inspected when you bought it, which is fairly recent?

Basements? In side walls? Is it a humid place?

I lived with some mold problems from leaks my landlord would not fix. But its four years later and I rather suspect in my case, its not the issue.
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
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4,590
Location
Great Lakes
Is there any way to detect mold in the house? About 2-3 years ago I moved into a new house. I'm sick one year... I can't physically see any mold in my house.

There are testing kits you can buy online. I think some of them are initially inexpensive with some additional fees to look out for though. Read the reviews.

Unfortunately, that's the limit of my mold education. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer questions 2-4. :)
 

PisForPerseverance

Senior Member
Messages
253
I'd say. Take it one step at a time. Your experience with mold in the past, and the possibility of it now, wouldn't necessarily be affecting your current health much. It migjt be affecting it not at all, a little, or it might be affecting it a lot. But it's not the case that if you had an issue in your house, that it would necessarily be one of the defining factors causing or even affecting your main disease processes.

People live with mold and toxic mold all the time. It's not good, and can be pretty seriously dangerous depending, but some handle it better than others, and better at certain times in life than others. Because of your health, it is more important to take care of any issues if present in your house because it's generally thought to be more of a problem for those ill or very young or old. But I wouldn't automatically stress it if there is something minor or medium level.

Get things fixed properly (read about different techniques and opinions about which techniques are ineffective or can make things worse, before hiring. In most cases except maybe minor things, wisdom is not to take care of anything yourself. Read about warnings and how to be safe when taking care of minor things yourself. Interfering with mold yourself or others if not done properly, raises the risk and severity of toxic exposure) Do comprehensive checking afterwards to see whether things are better or if they're worse and moniter your health. If it's a very bad problem then the question of how much something can really be fixed is a question that is discussed.

But again take it one step at a time. One of those tests for your house is a good start. There's different kinds and getting the dust samples and also an air test (I think you can do that in your own. It's been a while since I thought about this), would be good to cover your bases. There may be something I'm forgetting.

If you have unhealthy levels in your house, or if your or your doctors clinical guess is that your past experience is causing you an issue now, then you can do a urine mycotoxin test. Also if you ever have opportunities to sleep away from home in other not noticeably moldy places and without other obvious toxic chemical exposures, especially if for an extended period of time living away from home, then if you feel better anywhere, that could tell you something. Otherwise I wouldn't pursue it until you're at a real dead end after looking into other things. Reason being it's not covered by insurance. Maybe it can be covered where you live though, I'm not sure.

Even then if you had evidence in your urine, it still doesn't necessarily mean it's a major contributing factor to your current health. It might be. Necessary to take care of regardless of whether you have immediate improvement. According to Dr Nathan's clinical experience and opinion, It's not straight forward that if you have circulating mycotoxins they'll show up on a test. Sometimes, in an affected individual, they don't until they start treating and then start to show up. That's just his clinical experience and opinion though.

He writes about how he diagnoses and treats: 10 common mistakes in the diagnosis and treatment of mold toxicity

Detoxification of Mycotoxins by Pathway

Potentially Groundbreaking Information for Treating Mold Toxicity

For more, his 2018 book, outdated now, described in detail how he diagnoses and treats mold toxicity. Does the same for Lyme disease and also talks about MCAS, methylation, and various topics. I read this in the past and it was useful to me because I do/did have mold toxicity. And it was the first time learning more about MCAS, before getting treated for it. He was only just learning about MCAS himself though, so keep that in mind.

Keep in mind that he doesn't write with people with ME in mind specifically at all. He co authored Dr navauxs 2016 ME study on the cell danger response, but is not ME (as in PEM versus just fatigue and weakness) focused and we should be warned of that when reading his material. I do not endorse some of his views but most of what's in the blog posts I posted dont pose a conflict for those with ME I believe, at least generally speaking.
 
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PisForPerseverance

Senior Member
Messages
253
Also, this being the modern world, you could have other toxic exposures in and around your house, or in the area you moved to. You can find lists online of stuff to think about and look for. Again, toxic exposures may or may not be playing a large role in your particular health (do you know what triggered your onset?), but reducing exposures and treating any evidence of effects of past exposures I do believe are important to help humans function, whether or not short term improvement is seen. Hope this helps
 

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
5,018
Hello @seamyb.....When you say you moved into a new house, do you mean that it was truly a "new" house or you just moved into another dwelling? I don't know.

If it's brand new, you could be suffering from gassing off of things like new floors, walls, paint, carpet, anything. That can and also does make you ill. Perhaps you also had a virus at the time you moved and didn't realize it, there are just so many if's to do with this illness.

LIke @Rufous McKinney said, there are companies that specialize in this type of business, and yes, there are many, many types of molds. Perhaps you're suffering from generalized allergies and you need to be tested for them. This illness involves a lot of detective work, a lot.

Yours, Lenora.
 
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hb8847

Senior Member
Messages
432
Location
United Kingdom
I read this in the past and it was useful to me because I do/did have mold toxicity. And it was the first time learning more about MCAS, before getting treated for it. He was only just learning about MCAS himself though, so keep that in mind.

Hi again PisFor, do you mind me asking how your doctor went about treating your MCAS and mould toxicity? Was it first quelling the MCAS symptoms and then the mould after? And how far along are you?

I ask because as mentioned elsewhere I was diagnosed with MCAS in late 2020 and then earlier this year I had the Urine test you've mentioned and it showed very elevated Mycotoxin (ie mould) levels. Prior to that I've had CFS for around 6 years, and was previously diagnosed with GI issues such as gut dysbiosis and SIBO.

By all accounts my MCAS doctor is highly regarded but his focus is solely reducing my symptoms with MCAS mediators - that's to say, I've brought up the mould results and the GI results and he's not interested, he says it's not his field. Which is fine, but I'm wondering how to go about things if I'm to properly fix whatever might be causing the MCAS rather than treat the symptoms with mediators, if that makes sense.

I've gotten in contact with a UK based MCAS charity "Mast Cell Action" who've told me this seems to be the correct way of addressing MCAS (ie, first quell symptoms with mediators and then seek to address underlying causes like mould afterwards) but I'm interested if this is the way other members of this site have gone and to what degree anyone's had success here.

So, I've seen mold mentioned before. And straight away ruled it out because as a student I've lived in some proper moldy houses, you could see it on the walls. The worst I had was a chest infection.

But now, it's entirely possible because I've become so desperate for answers. So, I've a couple of questions for you wise wizards of the mold.

@seamyb , for what it's worth I did not have any symptoms that specifially indicated mould issues, or at least I thought I didn't, prior to getting the mycotoxin test. By this I mean, I do have CFS but I don't really get any chest infections, and don't get any other typical fungal type issues like athletes foot. The only reason I got tested for it was because I read about there being a link between MCAS and mould, and it was a shock when the results came back showing high levels.

My current house is almost certainly not mouldy (it's very small and a new build) but I have lived in a mouldy house about 10 years ago which had to get treated, so from personal experience it could well be a previous residence has infected you with mould and you're living with the consequences.

I actually already had some GI symptoms before that point and through my childhood, so my best guess is the root of my problems is in my gut, and this weakened my immune system making it susceptible to mould, which has since compounded my problems, but who knows.
 
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