Nasal Swab to Test for Mold Related Illnesses

Chaetomium was the toxic mold that was found in my baby's room. It is one of the dozens of toxic mold that can attack humans, make them deathly ill and kill them. We have spoken with at least seven drs about these concerns without any progress.

The first Allergy/Asthma dr that my son went to checked him for 18 of the most common allergies and when he found out that he had none, he prescribed Singulair. All he wanted to do was put a band aid on the problem by prescribing a trendy drug that hasn't been researched enough to be sure that it is OK for a two year old. This made me extrememly frustrated.

He went to see a different Allergy/Asthma dr last month. After telling our story for the 150th time, this doctor knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. He knew about this specific type of mold and what it does to the body. He said that he has treated many children with toxic mold infected lungs. He explained to me that mold establishes colonies within the nasal passages before the lungs, so a nasal swab and some blood tests would be the best way to diagnose my son's lung issues! He sent off for my son's medical records and asked for the mold report from the mold inspection that was done at our previous residence.

Finally, there is progress and some sense of relief that someone is listening to us and taking us seriously. Stay tuned to see how these tests go and what the outcome is! I will post as soon as I know something.

Toxic Mold is an Epidemic

After our nightmare ended with the house on McDonald St in Culver City, CA (SEE THIS BLOG POST FOR DETAILS), we moved to a condo in Santa Monica on August 19, 2007. We were so excited to begin a new chapter in our lives and be healthy again.

A day after we moved into our new condo, our toddler came down with a severe attack. He didn't have to be hospitalized but he needed immediate medical intervention that we could not give him. He was once again put on heavy dosages of steroids in addition to inhaled steroids to fend off a full blown lung infection that we had seen two times previously (once in March 2007 and then again in May 2007). We thought we had beat the mold this time. We got him under control before he took a downward spiral.

I was concerned that he reacted that way because of his new environment. My intuition told me that there was mold somewhere and he reacted to it immediately. However, there was no physical indication to validate my suspicions.

Caeden (our toddler) seemed fine after that until January 2008. It had rained and rained heavily for abour 4 or 5 days. He started to be sick almost immediately. His room was carpeted. On January 4th, I noticed that there were SO many ants in the outer corner of his room on his carpet. I don't allow the kids to bring food up to the second floor so this was very strange. I decided to vacuum them all up because they were evading me. I did so. More kept coming. I was horrified so I knelt down to move his "Little People" barn to see if there were more underneath. I found a WET, SOGGY Carpet underneath his little barn that went all the way to the baseboard and the wall!!!

We moved his bed into our room that night. He stayed sick off and on until January 21st, 2008 when he was admitted to the hospital a third time for a lung infection.

Coincidently, during this time, our landlords (who responded quickly and compassionately) sent workers over to tear into his wall. Guess what they found behind his bedroom wall???

MOLD! ALL BEHIND HIS WALL! THE SAME WALL HIS BED IS UP AGAINST!!! (just so you know-our landlords immediately took care of the problem...we love them!!)

They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice...but mold can affect the same family twice, maybe three times...maybe more! We are living (but unhealthy) proof of that!

I really feel that this is an epidemic. I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that we would have to go through this again in our lives...but we did. I hope this is over for us now.

Be aware of your surroundings and how they make you and your family feel. Follow up on any and all intuitions or gut feelings. Please steer clear of carpeting. It masks so many leaks and breeds mold once it is wet.

Obstacles

The one thing that my family disocovered is that if there isn't a heap of evidence that proves that someone has been poisoned by toxic mold, then most attorneys won't take your case. This is unfortunate because my family still suffers from the lingering effects of toxic mold and we have been out of that environment for 9 months. My youngest son, who is two and a half, still has respiratory problems and was just admitted into the hospital for the third time in January of 2008 with a lung infection. He has to be on medication to control his breathing problems and continues to need a nebulizer. This is what a babies/toddlers/children go through each day after being exposed to toxic mold:



The attorneys that I spoke with said that the best thing to do is call an attorney the very first moment that you suspect toxic mold so that they can properly and thorougly inspect the residence for toxic mold. Attorneys want an open and shut case because they want to win every case that they take to trial. In our instance, it wasn't so open and shut because we did not have enough money to test the entire house and our landlady refused to pay for it. We were more concerned with getting out of that house and finding a new place to live that was healthy and safe.

The medical bills are outstanding. We have paid thousands of dollars in medical bills as a result of living in a home with toxic mold that made us sick. This home made the previous family sick as well. The pictures on this site were shown to the homeowner's insurance company and they did nothing about these issues. They closed the case without further discussion even though they saw visible signs of water damage throughout the home. We were hoping that they would pay for further testing so that we could find the source of the toxic mold that was in the air, but those dreams faded.

There needs to be something done about toxic mold even if is just awareness. Maybe you can do something to spread the word about this horrible affliction that affects so many people and children each day. If you are an attorney, consider taking a case that isn't open and shut or if you are a writer, write a book about toxic mold and how even a little bit can cause major health problems! If you are a doctor, consider this when a patient has unexplained illnesses one after the other. Write down your suspicions, don't keep them to yourself. DO SOMETHING!

Toxic Mold and the Medical Community

Throughout our struggle with toxic mold, we have encountered dead ends with the medical community to understand and properly diagnose the reasons behind our illnesses. The only thing that doctors seem to want to do is make our symptoms go away and not find out the cause of our symptoms. We have also run into doctors who have not even heard of toxic mold and what it does to humans and animals. If your doctors won't listen to you about your toxic mold concerns, ask them to refer you to a physician that specializes in environmental medicine. I wish I had known to ask for a specific type of doctor when all of this started.

In response to my 2 year old's recurrent lung infection (he has been hospitalized 3 times in past year), his pediatrician took our story seriously and understands how dangerous toxic mold is for babies and children. However, each time he gets a lung infection, he is treated with antibiotics, steroids and bronchiodilaters. If there is mold in his lungs, common sense and medical literature states that an antifungal is the only thing that will kill the mold. Antibiotics will clear up an infection, but if the mold is embedded in the deepest part of my toddler's lungs then it is just a matter of time before it will "grow" into another infection.

Our pediatrician referred my toddler to an allergist. The pediatric allergist confirmed that he was not allergic to anything...not even mold. Please understand that toxic mold is not an allergen, it is considered a pathogen. This means that the illnesses and diseases caused by toxic mold are a result of a microorganism infiltrating the systems of the body not an allergy. Therefore, everyone, whether they are allergic to mold or not WILL have a reaction to toxic mold. It may vary in severity, but a reaction will occur. Toxic mold poisons the body and has been effectively used in biological warfare for many years.

My oldest son reacts to toxic mold with headaches, nosebleeds, chronic sore throats and difficulty in concentrating. This means that the toxic mold has attacked his neurological system. Toxic mold can cause symptoms that appear to be ADD or ADHD in kids. Please investigate your home for toxic mold if your child seems to have these types of symptoms before medicating them for ADD or ADHD!! This happened to my oldest son...the mold was growing on his window sill but I am sure most of the mold was living inside his wall since the seals to his window were broken. See pics of this HERE.

PLEASE NOTE: Many times you can't even see the mold because it is behind the walls! This happened to us...if you suspect a leak between the walls or under the floor, have someone look inside your walls for mold. There may have been a previous leak that caused mold to grow as well. Mold can grow and spread within 24 - 48 hours. It can cover the inside of your walls in a matter of days if the conditions are right. Mold can also spread through the subfloor from room to room. Look for baseboards that seem stained, warped, cracked or rotten. If you suspect mold, hire a contractor that specializes in mold removal to contain the mold so that the spores don't spread into the rest of of your home.

After seeing the hives all over my body for more than two months and treating me for a severe sinus infection that caused incredible pain in my face, nose, eyes, head, ears and neck, my physician determined without a doubt that it was caused by environmental issues within my home. She could not say positively that it was due to the toxic mold because she didn't know how to test for that...most docotors don't. She ran my blood through many allergy panels and checked for immuniological disorders which led her to her conclusion. Toxic mold is an environmental source of disease...so she got a fraction of the story right. The important thing is that it is documented...

My advice is to document all symptoms and illnesses if you begin to get sick all the time for unknown reasons. The probability of toxic mold being under your carpet or behind your walls is quite high. It has happened to us a second time...in the new place that we live now (we are currently dealing with this exposure...check back for future posts). So I know from experience that toxic mold is so prevalent that it is highly likely that it has or will affect most people sometime in their lifetime. Don't let anyone make you feel like you are crazy or say that you are a hypchondriac and by all means go to the doctor if you seem to always be sick. Tell them that you suspect that it is toxic mold...document, document, document!

Toxic Mold Made Us Homeless

As we began to fully understand what the toxic mold was doing to our family, we could not allow our children to be exposed any longer. We were frantic, trapped in a lease and unable to get our landlady or her homeowner's insurance company to investigate the issue and/or pay for temporary housing until we found a safe place to live.

Our first thought was to stay in a motel. The only affordable motel/hotel available on such a short notice was a Ramada Inn about a mile from our house. It was $120 a night. We checked the family into the motel. The first thing I noticed in our room was high humidy and a musty smell. This worried me, but we were in a desperate situation so I ignored my worries.

I took off my shoes. I had forgotten to pack socks so I walked througout the room barefoot. The entire carpet was damp! It was hunter green so you could not tell if it was wet or dirty (I am sure this is why they picked such a dark color for carpeting). After being there for a couple of hours, I was finally able to get my baby asleep in his portable play yard. I sat down and happened to notice that the bottom of my feet were black. I thought that it was because I had walked outside without shoes and went to wash them off in the bathtub.

Then I noticed that the bottom of my husbands feet were black also. He had only had his shoes off for about 15 minutes at that time. An hour passed and I looked at my CLEAN feet again. They were black again. We suspected that the motel room was so damp and humid and that the carpet was breeding MOLD. We left immediately. Even though we were there for less than three hours and we complained aout the moldy carpet, the manager refused to give us back our money.

Watch this VIDEO to learn more about Hotel/Motel mold and how it can affect your health.

We went back home and set up a tent in the backyard, which is where we lived for a week until we were able to find another place to live. At this time our children were 8 years old and 22 months old. It was uncomfortable, but healthier than being inside the house. The whole neighborhood knew we were living in a tent. The neighborhood kids began to be afraid for our kids even living in the backyard of that house that made us so sick. It was emotionally devastating for everyone involved.

How Much Toxic Mold Does It Take?

No one really knows how much toxic mold is too much toxic mold. The reason why no one knows how much is too much. According to Daniel Freedman, ( http://www.inspect-ny.com/sickhouse/sporecounts.htm ) who is an Indoor Environmental Inspection and Test expert, Building Failures researcher, writer, publisher, Home Inspector, and Consultant specializing in construction & environmental testing & inspection:

"Spore allergenicity or toxicity varies widely among fungal genera/species. So does the sensitivity of humans and other animals to fungal spores. So no single number will be absolutely correct. Just as spore toxicity varies by species, so does the physical size of individual spores. The effect of breathing air contaminated by 5000 Penicillium sp. spores per cubic meter is unlikely to be identical to the effect of breathing 5000 Stachybotrys chartarum spores per cubic meter of air. Not only does their chemistry and toxicity vary, but a typical Pen/Asp spore is about 2 microns in diameter (1/25th the width of a typical human hair) while a typical Stachybotrys chartarum spore might be 8 x 12 microns -- much larger and thus providing more potentially harmful material per individual spore. You can see that writing federal or state standards for permissible fungal spore exposure by "count" or "levels" is difficult. Not only are there many variables to consider, but using currently popular air sampling or culture methods, even a low or "OK" test result cannot guarantee that there is no problem in the building."

* Only 13 toxic mold spores were found in my baby's room. Apparently 13 toxic mold spores was enough to cause severe health problems for the three members of my family and to prove nearly fatal for my baby. Read a description of our health problems HERE and view a timeline of our health problems HERE.

What Caused Our Toxic Mold?

There are several things that caused our toxic mold. They include but are not limited to:

• An ongoing pipe leak in the crawlspace of our house. The crawlspace was dirt instead of concrete. The leak spanned over 600 square feet and was too deep for the Mold Inspector to walk through.
  
• A bathtub/shower that was unfinished around the sides. Tiles were not placed around the tub/shower to seal it, so water was raining down into the subfloor under the tub each time someone took a shower. See picture below:
  
  
• A pipe leak between the walls of the bathroom and Master bedroom. See picture below:
  

• Several rotten window sills that allowed water to leak into the walls. Seals were broken around each and every window of the house which caused moisture to build up within the walls as well. See pictures below:

• The toxic mold was found in the baby's room, but the landlady chose not to investigate where this toxic mold was growing and what was causing it to grow. I suspect that it was growing in the closet of the bedroom or in the subfloor.
• There are many other reasons that have yet to be determined because the landlady did not have anyone come into investigate the problem. New renters live there now, completely unaware of the toxic mold and how sick they will probably become soon.

Timeline of Toxic Mold Symptoms

Moved in July 9th, 2005

Within a month (approximately the first week in August) Tracey experienced severe joint pain similar to rheumatoid arthritis. The pain was so severe that she could not get out of bed or walk. She was also 37 weeks pregnant months pregnant at the time. This lasted for a week.

In September of 2005, Tracey began to get a rash. It started on her torso. A trip to the dermatologist in September or October of 2005 revealed that this rash seemed to be hives of unknown origin. The rash lasted for about two weeks.

In October of 2006, Caeden (14 months old at the time) began to have diarrhea. This lasted for over two months. His pediatrician felt that length of time was unusual. Food allergies were ruled out. Evan begins to have nosebleeds.

In December of 2006, Tracey had flu likes symptoms for a week with a fever each day rising to 103 degrees at times. Ibuprofen and Tylenol would not bring the fever down.

In December of 2006, Caeden began coughing at night at bedtime. More nosebleeds for Evan

In January of 2007, Tracey had flu like symptoms for a week with a fever each day similar to the symptoms in December. Caeden still coughing a night while in bed. The coughing becomes more severe and begins to last longer and occur many times throughout the night.

In February of 2007, Tracey once again had flu like symptoms for a week with fever each day similar to the symptoms in December and January. Caeden still coughing. Coughing becomes more severe and more frequent but only at night while he is in his bedroom.

In February of 2007, Caeden woke up wheezing. He was prescribed an inhaler by his doctor.

In March of 2007, Caeden woke up with severe respiratory distress, wheezing, gasping for breath, listless and lethargic. His eyes began rolling back into his head and he appeared to go in and out of unconciousness. He was rushed to the Dr’s office. His oxygen level was at 88%, two treatments of Albuteral and a steroid shot failed to bring his oxygen level up. He was sent to the emergency room and hospitalized for three days with a lung infection and ear infection. He was given oxygen all three days.

In April of 2007, Caeden got a rash.

In May of 2007, Tracey begins to get a rash. Evan has signs of a rash. Caeden wakes up wheezing, gasping for breath, listless, lethargic. His oxygen level was at 90%. Within 2 hours it was at 86%. His doctor admitted him to the hospital where it dipped below 85% several times. He was hospitalized for four days with infections in both lungs on May 21st.

John, Tracey and Evan start coughing. Evan wakes up with a severe headache. He has a fever for three days reaching to 104 degrees. Three days later he begins to cough severely. The doctor prescribes an antibiotic for what seems like bronchiolitus. Evan has regular nosebleeds now. Tracey’s cough subsides. Tracey develops a sinus infection that does not respond to pain medication or decongestants. The sinus infection last for 3 weeks. Amoxicillan was prescribed but didn’t work after nearly four days on the medication. Avelox was prescribed and the infection appears to be gone.

June of 2007, Tracey, Evan, Caeden and John have a rash. John has shortness of breath. Tracey has had rash since May 1st. Evan and Caeden have similar rash that seems to come and go. Tracey's doctor cannot find a reason for the rash. She suspects that it has to do with the house and feels as though the rash will go away if she moves out of the house.

The family moves out of the house on June 19th, 2007, and the rashes & hives go away within 24 hours. The headaches and fevers go away.