Taking my life back from mold toxicity
If you asked me to describe my home before this year, “moldy” isn’t the adjective that would have come to mind. However, after discovering water coming in through one of the walls in my basement in January 2024, mold quickly took over my life — my basement and my body to be exact.
Why am I sharing this story? Because it’s a serious health risk that can make you seriously ill, and even kill you. In fact, I know a few others who have also experienced this, and they were much sicker than I was.
When I noticed water intrusion in my basement in January (when we had non-stop rain), I quickly had it remediated and had a $5,000 water proofing system put in by Buckeye Basement Solutions. They had to jackhammer up my basement floor (whew, that was loud) to put in a new drainage system and a new sump pit. When they removed the paneling on the affected wall, we found foundation wall damage that looked like it had been there for decades and MOLD on the wood framing and paneling. Luckily the basement company cleaned that up as well. I was relieved and didn’t think much more about it.
Little did I know that mold had taken hold far beyond that, and probably YEARS before that.
During that time in January, I also had a lot going on with my physical health that was unexplained, so it was a stressful time. I had just come through shoulder surgery from having almost 2 years of shoulder pain that came out of nowhere. The surgery made it worse and I was pretty much miserable and disabled for a few months.
My other unexplained issues included:
Chronic sinus inflammation.
Knee pain on the outside of both knees for the past year, which made my love for hiking difficult. X-rays showed no arthritis.
SI joint pain in my low back and chronic tailbone pain for two years (both of which I’m still dealing with).
Random hives on my back and stomach.
An ongoing blistery rash under my eyes.
Massive lack of energy and chronic fatigue, no matter how much I slept.
Hair loss.
Increased anxiety and a worsening of my patience level.
I chalked all these issues up to perimenopause and getting older. However, I have always been super active and healthy so it was crazy to me that these issues could all just be from hormones. It sounds crazy, but I often had thoughts that maybe my house was making me sick, because nothing could explain all these issues.
Turns out — I was right.
The article that changed my life
As I continued to work on healing my shoulder in the springtime, I happened to see a blog my integrative wellness practitioner (Leaves of Life in Worthingon) posted on Instagram one day in May. It was about one of their employees who had water intrusion in her basement. She was suffering from mold toxicity and all the weird symptoms that came with it.
Holy shit. I felt like I was reading about myself. My world came to a screeching halt, you know, like when a record comes to an abrupt stop on a record player.
Long story short, I took a urine test through Leaves of Life to test for mycotoxins (mold toxins), which was then sent to a third-party lab for processing. My result was staggering. I tested almost off the chart for Ochratoxin A, one of the scariest and most dangerous mycotoxins around, and elevated for Citrinin. Both of these are found in water-damaged wood, insulation, and drywall. Not only does toxic mold cause respiratory issues, but it can cause cancer, Parkinsons, chronic fatigue, joint pain, rashes, autoimmune disorders and much more.
My practitioner told me my first step was to get out of or remediate the moldy environment, which we assumed was my house since my levels were so high and I spent most of my time here. I couldn’t exactly move out, so my they connected me with a reputable mold company in Columbus — Mold Mentor — who promptly came out to inspect my basement with me there for free.
I was HORRIFIED and MORTIFIED when they found mold hiding in the crawl space ceiling joints, the ceiling joists above my basement gym, on the back of my steps to the basement, and on the wooden cabinet where I have all my laundry detergent. It was unbelievable because you couldn’t see it in regular lighting down there — only when you shine a super bright light up into the ceiling and on other surfaces (like the back of the steps). It was white and just looked like dust or an occasional cobweb. I mean, who stops and does a mold inspection every time you run down to the basement to throw a load of laundry in?
If that wasn’t bad enough, I KNEW in my heart there was probably more mold behind ALL the paneling on the exterior walls on the finished side of my basement. Because if you remember the earlier part of this article, I found mold behind the paneling of the wall where I had the original water intrusion in January. I thought we had taken care of the issue… but the mold had in fact spread everywhere in the basement, and probably years before that.
This led to me and my boyfriend (mostly him – thank God for him!) tearing down all the paneling and framing and sawing it in half to get it out of the house from June to July. And I was right — there was black mold behind all the paneling. My nephew then came over and ripped out the carpeting, padding and tack strips on the finished side as well. So my half-finished basement went to a completely unfinished basement in a blink of an eye.
Detoxing my basement, and my body
Mold Mentor came back and remediated my basement for $3,200 in July. While I was not planning on spending that on top of the $5,000 I had already spent in my basement this year, I had no choice. Honestly, that was a great price compared to what other mold companies charge. They did a great job, and even came back and reinspected to make me feel more secure. I also purchased a better $1,100 dehumidifier, as my smaller one just wasn’t cutting it for the entire basement.
What a super fun way to spend my money. But, my health is worth it.
I also started working with a reputable functional medicine doctor in town — Dr. Kanodia — who went to Harvard Medical school and has experience with health issues “traditional doctors” don’t treat (because they aren’t trained to deal with toxins like this). After three lab tests, supplements, and injections, and $2,000 later, I’m on my way to getting this mold out of my body. (Just FYI, he can help with other things beyond mold, too.)
I’m happy to report that 2 months after the mold remediation in my house and a month of treatments for my body, I am feeling great again. It’s like I’ve gotten my energy and my life back!
I no longer feel like a truck ran over me every day.
My side knee pain is gone.
The rashes under my eye and on my back went away.
I no longer feel exhausted or have chronic fatigue.
I am hopeful and setting goals for the future again — I was so exhausted and felt horrible before now that I had no goals other than getting through each day.
(Even my cats have energy again!)
The further I go along with treatment, we’re hoping my SI joint pain and back inflammation improves as well. Unfortunately the SI joint pain is pretty painful on the daily, but I’m in physical therapy and hoping the additional mold detoxing makes a difference. Luckily walking does help that. It can sometimes take a year or more to heal from mold sickness, so I’m happy I’ve made a lot of improvements in just a couple months. The fact that I am very active and have always had a healthy diet has helped me heal a bit faster, we believe.
Symptoms of mold toxicity
If you’re struggling with random health issues but have had every test done by every type of “traditional” doctor known to man, and everything comes back “normal,” you may want to see a functional medicine doctor who can really help you get to the root cause. In most cases, you are NOT crazy. Follow your gut feeling. (Obviously not every health issue is mold-related, but there are other things that could be causing your symptoms. But better safe than sorry.)
I hope and pray you don’t have mold in your home or anywhere you frequent (such as a work building), but if you’re unsure, here are some of the symptoms:
Joint pain
Rashes
Brain fog
Hair loss
Headaches
Shortness of breath
Congestion
Coughing
Sleeping issues
Chronic fatigue
Stomach (GI issues)
Autoimmune disease
Overall unwell feeling with no explanation
AND MUCH MORE
Lesson learned
When I moved into my house eight years ago, this house had just been flipped and looked great! It was built in 1968 and was remodeled to be more modern — it was a house you’d want to live in. A house I could continue to improve and expand on, which I had been doing. I took and still take so much pride in it. But back when I moved in, nothing seemed out of sorts. I had an inspector come out and I did all the things you’re supposed to do before you buy a house. I checked all the boxes — or so I thought.
But you can’t see what you can’t see.
Because I was hardly ever over on the finished side of my basement (all that was over there was a ping pong table), little did I know the carpet over there had been SLOWLY soaking up water that had been sneakily coming in one corner of those hidden basement walls, probably for YEARS.
Lesson learned. Here are my tips for your home:
Find out if the house you’re thinking of buying has had water damage or mold. It’s supposed to be reported. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a report for my house when I bought it, nor did I know to ask for that. If it has had those issues, make sure the mold has been remediated.
Have a mold inspector, such as Mold Mentor, inspect your house. New or old, it’s a great thing to have checked out for peace of mind.
Look behind or tear down basement paneling to inspect.
Several basement companies told me that those damaged foundation walls were most definitely there before I ever moved in, and the person who flipped the house probably just did enough to hide the damage to sell the house. I believe he 100% KNEW what he was doing — hiding foundation walls that had never been maintained or repaired before I lived here. There was no way for me to ever know something was going on down there, until it was too late.There was most likely water damage, (and maybe even mold, who knows), too before I moved in, and I just wasn’t aware of it. Crazy that the water intrusion in January ended up being a blessing or I’d never have known what was hiding behind the paneling.
If you have a damp basement, one that smells musty, one that reads over 60% humidity on a hygrometer, or have ever had water damage anywhere in your house, you could have mold. Make sure you have a dehumidifier and have several hygrometers to show the humidity level in all areas of the basement at all times. I even run a second dehumidifier down there as a backup when there is higher humidity outside – YES I’m paranoid now :).
Clean up water intrusion ASAP. Mold can grow in a matter of days, even less. Even though I had mine remediated as soon as I saw it, I had no idea that the water was slowly coming in probably for years.
Never put carpet or wood paneling up over foundation walls in an old home. Unfortunately this was done before I bought the house by the guy who flipped it – but I would never do this. Mold loves water, wood and lack of airflow.
Keep your HVAC vents OPEN in the basement. I had several HVAC workers shut my vents over the years, to force air upstairs, and I always tell them to stop closing them when they’re here for maintenance. Lack of airflow can cause mold in the basement.
You can get better!
Think you have mold toxicity? PLEASE go to a functional medicine doctor for help, or seek out a reputable mold protocol on how to detox. Google “Mold Toxicity” and educate yourself.
It’s vital you get rid of these toxins. I’m lucky I caught this now before I developed cancer or autoimmune issues. You won’t get better until you leave the moldy environment or have it remediated like I did. I’m now doing things like glutathione injections, saunas, supplements, dry brushing, etc., to help me detox — and it’s working.
I’m excited to say that because of what I’ve been through, and my ongoing desire to help people with health and wellness, I’m starting a year-long functional medicine coaching program in March. Sometimes a bad situation can lead to great things. In this case, a new career path that’s more meaningful and fulfilling.
Message me if you need advice or a referral, or just have questions. I’m happy to help. Mold is a serious health issue and risk. If you’re suffering from mold toxicity now, I promise, there is light at the end of the tunnel.