As time has gone on since the sinus surgery of last year, I’ve learned so much in a short amount of time. In short, mycotoxins can fuck you up. Immunodeficiency? Amplified by 100. Genetic predisposition? Amplified by 100 again. The issues I’ve dealt with over the past 3-5 years can easily be summed up to mold exposure, on top of the other two things.
In my research since, I’ve found a plethora of resources that talk about the negative effects of mycotoxins. The systems that it can impact. What it really can do to you over a short amount of time. One of the sites, really put together everything in a system by system and symptoms associated with each system. Below is a literal copy/paste of that website. The symptoms below each system, I will bold. Meaning this is what I’ve been experiencing, or did experience.
Symptoms Associated with “Mold Associated Illness” or Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)
It may seem hard to believe a person can have so many symptoms from being exposed to a water-damaged building, but they can. Some symptoms are from immediate irritation and inflammation from mycotoxins but there is also dysregulation of many body systems that can be acute or chronic and effect any organ system in the body. When moist building materials with toxic chemicals meet up with bacteria and fungus it creates a toxic soup that may bother anyone, but this toxic milieu will bother some people that have susceptible genetics much quicker, and they get much sicker and have much more trouble recovering. These are the folks that end up with “mold sensitivity” or chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS).
General Signs & Symptoms
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Flu-like symptoms
- Exhaustion
- Insomnia
- Sensitivity to environment – Many chemical sensitivities
- Multiple diagnosis from various docs
One of the important things to keep in mind is that mold can mimic many other diseases, both that growing in the body as well the reactions people get from environmental mold and mycotoxins/VOCs and other toxins in a water-damaged environment.
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
- Blurred or hazy vision
- Eyes sensitive to light
- Eyes watery or tear up
- Night blindness
- Eyes puffy/dark circles
- Ringing in the ears
- Hearing loss
- Dizziness
- Sinus/nasal congestion
- Nose bleeds
- Sensitive to odors
- Nasal polyps
- Vocal cord polyps
- Laryngitis or raspy voice
- Burning in throat/sore throat
- Sensitivity to environment
- Swallowing problems
Musculoskeletal
- Joint pain
- Shooting pains
- Ice-pick pains
- Burning pains
- Stabbing pains
- Muscle cramps
- Muscle aches
- Weak muscles
- Fleeting & moving pains
- Tics
- Spastic muscles
- Charlie horses
- Hands curl up like a claw
- Toes/feet curl up
- Arm Stiffness
Lungs and Heart
- Shortness of breath and tachycardia (fast heart beat – rapid pulse) with exercise
- Swelling or edema
- Heart palpitations
- Rapid pulse even when not exercising
- Heart pounds intermittently
- Heart feels like it is jumping out of chest
- Cough
- Wheezing
- Asthma
- Low and high blood pressure
Digestive, Liver and Urinary
- Metallic taste in mouth
- Sores in mouth that come and go
- Bile reflux
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea and /or Constipation
- Abdominal pain that is intermittent
- Unable to eat foods that were okay in the past
- Small intestinal overgrowth of bacteria or yeast
- Weight loss or Weight gain
- Urinate a lot
- Bladder control issues
Nervous And Endocrine Systems
- Insomnia
- Headache
- Dizziness or Light headed
- Mental confusion
- Spaciness
- Poor concentration
- Poor short term memory
- Forget what you are doing
- Can’t remember names or words
- Poor word recall
- Disorientation
- Brain Fog
- Decreased learning ability
- Real thirsty
- Low blood pressure and high blood pressure
- Poor temperature regulation
- Numbness, Tingling
- Vibrations or buzzings in one place or mobile
- Static electricity zaps more than other people
- Tremors
- Vertigo
- Parkinson’s like symptoms
- Mood swings
- Anxiety
- Irritable
- Body temperature regulation issues
- Difficult concentration
- Lack of sex drive
- POTS or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is seen in some people.
- Executive function issues: problems with judgement, abstract concepts, ability to multitask, hard to plan.
Immune System
- Swollen and painful lymph nodes
- Chronic viral, fungal or bacterial infections
- Chronic parasitic infections
Skin
- Skin is sensitive
- Skin is itchy
- Feels like bugs crawling on skin
- Feels like bugs stinging or biting but nothing there
- Easy bruising
- Itchy pimples
- Excess pimples
- Skin sores
- Bumpy skin
- Thickened skin
- Skin peeling
- Burning sensations
- Red Face
- Mottled looking skin/white and red together
- Skin flushing
- Sweats – especially at night
- Static shocks – lots of them
- Skin reacts to sun – even through clothing sometimes
- Vitiligo
- Cherry hemangiomas
- Dermatographia urticaria(when you can write on the skin- may be related to high C4a).
Extremeties
- Cold Hands/feet
- Discolored hands and feet such as white and red mottling
- Parts go to sleep (numbness), tingling
- Hands shake
- Clawing of hands and fingers or toes and feet
- Some of these people have excessively flexible joints and find they get dislocated joints easily, or strains and sprains.
Some physicians, including myself are under the opinion that many inflammatory diseases may be associated with mycotoxin exposure. This has not yet been proven although some practitioners have seen patients get better who have some of these illnesses when their mycotoxin exposure is treated. The list of inflammatory diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Raynaud’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.
Symptom Clusters
Many Docs use what Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker has called symptom clusters. He suggests that 8 or more of the following 13 clusters in an adult are diagnostic of CIRS. Don’t forget to also look at screening tests such as VCS and Labs.
- Fatigue
- Weakness, decreased assimilation of new knowledge, aches, headaches, light sensitivity
- Memory impairment, decreased word finding
- Difficulty concentrating
- Joint pain, AM stiffness, cramps
- Tingling, tremors, unusual pain, unusual skin sensations
- Shortness of breath, sinus congestion
- Cough, excessive thirst, confusion
- Appetite swings, difficulty regulating body temperature, increased urinary frequency
- Red eyes, blurred vision, night sweats, mood swings, ice-pick pains
- Abdominal pain, diarrhea, numbness
- Tearing of eyes, disorientation, metallic taste
- Static shocks, vertigo
Some Of The Diseases Associated With Mycotoxins
Alzheimer’s disease (specifically what is now being called inhalation alzheimer’s), autism, some types of cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, fibromyalgia, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Raynaud’s disease, kidney stones, asthma and vasculitis are a few diseases, but there are many more.
As you can see above, almost every box is checked. But again, doctors were stumped. Which evolved into the whole “you’re crazy” treatment I got. I would just continue to advocate for myself. As this was all real. Every symptom was real, not made up. I’m not seeking attention, I am not depressed, its not anxiety, it’s not work-related stress, its not relationship-related stress. It’s mold exposure. It’s CIRS. But again, none of this was factored in with the MULTITUDE of ER visits we did. The constant hospitalizations, or the multiple surgeries I had to endure.
You have no idea how angry I am at Parc. The doctors. Everything I’ve gone through has 100% been because of our home that was infested with mold. And I’m talking BOTH apartments. Building 1, and building 10.
I blame Parc the most though. They are 100% responsible for the misery not only myself, but Anies had to endure. It may not have affected her as much as what it was doing to me, but seeing me go through this torture on a daily basis. I made them aware early on, that I am HIGHLY allergic to mold. That I am immunocompromised. You’d think you would pay more attention to residents like me, they didn’t. They did the opposite, they ignored me. Time and time again.
I’m so fucking happy Dr. Hepworth got the fungal abscess out. Did the testing I asked for. Again, the final piece to the puzzle.
But for me, it was too late. When the clots started in my arms and legs around 2020, it was hard to say why it was happening. The DVT’s were everywhere. I was started on Xalrelto. But I continued to clot while on it. We blamed it on the PICC lines. “Provoked DVT’s”
The big clot in Nov 17, 2020, from my right elbow all the way to my supena cava (entrance to my heart). Every vein was closed. I still remember the look on the sonographers face as he ran away to get the attending doctor. The look on their faces as he showed them the ultrasound.
Sheer panic.
Every major vein was closed shut. There was literally 1 single vein that was forced to bear the entire return flow of my blood to my heart. The staff rushed into my room with heparin. I was in deep shit. 30 minutes later, I was rushed into Interventional Radiology. I was in a massive amount of pain. One of the “this is it” times hit me. I was scared shitless as they explained what’s going on, and what they are going to do.
Here’s my related blog posts for this:
A little over a year later, I was at work. Late. Teaching an IPv6 class. Shit just got weird. Fast. On Oct 28th 2021, I was admitted because I had 2 saddled Pulmonary Embolisms in my lungs. It felt like I was suffocating. But again, more clots. Clots clots clots. What the actual fuck is going on?!
I ended up being admitted at Presbyterian St. Lukes as it was the closest ER from work.
Related blog posts:
As you read the progression throughout the years of my blog, you can absolutely see that there was a recurring theme. Clots. Kidney stones, exhaustion, frustration, life-threatening issues, and quite frankly, I’m not getting better. My blog will be quite useful when it comes to suing Parc for the misery I had to endure. Because it’s all documented. I’m really glad that I started writing all this down. The detail at the time.
Because if you ask me now? My memory is pure Swiss cheese. There’s spots on my memory that are just gone. Deleted. Like it never even happened. Anything prior to 2018, I can recall easily. Anything from 2018 until now? Very very spotty. But again, there was so much going on, it was to put it gently, pure chaos.
The weight gain seen since 2018 wasn’t because I was overeating, or eating irresponsibly. It was the toxic environment doing it
You can see that from 2018, my weight just climbed. For no reason at all. No explanation. Between 2022-2023, I barely ate anything. Probably 1200 calories maximum per day. But no weight loss. I couldn’t get below 200 lbs.
Since we got out of that toxic environment:
The weight has just been falling off week by week. It probably doesn’t help that I can maintain a 2,000 calorie per day intake. Because quite simply, my appetite is just non-existent. Most of the time Anies has to remind me to eat, or I have to force myself to eat. I do however have to keep 2 things in check now, those being a maximum sodium intake of 1,500mg, and keeping fat intake low. Some fats are ok, others I just quite simply cannot have which is where most calories come from.
During my research, I came across a really good explanation as to why the weight did what it did.
“Sudden, unexplained weight gain can also result from mold exposure. Leptin is a hormone that regulates appetite. Your body’s inflammatory response to the mycotoxins produces chemicals that block leptin receptors, and the resulting imbalance can cause weight gain, even from normal calorie intake.”
I found this on this website:
http://www.sternmold.com/mold-and-health/mold-related-illness.php
You can easily see, that our home was slowly killing me. Every year escalating into something more. Something worse. Being pushed to ledge. Being pushed off the ledge, and barely hanging on.
But I’m still here. I’m so glad we are out of that place. As damaging as it was, the scarring it’s done to me. I’m still standing. I guess that’s the Irish side of me coming out. I will continue to fight no matter what, and my mother didn’t raise a quitter.
To quote someone quite famous:
“If you’re going through hell, keep going” — Winston Churchill
Discover more from A Journey of “Do No Harm”
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