Mold allergies

Hey guys. I know I've posted a lot of topics lately trying to figure out what's wrong with me but I've never been sick like this before so I have a lot of questions. Basically, I just haven't felt quite right for over three months now. It may or may not be connected with a virus I got at the end of April, which could have been mono (I tested positive for a past EBV infection).

Since then, I've been getting faint/lightheaded a lot, and I have frequent nausea. I was vomiting almost every morning but now it's rare that I will actually vomit. When I do, it's pretty much all phlegm. I've had headaches more than usual and sometimes I get heart palpitations/shortness of breath. I get sore/stiff muscles every now and then which could just be a result of inactivity. My hair seems to be thinning a little bit and I have a dry, flaky scalp. The skin between some of my fingers has been peeling and is slightly darker than the rest of my skin. I've also had some blood spots appear on my skin, I guess they're petechiae although when I look on Google images they look nothing like that. They're just pin-sized red spots that look like I got poked with a needle and they don't go away. They're mostly on my chest and upper arms.

I was wondering if anyone has been exposed to mold and had any of these symptoms. I wouldn't normally expect anything like that but I moved into a new apartment in December and pretty much started feeling bad when the weather got warm. It makes me wonder if there's mold lurking in my wall air conditioner. I'm now trying to stay at my dad's as much as possible to see if I feel better.

Not really... well, mostly except one on my side. There are two on my scalp too. But when I look up petechiae I see people with huge clusters of them, and they seem lighter/bigger than my spots. Could the spots have anything to do with taking garlic supplements? I've been taking them because I know garlic is super healthy and I'm doing everything I can to build up my immune system but I know it can thin blood.
Just curious, how can EBV relate to an autoimmune problem?
Would an autoimmune disease come on suddenly like my symptoms? I've been extremely healthy up until now. I've considered lupus as a possibility but the thing with that is I'm not that fatigued. I get faint and I may be a little more tired than normal but I don't feel like I need to sleep all the time or anything. I'm also not anemic, which I know lupus usually causes.

Post Edited (lindsay0891) : 8/4/2012 10:37:01 AM (GMT-6)

Wow, I had no idea garlic could make it worse. I'll stop taking it and see what happens. Is it okay for me to keep taking fish oil, CoQ10, and multivitamins?

Not sure......
I would definately get the air conditioner cleaned out. Turn it off, unplug it, and wipe it down with a mold killer. Once dry inside turn it on and see if you feel better. If not then I'd ask the doctor to check you out.

Best of luck.

You need to score at least 5 yes on the lupus list to be considered I believe.

I score 8 of them.

Yeah, I don't have the sneezing/runny nose symptoms but I actually did have that in the spring, when I first started using it. And the vomiting phlegm thing shows that my body is still producing extra mucus which makes me think it could be an allergy. I'm staying at my dad's right now and I have a doctor's appointment in a week so hopefully I'm on the road to recovery. :) The bad thing is there's so much mixed information about mold exposure. Some websites say all it can give you is cold-like symptoms but then others say it can do pretty much everything that's happened to me.
I didn't feel very well the last couple of days but I'm thinking it could be from all the nasty stuff still in my body.

Post Edited (lindsay0891) : 8/5/2012 9:54:34 AM (GMT-6)

^ I don't think it can be deadly unless you're exposed for a number of years. For me it was about 4 months but I was in that room basically 24/7, sleeping right under the air conditioner that's most likely contaminated.

Little update: I'm still staying at my dad's (been here for a little over a week) and I've been feeling a little better pretty much every day. I'm trying to eat lots of fruits and veggies and drink even more water than usual to try to detoxify my body. I don't know if it's my imagination but I feel like I look healthier; my skin and hair don't seem as dry. I also noticed a couple weeks ago that I was getting very dry, flaky skin between my fingers and it was darker than the rest of my skin. I've always had dry skin on my hands but I've never had it discolored like that. It's now gone. I don't think I've felt well long enough to say it was definitely the mold, but it seems like the only possibility. As a healthy 21-year-old who suddenly developed a chronic illness, I had to think outside the box and try to heal myself because I've never been taken seriously by doctors.

My advice to anyone who has always been healthy and suddenly starts feeling sick is to always consider environmental causes. If your symptoms come and go, try your hardest to remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you felt better. I actually found myself going through my online bank account, tracking my purchases to see whether I was at home or at my dad's during certain times. For example, I remembered feeling a lot better around the 4th of July, and I found out I had just been away for a few days. I also remember feeling worse a few days later and pretty much staying sick until the end of July, when I left again. I don't know for sure that I have it figured out but my gut just tells me I do. My mom's been saying all along that she thinks it's an environmental cause, so I'm glad I listened to her.

Thanks. I had a lightheaded spell today after eating but other than that I felt amazing! Hoping tomorrow will be as good or better.

What symptoms are you having that make you suspect mold?

That definitely sounds like the more common mold symptoms from what I read, so it'd definitely be worth having your home tested. My eyes have been very bloodshot for a long time but I just put it down to seasonal allergies.

You might want to try taking an antihistamine like Benadryl just to see if it helps. I had some hydroxyzine that I'd been prescribed for anxiety which is also an antihistamine; I took it one day for anxiety and it seemed to ease all my symptoms a little bit. I ran out of that but I got some Benadryl and it seems to do pretty much the same thing.

I think I might have some type of food sensitivity as well because yesterday after eating I got lightheaded and had some stomach pain. Also in the days before that I had been eating pretty much the same thing and was feeling better. I think it could have been feta cheese; I've read that people with mold allergies react to certain cheeses. I'm feeling a lot better today, and I've been keeping Benadryl in my system which seems to help.

Post Edited (lindsay0891) : 8/9/2012 2:22:07 PM (GMT-6)

I wouldn't say I'm dizzy, I just get random spells where I feel like I'm going to pass out. It's really scary because yesterday it happened while I was driving, and I had been feeling fine before that so there was no warning. I also woke up today with a stomach ache, which hasn't happened to me in about a week, so today is another little setback.
Something HAS to be triggering it. I had about nine days of almost feeling back to normal, which is probably the longest I've gone feeling well for about 4 months. I don't know if the mold is still in my system or if it's something else entirely.

Update:
Since the night I went to the ER I've been feeling pretty sick. I was a little better today. I've seen a couple doctors but still no answers... I know that I don't have an autoimmune disease or a thyroid problem, and all my routine blood work is normal. I'm still waiting on a couple tests for other endocrine issues.

The nurse practitioner I saw a few days ago said if I had been exposed to mold it would've shown up on my chest x-ray and I'd be coughing, but I'm not so sure. One doctor said my throat was really red and I have had a lot of tightness in my throat. One of my friends was telling me her husband was exposed to mold and had a LOT of the same symptoms as me, including panic attacks. He'd get dizzy spells and have a panic attack at the same time and think he was dying, which has happened to me. He also got a lot of stomach problems. Apparently he had normal blood work and a normal CT scan and doctors never could figure out what was wrong until they moved and he got better. So I'm still wondering if maybe I'm still sick from mold and even though I've been away from it, my symptoms had to get worse before they get better. Now that I know I don't have an autoimmune disease I can take garlic supplements again and other herbs that are supposed to help with mold sickness, it's worth a try.

lindsay0891 said...
Not really... well, mostly except one on my side. There are two on my scalp too. But when I look up petechiae I see people with huge clusters of them, and they seem lighter/bigger than my spots. Could the spots have anything to do with taking garlic supplements? I've been taking them because I know garlic is super healthy and I'm doing everything I can to build up my immune system but I know it can thin blood.
Just curious, how can EBV relate to an autoimmune problem?
Would an autoimmune disease come on suddenly like my symptoms? I've been extremely healthy up until now. I've considered lupus as a possibility but the thing with that is I'm not that fatigued. I get faint and I may be a little more tired than normal but I don't feel like I need to sleep all the time or anything. I'm also not anemic, which I know lupus usually causes.

Hi Lindsay,
The rash may indicate an autoimmune issue which is indicative of Lupus. I hope it's not lupus, my mom has systemic lupus and it is often misdiagnosed. I am currently suffering from what I'm told by an ENT is fungal sinusitis. 2 sinus surgeries and will be starting allergy shots. I'm wondering if I have IgA issue of my own immune system. I didn't realize how awful mold was and like you, am also trying some ways to boost my system. I'm trying coconut oil and nettle tea plus a netipot rinse once a day. From what I've read, mold is adaptive and rotating natural supplements is ideal. Do your homework on these supplements because you don't want to make yourself worse. Btw, I live in the Great Lakes /Midwest area of the U.S and my research suggests this is pretty much the worst place on earth for fungus infections. I have to live here for now so exposure is unavoidable.

Thanks, I've been tested for ANA antibodies and I don't have very many symptoms of lupus.
I'm thinking mold more and more because my boyfriend is still staying at the apartment (he hasn't been as sick as I have) and he gets frequent sore throats, sinus issues, and generally just feels crappy a lot. I'm thinking he's reacting the "normal" way and I've got "mold poisoning."
I've been away for nearly a month now and I think I'm getting better although I have developed spontaneous panic attacks, and I've read anxiety is a big part of mold exposure. Because of the constant lightheadedness I was getting (it's been better since I've been at my dad's) I think I've developed a phobia of fainting which causes me to have panic attacks and feel like I'm going to faint while driving long distances or even just while sitting at home. Last night I ate and immediately felt like I was having a mini-heart attack, and once I relaxed I felt better. I don't think all my symptoms are caused by anxiety but I do think mold exposure caused these panic attacks.

I had an abdominal ultrasound yesterday just to rule out any gallbladder problems causing my nausea and vomiting, and if that comes back clear my next step is a CT scan. The way I see it, if that's normal it pretty much has to be mold.