Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Mold. I've been nailed by mold.
A word to the wise, from the unwise!
I've suffered from a year of terrible health - and in particular terrible sleep - since moving into my present apartment. Turns out the place was flooded and the previous resident probably turfed out for that reason.
I should have known before I moved in. The rug was wrinkled (and still is) as if it was just a bit too big for the floor. Sure sign of a flood, but I'm from semiarid country originally and I wasn't familiar with such things. Plus a specifically asked about the musty smell and the (non-profit!) landlord insisted that that was just the rug cleaner. It wasn't. The rug is very old, but it wasn't removed, much less a proper remediation done. I even asked about whether formaldehyde might be causing my symptoms, but the building manager denied that and kept firmly clammed up. There was no problem and they weren't going to do anything. A letter from my doctor asking them to move me left them utterly cold. No way no way no how were they going to do anything - including mention that they knew perfectly well what the real problem was, and it's impossible to believe they didn't know. Why do non-profits uniformly, given enough time, become somewhat more evil than other sorts of institutions (look up the history of HIV and the Red Cross, or that of any communist state) - "because they can", that's why. (Clinton's reason.) That is to say, there's no mechanism for removing nasty non-profits, no equivalent of bankruptcy (moral bankruptcy laws for non-profits, anyone?)
As for my being naive: because I'm more used to living in near-desert conditions, I had no idea how many steps needed to be taken to keep humidity low in a rain-forest-like climate. I like to soak beans overnight and then boil them for hours, to reduce the lectins, for example. But it never occurred to me to put the smoke-hood fan on, then. Hey, nothing was on fire.
The result of a little extra humidity triggering a huge preexisting mold condition? Horrible sinusitis causing asthma causing apnea causing a whole lot of seizures and boatloads muscle pain. Large doses of creatine controlled the seizures, but I still wasn't sleeping more than an hour at a time, with many hours awake in between, most nights. (Plus the productive cough, watery eyes, headaches, etc that mold typically produces.)
The good news is that mold isn't that scary - it triggers one's immune system (an allergic effect) and therefore the sinusitis etc; but there are no literally toxic effects. Keep the humidity way down so that mold growth is all but stopped and you may be okay in the same place. (If it's caused by condensation in the outside walls that's beyond your control and you can only move or remodel however.)
So here's hoping a new chapter of life begins... soon, I'm sure hoping...
Some good mold links:
http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold_growth,_assessment,_and_remediation
http://www.mouldfacts.ca/blog/2007/04/mold-symptoms.html
I've suffered from a year of terrible health - and in particular terrible sleep - since moving into my present apartment. Turns out the place was flooded and the previous resident probably turfed out for that reason.
I should have known before I moved in. The rug was wrinkled (and still is) as if it was just a bit too big for the floor. Sure sign of a flood, but I'm from semiarid country originally and I wasn't familiar with such things. Plus a specifically asked about the musty smell and the (non-profit!) landlord insisted that that was just the rug cleaner. It wasn't. The rug is very old, but it wasn't removed, much less a proper remediation done. I even asked about whether formaldehyde might be causing my symptoms, but the building manager denied that and kept firmly clammed up. There was no problem and they weren't going to do anything. A letter from my doctor asking them to move me left them utterly cold. No way no way no how were they going to do anything - including mention that they knew perfectly well what the real problem was, and it's impossible to believe they didn't know. Why do non-profits uniformly, given enough time, become somewhat more evil than other sorts of institutions (look up the history of HIV and the Red Cross, or that of any communist state) - "because they can", that's why. (Clinton's reason.) That is to say, there's no mechanism for removing nasty non-profits, no equivalent of bankruptcy (moral bankruptcy laws for non-profits, anyone?)
As for my being naive: because I'm more used to living in near-desert conditions, I had no idea how many steps needed to be taken to keep humidity low in a rain-forest-like climate. I like to soak beans overnight and then boil them for hours, to reduce the lectins, for example. But it never occurred to me to put the smoke-hood fan on, then. Hey, nothing was on fire.
The result of a little extra humidity triggering a huge preexisting mold condition? Horrible sinusitis causing asthma causing apnea causing a whole lot of seizures and boatloads muscle pain. Large doses of creatine controlled the seizures, but I still wasn't sleeping more than an hour at a time, with many hours awake in between, most nights. (Plus the productive cough, watery eyes, headaches, etc that mold typically produces.)
The good news is that mold isn't that scary - it triggers one's immune system (an allergic effect) and therefore the sinusitis etc; but there are no literally toxic effects. Keep the humidity way down so that mold growth is all but stopped and you may be okay in the same place. (If it's caused by condensation in the outside walls that's beyond your control and you can only move or remodel however.)
So here's hoping a new chapter of life begins... soon, I'm sure hoping...
Some good mold links:
http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold_growth,_assessment,_and_remediation
http://www.mouldfacts.ca/blog/2007/04/mold-symptoms.html
