Mold is being remediated in my house as I type this. My wife and I have been dealing with insidious symptoms for years (brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, muscle stiffness, balance issues, neuropathy, increased ADHD, and more). Only recently did we discover that there was black mold (Stachybotrys chartarum) in both our bedroom and in the air supply trunk located after the air handler. The bedroom mold was caused by an inactive leak that must have been there before we ever bought the house. The air handler was due to poor installation alongside high humidity.
We’ve already noticed a huge decrease in symptoms about 10 days after the air handler was pulled.
I've seen about every doctor possible and finally got a diagnosis of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). The doctor said many of his patients suffer from mold. He recommended a whole home mold inspection.
The inspector only discovered mold in the air handler itself, which isn't too uncommon. We could have just cleaned the handler coils but decided to pull the entire thing just to be sure. Only after it was pulled did we see about a 15 foot long stretch of mold going directly into our ductwork.
In the bedroom we were replacing our carpet with hardwood floors and discovered a 10 foot mold stretch behind the baseboards.
You might want to try and rule out Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) while you're at it. There is a huge overlap in symptoms. Bear in mind the Beighton score has high a false negative rate and the difference between HSD and hEDS disappears whenever you look at the stats closely. It appears that many mold and lyme disease symptoms are triggers for pre-existing hEDS.
You might have some better luck with hEDS specific treatments, low dose naltrexone, low dose modafinil, supplemental T3 hormone, weightlifting if you can, metformin and a very low sugar diet. And perhaps supplemental Test and HGH.
He’s all over this thread with a very warped understanding of mold and mold treatment with some misunderstood NIH paper about Candida.
He’s recommending self prescribing dangerous MAOI containing substances without acknowledging how easily those can conflict with other drugs and diets.
I wish these people would at least understand what they are regurgitating from poorly understood websites.
I’ve got people trying to give horse dewormer to my stage 4 cancer friend too.
The plantower can detect particle sizes including that of mold. It won't tell you there's mold but it can tell you about mold sized particles. I think it's PM10 but the worst is 2.5 and less.
I can confirm that mold causes joint pain. I even had increased anti-CCP antibodies that correlated with my joint paint. Sadly there was no treatment for me because RA diagnosis is not possible without joint swelling. The only thing I can do is to avoid mold. When I avoid mold, I have no joint pain and also my antibodies are normal again. It’s scary to know that mold is slowly destroying my joints.
I think my real problem is MCAS but doctors don’t seem to know or treat it.
We’ve already noticed a huge decrease in symptoms about 10 days after the air handler was pulled.