I believe that our living environments directly impact our health. I also believe that good air quality is essential to good health. Those convictions led me to begin this blog.
WHY I AM AT ‘WAR’ WITH MOLD…
Hi, I’m Catherine, mom, wife, writer, former magazine editor, fitness enthusiast, food-lover and self-admitted clean freak. I haven’t always held such staunch beliefs about air quality and its impact on health. It was when me, my husband, and children developed peculiar symptoms, like incapacitating fatigue, allergies and gastrointestinal problems our first year of living in a “new to us” home that I began to take notice. We were being exposed to mold throughout our home because of a draining issue with our HVAC system. Little did we know that their was very toxic black mold inside our air handlers and contaminating our ductwork. This major mold exposure left us all with environmental sensitivities and me with an autoimmune disease that I still deal with today. Thankfully, though, with the help of wonderful doctors, indoor air quality professionals, and a Building Biologist, we were able to remediate and rebuild our home, detox and heal our bodies, and reclaim our lives and sense of security in our home. It was a journey, but one where we learned and are still learning so much about mold and environmental illness, indoor air quality, and environmental hygiene for a healthier home and life.
Led by my passion to protect my family, I have amassed some significant knowledge of products and tools that have changed our lives in a positive way. I started this blog as a place to share my experience and solutions with any and everyone suffering from the same aliments, or seeking to rid their environments of mold. These days, I devote myself to safeguarding our home from mold and other air pollutants in more natural, non-toxic ways. I find that the best solutions are not to replace one contaminant (mold) with another, like harsh chemicals or biocides, but to use proven strategies of prevention and cleaning that actually treat and get rid of the source of the problem. In other words, I am interested in finding real solutions.
I am not a doctor. I am the daughter of an ENT, whom I now go to with any medical or scientific questions about mold. I am the epitome of the “shoemaker’s wife having no shoes” analogy in the sense that life had separated me from my family and my father and the work he was increasingly doing in the environmental illness realm. It took me becoming debilitated and sick to the point of not recognizing myself anymore for me to reconnect with him and discover the mold issue in my home and in my body that was slowly robbing me and my family of our health. I had desperately reached out to him, because of his understanding of allergens, and the body’s response to them on a medical level–one some level I knew we were reacting to something. I just didn’t know what. That led me to answers, which is what also led me here. My Dad has been a healer and a teacher for me ever since. He is also an extremely helpful resource when I am trying different products or mold-cleaning techniques. In full disclaimer, he also created the Micro Balance products I write about frequently on this blog. We used them in the remediation of our home and belongings and continue to use them to heal to this day. I am obviously biased, because I truly feel that they work, but I am also driven to spread any and all information I can to help others. This blog is NOT a one-sided or one-product focused narrative. My only goal is to show readers the difference that a new way of looking at mold and its affect on your health can have on total wellness and quality life. I am here as living proof to tell and show you that putting your focus on breathing clean, mold-free air can have PROFOUND positive influence on your health.
We’ve all heard the old adage: “We are products of our environment.”
The air you breathe does affect everything—from clarity of mind, to energy, to digestion. To the extent that we can alter our environments to improve our health, shouldn’t we put in the effort?
I would love for you to join me in my experiments, musings and research. Let’s help each other. As far as I am concerned, this blog is a community. I want to share, but I also want to hear from and learn from you.