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Personal Stories

DIY Preventative Mold Remediation for Minor Leaks and Water Intrusions

by Catherine 10:48 pm

Stopping Mold Growth BEFORE it Starts is the Key to the Long-term Health of Your Home

My personal battle to keep mold out of our home seems never-ending. Preventative mold remediation and maintenance is a huge part of that. The unfortunate curse of homeownership is that the minute I feel like I have solved one issue, another arises to take its place. I guess the challenges are good for the blog, because I am always learning new things and always figuring out more effective ways to improve our home’s health and indoor air quality (IAQ). The more I learn, the more I also want to share that knowledge with you, because there are definite DIY ways in which you can act immediately to take control and manage any potential mold situation. Knowing these DIY mitigation skills will also build your confidence during recovery, because your sense of security will grow with the realization that even an event that feels like a crisis, can be handled and doesn’t have to lead to a relapse into poor health.

A little background for you on our most recent water intrusion issue:

A few weeks ago, visible water markings appeared on our den ceiling after a storm. Just seeing the tell-tale water discoloration sent me into a bit of a tailspin. If there is one thing I have learned about water intrusion, it is that the sooner you find the source and stop it, the less likely you are to have mold growth. We DEFINITELY didn’t want to chance mold growth. Thus, remediation and proactive mold prevention efforts began immediately.

First order of business:

Where is the water coming in and why?

10:48 pm 0 comment

Personal Stories Q & A's Wellness

Learning to LIVE Post Mold Illness Diagnosis

by Catherine 4:16 pm

Embracing Your “New Normal” May Be the Key to Letting Go of Fear and Feeling More Like Yourself Again

The longer I write this blog and build relationships within our community of readers, the more those interactions impact what I write about. Often your questions are at the forefront of my mind when I am writing my weekly post. Sometimes, I have even been writing about an entirely different topic but get such an excellent reader question, that I halt and reroute everything I am doing to share it instead. Then, on days like today, I just cannot ignore the feeling that I NEED to write about a topic, because it has impacted one of you and is weighing on my heart. This is one of those posts.

A reader who I have gotten to know through our email correspondence is about to embark on her first travel experience since being impacted by mold illness. Her home environment is finally under control, and she is feeling much better. (Her main symptom was debilitating and chronic fatigue.) These days, she is doing all of the “right” things with mold maintenance and mold avoidance and is extremely proactive about taking charge of her health.

This reader has also been very inspiring for me to communicate with—asking me detailed questions about cleaning methods and practices I use in our home and always thinking out-of-the-box to make products and techniques do double-duty to be more effective and cost efficient. But, with her trip on the horizon, doubt, fear, and anxiety have started to impede her positive momentum. So much so that, rather than being able to focus on her current good health and upcoming travel, she is stuck worrying about all of the potential mold situations she may encounter along-the-way. She is already foreseeing challenges to remain well in new and unknown indoor environments.

To help her get ready for her trip, we have communicated in detail about products to pack, how she can purify her space and air on the airplane, and what mold maintenance and avoidance actions to take when she arrives at her destination. (If you want to read more about these techniques, HERE is my post on travel.) In other words, “on paper,” she is totally prepared and ready for this trip and knows exactly what to do.

4:16 pm 4 comments

Personal Stories

Mold and Marriage: Relationships in the Midst of Environmental Illness

by Catherine 3:47 am

Mold and marriage do not tend to be good bedfellows. Experience, online forums, and psychological studies show that relational decline, conflict, and marital separation are unfortunately harsh realities in families plagued by environmental and mold illness. Tremendous medical expenses, time, and failed treatments and/or remediations foster stress and frustration between family members. What often results is a falling out between spouses and/or family members that characterizes many people’s mold stories. It can be such an isolating and misunderstood illness for all those involved. That is why I am writing this post.

I’ve actually thought long and hard about writing this blog post and started on it many times before. It is not something I enjoy talking about or writing about for that matter. I guess no one enjoys dwelling on times in their life that were scary or hurtful. Then, when I got the latest SinusitisWellness.com newsletter I connected so deeply with the subject matter, that I thought it was definitely time to share my story. Now, more than ever, I’m at a place where I am willing to put myself out there, because I feel that it is important for me to share some real truths about mold illness in this space. I hope that my story may help someone out there get through their own ordeal. So, without beating around the bush, I’m just going to jump right in with some heavy reality:

Our mold ordeal almost cost me my marriage.

There. I said it.

3:47 am 16 comments

Healthy Home Mold Prevention Mold Remediation Personal Stories Q & A's

Reader Q & A: Air Quality Issues With In-Slab HVAC Ducts and Knowing When It’s Time to Call a Professional for Help

by Catherine 10:04 pm

This week, I am going to devote time to answering and sharing a recent mold/indoor air quality issue question that came my way. It concerns a very specific way of installing HVAC ductwork, where the HVAC ducts have been placed in or below the concrete floor slab. To better illustrate this to you, I asked a contractor to describe the installation process to me. Here is what he said:

“As the home is being built, trenches are dug in the soil before the concrete foundation is poured. Wooden or concrete blocks are then placed in the trenches and the HVAC ducts are pieced together and placed in the trenches on top of the blocks according to the home’s layout and the HVAC blueprint. Many times, the ducts are in direct contact with the soil. Concrete is then poured around the ducts as they lay in the trenches. Finally, the concrete slab is poured on top of the ducts/trenches to form the home’s foundation.”

This practice of in-slab ducting has become notorious for different types of problems, like functional troubles (lack of air flow or collapsed ductwork), and environmental problems (radon, odors, flooding, mold, insects). The main reason I want to address this question on the blog is because of the many indoor air quality issues inherent in this type of construction that I think people need to be made aware of. I also think this question is an important one, because it involves all of the components of needing to be a “mold detective” and a health advocate for yourself. This is because watching out for potential health hazards in your home and other frequent indoor environments can protect you from long-term health consequences. In other words, if it smells like mold, you can see it, and/or your body feels “off” in a particular environment and like something is making you sick, chances are that your body is right, and it is mold or something environmental. Thus, you have nothing to lose by taking steps to safeguard your health by investigating and fixing your environment as soon as something seems amiss.

So, let’s begin. Here is the question that sparked this post:

10:04 pm 0 comment

Personal Stories Wellness

Mold Illness in Children: The Signs, Symptoms, and What I Do Now If My Children Have an Exposure

by Catherine 9:27 pm

I had a completely different post planned for today, but life happens. The thing that happened in mine was my daughter getting sick, again. Because of how far we have come and the fact that we have all recovered so much since getting out of the toxic mold, for the most part, our days of good health definitely outnumber our sick days now. Today was different, though. It brought me back to a darker place and really made me think about some times that I would rather forget. Fortunately, this blog has been a huge blessing to me, and I am able to write through and share some of those feelings. It also rewards my spirit to feel that sharing what I have learned with you could help someone out there struggling with mold, environmental or chronic illness too.

To get you up to speed a little, my sweet 8-year-old daughter took a significant mold hit the other day. She went to play at a friend’s house for a few hours. When I arrived to pick her up, I found her outside in their playhouse, where the girls had been “camping” and laying in musty sleeping bags for hours in what smelled to me like an incredibly moldy playhouse. The minute I detected mold, I panicked, because I know how her body reacts. Today, she finally succumbed to her immune system going haywire. She is currently sound asleep upstairs, but had an agonizing evening of headaches, sinus pressure and even severe nausea from vertigo. She is a tough cookie, though, and knows the signs of her body reacting to mold. She told me right away about how she was feeling when her headaches started.

9:27 pm 4 comments

Interviews Personal Stories Products

Make the Switch to Safe: Earthview Fragrance-Free Products for the Chemically Sensitive

by Catherine 5:19 am

There is sensitive skin, and then there is skin with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). Sensitive skin is a skin type that is irritated by a certain ingredient or ingredients. For some, those ingredients are chemical, but for others, they can be natural ingredients. While sensitive skin can be bothersome and uncomfortable, the cause of the sensitivity can usually be pinpointed and then avoided. MCS, on the other hand, is a severe sensitivity to a variety of ingredients and pollutants–Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), environmental or microbial toxins, solvents, synthetic fragrance, and petro-chemicals–and can occur in any skin type. For individuals with MCS, exposure to even the lowest levels of these contaminants leads to a variety of symptoms, from headache, fatigue, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating, to more specific symptoms like itching, muscle pain, or skin rashes.

While MCS does produce an allergic-type reaction, the cause is usually widespread and cannot be pinpointed, making treatment challenging. Many times, eliminating just one ingredient is not enough. It would be like trying to bail water from the sinking Titanic. It is a good idea, but there is just too much water coming in for it to make any difference. In other words, MCS sufferers are so extremely sensitive that they experience symptoms even with minute exposures. Thus, complete avoidance of toxicants is the primary course of action. Unfortunately, for those affected, it is not possible to live in modern-day America without exposure to some harmful chemicals. But, thanks to companies, like Earthview®, it is at least possible to keep that exposure to a minimum.

As a company, Earthview® is as unique as its products. It is founded upon the principles of delivering the best, safest, least reactive, and environmentally friendly products to its customers and is also a company focused on the specialized needs of those customers—environmentally harmed, chemically sensitive individuals.

5:19 am 0 comment

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Personal Stories Wellness

When Your Products Turn Against You, Where Do You Turn? My Experience With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

by Catherine 6:26 am

There are times in life when we are forced to let go of something that plays a large part in our self image. In doing so, we have to establish a new identity with a new definition of self–for better or worse. My makeup and body products were that something for me. Not too “deep” of me, I know. But, I am a girly, girl. At the core of who I am, I love fragrance, makeup, hairspray, in other words, everything that is probably terrible for my health from a toxicity standpoint.

While I wish that I could claim that I gave those products up as a proactive move to better my health, and the environment, I must confess that I was forced to quit using them. I am extremely chemically sensitive now. My body cannot tolerate perfumes, sulfates, petroleum-based additives, chemicals, etc.

I wasn’t always this way, though. So, what does that mean? What caused this “sudden” hypersensitivity to products I had used forever? Does it have anything to do with mold?

6:26 am 0 comment

Cleaning Tips Mold Prevention Personal Stories Products Q & A's

Packing and Leaving a Moldy Home: What to Remediate, What to Discard, and How to Cope

by Catherine 12:23 am

When faced with leaving a toxic home, the idea of having to sort through your things before you embark upon your “new” life can be overwhelming. If you are also very sick, the tasks, even simple ones, can pile up, leading to anxiety, depression, and sometimes more illness.

I can definitely empathize. I lived this scenario. I was faced with leaving our home, all of our things, memories and personal items, even though I KNEW it was for the best. At that time, my husband was unwilling to concede. The mold just made me much sicker than it made him, so my body didn’t give me a choice. I took one bin of photos, scrapbooks and toiletries and our children and moved in with my sister for a few months.

My husband stayed behind and attempted to come to terms with what we were facing. Those were very hard times. I believe we both had to experience a grieving process before moving forward. Some of the emotional trauma that incurred still remains. I have made the choice for my sanity to move forward and live in the present and in thankfulness for my reclaimed health, rather than in the past dwelling on what I could have done differently.

If you are experiencing this, I am sure you have come up against conflicting advice in “expert” opinions about remediation, and what you can safely save and clean for mold and what you must discard. It felt “almost impossible” to know where to begin. For example, we all have many possessions that we love and have sentimental value, but we also don’t want to further risk our health by trying to save things that could make us sick or that could contaminate a new, safe environment.

The questions remain:

Who should you listen to?

Should you cut your losses no matter what or try to “clean” things for mold?

12:23 am 36 comments

Mold Prevention Personal Stories

You Are NOT Crazy! Mold Can Affect Your Brain

by Catherine 2:59 am

Let me start by saying that if you are struggling with depression and feelings of hopelessness as symptoms of your mold illness, you are not alone. You are not crazy. Depression, anger, fear, feeling trapped, desperate, and helpless are all very real and very well-documented (now) symptoms of mold-related illness.

One of the first and most difficult symptoms of being exposed to mold for me was the sudden onset of anxiety and depression. My anxiety levels soared and my ability to deal with life’s ups and downs plummeted. I went from being a smooth-sailing, up-for-anything, laid-back woman, to an unstable, nervous, neurotic, worried wreck. I would literally worry myself into physical exhaustion, almost feeling haunted by my fears that something was going on in my body that I just didn’t understand and no one could figure out or help me with. It was humiliating to not be able to physically prevail in athletics anymore or depend on my body and depressing to always be or feel sick. I also felt out-of-control and like I was failing as a Mom, because my son was struggling with sensory processing issues and frequent ear infections, and caring for my daughter, a sweet baby girl at the time, left me totally depleted and completely exhausted. I was not in a good place physically or psychologically. And, as many of us do when things seem to be “all in our heads,” we blame ourselves, which makes the problem worse.

2:59 am 25 comments

Interviews Personal Stories Q & A's

Treating the Individual: A Naturopathic Doctor’s Approach to Healing Mold Patients

by Catherine 5:16 pm

One of the things that helps many mold patients during their recovery is connecting with and working with a naturopathic doctor. Luckily for my family, Dr. Dennis pulled us through, helping to identify the mold piece of the puzzle in our home and in our bodies. He also introduced us to protocols that ignited our healing and still continue to help us recover. Dr. Dennis guided phases of my detox, and the dietary- and nutritional supplement-side of things as well. We were very fortunate. But, for many other mold patients, medical doctors fail to see the environmental issues, and only treat immediate symptoms, leaving them still sick and increasingly frustrated. It is not until they try “alternative” therapies and visit naturopathic doctors and/or medical doctors who take an integrative approach to treatment that they finally are able to identify the cause of their illnesses.

In this way, naturopathic doctors are playing an integral part in how environmental illness is treated. They are on the front lines, tirelessly looking at the person, not just the symptom, to see what is happening in a patient’s diet, home, work and personal life to cause whatever illness is going on in the body. Naturopathic doctors help our understanding of how best to fine tune and prime our bodies to withstand environmental toxins. It is the naturopathic doctor’s unique knowledge of the body as a smart and complex system and view of a whole-body approach to healing that I want to shift my focus to today.

More specifically, I want to get a naturopathic doctor’s view of when something like mold becomes the tipping point, driving a major immune reaction, inflammation and illness. When our bodies scream at us that something is wrong, what should we do? What is the “whole body approach” to treating and healing from a mold exposure or mold-instigated illness?

To help answer this question, I was fortunate to be able to speak with Kimberly Williford, MS,RD/LD,NMD, a Board-Certified, licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Registered Dietitian and one of the founding partners of Southern Integrative and Environmental Medical (SIEM) located in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Williford treats environmental toxicity, metabolic dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, and chronic disease, with a focus on longevity and anti-aging. The practice offers comprehensive, individualized and integrative support for its patients.

5:16 pm 0 comment