Our Story of Mold Toxicity

On the evening of March 23rd, 2020, my husband, Jason, shot up out of bed stating he couldn’t breathe. Slightly alarmed, we tried a few things to see if we could help his breathing. 

I gathered his stuff so we could head to the ER or prepare to call an ambulance while he called his sister who is an internal medicine physician. 

He talked through his symptoms with his sister and we decided that he must be having some sort of allergic reaction to the epsom salt he used earlier that evening in a bath. 

He took some Benadryl and followed a few other suggestions she gave him. We decided to let him rest and avoid going to the ER. After all, the virus had just started to get serious in our country.

Over the next few days, his symptoms continued and multiplied. He had shortness of breath, major exhaustion, a dry cough, a low-grade fever, and post-nasal drip. Clearly, this was not an allergic reaction. 

Of course, being March of 2020, we assumed he had the dreaded virus. He stayed mostly quarantined from me (eight months pregnant at the time) and our 20 month old daughter. 

Eventually he became so miserable, he went to the ER and was tested for the virus. His test was negative. 

We decided to just wait it out. Maybe his test was inaccurate and he would get better in a few weeks. 

But he never got better. In fact, he got worse. 

Add eye floaters, brain fog, and weight loss to the mix amongst other issues. 

I wish I could tell you how many times he visited the local urgent care, how many phone calls and texts he shared with his doctor sister, how many virtual doctor visits he had, how many chiropractic visits he had, how many blood tests, pulmonary tests, ENT doctor visits, and allergy tests he had. All to come up with no answers. 

No one had any answer. “Everything looks great! You’re very healthy!”

And let me tell you, our bank account was FEELING IT. 

But most of all, WE were feeling it. 

Jason has always been very healthy. On the rare occasion he would get sick, he knocked it out in a few days and bounced right back. But this time, he wasn’t…

In the midst of all the unknown, our second child was born. Jason was trying to keep his business running, help me with a newborn and toddler, and trying to quite literally survive. 

So not only was he suffering physically, but he was suffering mentally as well. The healthy, “nothing-can-stop-me” entrepreneur was totally spent. 

All of the sudden I started having migraines. I had never had migraines before and when I got them, they were debilitating. I shrugged it off as a hormonal issue since I had just had a baby. 

And suddenly, I had brain fog. I had itchy eyes and throat and was sneezing all the time. I was tired in a way that I could only explain as “my whole body feels lightheaded.” I felt nauseous, and had trouble finding words. 

In October of 2020, we decided to take a trip to Tennessee. While we were there Jason mentioned he didn’t feel much different than at home. But my allergies were gone! I figured it was the change in environment and that I must just be allergic to something where we live in Florida. 

Once we got home, Jason’s symptoms hit him like a ton of bricks. And that’s when he realized, he did in fact feel much better while we were traveling. The only explanation is that his improvements happened so gradually that it wasn’t very noticeable. 

I was so desperate for answers so I had been following @pjharlowwellness on Instagram for a few months. While following her, I had become familiar with the symptoms of mold toxicity.

I felt in my gut that we had a mold issue but we had “professionals” test our home and our levels were “normal.” 

After we returned from our trip and felt so much worse, I KNEW we had mold.

Jason had already been tested for allergies and didn’t have a single one! So, we knew it wasn’t anything related to that. 

Jason had a phone call with the realtor we had used the previous year and she recommended a local mold remediation company come out and look at our house. 

Long story short, this guy was much more knowledgeable and helpful than the previous mold testing company was. He found the source of all of our problems: mold.

LOTS OF IT.

We found out that the drain pipe in our roof had apparently been leaking over time causing a lot of moisture to build up in the walls of two of our bathrooms.

Additionally, he discovered that the previous owners had a leaky door that completely ruined the bottom layer of flooring and internal walls of our brand new baby’s room.

Aspergillus mold had been excessively growing in our home for months with most of it in the baby’s room. 

Our home was deemed “unsafe” for us to stay in due to the toxicity symptoms we had been experiencing. So, we stayed with my parents in their small, 3 bedroom home for over a month. 

Two of our bathrooms were completely gutted, the floor in the baby’s room was ripped out down to the concrete, lots of drywall was removed, and the water source of the mold was taken care of. 

Thankfully, my dad is very talented when it comes to construction and remodeling so he has been able to help us with all of the rebuilding and he’s doing it for free out of the kindness of his heart (minus the cost of materials.)

Since returning home, we have felt SO much better. I feel normal but Jason still has some lingering effects.

It takes quite awhile to get your system back in check when you’re as sensitive to mold toxicity as he is.

One of his biggest struggles is not being able to have coffee. Most coffee and tea bags are contaminated with mold! YUCK! So now we use mold-free coffee.

Most of all, we are very thankful to finally have answers. It’s not fun being in your late twenties not knowing what is wrong with you/your husband and having two small children and businesses to run.

It could have been something much more life-threatening so while it isn’t fun and it has been very expensive and difficult, I’m thankful mold is “all” it was. 

Read the update to our story.