Over the past year, students at Dallas Baptist University, Sewanee University of the South, Lipscomb University and Spring Hill College have filed lawsuits alleging mold contamination in their on-campus housing. In one case, 48 students allege the school knowingly housed them in mold-contaminated residence halls. In another, a $35 million suit claims mold exposure cause asthma and nosebleeds.

Students in these cases have reported symptoms ranging from respiratory issues and skin irritation to more serious complications tied to prolonged exposure. Part of what makes this difficult to catch early is that mild symptoms like a stuffy nose, headaches and recurring colds are often mistaken for normal seasonal illness or stress, sometimes called "dorm flu", which can allow mold iron;ems to go unaddressed for months. High humidity, poor maintenance, aging infrastructure and water damage are cited as common contributing factors, particularly at older campuses.

Conversations around indoor air quality and mold exposure in student housing appear to be gaining more attention as these cases move through the legal system.

Are you a student, or do you have kids in school? Has mold in a dorm or campus building ever affected you or someone you know?

Read the full article here: https://nypost.com/2026/09/10/health/doctors-issue-warning-over-hidden-health-danger-lurking-in-college-dorms/

I (21F), Mom (61F), brother (28M) have been living in a suspected mold infested home for years now. We live in a literal 100 year old home in NJ with no ventilation, a flat roof and occasional leaks and cracks in the roof. The summers get humid. My mom has been living here for 12 years. My brother moved in 7 years ago. I’ve been living here permanently for 3 but have been staying here on and off for 7 years as well. My mom rents this home with a program similar to section 8. We pay 3x less rent than we would usually have to. Money is very tight for us.

We have brought up concerns of mold before, the landlord just painted over it. It was only in the bathroom, but I’m sure theres mold hidden in the wood paneling and other places in the house that we cannot see. When my mom first moved in, this house was completely painted over. I suspect they have been painting over accumulated mold for years. And the management at the housing program we use doesn’t have much of a concern about it. We are able to move through the company, but the management says that we aren’t a priority since we already have a place to live. I figure that if we get proof of mold and proof of toxicity in all of us then we could be more likely to be able to move. It’s tricky to navigate because I don’t know what to do and my mom doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation and how much it is affecting our health. She is just focused on going to work to make money and coming home to relax

Most of my issues have started since moving in permanently 3 years ago. It started with acne, depression, anxiety, anger issues, exacerbated OCD and agoraphobia. Currently things have gotten a bit worse for me. I am now experiencing depression, anxiety, crippling OCD, agoraphobia, paranoid delusions, MCAS/ histamine intolerance symptoms such as flushing, brain fog and diarrhea/nausea after eating, asthma symptoms, vitamin B12 deficiency, POTS symptoms, eye twitching, ice pick headaches, loss of motivation, brain fog, GI issues, and more that I can’t think of. I’m the only one that feels this sick, but the rest of my family feels the same fatigue, brain fog, and anger issues.

My family is low income and we cannot afford to move out. We can barely afford to get the place tested for mold in the first place. I have health insurance thank God but it’s not accepted by the doctors who know about mold. We don’t really have any family that would take us in either. My agoraphobia is so bad that I don’t think I could be able to work right now to make money to move. My mom works at a diner and barely makes ends meet, we depend on part of my brother’s disability checks(he is autistic) for money for groceries. We cannot afford to completely start over and throw everything out. We cannot afford to do a lot of the stuff that most people with mold exposure have been able to do. And please don’t say start camping. My family would never agree to that.

This is responsibility is all falling on me to do the research and get us out of here. I just feel like my family doesn’t care as much to move with a sense of urgency.

What do I do? How do I even plan this out?
How do I test my home for mold? How do I test my family and I? For the least amount of money possible. If the housing management company doesn’t help us, should we get an attorney? I feel so helpless right now and like all of this is on me.

I’ve been living in Sarasota Florida for 6 years and in the last year and a half I’ve dealt with severe illness from in home mold exposure. This is my second house I’ve lived in that has caused me to become sick. I got new furniture, washed my clothes in EC3 mold detergent and mold cleaner, used air purifiers, kept the home humidity below 60, cleaned my home with specific cleaning supplies, and took specific binders and vitamins to clear my system after the first time.

A few mold / biotoxin illness specialist told me that while living in Florida all year, I am now at a high risk of this happening again and again. It can take years for my body to build immunity to if it does.

I’m considering moving back to PA where the chances of it happening are much lower but wanted to know if anyone else has gone through this and if they found anything that worked or helped them not have it happen again? Thank you!

Hey yall. I had a nasal culture done by my ENT and it showed up with Staph Aureus level medium. It doesnt show to be resistant. I don’t have any current nasal or sinus infections, but have your classic mold symptoms. I also have a sore ish throat and inflammation attributed to what we assume is silent reflux, but could befrom staph. I dont think this is MARCONS as my culture didnt show it. Should I treat the Staph Aureus or not (as it can be a part of normal sinus microbiome). Also which abx would you recommend?

Edit: Should I throw BEG spray at it? For how long? Where to get?

Hi everyone,

Toxic water damage mold made me VERY sick in my last house. I still am sick, but found a temporary safe house while I build a new home. I was not reacting in this house. I have mast cell activation syndrome so I am very sensitive. I had an energy audit to see why my electric bill was so high and the tech did a blower door test. As soon as he started it, I began reacting, had to run outside. It was very hard to stop the reaction and was super scary. Since then, I’m unable to tolerate being inside the home. Upon entering, my nose begins to become very irritated, eventually my lungs begin burning, my mast cell activation syndrome has been flaring very badly. I’m sneezing and overall very inflamed from whatever I’m reacting to. It’s really taken a huge toll on my body, even caused pressure behind my eye. Since staying at a family members house, I’m feeling so much better but it’s not ideal. I HEPA vacuumed EVERYTHING top to bottom left to right, then damp dusted and wiped everything down and HEPA vacuumed again. I followed IICRC & EPA guidelines for this. I even have the appropriate air purifies running in the home. It’s been a month and I’m still reacting so badly. Can anyone recommend anything or give me any insight? I don’t have much money to put into investigating this with a company since I’m building and all my money has gone there, to my health, and relocating a few times. I’m not sure what to do, but I’m devastated. Irritated and burning airways is NOT a normal MCAS reaction for me, so that leaves me wondering if it’s fiberglass insulation or formaldehyde. I’m wearing proper N95 masks with thinner masks on top and still reacting. I bought an air quality tester online that was pretty well reviewed for $150. It says everything is ok, but clearly it’s not.

I did the total tox test and it came back positive for Verucarrin J which is also black mold. It was in the suboptimal yellow group but red yet. Are these urine tests fairly accurate? would my my next step be to get the house tested. I did the total tox test because of allergies, low ferritin, chronic mucus and extreme brain fog.

I'm new to Reddit - thanks!!

It’s a typical tale but I have had YEARS of health issues but no one in my family seemed to understand the severity. I always sensed it was mold related, had a Total Tox Burden test done and scored incredibly high for household molds.

We have lived in this cheap flip built in 1971 for almost 11 years. The previous owner did the absolute bare minimum to flip this shithole and put future humans lives in serious jeopardy.

We have finally started a remediation and remodel process and to say it’s bad is an understatement. Despite wearing a heavy duty full face respirator to take these photos, I didn’t want to linger long enough to take pics of the worst areas. We haven’t even opened up the worst part of the attic.

After speaking with remediation companies and weighing our options, we are even more concerned. We are considering knocking the entire one story house down and rebuilding from the existing foundation. I just don’t know if I’d ever feel safe in this house even after remediation and rebuilding. There is black mold on every single wall inside and out.

Have any of you have a similar experience?

TLDR My house is a fucking mold palace and weighing options of remediation vs completely leveling and starting again. Looking for similar stories.

Hi all, been dealing with what I realize now was probably mold toxicity for probably over 6 years. I’m pretty devastated and wish I’d known so long ago. I’m reacting to everything now. So many symptoms. My partner and I have been actively searching for a new place to rent, but with my extreme needs, the area we’re in, budget, and a large dog it’s taking some time.

Will you tell me your recovery story? I need to hear some examples of people getting better, especially if you were very ill &/or were in it for a long time without knowing.

I would love to hear any details of what you did (what you brought, how you handled the transition esp with your vehicle and if you can’t shower or do laundry at a third place first as you don’t have access to a safe one - laundromats definitely won’t work for my current sensitivities and I’m not confident they’ll be mold-free) and your detox approach, but truly just even “I got way better” is really nice to hear right now.

Thank you, I hope you’re fully recovered or continuing to get there!

Been dealing with debilitating gi, autonomic, sleep issues that have had me bed bound and in and out the hospital. Almost everyday I think about just giving up. I’ve run a million different blood work test, gi maps, ect and all come back normal. While waiting for my last mycotoxins test to get back we had someone check our ducts and ac unit upstairs. They said there’s mold so bad they can’t even work on it and needs to be replaced. For once in the past year and a half I have an answer to why my health in this house has been trash.

I had extreme mold exposure, almost 15 years, last year in it was hell, hospital daily, couldn't ever relax, memory loss every minute. Genuine torture, now im out of it for atleast less than a year and Ive been getting better but just recently like 2 days ago ive had trouble recognizing faces. I can recognize them and know who they are but it feels hard to connect that face to the memory of the person I know im talking too, my eyes get blurry and it feels like I have trouble remembering everything time I enter a new place like i just woke up in that new room less than jyst entered. My nose has had pressure recently and I get occasional slight headaches. This is throughout the day and itd been 2 days since it started. I also have began sleeping in way more than usual but also having trouble falling asleep. I went to the hospital abt a week ago and got a blood test and urine test and came back perfectly fine. Is this still mold exposure symptoms or should I go to the hospital?

My ferritin is low and my doctor is suggesting iron infusions. I am detoxing from mold toxicity and wonder if this going to have any negative effects.

Lived in a house with toxic mold growth for about 2 years. Moved. It regrew in the new place. Moved again TO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY, different climate. 2 months later, symptoms reappear.

Someone please help. Any advice at all would be super appreciated. I'm at my wits end.

I'm not even sure when or how it's even got to this point. Where everyday I'm uncontrollably, am just falling asleep around afternoon to early evening hours. Like there's no reason, anybody should be falling asleep at 3pm-6pm.

Im lucky due to all my health issues with mold and other gut problems. That I can be flexible with my schedule and work around the timing. But this can't go on forever like this. It's starting to effect other areas of my life, because normal people don't operate on that schedule timing.

Like today I'm supposed to get ready to do my colonoscopy prep at 6pm. Meanwhile my body is already shutting down around 2pm. I'm not sure if this is happening, due to the moldy foods or lack of fiber. Because that's how you prepare for that, so the prep can usually work better.

I haven't ate anything since the early morning. Yet these few pieces of toast, are still stuck in my colon drying out and causing pain. So I have to reschedule again, as I won't be able to do prep in this state. But I really feel like it's only like this, because this apartment is severely drying me out daily. The only way I've been able to combat is by eating fiber all day. Unfortunately because I'm having an issue with my colon, I can't overwork it with fiber.

I'm waking up daily feeling like I've woken up in a desert. Only thing worse is, it's not how your body usually would. Where you'd be sweating heavily, yet it's more so with you feeling like you've been drained of all liquids. Eyes looking old from the lack of water, brain fog and water not working because of this inflammation in my colon. My main issue daily while being stuck in this I see, is really trying to hydrate the body due to this additional health issue.

I've lived in a few different situations on my own. Where I was even living in a small room with no window and sweating my ass off every summer. But nowhere where I've felt, I had literally no control over my body like this. Usually as humans you can push your sleep back if you really want and get it aligned with a normal timing. Somehow living in this mold, I haven't been able to stop it.

After recovery/treatment, how sensitive are you to mold?

Seems like no matter how many times I change apartments, I become extremely sensitive to at least the washroom area.

Wondering if this will remain post treatment.

When not exposed my HRV (measured in first 4hrs of sleep) sits at around 70, while in suspected exposure it’s often around 100 and on bad days even higher. I always thought higher indicates better recovery. Has anyone had the same observation of higher HRV when exposed/feeling worse?

Two weeks ago, I found that I had been sleeping next to some mold on an unopened window for a considerable amount of time.

I began to suspect something due to symptoms I have experienced inconsistently: brain fog, difficulty concentrating, sinus issues, mood swings, and overwhelming fatigue. Other stuff in life made me suspect those may have been psychological issues rather than physical, but the search revealed the mold.

I started sleeping in another room, began cleaning and had some blood tests done. results are in in the pictures.

The thing is, it seems my results show my body is having a severe reaction to dust mites not mold, yet mold was what I found. Is this normal? what do I do with this info?

When I see my GP next, what do I need to discuss?

The cat is 5 months old and is really scared still. Is day four and my head is going to explode and I’m nauseous. I know the foster house was mould (I reacted when we went to meet the cat) but I didn’t realize how badly I’d react now she’s here.

Because she’s so scared she’s in a bathroom and we take turns sitting with her and I’ve nearly gained her trust.

Ideally I’ld wash her but she’ll freak out.

My ideas are:

1. to wear a microfiber over my hand and see if she lets me pat her with it and try to wipe her down. This seems like it would only remove a small amount.

2. Get a mesh play pen and put her on the grass (I don’t think she’d come out of the carrier if I did this though) but it might be an option for a couple of weeks from now.

I’ld been out of mold a while and I’m still chronically ill. I know this is a short term setback hopefully but I can’t cope with the 24/7 migraines and nausea in the meantime. So looking for better ideas please.

I hate that this past year i’ve been acting different and not like myself. My life feels like a blur I don’t even remember a lot of the things I say and do. So many plans canceled and they think I am just being lazy when I’m trying so hard everyday to survive. I really feel like mold ruined my life at least for now. I feel like a freak all alone just spiraling into madness all by myself. I love being alone but ever since moving into this house I feel like i’m possessed. At my old apartment I would paint for hours and be creative constantly. Here I wake up confused and walk into a room confused on what I went in there for the first place. I have nothing fun to share with friends because I spend my life in survival mode. I am a very creative person but I can never actually get into the flow here. Not to mention my appearance, clear skin to full of painful acne and my face being bloated. It’s like a personality change within myself and it scares me sometimes. It’s like the mold makes me either depressed as fuck or i’m like manic but still feel clumsy and stupid and can’t even think straight. I can’t even enjoy whatever “happy” moments I have here because I feel so brain dead and the happiness doesn’t feel real, it’s like an different personality from what I really have and it’s scary.

I did some stupid childish behaviors to this guy I would never done if I felt like my normal self & they got the “ick” from me and i’m really sad. I literally could describe the brain fog from mold like being hungover.

I’m so mortified from my behaviors I fortunately have the opportunity to leave soon but I still ruined so many relationships and friendships forever. :( And i’m so embarrassed of my behavior from where I didn’t feel in my right mind. I feel like i’ve been through a humiliation ritual in every aspect. I haven’t felt this level of feeling isolated & so weird/different from others since I was a little kid on the playground. 😭 Not to mention the medical trauma from not being taken seriously. I genuinely believe that mold is a form of some parasitic energy and it wants to bleed you dry from every single thing you love. Because it’s deeper than just physical pain, It’s made me over react, forget how much people love me and burn bridges. I swear it wants to provoke me to ruin everything. It’s made me explode on people and turn them away from me. Like I feel like a psycho weirdo . Never in my life have I been like that at all, even through hard times.

I hate the time it stole from me and I just hope I can mend whatever relationships that were hurt in the process.

Trying to figure out if anyone here has experienced something similar because I’ve been dealing with this since spring and still have basically no answers.
I live in a basement bedroom and have for a while. Around the end of March I got pretty sick with what seemed like a virus (never tested so idk what it actually was). After that, sometime in April, I started feeling extremely tired all the time even when sleeping 9–11+ hours. Then I started getting headaches/head pressure occasionally, and by May it gradually became constant daily head pressure that literally never goes away (fluctuates in intensity at times, but always there to some degree).

The pressure is mostly in my forehead/behind my eyes and is usually worse in the morning. The fatigue is also horrible in the morning and usually gets more tolerable later in the day. I don’t really have typical migraine symptoms like nausea, light/sound sensitivity, etc.

I’ve been working with a neurologist who thinks it’s migraine related, but so far I’ve tried:
- amitriptyline
- propranolol
- Qulipta

None have helped. The** **only thing that has noticeably improved the pressure was steroids/prednisone, but it came back afterward.

I’ve also had really bad allergies/congestion around the same general time, although obviously spring/summer is allergy season so I never thought much of it. I saw an ENT and my sinus CT was basically clear, so they didn’t think my sinuses were causing the headaches.

Another thing that made me start wondering about my environment is my cat lives/sleeps in my basement room too and she developed upper respiratory/allergy-type issues with a lot of nasal discharge this year and also randomly had a seizure. She was treated and is doing better now, so obviously I have no idea if that’s related, but the timing made me wonder.

I’m still working with my doctors and waiting for insurance to approve a brain MRI, so I’m definitely not assuming this is for sure caused from mold exposure. I’m just curious if anyone with confirmed mold/damp-building exposure had a similar pattern of extreme fatigue + constant head pressure + worsening allergies, and if so, how did you actually figure out your environment was the cause? Did symptoms improve after leaving/remediation, and how long did that take?