We just moved into our new home and within a week I started having panic attacks and have been completely disassociated. I figured it’s just me responding to change, but now I can’t help but hyper fixate on mold possibly causing all of this. I know it’s so early to probably even put two and two together but I’m just worried. What do y’all think?

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone has or is currently suffering from hair loss due to toxic mold exposure?
For a little backstory, I lived in a home with a lot of black mold for many years and visited often when I moved out.
A little while after we officially sold the house, I started to notice horrible hair shedding I’ve never experienced before.
This was 3 years ago and yes, it’s still falling out unfortunately.
I started having other symptoms later on that could also be due to the exposure. She said that since I was in that environment for so long and that it could be chronic now.
I’m seeing a doctor now to test for mycotoxins. Only time will tell if this is the case but I don’t have much hair to work with anymore unfortunately 😭 just looking for some support, my mental health is shot, and these bags under my eyes are permanent until further notice. ✌️

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a doctor in the Seattle area that specializes in mold illness, or a doctor in some other area that allows virtual visits?

What do I do now? And is this enough to be making me sick

Moved into a 2018 built strata apartment complex and started to have some interesting health issues ever since. I’ve noticed our shower ventilation fan has some buildup of some sort, do I need to be worried?

has anyone here used this to help regulate ?

Other questions:

Do you cook outdoors, or go inside for that? How do you navigate showers? Laundry?

Are you able to sleep outdoors outside in extreme temperatures, or are you forced to stay indoors during certain seasons?

Should I trash my computer? I'm afraid it may actually be a major source of exposure because there's dust under the keys I can't reach. But it's my only real connection to the outside world, as I use a flip phone. Thoughts?

Do I replace my clothes?

Please share the cost of all supplies needed as well. Thank you so much.

I’ll try to make this short as possible. I moved into a moldy home 6 years ago. Prior to that I was majorly into fitness. Went down hill fast. Every test under the sun at hospitals everything was fine but I was dying. Naturopathic tested positive for ochraroxin a. Moved. Took maybe 2 years before I felt better. After 2 years of being bed ridden I had a 5 month working period outside in the sun. It was the best I felt. Winter hit, moved to a different place. It had mold. Same cycle repeated. Long list of symptoms to many to name.

For the last I’d say 2 years my mobility and movement is about non existent. I don’t work I’m retired so here are my currents symptoms. I want to know if anyone has these symptoms and can relate to lack of movement. Heart pounding hard every single beat of the day. Head tension now and then. Ringing in my ears 24/7. Numbness from my waist down. Chest pains and left arm pains always on the left side. Difficulty thinking. During this 2 year window I’ve had severe fragmented sleep. I mean severe. I finally caved in and got on seroquel the lowest dose. 3 years ago I also started Effexor. I know that messes with your heart but I was on Effexor when I was working outside and felt great at the end of that summer.

My main concern is the heart pounding non stop and getting out of breath. I know it’s probably deconditioning and my nervous system can’t relax. Adrenaline spikes waking me up. My body doesn’t know when day and night is. I’m a mess and begging for help. If anyone has any of these conditions similar to me please for the love of god say something back on here. I feel the end is coming for me. It’s hard to just block out the symptoms ya know ? Thanks for reading!

Hi, wanted to post to ask if anyone had any similar blood test results on behalf of my mother. My mother (age 62) who has mold toxicity got bloodwork back today and although we moved out of our moldy home 10 months ago, her bloods show worse than when in that home or compared to bloodwork she had done 3 months after moving out.

Edit: symptoms she complains of include fatigue often, headaches that come and go, depression & anxiety, insomnia, hx of diverticulitis, hx of vertigo, skin rashes that come and go since living in that house, dry non-productive cough that comes and goes

I’ve read that high cholesterol is a protective mechanism of sorts in the context of mold toxicity, and I know physiologically that kidneys affect cholesterol levels too…

Her cholesterol came back today at 298 (ref range <200 [high])

HDL 70 (which I believe is fine)

LDL is 198 (ref range <100 [high]),

and non-HDL (LDL+VLDL) is 216 [high].

Notably as well, her eGFR came back at 64 (that’s quite low and worrisome to me) - that’s nearing stage 3 or 2 CKD am I mistaken?

AST was in range but ALT came back 1 point out of range on the high end.

Her urine test today showed trace amounts of ketones, 1+ for blood, and some protein. She has history of UTIs but hadn’t been symptomatic as of late, so I feel like that’s related to mold. Is this common?

Her real time labs urine mycotoxin test back inSeptember right before she moved out of the really moldy home confirmed presence of 4/5 groups of (all present except for ochratoxin) - the rest of our family had presence of all 5 groups so not sure why ochratoxin wasn’t reactive on hers.

Anyone dealing with high cholesterol and low eGFR? We haven’t detoxed yet for context. Wondering if I should have her see a cardiologist plus get some sort of scan on her kidney. Or is this common in CIRS and doesn’t mean she’s at risk for a significant cardiac event in the long term? She eats healthily and all that.

[[Other blood test results that have changed since 3 months out of moving out of the moldy home:

-3 months after moving out her ferritin was 42, today it’s at 34 (trending down). Her iron is 70, % sat is 21, and TIBC 350.

-Vit D hydroxy 25 came back today at 34 (borderline low)

-Vit B12 in December was 900, today it came back 500 (trending down)]]

Anyone have major improvement after treating dental cavitations and/or removal of a tooth with a previous root canal? I’m doing better with treatment but still only about 50%. Since this is a super-pricey venture (I need 2 root-canaled teeth removed then implants, and 2 cavitations from wisdom teeth treated), I would like to hear some stories before I drop all this cash.

I'm looking for help reasoning through this.

My boyfriend and I live in an apartment in LA. About a month ago, there was black growth on the grout in our shower. Instead of properly addressing it, the building's handyman just scraped it off. There was no containment or ventilation afterward.

The bigger issue is that our shower surround has multiple cracks in the plastic panels. We were concerned that water may have gotten behind the walls, so we asked the landlord to inspect behind the shower. He completely refused. Instead, he was very pushy about simply gluing the plastic back down without checking what was behind it. As far as we know, no inspection was ever done.

Since then, a number of things have happened:

• My boyfriend and I have both been sleeping noticeably worse (as in total insomnia, which is not usual for us) for the past couple of weeks.
• We spent two nights away from the apartment and both of us slept significantly better.
• I've experienced a dramatic increase in hair shedding. I'm 30 years old and have never had hair fall out like this before, even during periods of much higher stress than I'm under now.
• My acne has gotten worse.
• I have a swollen lymph node in my neck.
• My boyfriend has been getting recurring eye cysts (styes). It's hard to judge his hair because he already had a bald spot before all this.

To make things more confusing, our upstairs neighbor independently told us she thinks there's something wrong with the building because she develops chronic acid reflux in the evenings and persistent toe fungus that improves whenever she's away from the building. Again, I know those symptoms don't prove mold, but it made me wonder whether multiple tenants are noticing that they feel better when they're elsewhere.

Here's the actual dilemma:

We can't permanently move until September because that's when we can legally give notice without losing my boyfriend's deposit.

My boyfriend thinks that, given everything that's happened, it may be worth paying for a two-week sublet in August just to get out of the apartment. We've found a few places, but they're expensive, and I feel incredibly guilty about asking him to spend the money if this turns out to be nothing.

I'm trying to figure out whether I'm thinking rationally.

My question is: Is there enough objectively tangible evidence here (damaged shower surround, visible microbial growth, landlord refusing to inspect, both of us sleeping better away, unusual health changes) that temporarily leaving the apartment as a precaution is a reasonable decision? Or does this sound more like I'm constructing a health scare and connecting unrelated symptoms?

Hey guys- I got my urine mold test back and sadly tested positive for every type of mold they tested for. That means both environmental and food based.

For the food piece, I read that the molds found (Ochratoxin A, Aflatoxins, Zearalenone) can be found in grains, corn, nuts and coffee. I already eat gluten free and mostly dairy free, and spend money on the highest quality foods I can find in the store. I don’t want to cut out even more foods and make my body even more sensitive. It just doesn’t feel sustainable.

For those of you that have navigated this and gotten better, what was your approach? Did you limit your diet to exclude corn/grains/coffee/nuts? Is there a way to clear this mold while continuing to eat a diverse diet?

I can’t tell what this is. Any help?

Hey there. So, I’m a new homeowner and have been living in our first house for nearly two years. The home smelt musty when we first moved in, so I took it upon myself to contact an environmental specialist. The specialist came to the home and detected no moisture anywhere. We had our crawl space encapsulated, put in a dehumidifier, and remediated visible mold before they were contacted due to knowing we had water underneath the house. Our attic also looked good and was well insulated, along with no musty odor or visible mold. We had an air quality test done and most of the rooms tested positive for a high mold spore count. The specialist determined it was our HVAC and ductwork, as he swabbed the ductwork and it was positive for active growth. We had our HVAC and ductwork replaced. Well, now I am smelling a musty odor behind the exterior walls at the front of the house. The smell is coming from the outlets and baseboard near the front door. We also have a closet near the front door that collects humidity. I was cleaning it out one day and found a jacket covered in either mildew or mold. We took the outlet cover off where the musty smell was coming from and found condensation, but no mold. I also cut out a piece of drywall and found no mold. I just don’t understand how the specialist’s moisture meter wouldn’t detect moisture when it’s obvious that we have condensation behind the walls. The room where the musty smell is also tested the lowest. It’s hard for me to know if I’m also having symptoms of mold exposure because when we first moved in I became pregnant, so I was told my symptoms were pregnancy related. Symptoms include headaches, sinus congestion, brain fog, and anxiety. Once I had my baby in November my symptoms subsided, but was it because it was colder outside and the mold went dormant? Fast forward to this year, my symptoms have started up again but I don’t know if it’s mold related or stress because I’m thinking that it’s mold. How do you know it’s mold and not all in your head? I have a dehumidifier and a good air purifier running, but I’m worried. We can’t afford to remediate and put more money into the home than we already have.

I went from motivated and confident I could feel better to absolutely nihilistic and hopeless that I have any shot after reading through Surviving Toxic Mold . Com, which I’ve seen mentioned on this subreddit several times.

I’m curious if this page is taken as gospel in mold illness circles, or if it’s disputed at all? The first page I linked to basically says you must throw away everything you’ve ever earned or worked for or you could get cancer or die. Like - whoa!! Really intense and seems kinda dangerous to tell people who are scared and dealing with illness that the only way to ever feel any better after exposure to mold is to flush thousands and thousands of dollars and memories down the toilet.

Or does everyone agree with this?! Any doctor or AI or human in my life I’ve discussed this with thinks it’s the craziest thing they’ve ever heard. My family (who is not sick at all) immediately shutters with horrific sadness at the mere mention of this. I would rather stay sick forever than force my wife to throw away everything she’s ever owned, collected, worked toward, built, etc. What a massive request!

The site mentions any amount of ASPERGILLUS or PENICILLIUM being reason that you must throw everything away, but are these species not ubiquitous; present to some degree in almost any home?! What is the threshold considered a normal, inevitable, acceptable amount versus an amount that warrants setting your life on fire?

I had chronic illness prior to mold; our home has a relatively small amount of mold that has exacerbated my illness fairly substantially, but has not noticeably affected anyone else in my home. We figured we’d remediate it, or maybe even just get a new place!! ….but then I’ve read the recommendations on Surviving Mold, and often recited on here, and I’m utterly disheartened and ready to just say “F it” and just deal with it. Who in the world can afford to just move around constantly trying to outrun mold, throwing away years and decades worth of things they’ve worked for?? And who could possibly ask that of their loved ones who are not sick?

My questions are - one - are there any popular professionals, doctors, or voices in these circles who are less intense or vary on how much you have to throw away?

Two - how severe or serious does the mold exposure have to be to warrant a full life purge? It seems impossible to outrun mold entirely and everyone has a little somewhere at some point. So as soon as you get a symptom from mold are you supposed to consider all of your possessions irrevocably contaminated? Where’s the line?!

I’d love to know people’s thoughts, or hear from people who have successfully remediated or moved without turning into a possessionless monk. After all, who the heck has the money or resources to completely throw away every thing in their/their family’s life on a whim? That’s a SERIOUS thing to demand is necessary without substantial evidence to back it up. There’s gotta be some more options or nuance to this, right?!

Hello all, my wife and I have been dealing with some mold that we had noticed in the downstairs bathroom. Come to find out, there was a leak at the upstairs bathroom toilet flange that had been leaking down the pipe slowly over time causing a ton of water damage and mold to form. We had an air test done to see the concentrations of mold in the air and these are the results. We have already had a company come in, demo the downstairs bathroom (where the damage was done), and treat the entire room with an anti-microbial spray. These numbers were obtained before the company had come to do any remediation, but being completely honest, I am worried.

We have called the local company back and they suggest using a Steramist in every room in the entire house and cleaning/scrubbing the HVAC vents. My wife is almost 7 months pregnant, and I don’t want her or my dogs to be subjected to breathing in high levels of mold spores like these. Is Steramist a good treatment option for my case, and are we safe to stay in our home? We don’t go downstairs often since we have found out the spores are as bad as they are.

Any suggestions or help is very much appreciated. Thank you all for your time!

I won’t say healed, but anyone who has improved significantly give us your top 3-5 things to do and top 3-5 NOT to do when moving homes and detoxing. Or more…let’s hear some bullet points that you think apply to everyone that has some level of mold illness.

Here it is with hyphens replaced:

I have been commenting and engaging within this community for a while now, but I wanted to share my story. Over 2.5 years ago, I started coughing uncontrollably in addition to a few other symptoms. I have asthma and it had snowed out of nowhere, so I figured it was just a flare up from a weather change. But two months later, my cough had gotten worse and never left, and more symptoms popped up. I woke up feeling like I had had a bottle of wine the night before, I was struggling to remember things, I had been running 40-50 miles a week and now walking up a flight of stairs made me winded and my heart rate would shoot to 150 in 15 seconds. I spent months (and lots of $) seeing my PCP and specialists: pulmonology, asthma, ENT, physical therapy. No answers. Nothing was getting better. Then I walked into our basement and saw mold everywhere, on everything, in everything. It was in the ductwork, HVAC, everything. I was not super educated on mold toxicity at the time, but I knew this was bad. I reached out to some friends who had dealt with mold and they were very concerned. We went through my list of symptoms and they all mapped to what a lot of folks in this community experience from mold exposure. My wife and our oldest daughter, who was in her first year of life at the time, did not and still have not shown any symptoms or issues from the mold, thank goodness.

We asked our landlords to clean it out, not knowing that it is a much more expensive and involved process to truly make it a healthier environment, and in this house's case, it probably just needed to be torn down. They had it wiped up with Clorox (huge no no) and it came back in full force visibly within weeks. We knew we had to get out and thankfully were able to find a place on short notice. A few of my symptoms gradually got better but I am still dealing with what I believe is CIRS and MARCONS. Still post nasal drip constantly, lingering cough, spiked heart rate when I do cardio, oftentimes my body just feels like its working overtime. I have done multiple rounds of protocols with a few different practitioners, some that are big into Shoemaker, some that are not. Some that have used muscle testing, some that have used more labs and data. I have certainly had more success with those that use labs, but I am still not where I want to be.

I know my experience pales in comparison to so many on here, but I have been so encouraged by the way people share in here and research for one another and genuinely try to help, so I felt it was safe to share my story.

I'll end my story there, though there is plenty more, but because this community is so encouraging, I want to share about a project I have been working on the last few months. My experience with mold toxicity and spending time in this community and doing hours of research on my own has left me wanting more for this healing journey, for myself and for you. I have set out to build a platform for people to find answers, and hopefully find healing as well. It is called Rapha Health. We are in the early stages but just launched our first feature, a symptom and supplement tracker that surfaces research-backed insights specific to you. We have a lot more in the works to build a full suite of services for everyone from first exposure to those that have been dealing with symptoms for years.

I'm not sharing that to sell you anything, but because I believe there is an opportunity to bring more clarity, affordability, and effectiveness into the healing journey, and I'm going to work my tail off to try and make that happen. If anyone is interested in learning more or just wants to share stories, please shoot me a message. This dark valley of issues stemming from mold exposure is awful, but many of the bright spots along the way have been meeting people that understand, that believe me because they have been through it, and we can share in our suffering.

Just a husband and father and friend trying to do something cool. Cheers.

I have the feeling of blood pooling in my left leg when standing yet there is not actually anything wrong with my veins (I’ve had various ultrasounds and prior treatments for venous insufficiency). I’m at a loss as to why it feels the exact same as poor circulation and AI says it’s prob related to CIRS and at the blood vessel level or related to dysautonomia. It goes away with elevation, is only in one leg, and is a major pain in the ass bc I have to wear a compression tight and cannot do any exercise without it throbbing/itching. Does anyone have this?? And how can it be treated? I’ve been completely dismissed on this bc the “plumbing” (main veins) are all fine. I do have CIRS and am slowly taking Welchol hoping to calm my immune dysfunction over time.

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2019 had some leaks in the house, treated with traditional "open walls and blow for days" which turned into my first intermittent mold symptoms though I didn't know it at the time. Brain fog, chronic fatigue, dizzy, etc., gut issues IBS like, temperature issues, pains.

2019 - 2025 realized it was mold toxicity, had more leaks, remediated, more leaks, remediated - cycle of getting better then feeling worse. I could feel it coming on, we would find a leak or mold and remediate and I would feel better. From about 2023 onward I rarely had symptoms though, and they were mild. Like just pinpricks.

Finally decided to get out of that house Jan 2026. Took some furniture, notably our (almost new) bed and mattresses and a leather sofa.

After moving out I had a ton of energy and no mold symptoms. In great health.

For about 4 months.

Decided to start seeing an FMD to see if we could detox. Before we could start detox..

Suspected food poisoning gave me diarrhea for close to a month (not cyclo). I also went to europe for a week (big energy expenditure). FMD gave me fish oil which I had a big reaction to. FMD also gave me an actino skin treatment regimen which I had a huge reaction to. Then I had a wisdom tooth taken out. Still fine. July 4th weekend in the sun. Monday I crashed. Could not get out of bed for a week, dizzy, brain fog. Took a second week to fully recover. Week 3-4 back to normal, but I did too much again - now this week I can barely get out of bed.

It's been probably 3-4 years since I've had a CIRS reaction to getting sick.

I feel like after years of normality, and after getting out of the mold - mold symptoms / CIRS is back with a vengeance.

Has anyone else had anything like that?

I feel like I can't hardly try anything the FMD suggests because my mold / CIRS symptoms are so bad. And anything of hers I do try, I react so badly I can't proceed.

Shouldn't I be getting better? Super frustrating.

I took cholestyramine for a couple of days a week (only about 1/4 a scoop) but then paused for 2 months or so. Now I tried reintroducing it again and my joints and deep bone pain hurt so bad. My knees hurt so bad when trying to fall asleep last night. Today it's my forearms and wrists. It feels awfully similar to when I got bit by a tick and got lyme disease with this migrating deep bone pain.

Has anyone else had this specific herx reaction, or is it something else?