Black Mold Exposure is one of the best documentaries that I have seen in a while. While it is educational and enlightening, it is a story about real people that have been affected by mold exposure, and sadly relates to my own life. The young couple in the documentary are not that old, they were only exposed for a few months in a moldy apartment, but their lives will likely never be the same as before they were exposed. I am thankful that someone took the time to share their experiences in a film that is both enlightening and entertaining. I didn't even want to leave the room to got to the bathroom once I started watching this film. It is riveting!
My experiences are much like the young couple in the movie। I thought I was going crazy with all the weird things that I was smelling, and all the headaches, sore throats, facial pain, itching, nausea, and trouble breathing, but now I know that I was far from it. I had gotten mold exposure, more than likely from water damaged, leaky buildings that I had worked in. After having my son in September of 2008 I went back to work around December of 2008, I started developing a sore throat before the holidays. On December 31st I was in the Emergency Room. My sore throat was severe, I could hardly swallow, and I had stabbing abdominal pains. It was verified that I had a strep infection. I was out of work for at least a week in January, I kept returning to work, with the fevers and nausea, and fatigue. Normally a person tends to get better after several days on an antibiotic. I did not. I kept strep throat for over 2 months before I finally took a strep test and it was negative. I had not had a strep infection in over 20 years, I don't even have my tonsils and haven't had them for over 20 years!!!
Finally I started making the connection, when the cleaning lady kept telling me I needed to get out of the building. I was like, why is she so adamant about encouraging me to leave? She knew the building was bad news apparently. Stories about other people getting sick in the past started to surface, but only through my prodding of course. I am not one to just give up when it comes to figuring something out. Of course, the EPA had swept all accusations under the rug. So, I started walking around, and looking intensely. What I found was mind blowing. The steam pipes were leaking all around the building, the smell of yeast was so intense in one spot on the third floor that it smelled as if bread were baking all year round. There were moldy ceiling tiles from previous water leaks, there was a section of wall in one professors office that had water running down it like a waterfall. On the fourth floor the window seals were metal. They were completely rusted all the way around them. Paint was peeling in the stairwell with large spots of black discoloration (mold) growing behind it. Puddles of water sat on the rooftop after it rained, failing to drain correctly. The thermostat in my office read 54 degrees at the lowest temperature to 90 something with humidity levels up to 81% which is way to high. This was definately a leaking building and one with moisture problems. Who knew that this leaking building would be a problem for a thirty something year old? The migraines started happening almost daily. Severe sinus pain and facial pain, and nausea, abdominal pain, concentration problems, daily rashes, itching fits, bleeding for 2 weeks out of the month. What else could happen to me?
In addition to the mold illness, chemical sensitivity became severe. So severe that I couldn't stand to smell new furniture. I bought some new furniture and had to return it. I thought my husband was going to divorce me over this one. I could smell the formaldehyde in the wood, but he couldn't smell a thing. It is enough to drive a person crazy if they weren't already labeled as that. I can smell chemicals even if they are in the bottles. I can even smell voc's several floors away.
One time I was on the third floor of another building at work and could smell the voc's from the mold on the first floor. It was driving me crazy, so I went looking for it. Sure enough, I found a storage room that the whole ceiling had collapsed due to water damage. On part of the hanging sheetrock, was a large section of mold growing on the paper and if it was visible I am sure there was much much more mold that was hidden in places that I couldn't see. Moldy boxes lined the hallway down from the storage room that had the problem. Ceiling tiles along the entire hallway were soaked from the water damage. The problem was blamed on a faulty HVAC system.
