Aspergillosis_The New Plague
At approximately 9PM on June 22 of 2014, I checked myself into the local ER due to an onset and rapid spreading of facial, nasal, ear and hand skin lesions which first appeared in April (2 months prior). At the time, I had more than 18 individual lesions; many closed and surrounded by a circle of numerous, small blisters, while others had given way to open, weeping sores that were immensely painful and visually unsettling. The ER Doctor on Duty never entered the examination room I was waiting in, but conducted the entire assessment and diagnosis from the hallway. No bloodwork, swabs, smears or other specimens were administered or taken, and I was dismissed after a visual dignosis from 8 feet away and being given two prescriptions and a recommendation to see my general practician within the next 10 days.
Fast Forward to Today (I.e. 4 years later)... in an effort to be properly diagnosed, treated and cured after discovering my rental dwelling tested positive for Aspergillosis (at over 700%), I’ve depleted both my retirement and personal savings accounts (accumulated over 32 years of teaching public school), lost my home (of 8 years), lost all my worldly possessions (save 3 iron pant stands and a set of 4 metal mixing bowls) and all my home furnishings (including my entire wardrobe, linens, art work, family heirlooms and a lifetime of photos).
Today, I live in an unplumbed, 30AMP electric plug-in adapted, 17 year old church bus; which I bought with my last $3K and have gutted and remodeled myself in an attempted to create a Tiny Home and a Safe Space of sorts.
My bus has been my home now for just over 2 years. Everyday is a challenge; one I face head on and without remorse or self-pity; as I know what was making and keeping me sick, what I must do to continue detoxing my system, and what must be done and avoided in order to prevent recontamination of my body and to deter/prevent potential lesion outbreaks in the future.
Hello Amickp - It may seem a bit pedantic given what you have been through but this sounds very like illness caused by a damp home - not aspergillosis. The fungus Aspergillus is often present in damp homes but exposure to Aspergillus is not the same as having aspergillosis. You have become sensitive to something in that damp building or been infected but working from the description you give this is not aspergillosis. Aspergillosis is an infection, almost always infection of the lungs or sinuses and not something that will cause skin lesions. Removing yourself from exposure to a damp home is a great way to reduce your symptoms and in time people usually recover well - I hope that this small amount of clarity will help you get to the bottom of what caused your illness. NB If you find that you are not recovering - for example, your still have sinus pain, blocked sinuses, then sinusitis is a common symptom of being exposed to a damp home. Get a doctor to look at it.
