Mycotoxosis

Toxic Mold Illness (Mycotoxosis) caused my MCS. We have toxic mold in the cement blocks of our house. We manage it with an ozone machine that we run as often as we can. That requires us to be away from the house long enough for the ozone to clear out. I detoxify as much as I can, and avoid chemicals that trigger me, most of those are synthetic fragrances, plus a couple of other things like chlorine. My husband is great at helping me be sure and eat foods that help, like citrus, pineapple, and many others.

When I first notice a fragrance, my immediate thought is “Oh, crap! How bad is this going to mess me up for the next week?” I’m trying to learn to vacate the area immediately but I often don’t want to, I was there for a reason, it can also be very awkward to just leave. The next thing that happens depends on the severity of the exposure. If it’s a mild exposure I won’t notice anything for a while. If it’s a more severe exposure, my nose will burn inside and my face will start to tingle and my eyes will burn. On the less severe instances I will later notice my eyes start to burn and swell. Varying amounts of time later, depending on the severity of the exposure, my head…well, my brain slowly starts to swell, this puts pressure on my eyes, nasal passages, even my jaw and teeth feel the pressure. It eventually is bad enough that the pressure effects the nerves leaving my brain stem and makes my whole body feel…irritated. This feeling is very similar to when you hit your funny bone only a mild sensation, like when you didn’t hit it very hard, just hard enough for it to be uncomfortable. Sometimes this will exacerbate an out of place vertebra in my back or one that is already sore from being out and was recently put back in place. I also can’t think clearly and my ADHD is much more severe. Even simple tasks become difficult; things I don’t otherwise struggle with, even if I’m tired, are very difficult.

These are just the initial symptoms. As my body tries to deal with the toxins I get severely cold and unusually tired. Those always happen at the same time, telling me that fighting through it is NOT going to help. So, I bundle up with plenty of blankets and sleep it off. Some of the other things I do to help is a detox bath with water as hot as I can stand, lots of epsom salts and a mixture of essential oils to help with the detoxification process. I usually take my laptop and some food but I always take a tall glass of water. I soak until the water feels cool, then I shower off. I always try and drink plenty of water, but after an exposure I try and drink more than a half a gallon a day. There are also foods that help and foods that make it worse, so minding those is always helpful.