This House Makes Me Sick!
Symptoms of mold allergies include:
*Sneezing.
*Chronic cough.
*Runny nose.
*Nasal congestion.
*Itchy, watery and red eyes.
*Skin rashes.
*Sinus headaches.
*Reduced lung capacity and difficulty breathing.
I have every single one of those symptoms... but only when I'm home -- and not every single day. When I go away on business trips, to Ashland, or even to the mall for the afternoon, all my symptoms disappear. But the moment I'm back at home, my nose starts to run again, I begin to sneeze incessantly, and my throat closes up.
I really wonder whether our house has hidden mold problems. Living in the Pacific Northwest makes that a very distinct possibility. And the fact that our entire downstairs flooded two years ago (though it was certified "clean" by the construction and the insurance company) and Tom's recent remodel of the bathroom, during which he demolished and rebuilt entire walls, might have stirred things up enough to cause some havoc.
So now what? If it really is a mold allergy (and how do I find out for sure?), what are my choices? Move? Travel on business (if I had one) all the time?! Spend far to much time at the mall? (Hmmmm...)
Short of some pretty drastic actions, I'm not sure what I can do. So for now I guess I'll just keep buying those mega-packs of Kleenex at Costco and put up with it.
"Seattle drizzle" has taken on a whole new meaning.
7 comments:
Try getting rid of things one by one. Starting with the cats, then the dogs, then the children, then the husband. If there is no improvement, try cutting down all the trees.
Then move to Arizona.
:)
There are companies that specialize in locating mold in your house and then eliminating it. I have seen them advertise on TV. I guess a person has to be careful, though, and do a thorough check (BBB, the State)before hiring anyone.
I also wonder if you might be allergic to the cats. My son, who was never allergic to them, now can't be in the our house for more than an hour without taking Benedryl.
My bet would be the mold, though.
Go to an allergist and find out what you're allergic to. You might be allergic to cats, which would be cheaper to fix than mold.
Juanita is on the mark - you can hire companies that can detect mold and can try to get rid of it but be careful about who you hire and get references.
A friend of mine became very ill from mold and it took her years to recover...and really she's never recovered completely. If you've got mold you've got to take steps to get rid of it.
Do a google search on "mold detection seattle." I tried it and got lots of hits. We may be in the same boat- apparently our fridge icemaker has been leaking for a long time, so we've got to replace floor, subfloor and carpets, and who knows what has been growing there all this time?
Lynn
Ugh, I really hope it's not mold. I can't imagine how hard it would be to get rid of it all as it just thrives here.
It's very possible that it could be a pet allergy. Good luck figuring it out.
I think you first need to find out which allergy you are suffering from for sure. A simple blood analysis gave me the good news that I am allergic to mites and grass seeds (but eg not to tree seeds, not to cosmetics, ...). I also got twice tests with many many stickers on my back. pff not that much fun though.
There are so many allergy variants and it's hard to know what to battle if you don't know 100% sure what to look for. ...it's already hard enough if you know what to avoid, really.
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