An Australian woman has revealed how she was diagnosed with dementia and even forgot her name after a latent mold infestation at her Sydney home.
The persistently wet weather that has plagued Australia’s east coast over the past 18 months means many residents are now acutely aware of how quickly mold can take hold in the home – and how difficult it can be to get rid of it. Is.
While most people understand that mold is harmful to our health, it’s hard to know how much of an impact it can have until you experience it for the first time.
Amy Skelton is one of 25 percent of the Australian population with a genetic vulnerability to mold toxins, meaning that exposure to mold causes a major inflammatory response in her body and even limbs. Damage may also occur.
However, the 42-year-old only found this out five years ago after a horrific experience with a moldy apartment in Manly.
Skilton, then 37, moved into the apartment with her husband in 2016.
At the time she was “perfectly healthy”, having just finished a fun 9km run, was in the US twice to speak at two conferences and gave 39 keynote speeches in the six months before moving in.
“My mind was fine and my body was fine,” Skillton, who works as a naturopath and nutritionist, told news.com.au.
Little did he and his partner know that the waterproofing in the shower had become messed up during a recent renovation and, as a result, water was leaking under the carpet and through the apartment every time it was used.
“I started getting sick, especially sick, in about two months,” she explained.
“It could take so long because the summer was over and it was really sunny, we always had the windows open and we never registered that there was a leak.”
The result of the latent mold problem was the “systematic breakdown” of Skelton’s body.
“The first symptom I noticed was allergies, chronic allergies, and I lost anywhere from 10kg,” she said.
“I’m also a nutritionist and have literally stayed the same weight my whole life. I put on 10 kilos in a few months and I was getting really tired.”
Over the course of a few months, his brain function also began to decline.
She had trouble concentrating and working and, when she was in the depths of her illness, she was referred to a neurologist, who diagnosed her with type three Alzheimer’s disease, also known as inhalational Alzheimer’s.
As it progressed, simple things like leaving the house became a daunting task as she would forget where her keys were and an hour later she would lose her phone after finding them.
“Some days I couldn’t figure out how to dress. I used to look at the clothes and I would get really confused how to wear them,” she said.
Skelton had a Vespa that she would drive downstairs to the local shops, but when she was out she would forget where she parked and when she found her bike the key would be in the ignition.
But his scariest symptom was the day he couldn’t remember his name.
“I went to fill out a form one day and I was looking at the box that had my name written in it and what was I again? I was looking at it, searching for it,” she said, “deeply personal” of forgetting something. Describing horrors.
Because she and the doctors she was seeing didn’t know about the growing mildew problem in their home, all the tests they did were coming up fine.
She said mold-related afflictions are one of those conditions in which many health professionals are not trained, meaning most people are diagnosed with things like chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia because they have similar symptoms.
She said a simple blood test isn’t enough to show exactly what’s wrong.
“That’s exactly what happened. Everything went well, the white blood cell count was fine, the red blood cell count was fine,” Skelton said, adding that most of the doctors brushed him off and said nothing was wrong with him. was.
‘It was all black mold under the carpet’
Skelton said that some serious things happened at the same time that he realized that his home could be the cause of all his problems.
For some people it can take years to be diagnosed, but for them it is within a few months.
He first began to realize in February 2017 that something was indeed wrong and by May, the money had fallen.
The first thing that tipped her off was an online post from a friend of hers explaining how her husband had the mold gene and found a leak in their Bondi apartment that was causing mold and affecting his health. was affecting.
This prompted Skelton to recall the level asking if a plumber could check their bathroom when they first walked in because there was a leak in the garage below and believed it was Could come from their apartment.
The plumber came and went and they never heard anything again, so, naturally, he thought everything was fine.
Once he remembered it, Skelton called a building biologist to assess the unit, who mapped the leak and found that water had gone under the carpet and into their bedroom and study.
“The carpet looked completely fine from above, but when he picked it up it was all black mold. When we finally took our mattress cover back the mattress was green,” she said.
When he tackled the real estate, he admitted he knew the leak was coming from his apartment and had known for five months.
The owner was reportedly arguing this whole time with who should pay to fix the problem.
“So they left us there intentionally, which is probably the thing that annoys me the most. They knew and it was poisoning us,” she said.
Once she knew it all, Skelton was able to test the right things, which are specific inflammatory markers and a special set of genes called human leukocyte antigens.
Once she got the results of all those tests back, it was “100 percent clear that, not only was the spot leaky and moldy, but my immune system had reacted the way we know it to me.” The genetics will be directed at the face of the mold.”
Five years later, Skilton is now living in a non-water damaged house in northern NSW. Her brain function is back to normal, her energy is back and she is no longer suffering from any of the terrible symptoms she was experiencing.
He is now a qualified mold testing technician and aims to use his knowledge to educate others.
The 42-year-old revealed that one of her clients had such a terrible reaction to exposure to mold over several years that she fell into a coma for three years.
The woman, who also has Lyme disease, lived in a house where the bathroom leaked from her bedroom wall for years.
Mold testing eventually found that the home not only contained large amounts of mold, but some of the most toxic strains.
She became so ill as a young teenager that her body eventually shut down and she went into a coma.
Skelton became engaged to the woman when she was 27, but the nutritionist said that at first she believed she was a child because her body had such a severe reaction to prolonged exposure to mold that it stunted her growth. Impressed.
What do you do if you think you are reacting to mold toxins?
Skilton said there are two main ways you can determine if you have a mold problem in your home that is affecting your health.
“You can either get a building biologist or a certified mold testing technician to examine your home. All building biologists have done that training, but not all mold testing technicians do the rest of the building biology stuff,” she explained.
You may also be tested to see if you have the gene that makes you susceptible to mold exposure, which can usually be done for around $100 or $150, depending on the lab.
“You’re going to see a GP, you’ll want to see a person who is an integrative GP or practices functional medicine,” Skillton said.
While some mold cases are more serious than others, there are things you can do to keep on top of mold growth in your home.
Trevor Grindley, Beaumont Tiles’ manager for adhesives and equipment, said silicone in bathrooms is the main place where mold and mildew tend to grow.
It can spread to grout lines, especially in wet areas like showers because of the porous structure of the grout,” he said.
“If epoxy grout has not been used, most other grout lines will not resist mold or mildew without using an impregnating sealer that can provide deep and lasting protection with an invisible finish.”
Grindley said bathroom additions like underfloor heating can fight mold by drying out your bathroom.
“Ensuring adequate ventilation is another way to fight mold,” Grindley said.
“If you have an exhaust fan or open window in your bathroom, this can help prevent mold growth in your bathroom.”
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)