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Real People.........Real Stories

Toxic Mold can affect anyone anywhere around the world.  The misconception is that mold is only a problem in low income or dirty housing.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  Toxic Mold can grow in buildings, schools, churches and even new construction homes. The following people have chosen to share their stories so that they can help others realize the importance of preventing mold formation, growth and mold illness.

Below are some real life stories of victims of toxic mold exposure:

Wednesday, November 07 2012

By Miss Divinely Toxic  http://www.divinelytoxic.blogspot.com

A lot of you viewers I'm sure are curious of my own story with mold. It was what made me create  my website "Divinely Toxic". Since there wasn't much valid or beneficial help for anyone sick with mold or toxins, I found the drive while sick to start my website. It may be hard to type out again, but it's also always great therapy. I practice what I preach. One thing to remember, is the reason the mold effected me so strongly is for two reasons: One: The amount of spores I was breathing and working in was too high without fresh air. Two: Throughout the 18 months of exposure my eating habits became terrible. My pH was getting so acidic it literally welcoming in more toxins, parasites and yeast to prosper.  It was the key to the entire process of becoming sick with Mycotoxicosis and Candida. 


This is what I looked like starting this job in 2008 before I became sick. I was 28 years old. This was taken on site in the park behind the building.  It took about three months until I started to notice signs of this sickness without even knowing what was going on. 

Now mind you my toxicologist explained after studying my biopsy, this had happened to me before and it was when I was younger in single digits. The scars were in my dermis. Think of the rings of a tree. Same thing with our skin. Most people cannot survive another attack, and rarely can a third time. This is why this information is so important to get out into the world. We must be aware of our pH and our diet. Once flu like symptoms start without getting full blown on flu, that is the first true ailment of the sickness. Then spots, spider veins, coughs, headaches, dizziness, fainting can follow.  Please read my story, and follow me on my own survival story. May this help you and your loved ones understand the dangers of this sickness:


Here is my Toxic Story:

In a 1970's style office complex underneath a chain of stores near a lovely park in Long Island, I worked for a company and ran the office. Open to close. No other employees as it was a small little business. My boss was always out in the field. By the fourth month I started, I noticed in the hallway which lead up to large clear doors which would pour sunlight into the main part of the hall had strange yellow marks on them. This foyer was shaped like a t with the large clear doors up and in the middle of a long narrow hall. Basically the whole front was glass. Stairs led down the offices on either side. A perfect closed in petri dish.  This area in the middle of the foyer, had layers of cheap drywall just layered over each other. Possibly four of five layers. Mold was not only growing inside each layer but making its way to the outer part of the wall. Later I will explain how I ended knowing that. 

Fast forward to Late May and all of a sudden the air conditioning wasn't working correctly and leaking strange fluid on the tiles above my desk in the small little office. (No windows) Later in the week the mold started to grow on the walls in the large foyer. Then in the rooms. The HVAC system had almost completed stopped so I called the maintenance man to come check it out. He opened the vent to get to the filter, and it was covered with Stachybotrys Mold And also Cladosporium. I started to get really scared as I was already having narcoleptic episodes where I would fall asleep, and had a terrible cough and red eyes. Also small red spider like spots appeared on my chest below my neck. The A/C guy when he checked the filters in the light was so scared, he took it outside threw it away. Kindly he came back in with proper face gear and put a new one in. He stated you should be careful. This place is infected. I am not returning. I started to look mold up on the internet. That was the day the music died...so to speak. 

In a panic I print out everything I could find on mold, and posted warnings in the building. The landlord refused to come and clean it stating it wasn't a problem. Due to my room being rented by my boss, I would have had to sue him. Then he would sue the landlord. It was too much work, no matter what lawyer I saw. They all turned me down. This all was over the course of two months. Mind you I started to get much sicker as each day passed. Also saw over 38 doctors and toxicologist combined. Either they wanted too much money, told me I was too sick and cannot be saved, Told me I am not sick and I'm nuts, Told me that they needed a special separate degree to treat someone sick with mycotoxicosis. Everything you could possibly think of they said to me. Then one single naturopathic doctor and a toxicologist from another state came to my rescue at the last moment in searching. 
This is my own neck as I started to ascend into Stage Two of Mycotoxisosis. Boils, Yellow skin, red skin with spider veins,hard pimples, itchy rashes. You name it and it was appearing on my skin.

A few weeks later, When I was in my earlier stages of being sick with mold (Early Stage Two Mycotoxicosis), before I had to quit my job,  I worked in the broom closet every day down the hall and made a controlled mini lab - with petri dishes and different substances that were supposed to kill mold. I would visit the mini lab every day the same time to write down my findings during my lunch period. Also I filled some Tupperware with different building materials from around the basement office complex and I learned what molds like what material better. Also different humidity and additional pollutants. Then I would cross analyse it with a top toxicology textbook. Only Ammonia killed them all and rather quickly - after a few more hours, the petri dishes with the class A molds were completely dead, and the ammonia saturated the mold and spores and were stuck to the dish. They didn't have much time to react. or counter balance the attack. (This is my own neck as I started to ascend into Stage Two of Mycotoxisosis. Boils, Yellow skin, red skin with spider veins,
hard pimples, itchy rashes. You name it and it was appearing on my skin.)

Flash forward many months, and I'm so sick but still opening and closing this tiny office so I had the money to go to doctors and have healthcare. The parking lot was completely taken over by Stachybotrys and spreading out an attaching to cars. This now brought it to my home from my own car. The Stachybotrys and Cladosporium molds spread all over my driveway but thankfully never reached my house except for our windows via the driveway. Inside it was so terribly infested and they were loosing renters, the landlord finally sent people in with medical grade bleach to try to kill the mold. That just removed the surface of the spores, and left the roots. Not a good idea. All that happened, was let the molds grow back stronger and produces more mycotoxins there on after.Flash forward a few more days and They were finally demoing the walls and layer upon layer of wet old Sheetrock broke down to reveal more and stranger looking molds fighting for existence. Yellow viscus fluid saturated the entire room and made the air sting your face and eyes. it was terrifying. I had to escape, I couldn't breathe or even open my eyes it hurt so much. I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. My eyes and all my pores were burning like someone had doused me with gasoline and set me on fire.  I at least knew what was going on was going to kill me. I left the building coughing my lungs out and feverish and fell onto the lawn in the back of the building. I almost passed out. Braving going back in, I demand on the phone for my boss to come into the office. (I couldn't believe my boss said you can tolerate the demo and work. you cannot get off) Counterproductive. The guy doing the construction ran out soon after me. He left and said he wasn't coming back. Mold was too disgusting and left it rotting like this on the floor. Another guy had to come with a better breathing apparatus and cleaned it all up. I had to wait til he did. Then, sadly I had to go back in and run the office alone with the mold. (In this picture I was in building for two summers and one spring.)My skin was on fire here. Normally as you will see at the bottom of this page, I am pale white. This was the toxins entering my body and taking over quickly)

I started to realize if I didn't do something I was going to die or be really bedridden. Other people in the building were jumping ship, and some were staying getting even sicker than I. Finally after being reprimanded about posting signs about the mold from my boss, got the inner nerve to make something change. I demanded my out of office boss to come in and see what was happening. I didn't relent. I screamed at him with every last ounce of my soul. With a lot of arguing and loud words, once he was there and opened the door, I burst into tears and showed him my terribly yellow and red spider marked skin on my neck and arms. He saw how horrible I looked and I pointed at the mold outside of the office. This man let his wife and child of three in the office often, but not often enough. I showed him the vent system, I showed him the other office with the penicillium and Aspergillius fighting in the back on five tiles. I asked other renters how they felt and they told him right away they were sick. One was already in the hospital. He was shocked and embarrassed all at the same time, and very scared despite not showing it so outwardly. I saw it and that was enough for me. We moved quickly a month later, but it was too late for me and many of the other tenants. (I thankfully saved some of the renters...not all. Some peoplein there may have died from the sickness. Speaking about allof this brings back shadow burns from the Mycotoxins. It's quiteamazing how that can happen when reliving something.)

Notice the large brown and grey circles around myeyes. My skin is almost yellow in color like jaundice.Which is correct as presently in this state I cannotAbsorb Calcium and vitamin C. Sort of scurvy reaction.Candida has taken over my entire body from Brain totoes and all in between. Mycotoxins are burstingMy capillaries and my arteries at a blinding rate.

 

At this point I had to wait that entire month to get out. There was no way around it. Commonly during this time in the office alone, I was researching online and speaking with many mold groups along side completing my daily necessary requirements in running his office. Thankfully through Facebook's groups, I had found people to hear my story and to remind me I was not crazy. My family and friends were still on the fence, and now with my developing motor function issues, I was terrified I wouldn't survive this ordeal at all. Something inside of me told me to keep moving forward. No matter what happened I had to survive. "Never give upon yourself even if others do." I would say this to myself every night, "I am the one who lets myself fall asleep and the very reason I wake up." This saved me from much grief and inner strife. It was often all I could say that made me feel better.  Finally moving day came, and I helped as best as I could. Moving all the same furniture which was still contaminated by billions of mycotoxins still was making me sick. Sadly I did my job and they did nothing for me except save themselves from going into such an ill place. This furniture would and will make anyone sick and I knew that. They refused to learn this. I knew I had only one more decision left. This all had to stop. I needed to go home and fix myself. I need to go on disability. So I politely told my boss I must quit in order to survive. I was so sick that I might have died in my sleep if I didn't remember consciously to breath. This was when I had my first tests done with the toxicologist, and went out for disability within one week.
This picture says it all. I still tried to find any humor Icould while working in this hell hole, but This shotscares me to this day. I can see the toxins in my eyes.I was scared, alone, and dying. I took this photoTo remind me never to give up. "Look how sillysuicide would be?"... In the photo I wasn't believing...Now I do, and quite grateful that I have the will toSurvive. Anyone suffering this much, pleaseKnow I am sympathetic with you.

I suffered at home for quite some time until I got the hang of what I needed to do. I studied with my educated herbalist friend and then went out and kept teaching my own Naturopathic doctor along side my own research and what my toxicologist taught me. He was so wonderful and worked with what ever I needed. So was the caring and doting ways of my toxicologist. He was one of my most favorite people to talk to. He made me feel like I was going to survive. We all taught each other in honesty. Through the toxicologist, my herbalist friend, and my Naturopathic doctor and I, we made a plan to avoid dying as my only prognosis. The toxicologist provided me with two tests, herbalist friend and I found the right combination of herbs and the right amount to save my immune system,  the naturopathic doctor helped my diet and gave me unusual things for pain that were natural like scorpion venom. With my army of medical documents on Mycotoxicosis quickly growing in my "Mold Folder" for court, I started going in to that disability office with a purpose greater than myself. I was fighting for everyone who needed the same help I needed. It was me against the world as far as I was concerned and this girl wasn't going to lose. Month after month I fought for my right to detox with a constant barrage of documents and paperwork they couldn't even process. I started to make them see the dangers, and something changed after a year. Fast forward a few more months and now I have won my disability case and put the term "Mycotoxicosis" on the NY board of disabilities. I was the first person to win such a case with a disease very little understood in the New York State and the world for the matter. The board asked for tons of medical documents and I happily gave them every month a stack of papers thick as war and peace. They were commonly overwhelmed. My family and friends still thought I was crazy. My mother even tired to commit me for speaking about getting to open air to detox by secretly planning a family intervention at my own home. Knocking on my door and pushing her way in, to only call the cops on me after I went hysterical over their accusations. May her actions be out of love, it's what moldies tend to see all the time. Someone being scared and not seeing the truth as it involves themselves. After the cops came in, I sent them away asking one thing, "Please wait until these people have left. I want to feel safe again in my own home." The cops obliged and saw them out nodding at me when they left. Forgiving, is different from forgetting, but miscommunication and ignorance are the reasons for pain and distrust. Once you understand each other, then the healing can happen. This applies to everything, I have learned. Mold sickness teaches more than saving your own body from harm. It teaches you consciousness in your own very existence. 

It was tough detoxing. Did it for two + years. Eating organic chicken and string beans every dinner. Eggs for breakfast with a cup of hot apple cider in replacement for coffee. Slow and steady was my route even leaving room to cheat every now and then. Yet what I saw in that slide from my toxicologist - I understood very well. I was being invaded by other life forms, and losing control of my body. It was not just the proof I needed to change my habits, but it was also the proof the courts needed, my family and friends and well, anyone else suffering reading this. Very slowly I weaned off all sugars, carbs and toxins, then full detox for quite a long time. My naturopathic doctor worked with my herbalist friend together and slowly I saw the difference in my health. Also certain supplements every day to slowly rebuild my immune system and my digestive track. I started to keep a journal. We created a detox treatment with very strong herbs. The mycotoxins and bad bacteria and yeast started to lose the fight for my body. I turned the war around in my favor. If I started rushing detox, I would get violently ill. Throwing up, falling down, insane mood swings, horrible body pain, brain fog, and narcolepsy. Metallic vision, migraines, terrible periods, nightmares, cold sweats, seizures. The list goes on forever. I fought off death every second and refused to give up. When my toxicologist told me that I had gone through this before at a young age, it almost destroyed me. I remember when my childhood home at the age of seven had a main water pipe break. It made all of us sick, but me the most. I was violently ill and the doctors only gave me anti-biotics. Fevers spiked into the 105 rage were I almost died. It was what made this time around so much more dangerous in 2008. In my life time, I cannot get sick by mold again or I may not survive a week of the same sickness. I not only have to make sure this doesn't happen, but learn to live in harmony with all mold as it too is a life form of earth. This is what I do now, and make sure my diet and pH are always up to par. I consider it similar to a theft alarm system for your home. Above picture is my biopsy blown up in size on poster. 18 Months Exposure time. The Black circles with Arrows and a "Y" are Black dyed Yeast cells. The Larger Arrows at the upper middle show the mycotoxins and how they have invaded my capillaries. This is proof that Mycotoxins invade and stay in the body. The cell spacing should be between one to three cells thick which is apparent in other areas to the right of the picture. The center spread with the two large arrows, is five to seven cells thick from the mycotoxins. Also it is evident the mycotoxins have invaded this area by how large of an area is shown in comparison to the surrounding areas. You can blatantly see that yeast have started to prosper and grow inside this area. Along the bottom of the slide you can see where this has happened with the small arrows with the "Y" and how they are much larger. Yeast cells are dyed in black to be shown. This is not only in the 3 mm biopsy here, but my entire body.
 

Three very nice people who at the time didn't know me from a hole in the wall, in a few mold groups on Facebook felt terrible for me. They were so kind and educated me on many things. To this day I still talk to them and we share our thoughts on the subject often. At my worst, I couldn't breathe on my own and had to manually remind myself to do so. Every action took incredible energy to accomplish even getting up and going to the bathroom. Sleeping was a nightmare as I worried I wouldn't wake up to see sunrise. Not being able to sleep with my skin burning and aching from atrophy. I was so toxic that quite frankly baffled modern science that I lived. I couldn't regulate my own heart beat and had to remember to keep calm at every turn or I would suffer an aneurysm or a heart attack. All my major organs were on a moments notice of ceasing function. Toxins and bad bacteria were taking over my motor functions and candida was eating my body alive from the inside out. My body fluids were at an acidity of 4 on the scale, and major minerals and vitamins were no longer able to be broken down by my body. Tears and urine burned my skin. My own mouth was on fire. I had literal become a prisoner trapped inside a dying body. Not some character with make up you watch on television, the real thing. 

Thankfully once I won my court case for disability and had my two test results from the toxicologist my friends and family finally understood what was going on. With patience and education I taught them how to see the warning signs and how to remedy it. I started to teach them as I taught myself how to heal. Slowly over another two years I thankfully am still here today fully recovered with a few hang ups. From being 46 parts per billion toxic at my worst to the happy healthy lady I am today. I do not look sick, nor do I feel sick. I also never get colds anymore with my army of herbal tinctures and teas. Most of my health comes from all the fresh food I grow in my garden every year. I know that helped. I also grow herbs for treatments and adore using them fresh. Over the course of four years, I learned what is really going on in our medical world, the FDA and the drug companies with big business. This is where I realized I had become on of the "Divinely Toxic" because I had learned the truth only after becoming completely toxic myself.

Please, if you know someone with this sickness, or you yourself are sick, every day you refuse to wake up, you are hurting your chance at survival. Help yourself, and learn to help others in this fight. Education is the key to success and remember not to panic, just study.

- Miss Divinely Toxic.

Posted by: Surviving Toxic Mold AT 10:44 am   |  Permalink   |  Email