07/31/2026
I’ve only just started to piece together some of the details of my health crisis. After finding some spots of mold in our house this fall, I started to realize the implications of living in mold as a kid.
My parents got divorced when I was 15 and I moved into town with my mom. Soon after, I developed an intense breathing problem. The stress may have been part of it, but I found mushrooms growing under my bed! (Mold city!)
There’s a reason mold has been used as a bio weapon in past military operations. It’s toxic and no joke.
There’s also a reason my friend who deals with PANS / PANDAS kids said that about 70% of the patients she sees have mold in their home.
When I was a kid, we didn’t remediate because we didn’t know what that was or that there was any danger. We tried some herbs and they didn’t do much (go figure… because I was still living in mold).
I moved on and lived in an apartment and house during college. This is when I was at my lowest point: sleeping 12 hours at night, sleeping through class, and getting back in bed after class. I was overweight and inflamed, felt so unlike myself, and felt like life was passing me by. I was mold-poisoned!
At the same time, I felt like a ship tossed at sea trying to figure out a degree, who I was as a person, and how to be a productive part of society. I believe the emotional turmoil added to my physical issues.
When we found we had some mold spots under windows in our house this past fall, I started connecting more dots with not only my son's health but with mine. I realized that it was messing with my gut health and my sleep. Once we took the drywall out of my room, I could finally get a good night of sleep again!
Mold is a real problem, but is not without solutions. Dr. Jill Crista, who has dealt with mold patients over the years, has great resources to help you know if mold is affecting you. She has a questionnaire and a great book that helped me learn a lot about diagnosing and remediation. If you've noticed behavioral shifts, headaches, gut or digestion changes, sinus problems, or a whole host of other problems, you just may want to consider mold as the culprit.
*This is me during that time in college. I appeared to be relatively happy/ healthy and I had some great things happen to me during those years, but there was a heavy cloud over me of sickness.