Why Sarah Forth Used a Mold Sensitized Trained Contractor

Mold Sensitized Trained Contractor / Client Success Story

I was sick for almost 8 months! I am feeling so much better now! It is unfortunate that the medical community is largely unaware of the ramifications of mold sensitivity. If doctors were not trained to watch for these symptoms in medical school, then they assume that this condition doesn’t exist. I hope through sharing my story I can help people become more aware of the dangers of mold. The moral of my story is: If you feel that something isn’t right with your health…keep searching for answers! Be persistent!

The whole purpose of the Remediation for Sensitized Individuals course is to help sensitized individuals live healthier and better lives. To date, we have trained 19 contractors and have been referring clients to these contractors. Recently, Sarah Forth shared her positive experience working with one of our course graduates, Stephen Andrews of HealthyAir, LLC. Here is her interview.

1. When was mold identified as the cause of your sickness?

In July 2014, my family and I moved into a “new to us” home that was the cleanest, and most well-cared for home that I had ever seen! It was built in 2000, but looked and smelled new inside. No odors in the basement, no damp feeling, no cracks, nothing!

At the end of October, I came down with a typical cold (sore throat, headache, and nasal congestion), and as the cold improved, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was suffering from chest tightness, constant post nasal drip and a thick or fuzzy feeling in my upper chest and trachea area. About a week after the initial cold, the shortness of breath became so severe that I could not complete a sentence without pausing for a breath. I started feeling so bad that I ended up going to Urgent Care (as a Registered Nurse, this was the LAST thing I wanted to do!). The MD prescribed a round of steroids and an antibiotic, and a rescue inhaler (Ventolin). I also received 2 breathing treatments in the office that day. While the breathing treatments helped mildly, I still felt very tight in my chest. The MD told me that I just needed to use the ventolin every 3-4 hours and that I would clear up. I went home and took the medications as prescribed. I began to feel better. For 2 days the steroids had me feeling relatively normal (hyped up and anxious, but at least I felt that I could breathe!) On the third day, as my steroid was tapering, it all came back. The tightness, shortness of breath, post nasal drip, and it was almost worse than it was before I went to urgent care.

I made an appointment with my PCP. She prescribed another round of steroids and a steroidal preventative inhaler and told me that I did not have an infection. I received another breathing treatment in the office. She said that it was just allergies and asthma. I was shocked! I had allergies and very mild exercise-induced asthma as a child, but never anything like this! This was nuts!! I decided to go to an Allergist who was also trained in Immunology.

The allergist told me that allergies and asthma “always come back” and that I was just having a flare-up of the same allergies that I had as a kid, and that the virus from October was the catalyst. He started me on a different steroidal inhaler and said I would be good to go in 2 weeks. That DIDN’T HAPPEN! I returned to the Allergist and he performed allergy testing and started me on allergy shots which are supposed to take 6 months to start working. (This is an investment therapy! And I was invested!! I just wanted to feel normal again!) I went back to see the allergist several times over the next few months. Each time he would prescribe another drug and send me on my way, telling me that this drug would surely clear up my problems. Well, they didn’t. I didn’t know what to do! He kept promising that I would get better, but I had a feeling he was missing something. Either that, or that I was going crazy! How could I have been living in this same climate for 30 years and never have to take daily medications for asthma or allergies, and now all of the sudden I am taking Dulera, Ventolin, Singulair, Astelin, Zyrtec and Flonase, along with several anti-allergy and anti-asthma supplements and I am STILL NOT NORMAL! My friends and family were in disbelief as I told them the medications I was on and how many symptoms I was still having. They encouraged me to get a second opinion.

I broke down and decided to spend the money on a Naturopath. At first he agreed that it was allergies (and I was somewhat convinced at this point that it was! What else could it be!?) Then he drew a bunch of labs on me. I can’t give you the exact details, but my allergic response markers were on the low end of normal. So, if all of this inflammation was caused by allergies, then he would expect so see that number on the high end of normal. He suggested that I was suffering from “Sick Building Syndrome” and said that I needed to check my home for mold. I was still in disbelief that anything could be wrong with this pristine home that we had just moved into and it took me a couple more months to spend the money on a qualified building biologist to come inspect the home. Finally, the home was inspected in May, which is when the mold was discovered in all 3 of our HVAC systems. The mold was not in the duct work, but in the cooling coil housing. It was visible with the naked eye, and an LED flash light illuminated it.

2. What caused the mold in your house?

The summer before we moved into our house (the months of May and June), we had put most of our belongings into non-climate-controlled storage. When we retrieved our belongings, there was a film of mold over most of the furniture. Not thinking too much about it at the time, we wiped everything down with bleach wipes before bringing it into the house. One of the items we had stored was our piano. We had wiped down the outside of the piano thoroughly, but never thought to look inside of it. Before the whole house remediation, Steven Andrews had thought to check inside the piano. There were EXTENSIVE colonies deep inside of various colors. While the mold colonies were likely dormant and inactive once the piano was inside the climate controlled house, each time someone sat down to play it, the vibrations would send mold spores out in the air to circulate throughout the home and into the HVAC units. All it takes is a few spores and a moist environment. The cooling coil housing is a naturally moist area and that was all it took for the mold to take hold.

3. What remediation contractor did you use?

We used Stephen Andrews of HealthyAir, LLC. I felt very confident in choosing him knowing that he had been trained to work with mold-sensitized individuals. He was very thorough, compassionate, and knowledgeable (and came recommended by my Naturopath)! Stephen understands mold and the consequences of poor air quality– he even wrote a book on it! He was not the first “in the know” contractor that we received a quote from, but he was just over 1/2 the price of the first one. He did a fabulous job… and the reason I know that is because I am healed! We saved thousands of dollars by choosing Stephen to do the work for us and the results were priceless!

4. How long did it take for the work to be completed?

Once they began, it only took four days.

5. What difference do you think it made working with a mold sensitized trained contractor?

I think it made all the difference! I’m not sure that a contractor not trained to work with sensitized individuals would have corrected all of the problem areas and the mold would have come back.

6. What were the main steps/processes involved in the remediation?

Cleaning the HVACs. Fogging and deep cleaning the entire house and all of its contents. Installing 2 large dehumidifiers on both HVAC units housed in the basement and installing GPS (air ionizers) on all 3 of the HVAC units. All clothing and linens were washed in a special detergent for mold sensitized individuals. All carpets and couches were steam cleaned. It is important to keep the air humidity below 50% at all times, so we purchased a hygrometer from Amazon for about $25 that had 3 sensors which we placed on each level of our home. I also purchased a true HEPA vacuum. Both experts whom I spoke with recommended a Miele, so that is what I bought. I haven’t done this yet, but I will also be fogging both my car and my husband’s car. We transported some of the contents from the storage unit to our house in our cars and I feel there may have been some contamination.

7. Further thoughts?

At the time of this writing it has been 3 weeks since I moved back into my house. I am feeling so much better!! I was told I would not notice much of a difference for the first couple weeks after moving back in. I felt a difference within 2 hours of being home. My indoor air is SO CLEAN! At about 2 weeks post-remediation, I felt about 90% better. Today I feel about 95% better. I have weaned off of 3 medications completely and am working on weaning off of all of them. I am looking forward to 100% recovery and I am confident that I will get there. I have been taking supplements to improve immune function and will continue to do so.

One thing I would like to make note of is that this experience has been extremely stressful in so many ways! I am so thankful to have a supportive husband who was there for me every step of the way. I don’t know what I would have done without him! He has been my rock. I felt that many of my friends thought I was exaggerating symptoms or fabricating this illness, which was emotionally exhausting as well. We have spent more money than we could afford trying to figure out what was causing my health issues. In addition to the respiratory issues that I had, I was also extremely tired, suffered short term memory problems, was unable to exercise, and my menstrual cycle was disrupted. We could not afford to do the remediation, but we also could not afford not to do it! We ended up taking out a personal loan to cover the cost, and now that I have my life back, I couldn’t be happier that we did!

I have a HUGE amount of gratitude for Dr. Cardwell and Steve Andrews. I owe the restoration of my health to them. I was sick for almost 8 months! I am feeling so much better now! It is unfortunate that the medical community is largely unaware of the ramifications of mold sensitivity. If doctors were not trained to watch for these symptoms in medical school, then they assume that this condition doesn’t exist. I hope through sharing my story I can help people become more aware of the dangers of mold. The moral of my story is: If you feel that something isn’t right with your health…keep searching for answers! Be persistent! Oh…and if you must put your belongings in storage, pay the extra money for climate controlled!

#Mold Sensitized Success Story: Sarah Forth http://t.co/UgiwigAUOL (You can beat #mold, read this!) PLS RT pic.twitter.com/ptIeHbi8sK

— Mold Sensitized (@moldsensitized) June 19, 2015