Wow, I just watched the new documentary MOLDY from Bulletproof Founder, Dave Asprey… and, it freaked me out a bit.
MOLDY brings together the country’s top medical experts and mold survivors to pull back the curtain on a silent epidemic affecting 45 million households in the U.S. alone.
Toxic mold causes devastating illness as it hides in plain sight inside our food supply and nearly one out of every three buildings.This gripping and insightful documentary will teach you how to recognize the conditions necessary for mold to thrive, and how to navigate the murky waters of recovery of both home and health.
I have always known that mold could be an issue for my family because my mom is allergic to penicillin. That said, I didn’t think much beyond the drug as to possible problems with mold.
After watching the documentary, MOLDY, I’m thinking again. People can be really sick from all kinds of mold, not just the kind in penicillin (or peanuts, for that matter).
Specifically, I’m thinking of the intense (and too frequent for my liking) sinus headaches I get, and the rain that gets in my bedroom balcony door, wetting the carpet! For years! Could there be a connection?
OMG… what if???
In my lame defense, I never pursued the area by the door because we live in Arizona, which has a really dry climate. I figured mold wouldn’t be much of an issue here. Indeed, in the film, you see some mold survivors leaving their stuff behind and moving to the southwest for this reason.
Still. What if there was mold under that carpet? I had Greg pull the carpet up and see.
F*#k. It was there!
Yup. Now, it wasn’t all wet and gooey and fuzzy like you might imagine, but it was there! Dry and still scary as crap.
Moreover, I learned in MOLDY that it can dry, but the cell walls fracture and spread mycotoxins into the air, carpet, bedding, furniture, and clothing. (According to MOLDY, nearly half of all American homes have experienced water damage and are at risk of mold infestation.)
Shit. My family has slept in there … for years. :(
We called a contractor to remove that part of the carpet, bleach the plywood underneath it, put tile there, and beef up the weather stripping around the door. We vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed the rest of the room, just to make me feel better, but for now, I can’t say whether we still have a problem. Vacuuming won’t completely help. It could be in my mattress.
Testing for Mold: ERMI
Next step. ERMI test (Environmental Moldiness Relative Index).
In the next few weeks, we will get an ERMI test to see the status of mold in our home. If it’s at all bad, I’ll flip my shit because the MOLDY documentary showed me all the ways mold can cause serious problems. At a minimum, it could require replacing the carpet in the bedroom and getting a new mattress and bedding. Hell, we might even need to move. I’ll keep you posted.
Mold illness is something we should pay attention to.
Mold awareness might soon be going mainstream, so don’t be surprised if you start hearing more about it. Dr. Oz ran a segment on mold illness not long ago. Suzanne Somers released her new book “Tox-Sick: From Toxic to Not Sick” on how she recovered from mold poisoning and other toxins. Even more recently, CSI: Cyber episode 103 featured work of Dr. Shoemaker with an episode featuring a patient injured by taking a counterfeit capsule laden with aflatoxin. Aflatoxin mentioned twice, as was Aspergillus. And then, of course, there’s Dr. House.
The following shows just a handful of health problems that could be caused (or exacerbated) by mold…
- Brain fog
- Breathing issues
- Asthma
- Sinus problems
- Migraines
- Cognitive impairment
- Immune suppression
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Arthritis
- Digestive problems
- Poor sleep
- Inflammation
- Joint pain
- Weight gain
Check it out. Now. (I think you can watch it free until June 14, 2015.)