Sick passers-by / major cross-contamination problem

[Guest guest]

Kathy, thank you for the detailed answer. Obviously you were exposed

to very high concentration of these toxins, and your internal organs

seem to have been affected much more severely. Your story sounds very

scary.

I'm not the same person who recently posted the question about pink

mold in his bathroom. I just popped in to ask what were your symptoms,

because I find that my symtoms are not very consistent with Stachy's

toxins, but are very consistent with the toxins produced by Fusarium.

My case is different from the usual SBS scenario. The flat and the

building I live in are NOT the source of mold contamination. All my

mold-related problems are only due to cross-contamination from the

outside through other people or objects. It's a long story, but in a

nutshell:

During 1990s I suffered mostly because of imported objects bought in

supermarkets. It took me quite a while until I realized that

mycotoxins were what was causing me the problems. There never was

visible mold, I would just buy a soap (for instance) and feel the

symptoms that are consistent with T-2 toxin poisoning. I tested those

soaps for bacteria and toxic chemicals, they found nothing. When I

mentioned toxic mold they laughed and their main biologist told me " If

it weren't for mold we humans wouldn't be alive, and there would be no

life. All molds are harmless. We never test them and we won't test

them for you either " . And she is the director of the main organisation

that is in charge for testing water, food and all other products in

this country (something like FDA in USA)!

More recently I am faced with a much bigger problem, and I'd really

like to hear suggestions from other people regarding this issue.

Namely, it seems that people here recently started to travel to other

countries / regions that are severely infested with toxic mold... and

when they come back, they carry on their clothes and belongings very

powerful mycotoxins and/or mold fragments. I guess they don't feel it

or may have only minor allergy problems. However, when they just pass

near me in the street, or if I encounter them in public transport, the

contamination can make my clothes and other belongings totally unsuable.

One such incident happened in July this year. It's explained in this

message:

/message/41067

This momentary exposure made all the documents I carried with myself

unusable. And of course the clothes had to be thrown away. Even new

clothes that I used right after the first contamination, and which

came into contact with the 'original contamination' became unusable.

During 2nd half of August and September, I started to use the public

transport again. While the majority of the people are totally clean

and neutral in terms of mold/mycotoxins, there were a lot of " smaller "

cross-contaminations. The majority of them died down by themselves,

without any need on my part to decontamiante. Unfortunately, there

were three people who carried significant contamination on their

clothes (not as strong as the one from July, but comparable). Now I

really scared to death. What if this doesn't stop?

How will I function in this city at all? It's like every 100th person

I encounter outside just stepped outside his/her sick building

carrying on himself/herself dangerous amounts of mycotoxins. I can't

avoid people indefinitely. This phenomenon is something very new for

the city I live in. This sort of thing didn't exist in this form

before July this year. I am completely shocked and unable to see any

way out of this situation. I can't make any longer plans - because

everything can be spoiled by such a seemingly trivial thing as a

contaminated person passing by you in the bus.

How did you deal with the problem of cross-contamination of clothes

and personal belongings?

-Branislav

> >

> Yes, I have had most of these symptoms except vomiting. I had

> severe diarrhea in the spring of 2002 (had to get 2 IVs to replace

> fluids; I even developed bowel incontinence and had to wear depends

> for over a year. (This can also be due to vomitoxin which can also

> be produced by Fusarium.) Before that I had severe fatigue, the

> brain fog, chemical sensitivity, and sinus problems for several

> years, but was still able to work. Around 1998 I started coughing

> up dark brown junk and to this day don't know if it was bleeding

> from toxins or an actual infection, but it never completely went

> away until after I quit work in the fall of 2003. Around 1999 I

> developed PSVT (severe attacks of tachycardia that I had to have 2

> ablations for) I had mild to moderate chest pain and the first

> endoscopy I had in around 1998 showed grade II esohagitis. I took

> proton pump inhibitors, but they didn;t help. The burning pain was

> tolerabe at that time .Also, in the late spring of 2002 I started

> washing the dark brown junk out of my sinuses. That summer I

> developed petechia on my arms . The school where I worked was

> closed down due to Stachybotrys being found airborne in several

> rooms in the fall of 2002. I know they tested my room, but the

> results were never found. There were pink spots on ceiling tiles

> above the right HVAC unit and on the wall and pink debris inside the

> unit. Later testing showed Fusarium in the unit. It was also

> growing in rotting algae on the flat roof that held water and leaked

> and also landed near my air intakes. Being a Biology teacher, I did

> my own testing at first and found the Fusarium. After we returned

> to work from the " remdiation " in the fall of 2002 they worked on the

> roof with us in school. Black debris fell from the ceiling and

> covered my computers. I had it tested and the predominant mold was

> Fusarium, 43,000 spores/swab. It was even higher than

> Cladosporium, which is much more common. I had never heard of

> Fusarium at that time. I kept getting sicker and sicker. I coughed

> up brown junk all winter and had to go on prednisone to get it

> coughed up. I was also on nebulized amphotericin B, an antifungal.

> I also started getting places on my arms that spontaneously bled and

> turned black. (I still get the red placeds, but they very seldom

> bleed anymore.) i was doing somewhat better over the summer and

> tapered off the prednisone, but within a month after starting back

> to work, I started coughing up clear sticky junk and also had it

> coming out of my head. My allergy doctor did a hyypersensitivy

> pneumonits panel from ARUP and it showed I had been sensized to

> Fusarium.(on 2 different occasions, the 2nd time was higher.) He

> later did IgG and IgM testing from Immujnosciences laboratory and I

> showed chronic exposure to about 10 molds, including Fusarium. I

> also showed chronic exposure to both T-2 toxin and vomitoxin. I had

> to go back on prednisone and did farly well until I tapered off of

> it in the winter of 2004. Then I developed severe burning chest

> pain. I had had another GI endoscopy the previous September and

> the next day, the chest pain was so bad I went to the ER. Nothing

> helped, but it did get somewhat better while I was sitll on the

> prednnisone. I had a Barium swallow before that that showed what

> looked like a " mass " in my stomach. It turned out to be prominent

> gastric folds with acute gastritis and duodenitis. Evidently my

> esophagus also looked pretty bad, becasue the GI doctor did a

> biiopsy for Barrett's a precancerous condition.. Thank goodness, it

> was negative. The chest pain was so severe all the winter of 2004

> that I walked the floor day and night. I thought it was reflux at

> the time, but I started taking 4 nexiums a day, that didn't help. I

> thought I was going to die. Then I had a pH probe that was negitive

> for reflux. After doing much research concerning T-2 toxin, I'm

> now convinced that it was what caused the burning chest pain. I

> think I had a " mild " case of alimentary toxic alukia. I even got an

> email form Dr. Aswalde (the author of the article about T-2 toxin

> that KC posted a few days ago), saying this was very possible. He

> said if I was breathing it then I was also swallowing it. I was

> sick all that spring and summer, but the burning chest pain has

> slowly subsided and the last endoscopy I had was normal. Around

> August of 2004, I statred getting severe pain in my sinuses. Since

> that time I have had several molds, including Fusarium and

> Blastomyces, and 5 gram negative bacteria cultured from my sinuses.

> The sinusitis seems to be my main problem now. The pain has been

> debilitiating. Over the past 2 years I have been on IV antibiotics

> and antifungals and finally had to go back on prednisone last

> winter. I saw Dr. Shoemaker about this time last year and tried to

> take the CSM, but the digestive problems were still so bad then,

> that I couldn't tolerate it. I started using bentonite, and that

> has helped somewhat. I don't know if the T-2 toxin is what affected

> my sinuses or the hypersensitivity to the Fusarium and other molds.

> I had sinus surgery in July of this year to open up clogged

> spheonids and frontals. The biopsy showed mild inflammation in all

> my sinuses even on the prednisone. I was diagnosed with prednisone

> dependent chronic sinusitis. I still get this slimy junk and white

> and sometimes the brown globs from my sinuses. I've even gotten ot

> bits of debris that look like fungal filaments. I am now on oral

> antibotics and sporanox and use a sporanox sinus rinse in addtion to

> the prednisone. I still get the pain, but it isn't quite as bad,

> but I've basically been nonfunctional much of the time for 3 years

> even after leaving the environment. The only time that I felt half

> way decent was when I was on high dose prednisone back last winter,

> but neither my doctors nor I want to stay on that much predisone.

> I'm on 12.5 mg. right now and keep trying to reduce it. I'm not

> advocating that anyone take prednisone, because I know what Dr.

> Shoemaker and others say about it, but I would not be able to

> function at all without it now. I keep having hope that I can go

> off of it and this will eventually clear up. There have been many

> days and nights the pain has been so bad, I have prayed to die. I've

> had to take medication for pain for 2 years, and never took it

> before, even after other surgeries. I do seem to be making a little

> progress, but it is so slow, that I have to look back in my journal

> to see how bad it was before to compare.

> So, yes, T-2 toxin is bad stuff, probably one of the worst

> toxins of all kinds. I guess you know it has been preported to have

> been used in Biological warfare. Even the CDC has an article on

> it. I would suggest that you get the IgG and IgM testing done for

> the T-2 toxin and vomitoxin and also fusarium. In the meantime, I

> would as Carl suggested, seal off that bathroom until you know

> something for sure or better yet, get out of the house.

> I need to get my story out, but have been too sick to do so. If

> anyone reading this wants to use it, feel free. I do plan to get it

> out in the public if I ever start feeling better. This spring and

> summer have been especailly difficult as my mother became critcally

> ill and passed away in September, so I really havn't had a chance to

> do much yet. I've just now started reading the posts on

> sickbuilfdings again . But any time T-2 toxin is mentioned, I feel

> it necessary to respond if I can. I don't want sympathy, because I

> know most people in the group have suffered as much as I have. I

> have told parts of my story before, but since there are a lot of new

> people in the group since I was active, felt it was imperative to do

> so again. I pray that you are not being exposed to T-2 toxin.

>

> Kathyw

>