I am a 74 year-old male,  living in an old  (1970's)  10' X 55'  trailer house which shows interior signs of previous mold,  apparently largely from prior roof leaks.  I put a new roof on shortly after moving in,  and it still seems good.  I live in a quite dry climate  (Chico,  California)  where we have long,  hot summers.

I have developed a sensitivity to at least 1 version of mold existent in my trailer house.  Subsequent to this sensitivity,  I have also acquired sensitivity to various chemicals which are common in today’s materials.  Normal persons would recognize no symptoms from normal levels of either of these things.  The Symptoms associated with my mold sensitivity have varied from being minor to somewhat debilitating.  It is not a normal life for me anymore,  though I can still work some,  and have not moved.  I have several times thought I was in a  'death spiral',  with Mr. Mold in control.

No firm records were kept of events related to my sensitivity to mold,  so the following items come from memory  (written 12/13/14).

• The defining mold event happened in 2011,  while my office space was rented from a woman realtor who also had a serious,  but not mold-related allergy.  The event was noticed in my trailer house,  where I had been exposed unknowingly to mold spores from mold growing in a wall of my bedroom  (undetected water incursion in the summer from an outside sprinkler).  Probably,  I had been chronically exposed to these mold spores over several years,  as I recall telling my doctor,  before my defining event,  that my running wasn’t what it should be,  and remembering fighting with mucous while doing exercises at the gym.  The initial mold event is remembered as me sleeping on the living room floor of my trailer in the summer,  as per usual,  and sensing a buzzing in the roof of my mouth early in the morning;  3:30 – 4:30 am.  I don’t accurately remember other symptoms from this event.  Surely there were some,  per the following.
• Thinking my trailer was the culprit,  I tried sleeping in my office space,  and then another empty office space adjoining.  Both spaces produced the same mold effect,  and at about the same time of day.
• I then moved into a Motel 6 room to try to escape  (the symptoms,  apparently),  and found the same result.  At this time,  I had researched mold problems on the internet,  and then ordered a HEPA compliant filter to clean the air of spores.  Also,  I ordered a particle meter to detect the level of particles in the air,  and to verify that my filter was working.  Before the filtering machine arrived,  I had an appointment with my regular doctor to evaluate my blood,  particularly my white blood cell count (immune system marker).  Since what I had  (and have had since)  is commonly recognized as a mold allergy  (one actually looks fairly normal during the day),  my doctor was not alarmed,  assured me that my white blood cell count and other metrics indicated no infection.  He also implied (if I remember correctly) that a person could not get sick from mold,  and that it was a very complex process,  and that he would not recommend an allergy specialist for me.  He basically said I was on my own in dealing with mold.  That night and the following night,  before my first filter machine arrived,  were among the worst in my memory,  as I felt forced to wear a respirator to get any sleep at all without being attacked.  This was a very claustrophobic situation for me  (wearing a respirator;  chemical cartridge-based).  Fortunately,  the filter machine then arrived,  and worked well,  and I could get a decent sleep without wearing a respirator.  Arrival of a 2nd filtering machine eventually let me work without being attacked in my office,  though it was a period of a week or 2 before I recovered from the initial attack sufficient to work without respirator or particle mask even when the filter machine was running.
• I do remember still doing some morning running while staying in Motel 6,  but do not remember any difficulties associated with running,  or how much distance I ran.
• Approximately during this time I went through bankruptcy proceedings  (from an unprofitable online application),  and thus ceased to rent office space  (moving office activities to my trailer),  and ceased to pay for gym facilities at a local Sports Club.  This would have been early 2012,  I think.  I believe I remember doing normal sets of weights  (relative to today)  in my trailer,  indicating this initial bout with mold was not too injurious to my health.  Nor do I remember lengths of runs,  or difficulty breathing on runs during this time.

The following items seem pertinent to what has happened to date since my initial mold event.                              to top

• Intermediate between then and now,  I remember not being able to run more than about 100 – 200 yards at a fairly slow pace without running out of oxygen,  both in my lungs and legs.  Also,  I had reduced my weight lifting and exercise process so I would have some energy left for the days efforts at "keeping up" with computer programming.  This intermediate period would have been 2012 – 2013,  and suggested to me that mold toxins were affecting both the alveoli in my lungs,  and affecting the final transportation of blood  (or to oxygen in the blood)  to muscle cells.
• Some time in 2013,  I felt an event happen one day,  that seemed revolutionary at the time,  in that I could run continuously beyond the 200 yard barrier.  I had been pushing pretty hard on my running effort,  and had become more adept at detecting mold attacks,  and avoiding them.  During this year  (2013),  I believe,  I had started developing a special compartment in my bedroom in which I could control the environment more,  and thus avoid more of the mold attacks.  However,  it also seemed that I was becoming more sensitive to mold,  and I became afraid that it was increasing its hold on me,  in spite of a seeming improvement in my underlying level of health.
• All during these years  (2011 - 2014),  my annual physical exam with my doctor showed labs which made my doctor happy,  and he continued to seem unconcerned about the mold,  and pretty unwilling to discuss it.  It is of note that i am on Medicare  (aged 74 in 2014),  and my sense is that my doctor thinks of me as an unprofitable patient,  though a personal friend.  He did,  I think in 2012,  recommend that I discontinue my blood pressure medicine,  which I did discontinue just prior to my next appointment.  My blood pressure,  with and without medicine,  has continued to decline  (improve)  during these several years of mold allergy.  In 2014,  my doctor recommended I discontinue my cholesterol medicine,  which I immediately did.  This meant that I was  (and still)  taking no medications;  only a daily vitamin-mineral supplement.  Also during these years,  I have been regularly reading about mold and its various effects on persons,  and trying to apply what is known to my own situation.
• About in February of 2012,  my long-time friend Rollie and I got together as usual on the coast of California for a visit.  During my trip over, as soon as I crossed the coast mountains,  I sensed a mold effect on me,  though not severe.  It varied during the several days on the coast,  but I never felt really good during that vacation time.  I did have one health event  (double vision for about 30 seconds)  which did not seem connected to mold.  During our first evening meal together the day I drove over,  we had pizza, and during this time I had a period of about 30 seconds – 1 minute in which I saw double.  I had no noticeable pain,  and the situation soon went away.  That year,  I do not remember having any trouble at night with mold attacks in our motel.  When I got back,  my gas furnace promptly gave out,  and I elected not to replace it,  but to convert to using various forms of electric heat  (mostly portable heaters),  and separating my trailer into smaller liveable and usable spaces.
• In September of 2012,  Rollie and I fished in Campbell Lake in South-Central Oregon at about 7000 ft elevation.  We slept in his RV,  and I remember no mold attacks at night,  nor having any mold effects during the days when we fished,  visited,  and travelled.
• In February of 2013,  Rollie and I got together at Rogue River for a visit,  slept in a nice motel there,  and I recall no problems with mold then either.
• In September of 2013,  Rollie and I fished in far Eastern Oregon  (Krumbo Reservoir and Mann Lake),  stayed in his RV at Page Springs 4 nights,  and I recall no mold effects or events.
• In January of 2014, Rollie and I met at Bandon Oregon,  stayed in an older but pretty nice motel,  and I had mold events every night,  all through the night,  though I tried combating them with bibs and with menthol-based cough drops,  which have proven very helpful to me in reducing the effects of a mold event.  These events were not too severe,  but troublesome,  and affected my energy somewhat during the day.  I had expected I might have problems,  indicating that I was feeling an increasing sensitivity to mold.
• In September of 2014,  Rollie and I fished at Medicine Lake California,  which is about 6,800 ft elevation.  At some point  (probably while driving there),  I decided that I should not sleep in Rollie’s RV since I might have mold events,  and I did not want to populate his RV with these mold spores,  not really knowing what they were,  nor the possible sensitivity of his relatives and friends.  I did therefore sleep in the canopy  (shell)  of my pickup  (fitfully,  and cold;  it froze every night),  and had a mold event on the third night,  which hit pretty hard and affected me moderately the next day in headache, and weakness.  I therefore left before spending the next night,  as would have been normal.  During this fishing trip,  Rollie and I spent some time discussing my mold problem,  and from this discussion it was determined that my special sleeping compartment in my bedroom should be focused on becoming a  ‘clean room’,  in the event that my mold sensitivity keeps increasing.  That concept was implemented  (partially)  within several days,  with the result seeming to accompany a feeling that my immune system was actually recovering, and that i could now accomodate a larger volume of mold spores without having a mold event. That situation however reversed within a few weeks, as it seemed i was still getting more sensitive to mold, and now highly sensitive to various chemicals. This was now a scary situation, with the chemicals which had previously been beneficial to me now were causing me problems (like chlorine-based bleach).
  
  On this fishing trip,  Rollie and I agreed that I should pursue a working relationship with a medical specialist on allergies,  preferably one who is doing research in effects of mold on persons,  preferably one at U.C. Davis  (close to my home town of Chico CA).  We were in agreement that an expert  (Rollie says there are no experts)  could help me identify the mold species involved,  the toxins that were therefore in play,  and possibly determine if I was genetically susceptible to mold.  I did then apply to the U.C. Davis Dept of Immunology and Allergies for such assistance,  but my application was declined on the basis of  'lack of capacity'.  Consequently,  Strategy II was developed,  largely from my experience and accumulated readings thus far.