🌿 When Home Becomes the Hidden Enemy (4 Part Series): My Journey from Mold Illness to Thriving Again
Your body is wise—we listen, simplify, and guide.
Part 1: When My Safe Haven Became My Silent Enemy - How I discovered hidden mold in my home ← You are here
Part 2: When My Body Became a Stranger to Me - Understanding mold illness symptoms (November 4, 2025)
Part 3: Tearing Down to Build Back Up- What real remediation looks like (November 11, 2025)
Part 4: From Surviving to Thriving - My recovery journey (November 18, 2025)
When My Safe Haven Became My Silent Enemy
For years, I told myself my symptoms were just life catching up with me. A little extra fatigue here, some digestive trouble there, skin that seemed to have its own unpredictable agenda.
I cycled through explanations like a broken record: stress, turning 50, bad luck, maybe just the way my body was built.
What I didn't know was that something invisible was slowly rewriting my body's story—one mold exposure symptom at a time.
The Pattern I Couldn't See
"Looking back, the breadcrumbs were there all along."
In 2003, at my previous home, inspectors found mold contamination by my master bedroom balcony door. Right around that same time, my thyroid began acting up—fatigue that felt like walking through quicksand, anxiety that seemed to come from nowhere. [1]
I treated these as completely separate problems. Mold felt like a household nuisance you just clean up and move on. The thyroid issues confused me—no one in my family had thyroid problems, so where did this come from? Doctors shrugged and put me on medication.
I never connected the two. Why would I?
"Your body keeps a different kind of score. It remembers what we forget."
Fast forward to 2020-2021, and I'm bouncing between Las Vegas and Texas, showing horses and trying to hold onto something that brought me joy. But my symptoms kept escalating—cough, gut chaos, angry skin, relentless itching, crushing fatigue. [2]
What I didn't see was the real pattern: I was being exposed to hidden mold in both places. Texas had it. Home had it—from sources I had no idea existed.
My body was trying desperately to get my attention.
When "Fresh Starts" Weren't Fresh
By 2006, I thought I'd left all that behind. We had a new house built—our dream home. Everything looked perfect. No peeling paint, no warped baseboards, no musty smells.
There was a little humidity in the guest house bathroom where our ranch manager and his family lived, especially after multiple showers, but nothing that seemed alarming.
I believed I'd gotten a clean slate.
"Mold doesn't need your permission to move in."
Here's what I didn't understand then: It can develop behind walls, under floors, in HVAC systems—completely out of sight. A small moisture problem today can become hidden mold contamination over years without you ever knowing.
Then in 2016, we discovered a pipe leak above one of the basement bedrooms. We fixed it. Problem solved, right?
When My Body Started Screaming
"Mornings became battles I couldn't win"
Fast-forward to fall 2020. I was in Texas showing my horses when a nagging cough appeared after being scratched by a cat. Allergy meds didn't touch it. COVID test came back negative. The local doctor gave me steroids and antibiotics, but the cough wouldn't quit.
I brushed it off. 2020 was stressful for everyone, right?
What I didn't know then: the place I was staying in Texas had mold exposure too. For the next year, I traveled back and forth between Las Vegas and Texas for horse shows, never realizing both locations were quietly poisoning me. I thought I was escaping to something that brought me joy. Instead, I was trading one exposure for another.
The Gut Betrayal
By March 2021, back home in Las Vegas, my stomach turned completely unpredictable. Mornings became battles—I couldn't leave the house until noon because my gut refused to settle. It felt like food poisoning on repeat.
The Skin Rebellion
Then came the skin issues in the Fall of 2021. The flares would start in Texas—my face flushing angry red, then peeling in painful, raw patches. Then they'd get worse when I got home.
November 2021(The early stages)
I kept trying to pinpoint the cause. Was it the facial I got in Texas? Maybe the thyroid medication I'd just switched? The arena dust? Something I ate?
The flares would linger for days after I got home. [3] Red, inflamed, peeling skin that no cream could calm. And the itching—constant, maddening itching that had no clear cause
The Crushing Fatigue
The exhaustion was different too. Not just "I had a long day" tired. This was bone-deep fatigue that sleep didn't touch. I could rest for hours and wake up feeling like I'd run a marathon.
The Doctor Dance We All Know
You know this routine: primary care → ER → gastroenterologist → dermatologist → allergist. Each doctor gave me a theory, a prescription, another elimination diet.
I became a walking file folder of test results that all said "normal" while my body told a completely different story. [4]
Looking back, I'd had scattered symptoms for years—knee pain, cluster headaches, back issues. Were those connected to mold exposure too? I'll never know for certain. But starting in 2020, my body stopped whispering and started shouting.
The Specialist Spiral
October 2020: Cough in Texas → Antibiotics and steroids (didn't help)
March 2021: ER visit → Gastroenterologist → IBS diagnosis → Clean colonoscopy (more confusion)
November 2021: Dermatologist for peeling skin
January 2022: Allergist → Steroid shots → Allergy shots → Biological shots → Food elimination lists
March 2023: Low FODMAP diet (so restrictive I wondered if I'd ever enjoy food again)
Each specialist saw their piece of the puzzle. [5] None stepped back to see the whole picture. And not one asked about my home environment.
The Emotional Toll of Invisible Illness
One of the hardest parts was feeling like I was going crazy.
When your colonoscopy comes back clean but you still can't leave the house before noon, you start doubting yourself. When you've eliminated so many foods and you're still reacting to everything, you wonder if maybe it really is "just stress."
"The unspoken question hung in the air: Are you sure it's not in your head?"
Friends and doctors saw surface symptoms and assumed simple fixes: try a new cream, eliminate more foods, manage your stress better. When nothing improved despite doing everything "right," the doubt crept in.
But my body's signals weren't random. They weren't psychosomatic. They were warnings about something bigger that nobody was asking about: my environment.
When Life Gets Smaller: Daily Logistics
The hardest part wasn't even the symptoms—it was watching my world shrink while I tried desperately to hold on to the things I loved.
The Joy Drained from What I Loved Most
I still went to horse shows. But everything had changed.
I'd hide in the place i was staying (which I later learned had hidden mold too), avoiding the arena until the very last minute. Show, then leave immediately. No hanging out with friends. No social time. No lingering to watch other riders or celebrate successes. Just get in, get it done, get out.
The horses had always been my sanctuary. Now even that space felt unsafe.
"Will this trigger a flare? How far am I from a bathroom?"
Every Meal Became a Calculation
It didn't matter what I ate—everything seemed to cause problems. I was afraid to eat out, afraid to try new foods, afraid to be caught somewhere without access to a restroom.
And despite eating less, despite the constant digestive issues, the weight kept climbing. Nothing I did made a difference. I later learned this was cellular inflammation—my body so overwhelmed by toxic burden that it was holding onto everything, unable to let go.
Travel Meant Strategic Planning
Imodium before every flight—especially those early morning ones. Imodium before any drive over an hour to a show. Even going to Vegas Golden Knights hockey games—something that should have been pure fun, right in my own city—required an Imodium first because I couldn't trust my gut.
My life had become small enough to fit between bathroom stops.
When Life Gets Smaller: Self-Image
Then there was how I looked.
My face would flush angry red, then peel in raw patches.
Mid 2022
My arms bruised at the slightest touch, covered in marks that made me look fragile and sick. At first, I blamed our new puppy we got in 2020. Puppy scratches, right? But my skin had become so thin, so easily damaged, that it told a story I wasn't ready to face.
I chose long sleeves in Vegas heat. Not because of the weather, but because I couldn't bear the questions or the stares.
The irritability made it worse. I was short-tempered, snapping over small things that never used to bother me. I started pulling back from people, not just because I felt self-conscious, but because I couldn't trust how I'd react.
"The spaces I felt safest in were quietly making me sick."
Between the peeling face, the bruised thin-skinned arms, and a body that felt completely out of my control, I felt desperately alone. I had people around me, but this battle with my body was invisible to everyone but me.
By summer 2023, I couldn't dismiss it anymore. This wasn't just "stress" or "getting older" or "puppy scratches."
Something was very, very wrong.
When I Tried Everything—And I Mean Everything
By summer 2023, I'd tried everything conventional medicine had to offer. And when that failed, I tried everything else too.
The conventional route: Steroid shots every 4-6 weeks. Biological injections. Allergy shots. Elimination diets so restrictive I was running out of safe foods. Gastroenterologist. Dermatologist. Allergist. Each one treating their piece without seeing the whole. My family doctor managed my thyroid, but we were just chasing lab numbers while my symptoms kept getting worse. [6]
The alternative route: In 2015, dealing with chronic back pain on top of everything else, I tried cryotherapy. It helped, but didn't resolve the problem. By 2016, I tried PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy with Regenex for my back—that was a game changer and helped tremendously. In 2018, I started hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments, still searching for answers.
Even functional medicine failed me. In 2018, I found a functional medicine doctor—someone who was supposed to look at root causes, not just symptoms. I showed up to an appointment without my symptom tracking folder one day, and he snapped at me. Told me I wasn't taking my health seriously. Accused me of not being committed enough.
I sat there fighting back tears. Here I was, drowning in unexplained symptoms, spending thousands of dollars and countless hours tracking every meal and symptom, trying desperately to find answers—and I got scolded for not bringing a folder to one appointment.
That moment stayed with me. Even the "alternative" practitioners who were supposed to be different weren't really listening.
Spring 2023 - At my worst, months before the thought of hidden mold caused this.......
The Breakthrough That Changed Everything
"You can't see mold spores—but your body knows they're there"
My health coach through the cellular detox program was patient, kind, and encouraging in ways I desperately needed after years of feeling dismissed. She listened—really listened—to my whole story, not just individual symptoms.
In one of our very first conversations in July 2023, after reviewing my intake form, she asked a question no doctor in 20 years ever had: "Have you considered mold might be at play?"
I dismissed the idea immediately. We'd had that pipe leak in 2016, but it was fixed. Why would mold be the problem now, seven years later?
But she didn't push. She just gently suggested I might want to check, given my symptom patterns—especially the unpredictable pattern of flares that seemed location-dependent but never fully resolving anywhere. Her patience and encouragement gave me space to consider possibilities I'd never thought about.
By the end of July, I ordered a self-test kit based on her suggestion. The test results came back in early August: 4 out of 5. I could barely find visible dust in my house, yet the contamination levels were alarmingly high. I didn't understand how that was possible—but I knew I needed to do something.
Meanwhile, we'd started the cellular detox process. The work wasn't easy. There were days I wanted to quit. I cried during our coaching calls more than once, overwhelmed and exhausted as my body began releasing years of toxic burden. But she never gave up on me. She'd reassure me I was on the right track, that my body was doing what it needed to do, that this was progress even when it felt like falling apart.
The Dust Test That Changed Everything
Something made me try a self-test. I could barely find any visible dust in the house, yet the test came back 4 out of 5. That number rattled me.
I stared at that result. My house wasn't even dusty. You could run your finger along surfaces and find nothing. How could the test come back that high?
That's when it hit me: you can't see mold spores. You don't need visible dust to have a serious mold problem.
The Duct Cleaning Disaster
But first, in a moment of well-intentioned ignorance, I decided in mid-August to have my air ducts cleaned. If there was contamination, cleaning the ducts would help, right?
Wrong.
The company rushed through the job, and suddenly my house was filled with dust I hadn't seen before. Within hours, I was in the worst flare-up I'd experienced. My skin erupted. My gut revolted. Every symptom amplified.
What I didn't know then—but understand now—is that disturbing mold without proper containment just spreads it everywhere. That duct cleaning didn't solve anything. It made me even more sick.
That disaster prompted me to schedule a comprehensive mold inspection with Yes We Inspect in late September.
ILLUMINATE: The Moment Everything Clicked
When Yes We Inspect arrived in late October 2023, they walked me through their findings room by room via zoom a few days after the inspection. Thermal images showing temperature differences I couldn't feel. Moisture readings in materials that looked and felt dry. Even before their extensive written report arrived in November, I could see it in their faces and the data: my body had been right all along.
This was my illumination—seeing what had been hiding in plain sight while I suffered.
The emotions were a roller coaster. Relief that I finally had answers. Anger that not one doctor in all those years had asked about my home environment. Disappointment in a medical system that treats symptoms in isolation without asking the bigger questions.
And sadness. Deep sadness that I didn't know. That I'd been living in and loving a home that was slowly poisoning me.
The Question That Haunted Me
One question kept nagging at me: If mold was the problem, why wasn't everyone in my house sick? [7] My family was fine. The ranch manager and his family in the guest house weren't having the same issues.
It's one of the things that made me doubt hidden mold could be the culprit—surely if it was that bad, everyone would be sick, right?
What I learned later is that everyone responds differently to mold exposure. It's not about the contamination being "not that bad." It's about individual susceptibility. Some people's bodies can process and clear mycotoxins efficiently. Mine couldn't.
"Think about COVID—some households had one person get devastatingly ill while others barely felt it, even with the same exposure. Same house, same virus, completely different responses. Mold works the same way."
It felt unfair. Still does sometimes. But it also explained why doctors never asked about my environment—they assumed if my home was the problem, my whole family would be struggling.
I knew what professional remediation looked like—I'd been through it before in 2003 and 2016 after those earlier mold discoveries. But I had no idea what I was about to face. After receiving the full report at the end of November 2023, I spent December getting estimates from several remediation companies and preparing myself for what was coming. Part of me dreaded what they'd find once they started opening walls. But I also knew I had no choice. I couldn't keep living like this. Remediation finally began in January 2024—and it turned out to be far more extensive than anything I'd experienced before.
She walked with me through it all. The shock of the inspection results in October 2023. The emotional weight of deciding to move forward with remediation. Starting the demolition process in January 2024. The discoveries of even more contamination than we expected. The victories and setbacks. All while continuing to support my body's detox process.
Once I understood that mold wasn't just background noise but the invisible thread connecting my thyroid issues from 2003, the gut chaos, the angry skin, the crushing fatigue, the weight my body wouldn't release—everything shifted.
My symptoms weren't random. They weren't separate problems requiring separate specialists. They were my body's coordinated response to living with chronic mold exposure.
For the first time in years, I wasn't just another person with "unexplained symptoms."
I had answers.
Then, in fall 2024, she told me she was leaving health coaching due to personal reasons.
After more than a year together—through the discovery, the testing, the remediation, the healing process—I had to say goodbye to the person who'd helped illuminate what had been hidden for nearly two decades.
I was devastated. Change is hard when you're still healing from everything else.
But true to form, she didn't just leave me. She helped me transition to another amazing health coach who understood mold illness and could continue supporting my recovery. Even in leaving, she made sure I wasn't alone.
Hidden in Plain Sight
"Finally seeing what had been hidden in plain sight"
Professional inspectors found hidden mold in places that looked perfectly clean:
- Behind my shower tiles where invisible leaks had been happening for years
- Inside walls where plumbing had developed slow, hidden leaks
- Under kitchen appliances where normal condensation had nowhere to escape
- In my garage where I'd hang out with the dogs, watching the barn and horses—beneath a balcony that had apparently been leaking for who knows how long
That last one still gets me. We knew about the 2016 pipe leak. We fixed that. But the balcony? There was no visible water damage. No stains. No peeling paint. Nothing. The insulation had absorbed it all, staying saturated and creating the perfect breeding ground for hidden mold—completely out of sight.
I never knew it was leaking until the professional mold inspection and remediation revealed what was hiding behind those perfect-looking surfaces.
The spaces I felt most at peace—my bedroom and that garage spot overlooking the barn—both had hidden contamination from mold exposure.
Even when I thought I was just relaxing in my favorite spaces, exposure followed me. [8] It wasn't everywhere, but it was in enough key places to keep my body in constant reaction mode.
But It Didn't Stop at Home
In 2024, I discovered the place I'd been staying in Texas—where I went to show horses—also had mold and water leaks.
For years, I'd blamed Texas for my skin eruptions. The climate. The arena dust. Maybe I was just allergic to something down there. My face would flush angry red and peel every single trip. I tried staying indoors more, avoiding the barns, taking extra medications before traveling. Nothing worked.
Now I understood why: I wasn't escaping exposure when I traveled—I was trading one contaminated environment for another. My body never got a break. My immune system was already overwhelmed from daily exposure at home, and then I'd hit it with a whole new set of mold toxins in Texas.
This wasn't about Texas—I love showing horses there, and I still go from time to time. It was about that specific property having hidden water damage that looked fine on the surface, just like my home did.
The lesson: Mold hides everywhere. Even places that look clean and well-maintained can have problems behind the walls.
Now when I travel to horse shows, I bring my air purifier and run it constantly wherever I'm staying. You can't see mold spores in the air, but you can filter them out. It's a small adaptation that lets me keep doing what I love.
Your Body Has Been Trying to Tell You Something
Your body is wise. It's been trying to tell you something. Sometimes we just need help learning how to listen.
This journey—from years of unexplained symptoms to finally finding answers—is why I became a Functional Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach. I help people investigate what's been overlooked: food patterns, blood sugar, gut health, AND environmental factors like hidden mold, water quality, and toxic exposures that most practitioners never ask about.
If you've been collecting symptoms without clear answers—if doctors keep saying your labs look "normal" while you feel anything but—maybe it's time to illuminate what could be hiding in your environment.
Ready to shine a light on your own health mystery?
Take the Quiz - IS YOUR HOME MAKING YOU SICK? Investigating Your Home Environment
It's your body; I'm here to help you listen to it.
What's Next in This Series
🌿 Coming Up Next:
Part 2: When My Body Became a Stranger to Me — How Mold Hijacked My Gut, Skin, and Brain
Now that you know how I discovered the mold, let's talk about what it was actually doing to my body—and why my symptoms looked nothing like typical allergies.
🌿 When Home Becomes the Hidden Enemy: My Journey from Mold Illness to Thriving Again
Your body is wise—we listen, simplify, and guide.
Part 1: When My Safe Haven Became My Silent Enemy - How I discovered hidden mold in my home ← You just read this
Part 2: When My Body Became a Stranger to Me - Understanding mold illness symptoms (November 4, 2025)
Part 3: Tearing Down to Build Back Up- What real remediation looks like (November 11, 2025)
Part 4: From Surviving to Thriving - My recovery journey (November 18, 2025)
References
1. Tuomainen TS, Somppi J, Lindström M, et al. Non‑thyroidal illness syndrome in patients exposed to indoor air dampness microbiota. Endocrine Connections. 2018;7(11):1034‑1043. doi:10.1530/EC‑18‑0231. Full text
2. Harding CF, da Costa AL, McCaffrey A, et al. Mold inhalation causes innate immune activation, neural, cognitive and emotional dysfunction. Int J Mol Sci. 2019;20(17):4300. doi:10.3390/ijms20174300. Full text
3. Kraft S, Khan S. Mold, mycotoxins and a dysregulated immune system. Toxins (Basel). 2021;13(12):941. doi:10.3390/toxins13120941. Full text
4. Valtonen V, Huttunen K, Saarinen M, et al. Clinical diagnosis of the dampness and mold hypersensitivity syndrome (DMHS). Front Immunol. 2017;8:951. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2017.00951. Full text
5. Rosenblum Lichtenstein JH, Hsu Y‑H, Gavin IM, et al. Environmental mold and mycotoxin exposures elicit specific cytokine and chemokine responses. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(5):e0126926. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126926. Full text
6. Pace J, Van Dongen H, Vanderauwera M, et al. Endocrine effect of some mycotoxins on humans: a clinical review. Toxins (Basel). 2023;15(4):215. doi:10.3390/toxins15040215. Full text
7. Kurppa K, Reponen J, Hyvärinen A, et al. Severe sequelae to mold‑related illness as demonstrated in two cohorts. Front Immunol. 2017;8:382. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2017.00382. Full text
8. Curtis L, Lieberman A, Stark M, Rea W, Vetter M. Adverse health effects of indoor molds. J Nutr Environ Med. 2004;14(3):261‑274. Full text PDF
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