Thought y'all might find a chuckle in this.....

I do HVAC and refrigeration for a living.  Had to go on top a walk-in freezer Wed.  Confined space about 3' high, been wet for years due to ah, you don't care about that part.  Some kinda funky black mold growing everywhere which I ignored.  Layed in it, rubbed my back against it on the ceiling, bumped my head on a sprinkler head covered in it. (Ouch, thing was sharp!!)  Did my work and got out of the hole.  Got dirty, but do that most days.  Took a shower when I got home and never gave it another thought.

Until Friday.  Got a red itchy spot that covers almost my whole back.  Feel tired and kinda weak.  Gets worse as the day goes on.  Wonder why?  Finally comes to me I am allergic to penicillin (sp) and some other drugs, etc.  Penicillin is made from mold.  Most molds don't like bacteria so make things to kill them.  We call such things anti-biotics and are glad molds make them.  To me, however, some of them are poison!  I wonder if I got enough of "something" from that funky mold to trigger my allergic response?

Wierd!  Do I have to avoid moldy places now too?  Feel better now so it is just funny in a strange sort of way.  Ever hear anything so dumb??

Yes - bizarre!!

I hope you called the doctor.  You might have gotten more exposure than is apparent so far.

Is it getting better?

Funny that the same systems can cultivate mold and Legionnaires' disease.

Yea, bizarre is a good name for it!  No doc - don't call them until about an hour before I die........

Getting better now, just ITCHES!  Doubt I have any bacteria problems at the moment.....

Dude, Black Mole can be very very bad for the lungs and body!  I am also very allergic to it.  Personnaly I would destroy those clothes and make sure it doesn't spread to your house.  Luckily it should die being summer and all.

Sgtar15

IIRC on 20/20 they ran a story where there was an row of new houses that were constructed with defective plumbing which resulted in mold infesting the structures. The families suffered unexplained chronic illnesses until the problem was discovered. They were all eventually forced to move away as the insurance companies refused to pay for the clean up.

This reminds me of an old show on TV where a fisherman in the fog encountered another guy in a boat who told this story of him and someother guys getting shipwrecked and winding up on this weird island that was covered with this weird growth except for one small area where they gathered and built a fire.  

Of course they also went through arguments over stuff, got into fights etc.

And of course when the fire got low, somebody had to venture outside the circle to fetch more wood.

The show ended with the fisherman handing some food through the fog to the guy in the other boat, who he couldn't really see.  Except for when the arm reached out it was all covered in sponge or moss or mold.  Freaky!!

Are you sure this wasn't a biological weapons testing facility, and that they called you in on a "service/lab rat" call, because they needed an unsuspecting test subject.

Keep your eyes open, they are probably monitoring you to see what your symptoms are!

Seen any black Helicopters around lately?

I'm telling ya' it's a conspiracy, even the conspiracy is a conspiracy!!!

Where's my tinfoil hat?

Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk!

[shock]   [rolleyes]

On a serious note, sounds kind of scary, but I agree, I wouldn't go to the Doc either.

He'd probably shoot you up with some adrenalin or some antihistamine that would only make you feel worse!

[sleep]

Yep, that's like what happened down here.  Even before tropical storm Alison, we had a few high profile cases of black mold in new houses.  One was a million dollar house out in the woodlands that's been abandoned for over two years now.  After Alison, the insurance companies are no longer going to cover it, as they did before, because it nearly broke them.  Home owners insurance in the Houston metro area has gone up 2-3 times what 2001's rates were.  I'm still waiting for my new policy to come in so I can see how much they screw me.  I got the changes to be made to the policy today, but it didn't have number figures on it.  It can't be good though.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

is much smaller.  Feel fine now.  Worked in the flower beds all day so it appears I am recovering quickly.  Think I WILL go have a talk with the people at the nursing home where I picked this up - they're gonna need a new service company!

Thanks for the concern from y'all!