First-person testimonial from Margarete describing severe health decline after moving into a mold-exposed home in 2021, including respiratory problems, fatigue, rashes, hair loss, and digestive issues. She describes diagnostic delays, leaving work for medical leave, moving in with family, and gradual recovery aided by the Gupta Program’s mental/behavioral support, which she credits for improving her coping, reducing isolation, and enabling progressive physical recovery (return to part-time work and playing tennis).
Chapters
My name is Marguerite and before the Gupta program, I was living on a high stress routine and I would rush a lot of things and not take time to slow down. And I also was feeling pretty depressed and from the pandemic. Yeah, just not feeling centered and. Yeah, just going kind of going through the motions of things. In 2021, I moved into a new home and was feeling excited about that. And in July that summer, all of a sudden I felt like I couldn't breathe and I was having a lot of breathing issues. Two weeks prior to feeling like I couldn't breathe, I also had gotten in a car accident of another high stress event. I had noticed during that year, two more allergies were starting to pop up and I wasn't sure what was going on with that. And then in August it started to get. Symptoms started to get really bad. I was going to a lot of doctors and specialists and went to the ER a couple times and my body just started to feel like it was falling apart. And I thought I had gotten a diagnosis and thought I had gotten the answers, but I was just being fed antibiotics and that wasn't working either. So that was eventually making me feel worse. And then in November, I scheduled a mold test by professional and they came into the house and they found really high levels of mold from the outside of the home. And based on my symptoms and not being able to breathe and respiratory issues along with other symptoms, it was kind of thought that the mold was affecting me. And so I decided to move out of the house. But I was working with a functional doctor to kind of figure out what was happening. In October of 2021, I decided not to, to take a three month leave from my job. So that was the kind of first moment where I was like, oh, wow, I'm feeling so not well that I have to stop working. And being in my 30s, that was hard to, that was hard to, to deal with because I just never thought I would be in that situation where I had to stop working. I moved into a family's home, which comforting because I had family support. So a lot of my days were actually just waking up, eating breakfast, meditating and then taking a nap. And that would be my day. I would have chest pain in certain areas and that would feel like my, my ribs were kind of tight. I had hair loss, I had rashes. Digestive issues would also, I've noticed, started to really affect me chronic fatigue or fatigue. For many, many days. I just felt so tired and could really just lay down and not feel like I had Any energy to move. When I was going through this illness, I was pretty frustrated with progress initially. In the beginning, I was like, okay, in two weeks I'll be fixed. They'll give me some medicine and I'll be well. Well, especially if I move out, I will just bounce back. And so I feel like the Gupta program helped me accept the situation no matter where I was at. I felt like it helped frame my mentality and perspective. It also helped me not feel alone. Going through this was pretty lonely, and I would stay at home a lot and not see a lot of people and. And just knowing that other people were out there with going through the same thing and also getting better, but also just knowing that I wasn't alone in this and that other people experienced similar things actually helped me a lot mentally. I feel like I wouldn't be able to get physically better without this program. I was amazed to see how much growth I would have when I reflected back or would write down the progress I was making. Because yes, eventually from going to just getting out of bed and making myself a meal, I could move up to going to the farmers market by myself, driving a car by myself, taking walks, and then seeing the progress of how long my walks were taking. Eventually, I was also able to go back to work. I started part time again. But that year off, really, I saw so much growth and I felt like the Gupta program was able to help me mentally get back into the workplace. Recently I have started to play tennis, and that is a very hard sport, more than I realized. But I've been able to play two hours for one session every week, and I've been doing that consistently for about two months. And I think back to the time of when I was bedbound, not being able to do much, not having much energy. And I'm absolutely amazed that I can do a very physical sport and be outside with other people. And that has brought me a lot of joy.
