153: Real Mold Stories Told by Real People with Dr. Jill Crista (Part 4 of 4)

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to today's show. If you're one of the 130 million people that are dealing with Sirs Lyme disease, autoimmune disease, or other conditions that are impacted by mold on a daily basis, and you need to learn how to eliminate that exposure, then you're in the right place. My name is Brian Carr, and you're listening to Mold Finders Radio.

What if since the first day that your child was born, they were dealing with an onslaught of health issues, Allergies, sleep disturbances, neurological changes. So many things and no answers. And the real reason that they were dealing with these issues was actually their environment. But their environment was never considered because they lived in a brand new construction home. And it's not possible for Mole to be in a brand new construction home. Well, Ally knows different. Ally is joining myself and Dr. Christa today for part four of our four part series where we talk to real people about their real mold journeys, all in an effort to provide hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. Now, Ally is still pushing forward on their mold journey, but the progress that she's made for her and her family is truly, truly incredible. And I'm really excited to share this with you guys. Having a sick child might be the worst thing in the world and the most hopeless feeling that you can have, but it also shows that if you don't stop and you keep looking and you keep pursuing that you actually can make a change. And that's what I want you to take away from this episode. So here we go. Let's welcome Ally Allie. What's going on?

Hi.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm sorry. So excited to be here. I'm just like, I feel honored, truly, to be talking to you guys. I'm just like, I'm beside myself right now. So I'm really excited and I can't wait to share kind of my story and what we've been going through.

Yeah, well, let's start there and then we'll see what happens. Why don't you kind of walk us through how you. What, what the original sort of trigger was that got you decided that you needed to go down this road and then some of kind of what the path has looked like and any things that have been helpful for you along the way, like any advice that you have for people. Anything. Like, I think it would be great.

Yeah, sure. So I just want to start off by saying, like, I'm not. We're not through our mold story yet. I'm actually kind of, like, right in the midst of it, which is. It's been. It's been crazy. It's been like, I. I've never would think in a million years I would be on a mold podcast kind of sharing my story, but here we are. So everyone's dream come true.

I know that's the truth. So, yeah, so we're not through it yet, but I will say, like. And you even hit the nail on the head in the beginning, Brian. You said there is light at the end of the tunnel. And to be honest, for about two years, I did not see that light. I mean, I was really struggling.

A little background, we're Kind of. What led me here is my son. He's almost 2 in September, and he's been fighting a really, really good fight.

He's.

He's just the sweetest little guy, but he's definitely had his battles, and he struggled a lot. A little background on him. So basically, since birth, he has struggled with just, like, overall just being sick. Started with him from the beginning essentially rejecting my breast milk, which you hear of, like, you know, babies not taking. But it wasn't a problem of him taking the breast milk. It was that he was like, his body would literally, like, throw up. It wasn't just, like, spit up. It was, like, throwing up everything he ate. So it kind of started there. Then he developed severe eczema, which is truthfully, like, the main reason why we went down this path is his eczema just was covering his body to the point where he would just scratch and scratch until he was bleeding. It was extremely heartbreaking as a mom to watch that, you know, I mean, my days were spent holding him and just, like, comforting him. He never wanted to be put down, so. So that was like, the main. The main reason why we just were like, I'm finding answers. But along with the eczema, not to mention he had chronic diarrhea. I'm talking up to, like, eight times a day. Some days.

He also had an overgrowth of candida in his gut. Through different doctors and testing, we figured that out. Rashes, not only on his body, but, like, you know, his diaper rash was always there. It was always present.

Allergies, food allergies, from seasonal allergies to food. We just didn't know, like, he would go into these random allergy attacks where his whole face would just swell up, his eyes would swell. I essentially chalked it up to him eating something that was, you know, not good for him. But I knew, like, deep down, I knew that it Wasn't that. Because sometimes it would occur without him even eating. Um, along with that, sleep disturbances and just like overall discomfort. I mean, the kid, and I always say this, he's like a little trooper because he would literally smile one minute and then the next minute he'd be crying because he wanted to be happy and he wanted to have joy. But he just, like, was so uncomfortable, you know? So as you can imagine, this would lead to a really whiny and needy baby. And it just took a toll on me. And as a mom, you just want to see your child thrive. You want to see your child happy and okay. And that was not our story. So, you know, traditional doctors will tell you all of his symptoms are normal. And it got. It was like on repeat for me. It was like, this is normal. This is normal. And, you know, with my intuition, I just knew this was not normal. So day and night, I mean, essentially my time was spent researching. I literally, from morning to night, I was on my phone. No, in between, when I had some free time and just like Facebook groups and blogs and research and whatever I could do to figure out answers for him. Joining the eczema pages and then eventually joining the mold pages. But this was further down the road. This wasn't actually till just a couple months ago.

But we tried every product you could think of. We tried every elimination diet. I mean, the poor kid was down to eating five foods at one point and still with no relief. So at that point, only a couple months ago, my husband and I noticed, my son, his name's Ezra, by the way, he was like experiencing some really scary neurological things that I just, like, I. I could deal with, you know, the eczema, I could deal with, like the food allergies. But whenever I started, we started to see these neurological things change in him. I was like, something is wrong, you know, like, I just knew, like, there was.

It was not normal. It was not what. Maybe just like a normal almost 2 year old goes through. It was frightening because I knew this wasn't my baby.

So many doctors led to one doctor, Dr. Marine Thai, she's in Pittsburgh. And Dr. Joe Christa, I think you. She speaks very highly of you. I know she. Yes, she. Yeah, she speaks extremely high of you. And this was after numerous doctors we had been to. And something led me to her and I just, like, from the moment we saw her, we had like the intake form that we filled out and we went into her office and Ezra came in and unfortunately that day, he was like, just like itching his Arms just like an extreme discomfort. Like, she could just see it on his face that he was in so much discomfort. You know, she let me talk and tell kind of what we've been through. And then she's like, she's like, you know, I do feel very strongly that your son is dealing with mold toxicity. You know, something like something went off in my brain. I was like, mold? I don't, you know, I really didn't even consider that. But she was like, you've done everything right. You've. You've essentially exhausted all options. She's like, you know, I think we really need to test his urine for mycotoxins. So, you know, obviously being a mom and wanting to do whatever I could for my child and just see him with relief and comfort again, I was like, all right, let's do it. So ended up testing his urine. And when I got the results, I literally could not even fathom that there was mold in his urine. I mean, at that point, he was only one and a half. You know, he's almost two. So I was like, there should be no reason he's not eating foods high in mold. Like, he doesn't. He was essentially on a grain free diet, like eating grass fed bison. You know.

Like, there was just no way. But that's really when we dived into.

The mold world, I guess you could call it. And at first, you know, I felt like a little bit crazy. And I think we all kind of were like, stepped back. But Dr. Ty really guided us and she just like made me believe in the process. She was so certain that, like, this would help him. And the first step she suggested was getting out of our house. So that is exactly what we did. I mean, we got out of our house. We literally left everything behind and got out.

Good for you.

My mom allowed it.

Yeah, good for you. Because we get so many people that don't do that, you know, so good for you. I just want to emphasize.

Thank you. Thank you. I mean, it's crazy to say and I kind of didn't even add this in. Our house had only been three years old. We built a house three years ago.

And like, the fact that I thought, you know, mold. Well, going back a little bit, we. We had seen water damage coming into our, like, our roof line a little bit. Come to find out we actually had a faulty roof install which led to water coming in behind our walls.

So, yeah, it's crazy to even think, like a lot of people think like, moldy homes. Oh, they're old or they won't Weren't well taken care of. But we had the. The story of a new house. And when you were to look at it, it looked pristine. Like, I mean, it was a new house, a new construction home. It was our dream home. So we left what we thought was our home, and we just decided, you know, this house was making him sick. I mean, as simply put, like, the house was making him sick.

Once you left, was there, like, kind of an immediate difference that you noticed? Like, was it like, oh, the exposure is not beating him down anymore? Like, were you able to see that change?

So it's funny you asked that. Actually, we left our house three different times. This is crazy. So the first time we left, we actually stayed with my sister, and he actually. My son, Ezra, he actually got worse. Like, he. Like, I don't know if it was just like, a different environment because, like, my. Like, I don't use chemicals in my house. Like, I just don't. Like. So I don't know if it was something like that. So ended up. We ended up going back home. And then I felt my mom was actually, like, allie, I think you really need to try this again. Why don't you come stay? He can come stay at my place. I was like, you know what? I think that's a really good idea. Like, I'm still believing in this process. So we actually went. He was at my mom's house for two weeks. She opened up her doors to him. He was sleeping here. And, yeah, we saw pretty much an immediate change. Like, day and night difference with his behavior. Like, the kid that needed help all the time. He was actually playing by himself. He was content. Like, I. I can't even express to you now, his skin, we're still, like, getting through that because I know sometimes the skin is the last thing to heal, but to me, I'm using his just his behavior, his mood as like, the first sign to tell me, you know, this is, you know, we're following through with what we believe in the process. And it just goes to show that, like, we didn't realize how much his brain was being affected by the mold, per se. But now looking back, I'm like, oh, my goodness. Like, he was really struggling. Like, he. I feel so bad because I didn't even see it in the time. I mean, I saw it, but not what. I didn't know what it could be, you know? So, yeah, since then, we've actually got our own apartment. Me, my husband, and Ezra are in our own apartment. And, yeah, it's still night and Day with his behavior, his skin is going through like a bit of, you know, he has good days with his skin, he has bad days. But overall like it's immensely better. Like he can, I can actually have him without socks on or like full body clothes all day long. I mean, we're still kind of getting through the skin thing and I think it might take a while for him to heal in that regard. But overall, I mean his behavior and like his sleep, even like he is actually napping and he's sleeping till 7 o', clock, he's not waking up, you know.

Yeah.

At 5am and like crying and whining, he's like a happy boy again. So yeah, we've seen a huge, significant change being out of the house.

Yep.

And like, not to mention too like, I think it was like even seeing those behavioral changes, he was going through a lot. Like he literally was taken from his house and never went back. So like the fact that he could even get through that with still like improving in his behavior just says it speaks volumes. Truly true. So yeah. And then. Yeah, it does. So yeah, that's kind of where we're at. And yeah, like I said, last couple years, truly since he's been.

So your, your situation's interesting. Right. Like, I feel like a lot of people, it's like I'm in my house, I have to stay in my house. They get so anchored to their place, their things, their stuff that the priority of what's most important somehow gets clouded in that way. So this is an interesting spot. So there's ways that you could go about doing this. Like one is that you. We're going to do some sort of dust test in the house first, see if there's a problem in the house before we get out. Then there's this side where it's like, listen, we tested your body. Why don't we take your body out of the space and see if something happens before you dive into what's going on. There's not like a right path. There's different ways to do it. Right. It's like whatever the comfort level is. So with your path, it became pretty evident. Right. From what you're saying. They're like, okay, there's something going on here. We know from what you said with the roof, this is going to be a big issue. And by the way, just to like piggyback on that, please, please listen to what Ali just said. She had a three year old house that is really, clearly really bad. Right. So for everyone who says it's not possible for my house that's only a couple of years old to be a problem. It's not. Not true. Right. And. And I think sometimes we have to take like our emotions out of it because we're. It cost so much money and we moved into this place and this was our dream house and like all this stuff and there was a lot of planning, I'm sure that went into that and all these things that went into that. And at some point it's like, today is August 30th and here's what my situation is today. Everything that led up to now doesn't really matter anymore. Like, I'm here. And then we start making our decisions in the now is of course, opposed to letting our past start to shape our future decisions because that could really change the path that you go down. So with, with all that said, have you thought about what your plan is with the house? Like, are you going to try to make it work? Are you just going to kind of wash your hands of it? I could honestly see an answer going either way and being totally fine, like just off of what's happened. So I'm just kind of curious.

Yeah.

Yeah. So we just kind of backtracking on that a little bit. So we did end up testing our house and we actually hired an IEP and indoor environmentalist to kind of do some like in depth testing and just like a good, you know, I just, I knew I could, you know, do the testing off, you know, just like the cheaper testing. But like, at this point I was so ready to just like have answers that we did hire an iep. Our air test came back pretty clean. But then we did MVOC testing and then we also did do an and ERMI test and those both came back with extremely high elevated levels of mold. So right then and there, I knew, like, I wasn't going to be shocked if, you know, they came back with mold because I just knew, like, I knew in my heart that it was the house. I mean, and it's funny too, that, like kind of going along with that, like, not. My son is not the only one that had symptoms. My husband actually developed like a rash all over his body as well, only about, like six months ago. And he's been healthy his whole entire life. Um, it was almost like just like it looked like a flesh eating disease, truthfully. And he was like, just like for a couple months, like in denial about it. And he thought I was a little bit crazy when I kept saying, it's the house, it's the house. But Then, like, when he started to realize that when he was out of the house, he was getting better. And, like, you know, I think after going exhaust exhausting all options, he was like, yeah, it's the house. And then having those test results to confirm it and seeing the visible water damage, that's when we were like, it's the house. So, yeah, we're essentially washing our hands clean of this house. It's very unfortunate and very sad to like, think that we thought this was gonna be our home, but it's not. I mean, this house made our child sick. And nothing in my. I would never want the things if it meant my son's health. So we're kind of just like. We literally left with nothing. I mean, I took, like, a couple pairs of clothes and, like, washed them really good and. But, like, other than that, we really didn't take anything. Like, my son, I didn't bring any of his toys. I didn't bring any of his clothes. No crib. Like, I never thought that the last day we would be in that house, him playing in his playroom would truly be the last day he was playing in his playroom. So, yeah, I mean, I sit here and I say, like, it's been hard and it's been, like, a struggle, but truly, like, seeing him the way he is now, it just gives. It gives me just so much hope. And, like, it makes me okay with leaving our house and our things because nothing, nothing to me and my husband is more important than seeing him healthy and thriving. And, yeah, that's something we're gonna going to have to, like, figure out and you know, kind of work through with, you know, losing all of our things and essentially, like, it to me, it's just not worth the risk. You know, they. You know, I just. I know my son is extremely sensitive, but I just don't feel it to be worth it to take anything or to even go back there. I'm just like. I'm kind of mad, you know, Like, I'm mad at the home. I'm mad that that was our story. But I'm thankful we have answers now.

Can I ask you.

Oh, go ahead.

Can I ask a quick question? That first time leaving the house, so taking him to your sisters. It's pretty common to have what they call mold unmasking, where someone gets a little bit worse, you know, initially. But which makes that really confusing because then you're like, well, was my sister's house also moldy, or was this the mold unmasking phenomenon? But had you not had A doctor with such conviction, because Dr. Tai is highly educated, she really understands mold. She can spot it. She's also a dear friend, so, you know, she can spot it from a mile away. She can spot at the grocery store on people sometimes. So if she didn't have that much conviction, would you have ruled out mold on your first time leaving the home and realized that he wasn't any better? Was that a potential for you that you'd have been like, well, maybe it's not mold. Maybe we should find something else?

Absolutely. I mean, and I, I, I truly do, like, just credit her for everything and, like, my son's healing and, you know, being a huge piece of the puzzle to his healing because, yeah, she was like. And she was just, like.

I viewed her as someone that was so invested and she just cared so much. And, like, her telling me that, you know, the house is molding benefits her in no way. I was like, this is crazy to me. But, like, the fact that she was just so adamant that it was mold and that, like, she knew that this could help him and essentially, like, getting out of our house would just be the answer, that's kind of where I was like, okay, she, she is definitely invested. She definitely knows what she's talking about. I mean, you know, I actually bought your book and I was reading your book, and I just, like, everything just made sense at that point. Like, it clicked. But, yeah, she was extremely invested in. No, I think if, like, I, I think if she was just like, okay, yeah, you tried it. You're good. And didn't push me to, like, continue to think and continue to, like. I mean, she did explain to me, like, okay, sometimes things can get worse before they get better, but I never really imagined that, like, I would try it again, but just because of her, we did. And I'm just so thankful that we did because it's so easy to just be like, nope, I tried it. I'm going to go back home and just live with what I was dealing with, you know? But I just knew, like, that wasn't an option for us. It just wasn't beautiful.

Way to listen to your intuition, too. Yeah. Thanks, Dr. Ty. But also way to listen to your intuition, because I see it all the time, that even if people do disregard it, if they have a doctor who's a little more like, well, maybe it was a mold there, your intuition will sneak up there and get talking to you, but it wastes time and suffering. Yeah. Thank you for sharing this story.

Yeah. And, yeah, thank you. And just one more Thing to add, it just going along with following your intuition. I mean, there were many times, don't get me wrong, like, there were many times when I was just like, I can't do this anymore. Like, we're literally losing everything. We're losing our house, we're losing our sanity. Um, but I just had to keep pushing through and, like, something told me, like, my intuition just told me and like, just keeping the faith that you are, you know, doing the right thing. And, you know, it is a scary thing to think about, but doing it could save your life. And that's what I keep telling myself. Like, I think literally getting out of that house could have saved my son's life. The trajectory he was on was not a good one. So I just, like, only imagine if we continue to stay in there for another year or another two years, what it would have looked like neurologically for him. He was definitely struggling and kind of like, I know you don't diagnose pans and pandas at the age of two, but like, he was developing, like, facial tics and severe aggression and just like all of the neurological things that come along with that. So I just. I just am so grateful that we got out, and I'm just glad we don't have to live in that anymore.

Me too.

Bravo. Yeah.

Well, good for you for doing what needed to be done, and I'm glad that you're seeing it. And thank you again for taking time to share with other people so they can see that if they're in a similar situation, maybe this is the bump they need to make that very difficult decision to do something big like that. So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Feel so honored to be a part of this.

Thanks.

Wow, that was so interesting to hear her story, how she had said, you know, this was a house that was well cared for. And I think that is a stumbling block for a lot of my patients is that we have this. This conception that it's got to be an old house. It's got to be a house where no one really took care of it. And, you know, in their case, it was a well cared for new house.

Yeah, it's. I mean, I remember doing a new home, like a complete new build inspection for somebody like years ago. Is this like 5 million dollar? They only built four of them on this, you know, super custom builds or whatever. And we went in and the entire thing, like all the H Vacs were full of it. It was like a whole disaster. And so, yeah, I mean, the age of the house.

It'S not a definitive on whether or not something. Or something happens. In all honesty, like, three years is so much time for problems to happen. It takes.

I think you said that 24. Like, if your house is older than 48 hours, it could be mauled.

You know, like, actually, if your house is older than 48 hours, then you cannot dismiss mold.

Yes. So if you have a. If you have a toddler house, maybe it could be mold free. But any.

I've never said it that way, but.

I think you had in one of your previous podcasts. But anyway, that's the.

I don't know.

That's the impression I have. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, the other thing about it, and this is something that I think we both hear a lot, is, you know, you have to have the support of your spouse if you're really going to get through this. And it's supernatural to. For it not to happen. Kind of just because most times one person is feeling it and the other one isn't. I see it all the time. I know you see that all the time. And what Ali kind of mentioned in here, or I pulled out of it, was her husband was supportive, but he didn't like, totally believe it was the house until he started getting symptoms. Right. And it's. It's trying to figure out a way to get our partners, our loved ones to understand this without them actually having to feel it. I don't know how you've helped coach people through this. I use an analogy of just getting sick. Right. My kids go to school, they catch everything, they come home, and then my wife gets sick and I don't.

Right.

Does it mean that my wife didn't get sick? Like, no, she's clearly sick. Right?

Right.

I didn't get sick. And it's completely believable because how many times has someone in your house got sick and you haven't gotten sick from some weird viral bug that's floating around? This is no different. So it's in my mind. I always try to anchor to something that is known to be true, like a given truth belief that I believe. And then you anchor to that. And so what then you're challenging your spouse to do is to challenge their own internal belief system at that point. And they have to, like, subconsciously, if they're going to really stick to their guns and say that no, this isn't real, they have to completely flip what they're. What they've believe like, in their core about how life works. And that's a very big thing. Right. So Trying to draw the correlations from something that they know to be true and then connecting the dots and showing the logic line through it. Almost like you're an attorney and you're, like, trying to do that same thing, like in a court case. That's kind of how I look at it. I don't know if you've had other little tips or tricks or anything that you've seen to be helpful with that.

Well, you're kinder than I am.

Because the other thing that I see is that mold then does this Jedi mind trick where.

Really wants you to not believe that that's the problem. And so even rational arguments like that can still get overridden by a brain that doesn't want that to be true. And you and I both know this is a real pain in the rear. You know, when people find mold, it means their sanctuary, their home, their job, their something, you know, their kids school, their place where they spend a lot of time made is making them sick. And that's a hard thing to get your brain around. So I just. I hear. I've heard it a lot that, well, you know, mold doesn't affect me, especially from the partners who decide to do the DIY cleanup without any protective gear and without negative air and without containment. You know, I just bring up the couple studies that we have on how militaries around the world are using mycotoxins as biowarfare. They wouldn't do it if it didn't affect everybody.

So again, like, imagine sticking it into, like, a situation where you can think about it, right? Let's say instead of toxins that are trying to kill you, because that's what they're doing, let's say it's a room full of anthrax. Are you going to go into that room without protection on, like. No. Now, granted, the effect is not exactly the same, but the concept is it's this thing that is trying to destroy you, basically. So, like, anchor it back in something. I always say this, and it's so much easier to say, but I think, like, to have a framework, like, for someone who's trying to get their spouse to understand it, you. It's a combination of information that's proven to be true and then. And then anchoring it to something that somebody already believes to be true. And then you have a through line between the two things. So I don't know, maybe that could be helpful for people. The other thing that she mentioned in here when we were talking was the skin symptoms. And she mentioned, I saw your head Nod when she said it. And I don't know anything about this, so thanks for being here. That skin is the last thing to kind of clear up, so. So why is that?

Yeah, the. I have a post on this called the skin is the last hurrah, because we see it so often. And this is actually. This is from my teachers. And then I just see it in clinical practice, where the body will prioritize the most important functional aspects of the body over the things that are considered least important. Or maybe cells that turn over faster so it will clear the brain and the brain stem, which is critically important to our function. And also cells that turn over slower. It'll prioritize cleaning up the mycotoxins and the inflammation there's over cleaning it up in the skin. And actually, the skin can sometimes get worse because the way that it clears it is to push it from the deep to the surface.

Mm.

Yep.

I mean, skin is my big thing. That's always the thing that, like, comes up. I could feel when it's coming. I could. It's like. It's very weird. I don't have the persistent thing like Ali was describing, but mine is like, I'll feel it. It's not showing up yet. I'm like, oh, man, it's coming. And what did I do recently? Right. I think it's tied to gut. It's usually around when I'm like, you know, I'm on vacation and maybe having a few more drinks I normally do, or I'm, like, just eating really bad for, like, this last weekend. My wife was sick for a couple days, so I'm clearly not capable of. Of taking care of myself without her. And my diet just plummeted. It was just like, what do I have laying around right now? I'm just gonna shove it in my mouth and not, like, nothing that was actually good for me. And the next thing you know, a couple days later, there it is. Right? And so it's. It's interesting.

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