I have had chronic 24 hour throat constriction for 5 years now. It is undiagnosed though I have been tested for many, many things including gerd, lpr, and allergies. We do live in a house with a spring in the basement and I do know there is some mold problems. We have 8 children and none of these have symptoms. I left the house for 3 weeks once on vacation with no improvement. Could my symptom be related to mold or not?

The only way to know if its mold or not is to get your place tested. It could be other things as well like the cleaning products that you use. Have you had your throat x-rayed at all?

Just this morning a friend of mine told me that her chronic problems had finallyh been diagnosed as a yeast infection due to mold exposure. The problems manifested in her throat and she sounded like a frog.

As Alagaesia said, there's no way of telling without testing. You say you know there have been problems with mold so I don't know why you wouldn't, especially with children in the house! Regardless of whether or not there are symptoms you can see, it needs to be dealt with. Not that much is known about mold but one thing IS -- and that's that it is NOT good.

From what I've seen, some problems will go away on their own if they're removed from exposure but others will not without treatment. If a medical diagnosis can't be made and appropriately treated, it may require a detox of some type [removed]. I hope you don't have mold but if you do, make sure you keep copies of the reports to show the levels and what type it is.

Good luck!

Yes, I have had a ct scan of my throat. Also I did a couple of those mold tests you buy at the store and they both came back negative.

My testing was done by an environmental engineer. He took air samples outside to get levels and then compared indoor samples in various parts of the dwelling and sent to the lab. The levels in my living room were highly elevated and in the kitchen somewhat. (The leak from the roof had settled in these two areas.)

To start the remediation, the place was cleaned by professionals and "air scrubbers" put on high for two days. They also cut into the areas we suspected hidden mold might still be lurking. Follow-up levels by the environmental engineer on the rooms were clean which meant that all airborne spores had now been dealt but the samples he took from the areas inside the ceiling that had been cut open showed high levels of aspergillus and one other type of mold. That's being taken care of as I type this and if follow-up testing is clean, we can start building back and I can take a big sigh of relief!

I'm not familiar with mold tests from the store. How exactly do you administer them and what do they test for? (There are MANY different strains of dangerous mold.)

They sell a little dish that you set out open in a room for a specific amount of time. Then you put the lid on and let the mold grow for so many days. Then you send it in to the company and they send you back a report on what they found.

If you'd like, I'll ask our environmental engineer how effective these tests are. I'll be speaking to our environmental engineer at least two more times, including tomorrow. Let me know.

I really do appreciate that. Also, I don'tknow if I mentioned, we have lived here for seven years and none of the rest of the family seem to have any problem (10 of us). My oldest son, however does have many allergies - indoor and out.

Saw the environmental engineer today and as promised, asked him about the home tests. Essentially, he confirmed that they're not sufficient if you really suspect that mold may have been or is present. He referenced two types, one kind of "vacuum" thing and the other dish that you referenced. The dish will collect airborne spores if they land. (I do know that the air has to agitated because they settle over time.) Also, the home tests don't seem to be comprehensive in regard to what types of mold they test for (limited strains). Very different than what the pros do -- the environmental engineers take control samples from the air outside and different areas in the home so they have something to compare it to and take other measurements as well. (In addition to airborne spores, they'll also take a sample of anything that looks suspicious if the area is opened up and probed.)

Re: illness, I DO have mold and it looks like the spores were airborne for about 7 years. Other than some increased frequency of sinusitis, no symptoms to speak of until very recently, which led me to a neurologist and an MS diagnosis. Even if I've had MS for years and didn't know it, there's no doubt in my mind that the presence of mold contributed to my current state. Mold can cause respiratory distress and affect your central nervous system.

If you really suspect that there might be mold or that the air is bad (which can be due to other reasons), wouldn't hurt to at least have a consultation with an environmental engineer. IMHO, just better to be safe than sorry.

Good luck!

Thank you for this information. I would like to get a more extensive test done.

charitina, I hope everything works out. Remember, the air might be okay if the settled spores were taken care of but it doesn't mean there's not something lurking. Explain everything thoroughly to the engineer, show him/her the site of suspected damage and ask if you need to open anything up to probe an area. If so, the EE might want to take a contained sample from inside the floor or wall. One other thing -- in another apartment in my complex where mold was "iffy", the engineer has the inhabitants remove the base board, thinking that would be a clue if things were okay. Again, depends on the EE and how good they are. Testing isn't cheap but not unbelievably expensive. However, the remediation IS expensive, not to mention any building back of what they might have to remove. Definitely a good time to review your insurance policy and if water damage and this type of recovery isn't in your policy, I'd see if it's possible to increase your coverage before you start the process. Just a thought. :) Please post about the outcome! Good luck!