Susan in Carolina Beach, NC

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There is a black slimy mold that grows in my bathroom sink drain. It has been there for quite a long time. My grandmother who had health problems used to come visit us for several weeks at a time. She would sometimes have trouble with her bowels. At one time we had mushrooms growing in the carpet around the toilet. That has long been removed and the floor is now tiled. When it grows enough to cover the rubber bottom of the sink stopper I usually just wipe it with some toilet paper and throw it away or wipe it off with a washcloth and then hang it with the used bath towels to be washed later. In Feb. of this year, 2014, I acquired a small cough. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but it wouldn’t go away. It got a little worse as spring pollen began to fall. The beginning of June it really took off. I am constantly wheezing, coughing and it is hard to get a good breath. I have been to two doctors. I have has two rounds of Z-pack antibiotics, the first round with a steroid. Each time I felt better for a few days then it all came back. The second doctor took chest x-rays. Saw nothing, maybe a spot of pneumonia so gave me a stronger antibiotic. Took this for seven days, felt wonderful by the third day. Took the last pill three days ago and it is back in full force. So, I am wondering if the sink mold could be the cause of this since I have had enough antibiotics to kill about anything else. HELP! I want to breath freely again.

Questions:

Can the mold in my bathroom sink be causing my asthma like symptoms?

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2 comments

Chrissy Mann July 11, 2014 - 4:41 pm
Hi Susan, You need to have your home tested by a professional mold inspector so that the extent of the contamination (if any) can be detected and exposed.
Annie August 13, 2014 - 12:10 pm
I get symptoms of exposure from my kitchen drain. Took me a while to figure out where it was coming from. i get heart palpitations, 110+ per min pulse and have to go lie down for 15-30 mins. I also get these symptoms working with contaminated files and books, as well as from my old office (where I was chronically exposed for 3.5 years and couldn't figure out what was sickening me -- so MANY symptoms). Now I'm ultrasensitive. I pour bleach down the drains and plug them to let the fumes kill as much as possible, but it doesn't kill all of it, nor does it get rid of the toxins within the fungal material (if it's Stachybotris). Keep applying bleach periodically, but rinse within a hour so it doesn't damage the pipes. The mold in your drain could be just a mix of slime molds, not toxic, quite common. A slight, chronic cough could be from lots of things, and generally only occurs (for me) when there's tons of mold in the air, then I also get REALLY bad toxic symptoms (heart, fatigue, dizzy, headache, brain dysfunction -- it's like kryptonite for me). Coughs are generally a sign of throat irritation coming from sinuses or air or acid reflux. Often it is due to nasal discharge. Try saline spray for a while, 2x/day or more. If you have allergies, change your pillowcase frequently and be aware that you may bring allergens into the house on your clothes or hair, so if you're really sensitive to pollen, etc., change clothes when you come inside and consider washing your hair or tying it up when you're outside.
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