Just bought house in Lakeside - Please help! - Allergies?!?! - 92040 - Urgent - SD County (San Diego: homeowners insurance)

[Lakeside458]

So we've purchased a house in Lakeside kinda close to El Cajon... The past few weeks since moving in, my mom has had a cold on and off. Of course being next to her, I caught it twice now. It has been endless sneezing, difficulty breathing, shaking hands and a fast vibrating heart rate. I am really not sure what to do. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Edit: I forgot to add in there that I do not have allergies that I know of but who knows at this point. To add the list, I had hot flashes as well.

It was pretty intense episode but thankfully it went away after about 30 or so minutes.

Edit #2: Also add a horrendous cough as well! Me and my mother.

I am not sure how important this is to add but I felt loads better after coming into the garage.

[RosieSD]

Have you and your mother been to see the doctor? If not, that should be the first step for you both.

The doctor should be your first step because if you are passing some sort of bronchial infection back and forth, you need antibiotics. The doctor can also check for allergies and recommend an allergy medication if that is the cause of your symptoms.

It is allergy season out here in East County due to grasses, oaks, and other stuff blooming after recent rains so that could be contributing to the symptoms left over from the cold.

That said, when you had the home inspection done, did the inspector check for signs of mold? Some of the symptoms you're describing, including the fact that you feel better when you leave the house, make me wonder if mold might be an issue somewhere in the new house.

We live in Jamul. A few years ago, I was having all sorts of strange symptoms -- my throat closed up, I could not stop coughing, my asthma (which hadn't bothered me for years) flared up and I felt dog tired all the time. It didn't feel like "normal" allergies; the symptoms were much more intense and usually worsened in our bedroom at night.

Unbeknownst to us, a pipe in the bathroom of our master bedroom had sprung a slow leak. It wasn't until we moved a large piece of furniture in our living room that we noticed the wall behind the piece of furniture was speckled with black mold -- the drip from the faucet down the internal wall had been just enough to create moisture for the mold inside all two stories of that wall.

Once we got the mold cleaned up (a major headache in our case, but covered by our homeowners insurance), all of my symptoms disappeared.

What we discovered in talking to the insurance adjuster and the mold remediation company is that black mold is actually pretty common in San Diego -- the warm weather lets the mold spores spread, and then dampness from a good rain (or a leaky pipe) and mold can grow pretty quickly. Often, black mold starts growing inside of walls, and isn't immediately apparent to the naked eye, but a home inspector can sometimes spot areas that suggest mold may be present (i.e., water stains on a ceiling, a damp area under a sink, etc.)

So, if antibiotics don't help, and allergy pills aren't making much of a dent, you might look for signs of mold in areas like bathrooms, under carpet, behind furniture on walls, etc. A mold remediation company might be able to assist with this as well. Your doctor may also be able to do a skin test to see if you are experiencing a mold allergy.

Here's an article from Web MD that describing the symptoms of a mold allergy: http://www.webmd.com/women/home-heal...-9/mold-mildew

And this article might also be worth reading: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...g-you-ill.aspx

(The above article says that you may notice a musty odor when mold is present. We NEVER noticed a musty odor when we had mold. So don't go just on that).

I don't want to alarm you, and most likely mold is NOT the source of your current medical problems, but if your doctor can't figure out the cause of your illnesses, it would be worth considering next. Don't put off investigating this, as if it is black mold, the people you bought the home from could be responsible for helping pay for remediation.

But first, call the doctor and schedule an appointment for both you and your Mom to rule out other possibilities.

Good luck!

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Just about everyone I know of has been sick in the last month. Wife caught two of whatever this stuff is. It lasts for weeks. Cough, draining sinuses, scratchy eyes, froggy voice, yellow gunk being coughed up. I'm just getting over it and it's been 3 weeks.

[CNYC]

I started a thread on this a few weeks ago. I have never been known to have allergies before but it has to be the answer to my issues. What I thought was a low grade cold can't possible be after all this time.

I did read about the black mold issue which makes a lot of sense but recently my doctor told me there is A LOT of stuff flying around the air.

Being new to San Diego makes things even more unknown to me. The only other place I've had weird reactions to the air was in Provo , Utah where I became a Afrin addict due to having a stuffy nose all the time.

So a rapid heart rate is the sign of an allergy ? That's the first time I heard that one.

[bigdaddy5]

Yeah, I'd say it's mold. Get a home inspector or call your home insurance company to confirm. I've seen this problem in those house flipping shows on TV, mold removal can cost thousands of dollars.