mold-symptom.com

"Believe it or not I even got somewhat suicidal," patient Diana Meier said.

Diana Meier and her sister Dawn Meier learned of the health hazards from toxic mold the hard way.

"Emotionally I can't tell you how devastating this has been," Dawn Meier said.

For two years, the identical twins were sick with respiratory infections, mysterious aches and pains and concentration problems.

No one could find the cause until one day they asked their gas man to check for carbon monoxide.

"While I was there, my throat started to itch and burn," energy technician Robin Dunn said. "My eyes started to burn."

His symptoms were a reaction to what he found growing underneath the building.
"There was mold hanging off the floorboards," Dunn said.

That's when a light bulb went on.

"I'm like, I'm not crazy! I found out what it is!" Diana Meier said.

Diana and Dawn Meier thought the discovery was finally the beginning of the end of their problems. It wasn't.

"Nobody believes you," Dawn Meier said. "You go to doctors -- they also don't believe you and they don't know how to help you."

Their landlord wouldn't pay to remove the mold. With doctors uninformed and landlords left unaccountable, Diana Meier, a former professional basketball player, cried foul.

She and Dawn Meier went to their local city council and eventually helped get the Toxic Mold Protection Law passed in California.

Diana Meier also started her own Web site to help other mold victims find answers.

"The biggest answer is to identify the problem and get away from the mold, but that is not an easy task for a lot of people," Diana Meier said.

It can be expensive. There are plenty of shady mold detection companies ready to take your money. One tip? Make sure the company has mold insurance.

"That is a pretty good first step as an indicator of somebody being qualified to do remediation," mold remediator Davidge Warfield said.

You may also have to do some research to get the proper medical help for your symptoms.

"If your physician basically poo-poo's it and says fungus doesn't cause this, you need to find a physician that's well-balanced in his thought processes on both bacterial and fungal sinusitis," sinus specialist Jordan S. Josephson, M.D., said.

"Honestly, in a million years, I never would've imagined that that could be mold, number one," Diana Meier said. "And that number two, that that could actually be making me as sick as I was."