Just trying to inform people about Stachybotrys.

[Lisa O`Brien]

My brother in law in Manchester may or may not have these toxic spores in his brain. He is either 58 or 59. Has been living in a care home since March. He has recently deteriorated even further and is being moved to a different home where they are better able to cope with his needs. He has had MRI and CT scans, which show global atrophy. His last scan was a few moths ago. My sister when she used to visit him, or when she used to speak to him on the phone because of the lockdown, can hear in his voice that he has deteriorated further. He soils himself, and never realises. He cannot string a full sentence together. If he goes to use the landline in the home to speak to someone, he has to have a carer stand next to him, as he doesn't know how to use the receiver. Then when someone tells him to put it to his mouth to speak into, 30 seconds later he forgets again, and tries placing the receiver on his head. He wanders around the home all day incessantly and keeps getting lost. He hallucinates. Sometimes when my sister has been there he suddenly screams, "Get out, they're going to kill us", over and over again at the top of his lungs. Neither his GP, Social Worker, Psychiatrist or whoever has ever called for an investigation to look at WHY a healthy, relatively young man may have become like this over the last 12 to 18 months. They all just say he has early onset dementia and that's that. Which may very well be true. Their flat became damp in the loft. Someone from the council came to look at it, and there was a lot of mould where the water was. It still hasn't been repaired. Then my sister watched a TV programme called Forensic Files. Season 7 Episode 37. Breaking the Mold ( The whole programme is available on You Tube). Or Google Melanie Ballard, Texas. The man of the house developed dementia like symptoms and it transpired their house was full of this Stachybotrys. It's also known as a mico toxin. My sister, rightly or wrongly, thinks this mico toxin might be present in the damp mould that is in their loft. She has mentioned it to the council, and every healthcare professional, saying there is a possibility this could be what is causing her husband's dementia. The healthcare professionals have never even heard of Stachybotrys, and apparently in the US, experts are only just starting to take it seriously.  Meanwhile my sister with my help, is trying to do all she can to get people to take her seriously. As she often says herself, if he is tested and there are no mico toxic spores in her husbands brain, and it is simply early onset dementia not caused by any outside factor, then she will shut the hell up about it. Until then, she and I keep trying to do what we can ( Writing to the Center for Disease Control in Austin, Texas, for example. Where it was explained in the tv programme, they first investigated this family's house). As I said, I just wanted to let people know about this potentially deadly mould that lives in damp conditions and can affect people's brains. The Neurologist told me that Stachybotrys it is very very rare indeed and he had to spend an hour reading up on it as he like the others, had never heard of it. Well now people reading this have heard of it too. Knowledge is power, and all that.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Lisa O`Brien

[Jan McNulty]

Oh dear Lisa, I'm so sorry to hear about your Brother in Law.  It must be awful for you all, particularly at the moment when we are locked down because of the pandemic.

 

Thinking of you all.

[alison]

I too am very sorry to hear it.  I'm aware that there does appear to be a problem with various types of mould causing some peculiar symptoms and ill-health, but haven't really looked into it, so thanks for posting.

[Mumofballetmaddaughter]

So sorry to hear this Lisa but thank you for sharing your knowledge about it. Hope you and your sister get a positive resolution for your brother in law. 

Take care x

 

[Scheherezade]

How terrible for you all, Lisa, and hoping for the best possible outcome, whether it turns out to be down to stachybotrys or not.