EVEN POLICE WOMEN GET EXPOSED TO MOLD

I have been a police officer for many years, (24 to date).  About 5 years ago, we moved into a new, state of the art police building.  Shortly after moving in, we all got sick with colds.  I caught 4 in a row and it appeared that I was catching everyone else’s.  We have very few windows in our building and I was told that it would be able to stand up to Hurricanes.

 Shortly after the colds passed, I went to the local swap shop.  I had pins and needles in both feet.  I thought that was odd.  The pins and needles starting climbing up both legs and it stopped at my waist.  I thought it was a pinched nerve and I went to see my Chiropractor.  He told me that pinched nerves do not come up the body and to see my doc.  I went to him and he wanted me to see a Neurologist, feeling that I had neuropathy.  By the time I got an appointment with the neurologist, it was slowly reversing and was moving down towards my feet.  He told me that he thought it was a mild case of GBS, and to call him if I have any more problems.

 About a year passed and I did not have any symptoms.  I was a detective and also a crime scene investigator. I had the most training in crime scene with respect to chemical processing, so all items that needed more than black powder processing was left for me in the crime scene room.  I spent a lot of time in that room. 

About two years ago, I was reassigned back to road patrol due to our rotational policy.  I was still on the crime scene unit though.  I took two weeks off of work and figured that I would do some painting at home.  I had to paint my 3^rd bedroom that was being used as a home office.  I had no energy, I felt dizzy, I was getting a rash all over my body.  It took me about a week to paint that small room.  I just couldn’t shake that awful feeling I was getting.  My hands were hurting me, I was dropping things and I had trouble opening up jars.  Then the real pain came…. 

I went back to work and I had severe pain in both arms from the elbows down to the fingers.  Sharp stabbing pains in both wrists, my fingers in the joints, electric shocks in the elbow…  My legs felt heavy like they were made of wood, fatigue, my hands shaking, headaches, itchy eyes, dizziness, loss of balance.  I pulled over a drunk and when I tried to perform the roadside sobriety tests, I couldn’t do it myself. I had nose bleeds and felt like I had a sinus infection, every time I went to work.  I knew now that it was neurological.

 I found a neurologist and got tested.  He told me that he bet his paycheck that I had MS.  I cried because I thought that would be the end of my career.  Well, the tests came back negative for MS and positive for sensory axonal neuropathy.  My Anti-Sulfatide Antibodies were attacking the nerves.  I was referred to another doctor who handles arthritis.  She tested me for Lupus and everything under the sun.  She felt that I had something toxic causing my symptoms, and had told me to find an Environmental doctor, which I couldn’t find. 

I felt better for a year and then wham….it started again.  I was speaking to a friend who asked me if I worked around any mold.  Huh????  Well I did.  I had noticed that fuzzy mold was growing on duffle bags in the crime scene room.  In fact, it had grown all over my forensic light case.  I had placed that in my Ford Explorer almost a year ago and it still had fuzzies on it.   Well I looked up toxic mold and I almost fell over…all my symptoms were in there, even my sinus problem, that had started about 8 months ago.  I never had a sinus problem before.

 I told my Chief about it and he told me to have it cleaned up.  He told me who to speak to within our agency and City government.  I did that and it seemed to panic everyone.  My Sergeant told me to take photographs and to take samples of the mold.  I have never sampled mold and I did the same procedure as if I was picking up DNA.  I wore gloves and used sterile swabs.  They were boxed properly and sealed and taken to a lab I had found in the yellow pages.  Well the tests came back as four different mold species.  I went to the internet and looked them up and almost died because these molds were listed as being mycotoxin producers, (some of the worst).  I told my superiors that the room needed to be tested and the items because it was starting to look like a workman’s comp case.  I was blown off over and over again.  They refused to test and had sent a memo for another employee to throw out the moldy items.  (cover-up?) 

I found an environmental doctor and he took me seriously.  I was tested for mycotoxins on the species of mold that I found and my tests were so high.  It read that I had a prolonged exposure.  My doc is sweet and is trying to help me through IV drips of vitamins, glutathiomine.  And he spoke to a doctor who is using a cholesterol lowering drug to help detoxification.  No one at work takes this mold serious.  They think that I am some nut case.  No one else is sick like me, but no one else has spent so much time in the lab as I did.  Maybe driving around with that moldy case in my truck did it also…I don’t know. 

Well, to make a long story short, I am having memory problems.  I forget stupid things like my Chiefs name, coworkers’ names.  I am so tired, I feel like I am 90.  I took a 5 week vacation and I started to feel a little better.  The pins and needles went away along with the pain.  My balance and memory problems did not get better.  I hired a workman’s comp attorney and have appeared to one hearing.  The City is blowing the mold off as harmless bathroom mold and incapable of causing memory or neurological problems.  Sorry, but I have read so many articles that people are having the same symptoms as me.  The City hired someone 6 weeks ago to test my room and the rest of the building.  They still won’t release the information to my Attorney.  A demand letter was sent. 

My Doctor, believes that mold can cause neurological and memory problems, but he can’t say that it is documented in the medical books, because it isn’t.   They have not sealed off the room, and two employees went in there the other day.  I can’t convince them that it is dangerous.  I am back to work now and I am tired again, same symptoms.   

I have read the other stories and its like being stuck in a nightmare, that we all can’t wake up.   All I want from them is to clean up the building, and to pay back what I have spent in doctors’ bills.  

My heart goes out to every human and animal that has been exposed.  God help us.