Greetings! My name is Ingrid Naiman,
and though this site is primarily devoted to the medical
issues surrounding mold and mold exposure, I am telling "some" of
my story because it provides a context for understanding
my relationship to mold. To avert any potential for
misunderstandings, I want to make it clear from the outset
that despite considerable background in various aspects of
health and healing, I am not a medical doctor. I wear
many hats: author of articles, books, web sites, and audio
cassettes; researcher; mystic and contemplative; and environmental
activist. To understand me and my writing, you should
view me as a medical philosopher. My formal degrees
are in Asian Studies and development economics, not medicine. This
said, I have been studying holistic medicine for 35 years
and am not really an amateur.
I do not believe that there are events without
meaning. I am not suggesting that bad karma brings
bad experiences much less that our lessons become easier when
we are closer to perfection. In fact, it often seems
that these pedestrian viewpoints are considerably off the mark;
but when the chips are down, it behooves us to take the time
and make the effort to understand where we are and why.
This said, it's too early for me to make total
sense of my own mold miseries; however, it is not premature
for me to share my experiences as well as the harvests of my
quest to restore normalcy to my life.
My mold story began in early January 2001,
a few days after moving into a brand new home in the Puget
Sound area. A washing machine was improperly installed,
and the ground floor of my home flooded, and rest became a
sauna. Those involved in causing the damage, removing moisture,
and restoring the house failed to take mold seriously.
Note: I
am in a law suit with the parties involved and will therefore
be careful to avoid names and incendiary statements, but
it goes without saying that had anything been handled differently
in the beginning, the outcome would also have been less miserable.
Helena Stevens and the
Reality Check
Early on, the Universe began to bring people
into my life who became my teachers. Mold was no exception.
Helena Stevens contacted me about her cancer of the tonsils
when I was still naïve about mold.
There was mold in the master bedroom in the
home where Helena and her family had been living. Helena's
husband became ill but just as he was beginning to feel better,
Helena went into a tailspin. The
house had to be burned to the ground.
Helena did not believe the disease had the
power to kill her. Those who are as radiant and filled
with light as she was might have trouble believing that something
as low on the food chain as mold can kill . . . but when we
turn to dust, mold must have an entirely different perspective
of the food chain than people.
I was enormously blessed to have such a buoyant
and loving person in my life at a time when I was suffering
from allergies, itchy eyes, burning nostrils, dizziness, and
exhaustion such as I had never known before. The truth
is, I felt too devitalized to have anything to offer anyone
else.
Helena was brave and determined, but she did
not win over Death—and neither shall I; but I do believe
I have the option of dealing more precisely with mold because
I am fortunate to have been given more help and more time to
sort out my challenges than Helena had.
This said, I will always be grateful to Helena
for many reasons. Her spirit was indomitable and, in
the end, I am sure she joined the immortals. Her manner
of transition was a great inspiration; but Helena also gave
me both my first and second warnings. Oh, there were
warnings from the American Lung Association and the various
mold specialists on their referral list, and warnings from
other holistic practitioners, and warnings from web sites;
but Helena had a very personal story and a consequence that
were impossible to ignore.
How can a beautiful life be terminated abruptly
by something as primitive as mold? She did not overcome
the illness as had her husband. She died, and this was
the next serious warning; and it nagged in a way that would
not go away.
At this juncture, I believe that part of my
destiny is to put forth the truth about mold. It is really
unconscionable to refer to mold
allergies as something similar to pollen allergies. The
purpose of mold is to decompose organic material, not pollinate. One
does not suffer from mold-related illnesses because one's immune
system is compromised. One suffers because mold is
exceedingly dangerous.
For years, I have counseled other people when
they are ill; I also listen to the advice of others when I
am the patient. I am the kind of person who walks my
talk. Wherever
possible, I take my own medicine, but I do not refuse help
offered by others; in fact, I believe these people are often
sent to us to help us in our times of greatest need.
My mind is naturally studious and contemplative
so I usually begin by trying to understand the problem and
what makes it worse. Five years ago, there was a fraction
of the material on mold that there is today. According
to some specialists, mold testing and remediation are the fastest
growing industries in the country. This raises questions:
- Is
this rapid growth merely a reflection of increased mold
sensitivity?
- Has
the quality of construction and construction materials
declined?
- Do
weather changes favor the growth of mold over other
life forms?
I am saying this very deliberately. Mold
decomposes organic materials. One might say, it aids our
return to dust. For me, mold has been an anti-life
experience. Mold is at one end of the spectrum of incarnate
existence, and bliss — divine inspiration — is
at the other end. If one adds to the medical issues
the frustrations of stonewalling insurance companies
and various ignoramuses who with straight faces discount
all mold-related suffering, one readily understands that
the totality of the mold experience has really been a
challenge to existence, not just my existence . . . but
as the years passed, many more people and pets in my
small circle of fellow passengers on the voyage of life
have joined Helena in a world from whence no more emails
are sent.
In the days ahead, I will tell my story, largely
in the hopes of encouraging others. I will take time
to describe each measure I have taken—and why—and
to give my opinion of the merits or shortcomings of each strategy. Medically,
I am significantly
improved over a few years ago. This
said, my house is still not properly
remediated.
My goal is not to tell yet one more sad story. I
hope to contribute to the raising of awareness of the dangers
of mold. If I also somehow manage to shift even a tiny
bit of attention from brutalizing denial of reality and responsibility
to humanitarian concern for how society should be viewing mold,
I will have accomplished much more online than I could ever
hope to achieve through litigation. In addition, I feel
I have some valuable insights and unique understanding of mold. I
would be remiss if I did not share these with others who are
faced with challenges similar to those I have had.
With many blessings!
Ingrid Naiman
8 October 2005
Updated 26 March 2006
Please note: there
are five more pages in this section of the site. They
describe the measures I took to improve the air quality in
my house as well as the toll the contamination took on my
health. More detailed discussions of my
health issues can
be found in the section on medical mycology.
First
Steps 
