On Monday morning we passed out of Wyoming and into northern Utah. That same morning we also decided that we hate Utah. Driving through Utah seemed to induce a subtle sleepiness and grumpiness in both of us.
It was subtle, until I decided to use the bathroom in a gas station near Fillmore. I had a hunch that the gas station was moldy as soon as I opened the door. I went in anyway. The ceiling tiles looked like they could have a Stachybotrys problem. I thought maybe I felt an exposure symptom coming on. “Just go quick and don’t overthink it,” I told myself.
Haha. Silly me. I decontaminated afterwards but I still spent most of the rest of the day exhausted, achy, foggy headed, anxious and exceedingly grumpy. Poor Brett had to write a work-related email and couldn’t find anywhere to stop where I felt decent enough. I didn’t recover until we had reached St. George.
I realize all this talk about locations causing physical symptoms and mood shifts will sound absurd to anyone who is unfamiliar with mold avoidance. I couldn’t agree more! It absolutely IS absurd! I never could have believed in the locations effect if I hadn’t been desperate enough to try it for myself.
When you are close to dying, when the medications aren’t working anymore and the doctors who have been trying to fix you for years still haven’t succeeded… well, that might drive you to try something really crazy. That’s what happened to me and I learned that sometimes reality is really weird.
I learned that a change in location and scrupulous mold avoidance could stop my severe chronic pain, insomnia, headaches, nausea, panic attacks, exercise intolerance and life-threatening mast cell reactions. Mold avoidance saved my life and brought more healing than all the medications and supplements and treatments I’ve tried in the last 6 years combined.
This is the only reason that Brett and I, two people who’ve never been particularly outdoorsy, would spend so much time camping and doing laundry by hand. And it’s the only reason that relocating again is worth it to us. We know it works.
We reached our destination on Monday evening and I almost panicked when I saw the city lights all across the desert. Las Vegas is HUGE! Was it a mistake to think that I could keep healing here? I couldn’t even handle the remote parts of Utah! What if my reactivity has just spiked through the roof again? What if this will be worse than Rapid City?
I was so nervous as Brett stopped the van to get gas in the Summerlin area. Surprisingly, I found that I felt way better than I had all day. I sighed and breathed out a prayer, “Thank you God. I think I can keep healing here.” A wave of relief washed over me and a smile spread across my face.
By the way, Brett and I made a beautiful PDF of my favorite resources for suffering souls. I created the content and he made it look fancy with his superduper graphic design skills. It’s available for free to my email subscribers. Click here to sign up and receive 5 Resources for the Suffering Soul.
