My Mold Illness Story (Bonus: Lyme disease!)

For a long time, I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t know what.

It started with this weird symptom that I learned later is called visual snow, like a TV tuned to nothing vaguely covering my vision. I felt spacy a lot. I had this pressure in my head that wouldn't go away. My muscles hurt like I'd done a workout, but I hadn't done much of anything. Then came crushing fatigue, weakness, anxiety and panic attacks that came out of nowhere.

I started waking up with a racing heart, or it would skyrocket every time I moved. My GI symptoms were awful. My nervous system was completely off the rails.

Like so many others, I went from doctor to doctor. One said it was just a virus. Another ran an EKG and told me everything looked "fine." A cardiologist shrugged and suggested Gatorade. A well-meaning provider gave me an antidepressant that made me violently ill. A chiropractor mentioned mold (then scammed me and ghosted).

At the time, I didn’t realize the connection between trauma, infections like EBV, and environmental triggers like mold. I just knew my body was in a full-blown crisis, and no one seemed to have answers.

Eventually, I started testing myself. And what I found changed everything.

I’ve been documenting my story. The missed clues, the moldy air vents, the heart rate spikes, the gaslighting, and the healing in a series of videos over on TikTok. If you're dealing with mystery symptoms that no one can explain, or if your nervous system feels stuck in overdrive, you might see yourself in this story.

They're not slick or pretty. I didn't do my hair or put on make-up. Y'all know I'm not an influencer (and don't really want to be). I just want to help others who are going through what I went through.

You can watch the mold illness series on TikTok. It's not all up yet, because it's a loooooong story, but I hope it can give some other people hope and maybe a bit of information on how to help themselves. At the very least, it can make others going through a "mystery illness" feel a little less alone.

Mold illness is real. It’s unfortunately not rare. Healing is absolutely possible, especially when you stop chasing symptoms and start looking at root causes. If you’ve been through something similar, feel free to comment or message me. I read every word and am happy to help! And if you want to test your own body to see if mycotoxins may be part of your own story, I can help you there too.

My Tik Tok

Part 1 - symptoms and backstory of hints that something was wrong...including dysentery

Part 2 - triggers, symptoms, the never-ending doctor visits hearing "everything's normal"

Part 3 - figuring out it may be mold & testing myself

Part 4 - test results

Part 5 - testing the house & the start of remediation

Part 6 - remediating the stuff (because mycotoxins are on everything!!!)

Part 7 - starting my detox: binders, nutrients, oxygen, sauna blanket, nervous system retraining, Lyme

Part 8 - finishing up remediation, small particle cleaning, finding the source of the mold

(follow for more as I post them)

Extras: VCS test

insurance coverage for mold remediation

mold prevention during new build

Mold exposure and histamine reactivity overlap more than most people realize. If you're dealing with symptoms that don't have a clear explanation, the quiz can help you see whether histamine is part of the picture. Take the quiz →

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Jennifer Scanlon, MS, FDN-P, holds a Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition and a Bachelor of Health in Cardiopulmonary and Diagnostic Sciences. Before starting her nutrition practice, she spent more than a decade as a respiratory therapist working alongside physicians and nurses as part of the critical care team. Her role included neonatal resuscitation, ventilator management, blood gas analysis, and the assessment of critically ill patients, providing a strong foundation in physiology and clinical reasoning.

After facing her own health challenges that weren't fully explained by conventional testing, Jennifer returned to graduate school, completing her master's capstone on Hashimoto's disease and the gut-thyroid connection. She has since pursued advanced training in functional health assessment and spent years studying thyroid disorders, gut health, iron deficiency, histamine intolerance, MCAS, and the complex interactions between body systems.

Today, Jennifer helps women uncover potential contributors to symptoms that often fall through the cracks of standard evaluations. Her approach combines nutrition, lifestyle factors, functional testing, and conventional lab data to identify patterns and connect the dots between thyroid, gut, histamine, and hormone issues, helping women make sense of symptoms that are often dismissed when standard lab work comes back "normal." Visit the website here.

Disclaimer: I do not diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition. Nothing I share is intended to substitute for the advice, treatment or diagnosis of a qualified licensed physician. I may not make any medical diagnoses or claim, nor substitute for your personal physician’s care. It is my role to partner with you to provide ongoing support and accountability in an opt-in model of self-care and any changes should be done under the supervision of a licensed physician.