I nearly had to go to the hospital one night when the chest congestion was so severe that I could barely breathe.
I was never allergic to things like dairy and nuts, like my father and sister are respectively. I also never reacted strongly to seasonal pollen and dust that plagues our region for long stretches of time during the year. Until I started developing allergies in college, I never experienced issues with anything allergy related. For a while I thought I was immune to allergic reactions. One exposure to mold in college changed all of that. I kept noticing that my breathing was getting increasingly restricted after a bunch of intoxicated students spilled beer and wine on the carpet in one of the common areas in my dormitory hall. The odor kept getting worse and so did my breathing problems. My nose would get congested upon entering the building, and by the time I got back to my room, I was coughing and sneezing uncontrollably. Eventually the school got their act together and sent in a mold remediation team to sanitize the carpets in the dormitory common area. But by then, it was too late. I nearly had to go to the hospital one night when the chest congestion was so severe that I could barely breathe. I’m running into a similar issue in my current house, but it took me weeks to find the source of the mold. Apparently my ceiling vents were creating wet condensation inside the ducts right outside the vent openings, and all of the vents had a black layer of mold inside when I removed the coverings. I had to call my HVAC technician over to properly clean the mess without spreading the spores anywhere else in my house where they could take hold. I suppose that I’m thankful I don’t have food allergies, but being allergic to mold is excruciating, because the stuff is in low to medium quantities literally everywhere you go in this world.