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🌿 The Hidden Mold That Changed Everything: Our Family’s Story of Illness, Discovery, and Healing

  • Writer: Savi
    Savi
  • Oct 8, 2025
  • 5 min read

It started with exhaustion I couldn’t explain and the guilt of feeling too tired to be the mom I wanted to be.


I had just had a baby. COVID was rampant. I was juggling postpartum hormones, sleepless nights, and motherhood with two little ones while trying to keep our family safe and healthy. I told myself the fatigue, brain fog, and anxiety were just part of new motherhood in a stressful world.


I tried everything: supplements, exercise, fresh air, eating cleaner, anything to feel normal again. But no matter what I did, I kept getting sicker. When the world shut down, I was trapped even more inside the very place that was quietly making us ill.


For years we had constant health issues we couldn’t piece together: fatigue, brain fog, inflammation, allergies, infections that never fully went away. I felt like I was dying, and no one could figure out why.





🦇 When Little Things Started Adding Up



Our home was a charming 1950s house, full of character but also full of issues. We were always fixing one thing or another. One night I was even chased by a bat flying down the hallway. We had a professional fix our bat problem and kept on in high spirits that we could make this house a home.


At first, we laughed it off the little quirks but over time, the little things started to add up. If a bat could get in, what else was happening behind the walls? That’s when I started to wonder about the air we were breathing every day.


Instagrams algorithm must have been working over time because I saw a IG story on Airthings air-quality monitor. We decided to buy one to get a better picture of our environment. The readings showed high humidity, poor air circulation, and high VOCs, especially at night. It didn’t prove anything on its own, but it confirmed that something was off.


That small device was what nudged me to start researching what can cause poor indoor air quality and mold.




🧩 When It Finally Clicked



One day I noticed a few small spots of mold inside our kitchen sink cabinet. It was tiny, nothing that looked serious.


Everyone had advice:

“That’s normal”

“Just use bleach.”

“Vinegar kills mold.”

“Try a mold-encapsulating primer.”


We did it all. We scrubbed, painted, and thought we had handled it. It didn’t come back but I kept getting worse.


I religiously inspected and cleaned my home daily with the cleanest products I could find. I bought a dehumidifier, started my low-tox clean living journey, swapped out cleaning products and fragrances, trying desperately to keep us healthy and make our air cleaner. I was grasping at straws, desperate to fix the air quality in any way I could.


I tried everything to heal my body, new supplements, diets, and detoxes under the direction of my doctor. Was diagnosed acronym after acronym. I felt worse than I ever had in my life.


Nothing helped. I was exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually.


One night, completely drained, I finally broke down and cried to my husband,


“I think it’s got to be the house. ”


We then talked to my brother-in-law, an integrative physician who has always taken a holistic view of health. I told him everything, the fatigue, the brain fog, the strange illnesses, the worsening symptoms.


He listened carefully and didn’t dismiss my concerns.


“Mold,” he said. “Get an ERMI test and call Enviro Decon.”


For the first time, I felt validated.

We called Enviro Decon, We ordered the ERMI test, and they sent out their mold-detection dog. Within minutes, the dog alerted right along the baseboards under our kitchen sink, the very same place we thought we had already taken care of.


When the results came back, my stomach dropped. The levels extremely high for toxic mold. We left that night.



🚚 The Evacuation


We left with only the clothes on our backs and a few essentials. We moved in with our parents while we figured out what was safe to keep and what needed to be replaced.


Leaving was heartbreaking, we lost almost everything, but it saved us.





🧺 What We Could Save (and How)



Once we were safely out, we focused on salvaging what we could, things that were non-porous, washable, and safe to treat. That’s when we discovered EC3 products from Micro Balance Health Products, and they quickly became part of our recovery toolkit.


We used:


  • The EC3 Fogger to treat rooms and surfaces

  • The EC3 Laundry Additive for clothing, linens, and washable toys

  • The EC3 Mold Spray for hard surfaces and smaller items

  • The EC3 Air Purification Candles to help refresh the air in our temporary space



These products are botanical, non-toxic, and designed to help break down mold spores, not just mask odors. They gave us peace of mind when we needed it most.





🚫 What We Couldn’t Save



We had to say goodbye to:


  • Couches, mattresses, and pillows

  • Books, papers, artwork, and most of our sentimental items

  • Wooden furniture that had absorbed moisture

  • Anything visibly contaminated or porous



It was devastating, but we reminded ourselves that things can be replaced; our health can’t.





🌸 The Road to Healing



Leaving that house was just the beginning. The real healing began once we were finally breathing clean air again. Slowly, the fog lifted, physically and emotionally. We started detoxing, rebuilding our immune systems, and creating a healthier home from the ground up.


Today, we’re more mindful about what we bring into our space, how we manage humidity, and what early signs to look for.


If you’re reading this and wondering whether your home could be affecting your health, trust your instincts. You might not always see what’s wrong, but your body will always tell you when something isn’t right.





🕯️ Products That Helped Us



Affiliate Disclosure

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, including Amazon Associates and other partner programs. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through one of these links.


I am not sponsored by any of the brands or companies mentioned. Every product I share is something our family has personally used, tested, and genuinely recommends. My goal is to make it easier for you to find trusted, practical items that support a healthy, intentional lifestyle.





A few of our Amazon favorite are below:


And a new product I’m currently using to protect all our new wood furniture:



If you suspect mold in your home and are local to Fort Wayne, we cannot recommend Enviro Decon enough. Their professionalism, compassion, and the mold dog that found what no one else could literally changed our lives.





💚 Final Thoughts



We lost a lot, furniture, keepsakes, the comfort of our first family home, but we gained something far more valuable: our health, our awareness, and a new beginning.


Sometimes the healing starts the moment you finally see what was hidden.





🏷️ Tags

mold illness, hidden mold, chronic fatigue, toxic home, low-tox living, EC3, Enviro Decon, mold dog, mold remediation, healthy home, postpartum fatigue, indoor air quality

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