Black Mold Almost Killed Me
I started out at HEB really loving it and drinking the Kool-Aid. By the end of year one I was starting to have some health issues, and my sleep health was destroyed. I set some boundaries about scheduling, and was demoted and looked down upon by everyone because of that. The work was stressful, with not enough people to do it all. Customers were brutal. But I was getting paid, so I kept my head down and did my job.
Fast forward to year two, and my health issues were starting to get more serious. Respiratory issues, coughing, wheezing, congestion. Then I started having terrible pain and inflammation during every shift in my body and joints. I had recurrent infections that just wouldn't go away. Migraines that woke me up almost every night in the middle of the night. I had peripheral neuropathy and lost sensation in my toes. Digestive symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea almost every day. Brain fog, making me dizzy and disoriented. I went to doctor after doctor and many of them told me it was all in my head when they couldn't figure out what was causing my symptoms.
One day I collapsed onto the floor, being so dizzy from brain fog that I couldn't even bend down without ending up on the floor. I went on a leave of absence. Three days later, I was in the hospital. I was vomiting and having diarrhea so violently that I couldn't keep water down and became severely dehydrated. This went on for two weeks.
Finally I found a doctor that was willing to do extensive testing for a wide range of things. I came back positive for all kinds of mycotoxins associated with black mold. I was allergic to it, and my immune system was completely freaking out. I had multiple chronic infectious diseases that my body could no longer fight off, and inflammation off the charts. I started binders, stayed away from HEB and made a full recovery.
I was being exposed to black mold at work chronically. Almost every store that I visited had visible black mold problems, particularly in receiving/warehouse areas and around walk-in refrigerators and freezers where condensation gathers with no ventilation. My house is new, built in 2020, and we keep it clean.
I reported all of this to management and it went absolutely nowhere. They don't care. The laws in Texas will never allow me to seek justice, I already looked into it. I'm thinking about going to the Texas Workforce Commission. My main objective is to force them into mold remediation. I know so many people working at these stores whose health was affected, whether they realize it or not. But honestly some help with the hefty medical bills I paid would also be a lifeline.
I recently graduated with my degree, and have successfully gotten away from HEB, but I am haunted by the people I left behind in those conditions. What do I do? Is there anything I can do?
Update/Edit- I went to OSHA and they gave me the run around, saying that I didn't report it fast enough (after spending months bedridden) and that I should go to the Dept of Health and Human Services. HHS told me they don't do anything related to mold. I got the run around essentially. Trump recently cut funding to OSHA and they're clearly understaffed. I did take photos, but nobody seems to really want to hear or see anything I have to say or show.