so when you’ve moved multiple times, lost everything, your fiance is fed up, you don’t even get to see your kids anymore, you don’t have a house and you have a dead end job and CIRS and nothing left to give.
what do you do?
like how do you actually even move forward or do you just accept the reality of disability, homelessness, the loss of your family and death?
I never would have thought I would be writing a post like this, but I honestly do not know where else to turn. My life has completely changed and turned completely upside down the last 5 years and I just don’t know what to anymore. I am a mother of two kids and I am completely suffering from debilitating chronic illnesses and have no where else to turn at this point.
I have always worked hard and loved my job, loved hard, always take care of everyone and taken care of my children to the best of my ability and then some and have always tried to build a stable life for my family. A few years ago, I finally had what I thought was going to be our forever home with no intentions of leaving any time soon.. In 2022, my children and I moved into an older farmhouse rental. It was close to where I grew up and close to family, not even five minutes away from my grandparents and where I grew up, and it felt like the fresh start we had been hoping for. It was the first home I ever had on my own with my kids. Honestly, at the time, it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We painted bedrooms, replaced flooring where needed, removed carpet, and put so much love into making it ours, building our lives together and making memories. Over time in this house, however, my health started changing rapidly and over all turned into a compete disaster. At first, I was just extremely tired and fatigued, the fatigue became extreme to where I couldn’t function. I would come home from work and collapse. There were days I would get home around 4:30 or 5, not even eat dinner after work, and sleep until I had to wake up for work the next morning. Trying to juggle kids in school, sports and work was becoming impossible. Even stopping at the grocery store was something I came to dread and eventually stopped doing on my own. My symptoms continued getting worse. I developed severe POTs symptoms, tachycardia, with my heart rate jumping into the 150s when standing, dizziness, weakness, temperature regulation problems, nerve pain, brain fog, neurological symptoms, joint pain, and reactions that felt like my body was constantly fighting something, a flu or hangover that would never go away. I went to two different doctors, urgent cares, and even the ER multiple times. I had testing done and was repeatedly told things looked normal or that it could be stress or anxiety. I knew something was wrong with me and I have kept track of symptoms progression in a notebook to the point to where I was requesting labs for different diseases, or cancers, because something was seriously wrong with me. I kept searching for answers trying to save myself for my family. In 2024, I started being evaluated for autoimmune issues. I saw specialists, had testing done, tried medications, and continued trying to figure out why my health was declining. Then in June 2025, everything changed. I stayed at my grandparents’ house for a few nights when they were away to care for pets and noticed something completely unexpected that the longer I was away from my home, the better I felt. It didn’t make sense to us that all of a sudden the debilitating symptoms became less with no clear reason or medication. That was when we started looking at the house. We found hidden water damage and intrusions and mold concerns, including issues under the bathroom flooring from a bathtub that had not been properly sealed from past renter renovations, a leak under the bathroom sink so subtle you would never notice unless you were LOOKING for something, damaged flooring tiles and materials in the laundry area, and concerns about the crawlspace that had never been properly inspected. When we brought the issues to the landlord, we were told there was not money available to fix everything. The landlord said we could start tearing down walls but would probably find mold everywhere that he cannot fix, that we would rather “ burn the house down. “ The home we lived in and built a life in, was threatened to be burned to the ground. We were left in a situation where we could not afford to remediate a rental home that was not ours. We had no choice but to leave our home. We lost so much.. We got rid of mattresses, bedding, furniture, toys, stuffed animals, and belongings we had worked hard for because we were trying to protect my health thinking that leaving the home we could start over eventually and it turned out worse than I could ever imagine. Since then, we have moved multiple times. Every time we thought we had finally found somewhere safe, we found more water damage, moisture problems, or unsafe conditions that have been painted over and hidden. One home we moved into seemed like a fresh start for us, but six weeks later my health crashed harder than ever. I went days without sleeping, had severe pain to where I couldn’t use my legs, I missed work, had doctor visits and an ER visit, and had a blood pressure reading of 160/110 during one of these episodes and I lost 8 lbs in 6 days. We found water damage and basement issues in that home as well, and once again with no help from a landlord we had to leave. Through all of this, I was diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) related to mold exposure by a mold illness specialist that I cannot afford and finding out through my own research I have been trying to advocate for myself and my family but get no where in the medical system. My symptoms include severe fatigue or feeling exhausted after minimal activity, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, memory problems
headaches, sleep problems & un refreshing sleep
muscle and joint aches and pans, nerve burning, tingling, & sensitivity, dizziness or feeling faint, exercise intolerance shortness of breath & unusual sensitivity to smells/environmental exposures, sinus congestion, postnasal drip, or recurrent respiratory symptoms, visual disturbances, blurry vision, temperature regulation problems, increased sensitivity to light or sound, mood changes, irritability, anxiety, or feeling emotionally overwhelmed, gastrointestinal symptoms nausea, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea or constipation, changes in appetite or weight, skin symptoms itching & rashes.
I am continuing to work with my doctor but he has told me multiple times this is out of his range of scope on his practice and that I NEED functional care with a specialist, we are trying to manage my symptoms together but it is not working & my quality of life has changed completely. I have called practices near and far and the cost is extreme. I have also been in touch with social services and they do not offer any hotel stays or housing assistance anymore. I’ve reached out to any potential resources available on the area and have had no help. I have to have my family, my elderly grandmother drive me to work. I am still a mother. I want to be a mother. I want to be there for my children. I still want a normal life. This is my truth. And I am exhausted from constantly having to leave, rebuild, replace belongings, and fight to find somewhere safe to live. My children have been fortunate that they have not experienced the same level of illness that I have, and I am so grateful for that. My biggest goal is protecting them and finding stability again. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on air purifiers, supplies, medical care, testing, and trying to make our environment safer, I just can’t do it anymore.
Please with everything I have, which isn’t much, help me rebuild my life for my family.
We are trying to raise money home for safer housing, environmental testing and a doctor to help with treatment, covering the cost of items lost and misses wages as well.
I just want a place to call home again that is safe for my healing.
Any amount helps with something.
Thank you for reading our story.
my PCP ran some labs before we started any binders.. i’m really worried about them as my symptoms are horrendous leg pan, weakness and fatigue. he’s giving me supplements and says it’s okay to go ahead and start the binders. i’m scared. am i ever going to be okay? what do i do? no one understands how serious this issue is. i’m failing as a mother. i don’t have a safe place to go and im falling through the cracks. i’m so depressed and just feel like a failure.
I never would have thought I would be writing a post like this, but I honestly do not know where else to turn. My life has completely changed and turned completely upside down the last 5 years and I just don’t know what to anymore. I am a mother of two kids and I am completely suffering from debilitating chronic illnesses and have no where else to turn at this point.
I have always worked hard and loved my job, loved hard, always take care of everyone and taken care of my children to the best of my ability and then some and have always tried to build a stable life for my family. A few years ago, I finally had what I thought was going to be our forever home with no intentions of leaving any time soon.. In 2022, my children and I moved into an older farmhouse rental. It was close to where I grew up and close to family, not even five minutes away from my grandparents and where I grew up, and it felt like the fresh start we had been hoping for. It was the first home I ever had on my own with my kids. Honestly, at the time, it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We painted bedrooms, replaced flooring where needed, removed carpet, and put so much love into making it ours, building our lives together and making memories. Over time in this house, however, my health started changing rapidly and over all turned into a compete disaster. At first, I was just extremely tired and fatigued, the fatigue became extreme to where I couldn’t function. I would come home from work and collapse. There were days I would get home around 4:30 or 5, not even eat dinner after work, and sleep until I had to wake up for work the next morning. Trying to juggle kids in school, sports and work was becoming impossible. Even stopping at the grocery store was something I came to dread and eventually stopped doing on my own. My symptoms continued getting worse. I developed severe POTs symptoms, tachycardia, with my heart rate jumping into the 150s when standing, dizziness, weakness, temperature regulation problems, nerve pain, brain fog, neurological symptoms, joint pain, and reactions that felt like my body was constantly fighting something, a flu or hangover that would never go away. I went to two different doctors, urgent cares, and even the ER multiple times. I had testing done and was repeatedly told things looked normal or that it could be stress or anxiety. I knew something was wrong with me and I have kept track of symptoms progression in a notebook to the point to where I was requesting labs for different diseases, or cancers, because something was seriously wrong with me. I kept searching for answers trying to save myself for my family. In 2024, I started being evaluated for autoimmune issues. I saw specialists, had testing done, tried medications, and continued trying to figure out why my health was declining. Then in June 2025, everything changed. I stayed at my grandparents’ house for a few nights when they were away to care for pets and noticed something completely unexpected that the longer I was away from my home, the better I felt. It didn’t make sense to us that all of a sudden the debilitating symptoms became less with no clear reason or medication. That was when we started looking at the house. We found hidden water damage and intrusions and mold concerns, including issues under the bathroom flooring from a bathtub that had not been properly sealed from past renter renovations, a leak under the bathroom sink so subtle you would never notice unless you were LOOKING for something, damaged flooring tiles and materials in the laundry area, and concerns about the crawlspace that had never been properly inspected. When we brought the issues to the landlord, we were told there was not money available to fix everything. The landlord said we could start tearing down walls but would probably find mold everywhere that he cannot fix, that we would rather “ burn the house down. “ The home we lived in and built a life in, was threatened to be burned to the ground. We were left in a situation where we could not afford to remediate a rental home that was not ours. We had no choice but to leave our home. We lost so much.. We got rid of mattresses, bedding, furniture, toys, stuffed animals, and belongings we had worked hard for because we were trying to protect my health thinking that leaving the home we could start over eventually and it turned out worse than I could ever imagine. Since then, we have moved multiple times. Every time we thought we had finally found somewhere safe, we found more water damage, moisture problems, or unsafe conditions that have been painted over and hidden. One home we moved into seemed like a fresh start for us, but six weeks later my health crashed harder than ever. I went days without sleeping, had severe pain to where I couldn’t use my legs, I missed work, had doctor visits and an ER visit, and had a blood pressure reading of 160/110 during one of these episodes and I lost 8 lbs in 6 days. We found water damage and basement issues in that home as well, and once again with no help from a landlord we had to leave. Through all of this, I was diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) related to mold exposure by a mold illness specialist that I cannot afford and finding out through my own research I have been trying to advocate for myself and my family but get no where in the medical system. My symptoms include severe fatigue or feeling exhausted after minimal activity, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, memory problems
headaches, sleep problems & un refreshing sleep
muscle and joint aches and pans, nerve burning, tingling, & sensitivity, dizziness or feeling faint, exercise intolerance shortness of breath & unusual sensitivity to smells/environmental exposures, sinus congestion, postnasal drip, or recurrent respiratory symptoms, visual disturbances, blurry vision, temperature regulation problems, increased sensitivity to light or sound, mood changes, irritability, anxiety, or feeling emotionally overwhelmed, gastrointestinal symptoms nausea, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea or constipation, changes in appetite or weight, skin symptoms itching & rashes.
I am continuing to work with my doctor but he has told me multiple times this is out of his range of scope on his practice and that I NEED functional care with a specialist, we are trying to manage my symptoms together but it is not working & my quality of life has changed completely. I have called practices near and far and the cost is extreme. I have also been in touch with social services and they do not offer any hotel stays or housing assistance anymore. I’ve reached out to any potential resources available on the area and have had no help. I have to have my family, my elderly grandmother drive me to work. I am still a mother. I want to be a mother. I want to be there for my children. I still want a normal life. This is my truth. And I am exhausted from constantly having to leave, rebuild, replace belongings, and fight to find somewhere safe to live. My children have been fortunate that they have not experienced the same level of illness that I have, and I am so grateful for that. My biggest goal is protecting them and finding stability again. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on air purifiers, supplies, medical care, testing, and trying to make our environment safer, I just can’t do it anymore.
Please with everything I have, which isn’t much, help me rebuild my life for my family.
We are trying to raise money home for safer housing, environmental testing and a doctor to help with treatment, covering the cost of items lost and misses wages as well.
I just want a place to call home again that is safe for my healing.
Any amount helps with something.
Thank you for reading our story.
i cannot do this.
i cannot and will never be in a clean space.
i cannot live in a tent, get up and go to work.
i miss having a fucking bed. i just want a fucking bed in own space.
everything is ruined. my life is gone and it just keeps getting worse realizing i’m really just stuck. i just wished i would die at this point.
i’ve genuinely ruined my life. like seriously ruined my life. i have 2 kids and never would have ever thought mold & CIRS was even an issue, never thought anything like this could exist, i had kids young and never went to school, working at a daycare job for 5 years that i have loved has absolutely set us up for failure. we have lost literally everything in the last year. and can’t get out of mold. i cannot believe this is my life. my job doesn’t offer medical leave or anything. i’m to fucking sick to even try to find a different job now, my life fucking sucks so bad. i work my ass off barely hanging on by a thread to make $15.75 an hour. living with family in a moldy house. i have no degree and never went to school. i will never get past this. i will never make it out. i don’t have hope anymore. watching people get out of this because of money hurts so bad. i’ve always been able to provide for my kids and do what i can in a small town and was happy til this happened to us. now we are doomed. idk what’s going to happen to me. i know i’ll eventually lose my children when i no longer have help or get to sick to work. i have no back up. no savings. no way out. i have tried and tried to get help, begged and pleaded for help.
so what do you do now? any one have an real advise on how to make it out for my kids or is this the end of the road? had anyone been able to actually break the cycle of this hell and make it out? i know i post here a lot and people are tired of seeing my name on here but like WTF do we do. what can i do now? realistic goals here please someone tell me what to do to save my family. i’ve tried everything at this point. i post here because i am scared mother that my whole life has been dedicated to my kids and its destroyed and im their only back up plan.
someone help me. tell me what to do so i dont lose my kids. i cry all day long and i am so depressed. please tell me what i can do to save myself for them and to be okay.
were you able to heal?
there’s water damage mold everywhere.
i start binders tomorrow but wtf do i do when there’s water damage in every home and building. i am so sick. is it to late?
i am legit so desperate for help i almost wished a fellow or past cirs person would take me in and help me. i know that’s awful to say or think. i just wished i had help. 😢 this has ruined my life so bad.
Hey everyone, I am at an absolute breaking point and need some real, grounded advice from anyone who has survived this with kids and no money. I left my original moldy home a year ago. Since then, we’ve lost 4 rentals because of mold/financial issues, and we’ve had to bounce back to family homes that are also damp/moldy because we have no other choice. I have the 2 mold-susceptible HLA genes. My body is so hyper-reactive right now that I feel like it doesn’t tolerate any buildings at all. I just feel bad 247. I have severe CIRS, POTS, and ME/CFS-type symptoms, terrible body pain, and I just came off a massive two-week insomnia streak where I barely slept. Here is my current reality and why I feel completely trapped:
The Job: I work at a daycare that has known water damage. I absolutely cannot walk away from this job because I have a family to feed and need the income. Plus, I’m tracking toward a raise to $20/hour soon, which is my only ticket out. I can't realistically wear a heavy N95 respirator while working with the kids all day.
The Help: Right now, the only logistics help I have is my grandmother, who drives me to work right now since I am flaring so bad. I am terrified of what happens if I lose her support or if she passes away. My fiancé is in the foxhole with me, but we don't make enough to buy a house or afford expensive professional remediation.
The Current Plan: We are trying to find a cheap, newcamper to use as a "clean air oasis" to sleep in so we can stop sleeping inside the moldy house, even though it won't have running water attached. I am also working on baseline supplements right now and hope to start binders soon (I have never taken any kind of binder yet).
I feel like I am completely failing my kids because they've lost their bedrooms and stability for a year now.
I am completely overwhelmed by the "what-ifs"—what if the camper falls through? What if I lose my job or my kids? How do two people who don't make a lot of money actually find a mold-free home in a damp climate (I'm in Southwest Virginia, older housing stock is terrible here)? Can people like me actually heal and live a normal life under these conditions, or am I permanently stuck like this?
Please be brutally honest. What would you actually do in my shoes to survive the daily exposures, protect your kids, and get better without going broke and losing my family.
I’m just a mom. My kids are everything to me. I’m trying my best and I am scared to death.
Please tell me there is hope. Please tell me somehow.
i don’t know what to do anymore. i cannot afford everything that requires to fix this. i cannot afford a clean house. i have CIRS from mold exposure and i am dying. i am completely suffering. i feel so bad i am miserable. i can’t keep a job like this, i am so miserable.. beyond misery.. brain fog, severe pain and fatigue, body aches, burning nerves and muscles, burning eyes legs and feet pain completely brutally exhausted i can’t hardly stand or walk. laying down is misery. i don’t know what to do. i’ve lost 8 lbs in 6 days. i am only 28 years old, i have two kids, my family has no money to help escape this misery. not everyone is able to get out of this.
if everyone could please just pray for me. i don’t know what else to ask for anymore. i need a miracle.
i have a gofund me. and i know everyone here probably feels the same way i do, and it is brutal and so expensive. i don’t know if its even aloud to even be discussed here but i have one and only you all would understand this. i just need the money to find even small space, even a small camper or something to try to heal in.
so my pcp is finally going to help me and give me CSM. i know he doesn’t know everything about this but he knows the risks and what we are using it for. someone please give me all the advice i need. i should be receiving it in a few days but im not taking it til i feel ready and also i am still in exposure. not the original exposure but you know. is it possible it will still work?? what do i need to do. i have a job to hold down and kids.
what do i do??
someone please tell me what on earth i can even do to try to heal my body while living in mold. please. i have CIRS, MCAS, POTs pretty sure MECFS and i am losing my quality of life. we just moved into a rental i thought would be safe but having to leave again bc of obvious issues and ive stopped sleeping completely. missing work now and if i miss work to many times i will be fired then i am fucking cooked. my job doesn’t offer any type of medical leave or anything. i have 2 kids. when i tell you im dying, im dying. i’ll never be out of exposure even going back to families house there’s exposure. i try sleeping outside but with everything over lapping its so fucking hard to even try to sleep or get comfortable in a tent when the humidity and rain. someone please help me tell me what to do turn this back around it’s so fucking bad please. i’m not even able to sleep anymore. i’m not functioning anymore. i have 2 kids please someone tell me i can heal please.
i have a gofundme as well for extra help and support. i know that’s dumb to mention probably but anything helps. we cannot get out of mold. my family can’t help us no one has the money for this. i am just so sick and don’t know what to do anymore.
my life is over. my life is completely over and everything i’ve thought id have my life of being a mother to my children, having a home, being a wife, working child care is over.
it is not in our financial means to get away from this we can’t. i feel like i am actively dying from pain and fatigue. heart rate is a mess. trying to keep one foot in front of the other to stay at my job i’m barely hanging on by a thread.
we cannot get away from water damaged homes.
we don’t make enough money to get anything different. we have moved multiple times now my body reacts within weeks. my life is a fucking mess. i am a disappointment to my self and my family. i used to be able to do everything now i can barely stand or walk. i try my fucking best to keep working. i try so hard it’s not enough for CIRS. it’s never enough.
we don’t have good credit, we’ve never owned a house, just rented always. we don’t have money to move out of state, ERMI every house, fix issues if needed. i have 2 mold genes. i am 28 years old have nothing to my name, no one understands me, i am so sick and my life is fucking over. i have so much fatigue and pain. i wished i had never kept searching for answers. i fucking hate my life. i hate my body.
i do not want to die.
i don’t want to die.
i want to live so fucking badly.
i want my life again, i want joy, i want happiness, i want my body to work, i want my family again, myself again. i’ve missed out on so much for my kids and family has had to help raise them
i don’t know what else to do.
i don’t relate to anyone around me anymore.
i’m in a fucking hole.
there’s no where to go from here.
there’s no safe home enough for me, for them.
they’re fine and functioning.
no one is sick but me.
we have done all we can but i have nothing left to give anymore.
please someone help me. is this the end? is this really what happens to people? there’s just no fucking help for me?
what the fuck?
this is basically my only option at this point since i’m already reacting 3 weeks into our rental.. i’m about to give up.
what’s the best way to take mycobind? i get so extremely overwhelmed by trying to schedule it i just don’t do it. i try on the weekends but during the week it’s so hard for me while at work. small things like trying to plan it around foods, meds & supplements feels like the end of the world. can someone help me schedule times to take it? i know it sounds crazy but i get overwhelmed quickly and easily irritated. ik it’s part of CIRS. i have extreme anxiety, and anxiety about how my body will react. like how do i plan it all around everything safely?
can someone please tell me you can heal on an environment you can’t test? as stated previously, we have viewed over 15 rentals and have moved a few times. the rental we have now is the best we could find. it’s a 17 yr old mobile home.
every. single. home. in the world has past water damage and history. we are in our 20s, 2 young children, both working 9-5 jobs, making it barely but surviving and my CIRS diagnosis has just threw us into the fucking grave. literally.
my kids aren’t sick. my fiance is not sick.
it’s just ME.
we don’t have the money, time & sanity to test homes when any of the homes we ever lived in haven’t been safe, or had had obvious issues and we have walked away from them.
is it every home? am i just never going to heal and be okay again? we have no family help anymore. no savings. no back up. not good enough credit to even buy, let alone afford inspections, remediations. we are doing the best we can. is that not enough for cirs?
am i really going to have to say goodbye to my family? because i cannot do this anymore.
i want to settle down again.
i want my kids to have a home to live in permanently.
i have 2 mold genes as well.
someone pls help me
found this in my new rental. 😭 what do we even do? we have no where safe to even go. is this really how it’s going to be? continually running away?
am i just fucking cooked? i feel like hell everyday of my life and have never found a dr to actually help me and can’t afford functional medicine. i’m only 28 with children and i just feel like my life is over. i’m dying of sickness and no one to help me.
how is the people that cannot afford a dr actually get better without one? i’m so scared of making myself worse just reading and guessing. i cannot afford all that this takes. i’m so worried im never going to get better. i cannot afford to test homes and all the other shit. i rent. i have a family. we had stability before all of this shit happened and it’s just fucking rocked our world. any home in my budget will likely fail so tbh ermis aren’t worth it to me. i’m in the best rental we could ever have right now. been taking high dose fish oils for months and im thinking of doing mycobind soon. how is this even.. safe? i’m just so scared.