Lyme disease diagnosed after 35 years of pain due to mouldy home
A woman has been left bedridden and in constant pain for 35 years because she was poisoned by mould in her family’s home.
Dana Anhalt, 37, a writer from Huntingdon, New York, was incorrectly diagnosed with Lyme disease last year after more than three decades of torment.
When doctors realised the toxic mould in the basement of her family’s home - not the Lyme disease - had been poisoning her all these years, she was ordered to leave without her possessions.
Ms Anhalt has suffered from allergies since childhood and been in extreme pain, but had not been correctly diagnosed until last year.
Her weight plummeted to 31.8 kilograms during the worst of her suffering.
The family didn’t realise their basement was infested with mould until they noticed a musty smell.
They have raised more than $40,000 through GoFundMe to help her with the move.
“I’ve spent all 37 years of my life slowly being poisoned from the inside out,” said Ms Anhalt.
“The genetic testing was difficult to look at but it was also one of the most of vindicating things I’ve ever seen. Suddenly, decades of my experience made sense.
“When I was a child I was sick quite often.
“I was plagued with constant sinus infections, repeated bouts of strep, migraines, hormonal trouble and mounting gastrointestinal symptoms.
“After my mum passed, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and did not respond to any of the standard treatments.
“By 2011 I was almost entirely bed bound, and by 2012 I was ravaged with muscle and joint pain so severe that I often vomited from the intensity.
“I was trapped in a body that could not articulate what I was going through or seek comfort in connection with others.”
The mould was only discovered last year and it is believed to have been caused by a flood when Ms Anhalt was a child.
“We rushed to find a new apartment and we had to leave all of our belongings, everything I had collected over the years, it was devastating,” she said.
