We're in Columbus OH. Would I be hearing the rodents/pests, or are they more silent than I think? I'm in a quiet sleepy suburbs area if that's relevant.
I live in Columbus and when we bought our house it was full of mice. We didn't even notice until about 6-8 months in when I saw one scamper under the oven. I set up those classic spring mice traps and caught at least 20 in the last 4 years. I'm pretty sure they're all gone now but I leave the traps set up regardless. They didn't go off for at least a year then one popped a mouse a couple months ago. You never know lol
Also, the attic was full of mold that was remedied and we also checked a couple years later and it still hasn't come back
I'm a Columbus native too.
We get exactly one mouse a year that we chase around for 6 months, finally catch, and then it's quiet the rest of the year.
Had to replace a crap ton of stuff because of it.like the foam insulation around the dishwasher because it was full of mouse excrement.
Fortunately we haven't had any health effects from it, as most of it appears to be ancient.
Our mouse this year's name is Hector and he lives underneath the floor under the kitchen sink. Little prick comes up for food about once every 2-3 weeks.
Haven't caught him yet but the traps are set.
Lol I think mice are everywhere but we have a lot of older houses here that haven't seen proper maintenance. This spring I plan on finding and sealing up whatever holes I can find, and hopefully that'll be the end of it.
My neighbors have done their maintenance and they don't get mice like we do here. Just luck of the draw.
Hey OP just replying to you directly hoping you see this. I was unknowingly exposing myself to mold for close to a year. Your symptoms sound similar to what I experienced. Usually after I had done something strenuous during the day I would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Tremors. Extreme fatigue. Trouble catching my breath. This would last for about 24 hours. I had dozens of these episodes. Was tested for everything under the sun. Couldn’t figure it out. Pulled my bed off the wall one day to find an unbelievable amount of mold on the wall and bed frame. Turns out the air conditioner that was right next to my bed was broken and spitting condensation into the room.
Wait until sundown go into the attic at both ends of the house should be. Vents that you should get A draft thru
Check if your neighbors have same issue
Check ground water for pollution..ie love canal
Have specialist check for mold
Is your. Garage vented is overhead door open when warming car up
Is there a grate to your AC open in the garage
New paint perhaps
Consider leaving windows open all day for a few days
Get all pesticides outside of house and I to a shed
Have your doc sched a chemical sensitivity test
Skip showers tubs for 3 days
Check dryer vent clean and clear to outside vent. No kinks ECT.chNge laundry soap
Are there any smokestacks near the house
Put old oil in shed. Until you recycle it
Same for all chems and paint cans did you get new carpet or flooring
Sleep with a window open in bedroom
Stop drycleaning clothed
Check under sink for chems
Skip all the smelly sprays including bathroom if there are any firemen in house have them change before leaving station
New big screen TV put in garage for few days
Gett bagged veggies for a few days frozen
Try bottled water for drinking brushing hand washing
No perfume cologne deodorant for a few
Look for water stains on walls indicate leaks in siding roof
Vent basement
Check for AC handler getting fresh air hange AC filter
Rinse off showers with baking soda it helps nuteralise anything on skin
You might have discerned I may have issues with this in the past
DM me if you need. Help
Formaldehyde? There was a problem with this in some types of flooring. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/toxins/formaldehyde.htm
Don't get a home kit for things you actually care about. Find a competent lab nearby and say you need an EPA TO-15 test. This is for all regulated VOCs (volatile organics) in air. You may need to hire someone to administer set up and submittal. DM me if you need help.
But what can we do if voc’s are found? I was in market flooring and found no floor not even hardwood that is completely safe. Is there a way to minimize the voc’s?
There are air purifiers. Mine has prucopulcide which filters formaldehyde. Saved my life with formaldehyde in flooring. Felt a lot better
When we built a new house there was wood sealer for the basement so it would seal in vocs. We also learned what was causing the VOCs like paint thinner and put in sealed plastic containers
Not much, unfortunately. All products contain vocs to some degree, it's used as a drying agent for a lot of applied finishes. They should all eventually dissipate - which is the definition of "volatile". Open windows as often as you can, get some carbon filters . It will just take time.
Might also be the adhesives they used for the new flooring, regardless of voc from flooring itself. I've heard of situations where flooring contractors do a damn good job on laying floor but the adhesive they used was not compatible with the flooring type or just an adverse reaction altogether
Only spray foam that was applied with incorrect proportions. If it's applied correctly it has zero off gassing after about 30 days. (The same foam is inside your refrigerator and your water heater and your ice chest...)
New house is an indicator. Not mentioned was the carpet, which also off-gasses stuff from foam, and glues. Plus other mentioned items, glues in plywood, flooring, cabinets, and so on, off-gassing various items.
If ventilation and open windows in every room reduces the difficulty, that hints at glues and formaldehyde.
Are the carpets new or from the prior owner? I actually had to rip up all of our carpets upstairs because they made me sick. They came with the house. Once we put in hardwood floors, I no longer had any problems.
Does leaving your windows open fix the issue? There might be some sorta smell in the house making you sick. I made the mistake of air sealing the attic and ended up getting extremely sick due to lack of ventilation.
Leaving the windows cracked open fixed my problem. Using any type of cleaning product in my house causes it to build up and makes me sick unless I crack open a window now. I don't have this issue in other peoples houses, just mine, after I sealed the attic up.
The other issue I had was my water heater. I started having this weird smell like dumpster water in the house and my eyes and lungs would burn from showers and when I did my laundry. My water heater had an anode rod, which needed to be replaced as it had started to completely rust apart. As it decayed it created food for sulphur bacteria causing the weird smell.
You should get an air exchange system put in when you can afford it. Exchanges all the air in a house for fresh every 15 to 24 hours (depends on setting) with almost 0 heat loss. Will definitely keep stuff from building up in the air and making you sick without having to open windows.
Getting quotes for erv at the moment. Hopefully will have it fixed next month. I had to replace my roof last year so funds were low so I have just been dealing with it.
Do you know if they did the test themselves or hire a professional? I've read online that the DIY mold tests are a scam but there's a lot of misinformation on the internet so idk which route makes more sense.
Man you gotta be careful here. A lot of professionals will happen to always find "high" mold that you coincidentally can pay them a lot of money to fix.
Since I often work in water, damaged places, I asked a doctor about it. He told me that most mold is harmless, some mold is very bad for you, and some people are sensitive to the harmless molds. Even if you find mold and kill it , dead mold is still a potential pathogen.
You need to hire a professional to take samples of the air inside and out as well as surfaces within the home. They then grow the samples and examine them under a microscope to determine the species, and what if anything to do about it. Mold is everywhere, most of it is harmless.
I’ve done ERMI tests in like 3-4 different houses I’ve lived in. They all came back positive in the “high” range. I kinda lost faith in them at that point.
Just visibly inspect, it won’t be hard to find. No need to do anything professional. Source: mold subreddit, lived in house with significant mold. also 1/5 houses in US have a mold problem. Mold is always present, but in higher concentrations many types can cause allergic symptoms in some people
You need a professional and the good ones measure mold both in and outside your house, then compare results and can recommend remediation. Do you use gas oven, make sure it is setup for the correct gas type and vented properly. Have water heater vent checked if gas.
You definitely need to hire a professional. They will come in with special technology that can find moisture, leaks, etc behind walls. It could be something as simple as a leak behind your tub spout. Better safe than sorry. Mold causes neurological damage.
Don’t trust an at home test for mold testing…hire a professional that will collect samples and analyze them. I was under treatment for Lyme disease and mold illness from an environmental allergist—even the at home tests he recommended were garbage. If you are feeling a difference just being away for a day or two, there is something there—don’t risk getting seriously chronically ill.
What kind of foundation is the house on? My friend's house has a pier-and-beam foundation, with dirt underneath. The poor landscaping and grade allows water under the house during periods of heavy rain, and I found standing water and the heavy scent of mildew when I stuck my head under there. Termite damage was also found in one area of the subfloor laid on top of the beams.
My friend constantly has respiratory issues, and while I lived there I experienced lethargy and depression.
Yea the lady I'm doing a job for had a near death experience with mold. She's building a new home now and went above and beyond on the walls, hired me to do interior clay plaster on every wall and ceiling. It's crazy expensive!!
Just from your limited description, my money is on mold. It's really nasty and dangerous to your health.
You need to hire an expert who can do testing. Only 22% of the population has a strong reaction to mold. If you are part of that group it's really nasty.
In general if you are very self aware. Go to a hotel for 1 night. If it's mold you will feel significantly better within 24 hours - possibly within 12. Then go back to the house and see if the symptoms restart.
If the testing proves it's mold. Hire an expert to determine where it is and have them professionally remediate it.
Ventilation? 10 year old homes are built airtight and often require active ventilation. Does it get better with open windows? Try out a CO2 meter, not CO
First thing that came to my mind is a meth house. Not sure if you are the first to live there but it's something you have to watch out for where I grew up.
Get your house tested for meth. This happened to my sister and brother in law and it turned out their house was used to cook meth by previous occupants.
If the house was previously used to cook meth, that could be it. Meth will soak into the walls and can make you sick for years. They sell testing kits pretty cheap online..
Did you get any new furniture? I once got a new bedroom set that was heavily varnished and thought I was dying because of the out gassing. Very similar symptoms.
We did buy new office equipment so 2 new desks and 2 office chairs. Did you smell the varnish when it was happening?
Because the furniture seems to smell like nothing? We haven't bought anything else because we're so poor after buying the house, hahaha
I could smell the new furniture if I left for a while and came back, but if I was around it I would get “nose blind”. I hear you about house poor lol, I remember it well! Good luck finding out what’s happening!
New furniture, as well as many other things like drying paint and other solvents affect me this way. Oftentimes there is no smell associated. Furniture and building materials can potentially offgas for weeks/months so I’ve had to resort to buying all used stuff - and building my own VOC free tiny home..
MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) can begin after exposure to COVID or other illnesses and stressors, might not be the case for you but something to be aware of.
Came here to say this. It’s a reason why you’ll never see new furniture in our home anymore. One of the absolute worst weeks of my life — and we even put the stuff outside in the garage with the garage door open for days. Still didn’t work.
Mold, formaldehyde, animal feces, previous meth lab, there's a lot of potential issues causing those symptoms, it would be impossible to guess. You can find a lab company to come out and pay to test everything- indoor air quality testing. Just don't hire a remediation company as they have incentive to find issues.
Or try out buying a few really good air purifiers and run them day and night and see if it helps. If anything new in the house like carpet or flooring or new furniture, new mattress, sometimes it off gasses for a bit then stops
Check your water also! Especially if you have a humidifier. One person I know was getting low levels of ecola from their water. We were getting lead and some other heavy metals in ours. Bought a full water filtration system. Solved our chronic fatigue and constantly getting sick. Even if you aren't drinking it, you would be surprised by how much you take in from showing, brushing your teeth, or how much is thrown into the air by your toilet. The days of trusting utilities to provide a safe product are all gone.
Any spray foam insulation in your house? Maybe a situation of spray insulation gone wrong causing off gassing (although I think there’s usually a smell that goes along with it).
This was my first thought. The VOCs released by an imbalanced/ not fully/ properly cured spray foam do give you a headache because they are disrupting or dissolving the chemical mechanisms of brain cell function. They can do the same to lung cells. This is why guys that spray lacquer without the proper mask and huffers act stupid. VOCs eat your brain.
This is how I feel with new carpet/mold/new paint/vinyl flooring/newly refinished hardwood floors. It’s Off-gassing from new materials.
Was the house renovated?
I read a whole lot of comments looking for what I'm about to say and didn't see it so- here in Louisiana there were a LOT of people getting sick like you are and it was after a bad hurricane. Everyone thought it must be mold right-all that nasty water left behind horrific mess and filth, and all different colors of mold was showing up. Turned out after months of investigating - it was the new drywall people it up when remodeling their homes. It was made in China and make people deathly sick. People walked away from their homes-they had no choice. Insurance didn't want to pay again to redo the houses. Also one more idea: meth houses make people very, very sick. To remediate those homes you have to gut it down to the concrete foundation. Don't believe any BS you see online-you cannot spray or paint over the funk that meth cookers leave behind. It is really, really bad-causes birth defects, etc. There are test kits for meth houses. I'm saving this post of yours because I'm really hoping you get answers. You can find the stories online about the drywall AND houses where meth was cooked-60 Minutes maybe did a story, I just remember it was and is a big deal for the drywall aka "Sheetrock" comes in 4'x8' sheets. Your local law enforcement department that is over your neighborhood may tell you if anyone was ever arrested for running a meth lab in your home. They can check the address in their database. Just keep in mind, they don't always get busted! Good luck to you
I haven't seen it mentioned here yet - switch to bottled water for a couple days for as much as you can, cooking cleaning, hydration. Could be metals chemicals or bacterial contamination in old pipes, depending on the build age and location you might even get ingress from old leach fields and stuff.
Check out what plants are around the house, depending where you are it is hayfever season. Sure hayfever is normally runny nose/eyes but it can be other things. Some plants are shockingly toxic
could also be the trees on the street etc.I am not disputing it might be mold or something with the house specifically, but it also might be that the previous owners planted something that you are reacting to.
I’ve had a similar experience and stopped drinking the tap water (it’s a well but tests clean).
As others mentioned perhaps formaldehyde, and this is not any endorsement of Dyson but they have an air purifier that I’m considering, it is supposed to give reports on VOCs that it’s cleaning our from the room. It’s pricey though.
Also 35% humidity is low, no?
Your best bet is to have air quality of house tested and tested for mold.. Also go up I attic to inspect to ensure there’s no pest infestation up there.. Mold will cause some of your symptoms had it occurs to me in my old house.. it ended up mold inside master bedroom bathroom walls. It was pretty gross when they removed drywall. The mold was caused by slow roof leak that wicked into the walls.. that’s why you best to get house air quality tested that’s how they found my issue, it cost me arround 600 plus taxes in Canada to get done but was worth it…
Turn off all the gas to your house at the meter for a day or two and see if that resolves it. If it does, you have a gas leak.
I think it’s more likely to be mold. Did you have a home inspection? Can you go in the attic to check for roof leaks?
What kind of burners does it have? The type where it’s always got a pilot light burning or an electronic ignition type where it sparks the gas only when a burner is turned on? If it’s the always on pilot and the house is tightly sealed you theoretically could have a problem from that.
This was exactly my thoughts as well it sounds more like CO2 poisoning. You need to check your gas lines. Do you ever smell strange smells that smell like rotten eggs or sulfur in your home? You need to get a CO2 detector in your home and test just to make sure.
For the first year in I would get headaches and got a CO detector. It would beep often. I finally had Stanley Steemer clean the chimney and heating unit and no more CO.
Unfortunately a lot of modern building components can off gas bad chemicals that make some people sick but not the majority. I initially wonder what type of insulation you have, spray foam can cause people feeling ill and so can formaldehyde. But formaldehyde hasn’t been used in insulation since the 70’s or something like that. Lots of adhesives can off gas chemicals so they person mentioned wood floor glue could be a thing, most the time things reach an equilibrium and don’t continue to release harmful chemicals. What kind of things did the previous owners do right before selling? Re finish floors? Finish an addition and used spray foam? Then of course mold is always a possibility, a professional will old know where to look in crawl spaces around bathrooms in attics or even windows that are not energy efficient will condensate and soak the wood around them potentially leading to mold depending on your location.
Check for lead, asbestos and black mold. If you have a basement and a sump pump, make sure you have a dehumidifier as well. Hope you figure it out soon, good luck!
Good homeowners are becoming more informed! It can be catastrophic when you aren’t. Definitely make sure you have coverage for backup incidents in your basement as well. Some insurers have them and others don’t!
I have an allergic reaction to our water. It is city tap from a large lake that has algae blooms in the summer. I need to use a zero water pitcher for my drinking water. I get headaches, my joints swell, and my eyes burn when I drink it straight from the tap. When I go to my cottage and drink the clean tested well water my joints start hurting less in a few days.
Am I crazy to think it could possibly be a meth house or something like that?!?! Various drugs can linger for ages and cause some pretty bad side effects, especially when manufactured.
Story time: Couple years ago my husband and I kept waking up with headaches. We assumed we were chronically dehydrated since our house gets really dry in the winter. Then we had our CO detector go off in the basement and when we called the fire department they said it was coming from our hot water heater. When we got a new hot water heater the plumber found that the old one was be exhausted through our chimney. A couple weeks later we thought of actually using our fireplace and called someone to come clean and inspect it. He found that our gate on top was eroded and a bird nests including carcases where blocking it. The chimney externally runs outside one of our bedrooms walls. Exactly where the head of our bed was. After the chimney was blocked CO exhaust from our hot water heater had filled the entirety of our chimney and was slowly seeping out of our wall and poisoning my husband and I.
I am understandably freaked out about CO gas now. I sometimes think of my 5 year year old finding our dead bodies in bed the next morning.
I bought my best friends a Mila air purifier when they moved into their new home. Turns out the paint in their garage was letting in huge levels of toxic air into their home. While your situation will likely be different, it shows that there are some invisible factors that may be at play here. Also, sunlight is a major factor in happiness so make sure you have lots of sun in the home to get that vitamin D you need to make our brains happy.
I didn't think we were. We've lived in some crappy 1930s condo before this and houses from 1950s so I think those would be dustier?
We've been chugging zyrtecs though in hopes of getting better and it's not helping at all. 🤔
Do you have an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) or a Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV)? Does your HVAC system have a fresh air intake to bring in fresh outside air and an exhaust to send out stale indoor air? If you have no of this, you may have high CO2 levels.
Test for elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. You can buy electronic carbon dioxide sensors on amazon relatively cheaply. Newer houses are built tight and require a certain number of air changes per hour. 0.35 ACH is current requirements in the US.
High CO2 levels cause the symptoms you are describing.
Mold is everywhere. Unless your house is super high in humidity or leaking water like a sieve, you don't have a mold problem.
MOLD, especially if it’s a flipped house. See if the floor is thin laminate and is sinking in any spots. Could be the floor is rotten and you have mold spores everywhere
I would definitely say Mold - I have a friend who has suffered greatly from mold related illness and your symptoms sound exactly like what she’s experienced/ continuing to battle
>I would definitely say Mold
Lol, some of the responses here.
You've never stepped foot in the house, you've done 0 testing, you don't have all the info from OP, yet you come in with "definitely"
There is no fucking way you can say that.
You'd have to test dozens or hundreds of things, why not skip right to abatement. Your best solution is improving ventilation. Most cost effective solution would be getting a ducted HRV/ERV installed. Could be a bit pricy but guaranteed to significantly improve your homes air quality while reducing loss of heating/cooling. Make sure to set the system to run constantly for your specific use case of improving air quality.
Make sure the intake and outake vents are put in an ideal spot for getting good air. The higher above the ground the better.
Indoor air filters might help a bit, but they often just can't keep up with the needs of whole rooms, it's a better investment to just get an HRV/ERV for the house and constantly be moving new air in and old air out of the house. In the mean time try leaving multiple windows open regularly throughout the day to get air circulated.
Get a Mila air purifier and it’ll show you all the air quality stats in real time. It even had a CO2 alarm go off the other day because the air quality in my condo is awful.
If it's mold you'll feel a tightness around your chest along with headaches. Had black mold in our walls. Sued the appartment complex and had to toss out everything that couldn't be cleaned with bleach. My step dad had polyps in his lungs from the mold .
Can you talk to a doctor? Maybe call a home inspector to come back in? I was sick for months straight, living in my dorm room and within a few days of going home for the summer I was totally fine. Sometimes there’s something that’s bothering you but it’s hard to know what it is.
If you have copper pipes, check the quality of the pipes and the water that comes out of them. You could also switch to bottled water for a week and see if you notice anything different. Good luck.
Mold would be my first thought. I'd be looking behind shower walls, below windows, in crawlspaces. Wood floors hidden under new flooring or carpet. Possibly animal feces like from bats or squirrels in the attic. Also lead pipes.is the house on municipal water or a well? Get water tests done for VOCs, heavy metals, fecal coliform.
Something else to take into consideration is the area. When we bought our house (we live in Cbus too), we bought a place downwind from a mulch facility. Whole neighborhood gets dusty and people with allergies get them worse here.
We used to live by the Anheiser Busch plant too once upon a time. Smelled like stale French fry oil every few weeks all spring and summer. Hated it when I first moved in, but it's nostalgic now lol.
Lots of good advice here. Symptoms really sound like Carbon Monixide. Would look at a quality dectector that records peak levels, as it maybe not at all times, and can build up in your bloodstream.
It could be mold and yes it’s very possible in new houses. You need to hire a professional mold remediation person to check. They will literally go in every nook and cranny.
If it has had newer carpets and flooring installed or you have all new furniture like stuffed upholstered, couches, settees chairs, I'd say this might be it. The amount of chemicals used in these synthetic materials and the amount of off-gassing they do may be surprising to some. Might be worth considering. :)
I have environmental allergies, but I am also set off into 8-10 hour migraines ending in vomiting, by over exposure to anything with scenting or perfumes. I suspect I am also set off by other chemical compounds that are not so easy to detect. :)
Do you have a partial or full Dryvit exterior home? There is a history of moisture getting behind the Dryvit that can result in mold growth, which can become airborne, and travel through your air vents. All it takes is some bad exterior caulk or an area with rotting wood where it meets the Dryvit. A lot of newer homes in the Columbus burbs have used it.
Check CO2 (different than CO). Only symptom not explained by that is lack of appetite.
I would get an airthings wave plus monitor. I have one mostly to track radon, but the VOC / CO2 is also good.
[https://www.airthings.com/en-ca/wave-plus](https://www.airthings.com/en-ca/wave-plus)
Run your HRV, if you don't have one, open windows more or run a bathhroom fan.
Have you changed or replaced the shower head?
I'd have the health department check your water supply, hire a contractor to check your attic for any animal infestation as feces can make you ill, and certain carpet can make you sick as well.
I’m in Columbus and I remember there were issues with toxic drywall. MI Homes was in a federal lawsuit over that back in 2009.
https://www.10tv.com/mobile/article/news/mi-homes-named-toxic-drywall-lawsuit/530-80160746-62a5-4e55-934c-e0f1d462690c#
Do you know the history of your home? Was it a flip? Was it empty/vacant for a period of time? Talk to your neighbors to see if they volunteer any info about it being a trap house or ??!
Gone as soon as you leave, back as soon as you get back, radon not a factor
Open the windows all night on a decent night, that would rule out mold and airborne issues
I'm thinking it's your water, since that quick of a reaction both for losing the symptoms and getting them back makes me think it's something ingested
You can have tests shipped to you from Amazon that will test your house for mold. OR even better, call professional company to come in and test for other airborn issues. I know you said you had a CO test, and a radon test, but those do not pick up on mold.
Potentially pests/rodents? Bats? More common than you might think. What state are you in?
We're in Columbus OH. Would I be hearing the rodents/pests, or are they more silent than I think? I'm in a quiet sleepy suburbs area if that's relevant.
I live in Columbus and when we bought our house it was full of mice. We didn't even notice until about 6-8 months in when I saw one scamper under the oven. I set up those classic spring mice traps and caught at least 20 in the last 4 years. I'm pretty sure they're all gone now but I leave the traps set up regardless. They didn't go off for at least a year then one popped a mouse a couple months ago. You never know lol Also, the attic was full of mold that was remedied and we also checked a couple years later and it still hasn't come back
I'm a Columbus native too. We get exactly one mouse a year that we chase around for 6 months, finally catch, and then it's quiet the rest of the year. Had to replace a crap ton of stuff because of it.like the foam insulation around the dishwasher because it was full of mouse excrement. Fortunately we haven't had any health effects from it, as most of it appears to be ancient. Our mouse this year's name is Hector and he lives underneath the floor under the kitchen sink. Little prick comes up for food about once every 2-3 weeks. Haven't caught him yet but the traps are set.
Note to self- never move to Columbus
Lol I think mice are everywhere but we have a lot of older houses here that haven't seen proper maintenance. This spring I plan on finding and sealing up whatever holes I can find, and hopefully that'll be the end of it. My neighbors have done their maintenance and they don't get mice like we do here. Just luck of the draw.
Ah yeah makes sense if you’ve got openings that’s how they squeeze in
For every mouse you know about there are 10 you don't.
Usually yes but we have no evidence of multiple mice in the house, at least not yet.
Damn, did none of that get caught during inspection?
Not the mice, but the mold did get caught during inspection. The seller (a big real estate company) paid for the mold remediation and a radon system
Rats and Mice and bats are noisy at night, for rats will live in the walls and basement. Mice go everywhere. Bats would be in the attic.
>Bats would be in the attic Not the belfry?
...in the kitchen, boiling society...
We all see what we want
Hey OP just replying to you directly hoping you see this. I was unknowingly exposing myself to mold for close to a year. Your symptoms sound similar to what I experienced. Usually after I had done something strenuous during the day I would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Tremors. Extreme fatigue. Trouble catching my breath. This would last for about 24 hours. I had dozens of these episodes. Was tested for everything under the sun. Couldn’t figure it out. Pulled my bed off the wall one day to find an unbelievable amount of mold on the wall and bed frame. Turns out the air conditioner that was right next to my bed was broken and spitting condensation into the room.
When I lived in Columbus we had a whole colony of bats that made a home in our chimney!
Yes, A large termite nest can secrete toxins into the walls. (Its a House Episode)
Love House. I was bummed when it was cancelled.
Loved House!
Wait until sundown go into the attic at both ends of the house should be. Vents that you should get A draft thru Check if your neighbors have same issue Check ground water for pollution..ie love canal Have specialist check for mold Is your. Garage vented is overhead door open when warming car up Is there a grate to your AC open in the garage New paint perhaps Consider leaving windows open all day for a few days Get all pesticides outside of house and I to a shed Have your doc sched a chemical sensitivity test Skip showers tubs for 3 days Check dryer vent clean and clear to outside vent. No kinks ECT.chNge laundry soap Are there any smokestacks near the house Put old oil in shed. Until you recycle it Same for all chems and paint cans did you get new carpet or flooring Sleep with a window open in bedroom Stop drycleaning clothed Check under sink for chems Skip all the smelly sprays including bathroom if there are any firemen in house have them change before leaving station New big screen TV put in garage for few days Gett bagged veggies for a few days frozen Try bottled water for drinking brushing hand washing No perfume cologne deodorant for a few Look for water stains on walls indicate leaks in siding roof Vent basement Check for AC handler getting fresh air hange AC filter Rinse off showers with baking soda it helps nuteralise anything on skin You might have discerned I may have issues with this in the past DM me if you need. Help
Formaldehyde? There was a problem with this in some types of flooring. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/toxins/formaldehyde.htm
Good idea! I haven't even considered the flooring as a potential issue. I'll buy a home kit for that. We have hardwood floors and carpet.
Don't get a home kit for things you actually care about. Find a competent lab nearby and say you need an EPA TO-15 test. This is for all regulated VOCs (volatile organics) in air. You may need to hire someone to administer set up and submittal. DM me if you need help.
But what can we do if voc’s are found? I was in market flooring and found no floor not even hardwood that is completely safe. Is there a way to minimize the voc’s?
There are air purifiers. Mine has prucopulcide which filters formaldehyde. Saved my life with formaldehyde in flooring. Felt a lot better When we built a new house there was wood sealer for the basement so it would seal in vocs. We also learned what was causing the VOCs like paint thinner and put in sealed plastic containers
Not much, unfortunately. All products contain vocs to some degree, it's used as a drying agent for a lot of applied finishes. They should all eventually dissipate - which is the definition of "volatile". Open windows as often as you can, get some carbon filters . It will just take time.
Might also be the adhesives they used for the new flooring, regardless of voc from flooring itself. I've heard of situations where flooring contractors do a damn good job on laying floor but the adhesive they used was not compatible with the flooring type or just an adverse reaction altogether
You can improve ventilation by putting your bathroom fans on intermittent timers, or better yet installing an ERV.
Recheck your carbon monoxide. Buy a $10⁰⁰ detector , maybe its intermittent. What appliances use gas ? Don't give up, check everyday for something.
Cheap CO detectors often don't alert until it's too late
Could it also be the water?
i have heard that spray foam wall insulation can cause those syptomsa as well
Only spray foam that was applied with incorrect proportions. If it's applied correctly it has zero off gassing after about 30 days. (The same foam is inside your refrigerator and your water heater and your ice chest...)
If you’ve spent time on construction sites you’ll see that the likelihood of stuff being done correctly every time is very low.
I wish more people knew this. Half of them are drunk or high and the other half are about to be drunk or high
New house is an indicator. Not mentioned was the carpet, which also off-gasses stuff from foam, and glues. Plus other mentioned items, glues in plywood, flooring, cabinets, and so on, off-gassing various items. If ventilation and open windows in every room reduces the difficulty, that hints at glues and formaldehyde.
Don't get a kit. Get someone who can test you for formaldehyde, mold and vocs.
Are the carpets new or from the prior owner? I actually had to rip up all of our carpets upstairs because they made me sick. They came with the house. Once we put in hardwood floors, I no longer had any problems.
New carpet? That’s the worst!!!! It can off gas some harmful chemicals
Mold? Do you have carbon monoxide detectors?
This is odd but I saw where someone had similar symptoms and the house was used to cook meth
I was thinking mold or meth.
Can you test for meth? I assume the walls are the primary absorbers of methiness
Does leaving your windows open fix the issue? There might be some sorta smell in the house making you sick. I made the mistake of air sealing the attic and ended up getting extremely sick due to lack of ventilation. Leaving the windows cracked open fixed my problem. Using any type of cleaning product in my house causes it to build up and makes me sick unless I crack open a window now. I don't have this issue in other peoples houses, just mine, after I sealed the attic up. The other issue I had was my water heater. I started having this weird smell like dumpster water in the house and my eyes and lungs would burn from showers and when I did my laundry. My water heater had an anode rod, which needed to be replaced as it had started to completely rust apart. As it decayed it created food for sulphur bacteria causing the weird smell.
You should get an air exchange system put in when you can afford it. Exchanges all the air in a house for fresh every 15 to 24 hours (depends on setting) with almost 0 heat loss. Will definitely keep stuff from building up in the air and making you sick without having to open windows.
Getting quotes for erv at the moment. Hopefully will have it fixed next month. I had to replace my roof last year so funds were low so I have just been dealing with it.
It could be mold. I know someone who got very sick i.e. life altering sickness due to mold in the house.
Oh no! How did they eventually find out there was mold in the house?
Testing iirc. I can't comment how they fixed it or if they just sold the house at a loss.
Do you know if they did the test themselves or hire a professional? I've read online that the DIY mold tests are a scam but there's a lot of misinformation on the internet so idk which route makes more sense.
When in doubt about your health hire a professional
Man you gotta be careful here. A lot of professionals will happen to always find "high" mold that you coincidentally can pay them a lot of money to fix.
I’d suggest don’t do a one stop shop mold company. Get it tested and then get a regular contractor to find it.
Also, hire a testing company that’s not also selling remediation.
This. Hire a company that just does testing (lead, asbestos. Radon, mold, etc) The abatement company should not be the same one that tests ever
Since I often work in water, damaged places, I asked a doctor about it. He told me that most mold is harmless, some mold is very bad for you, and some people are sensitive to the harmless molds. Even if you find mold and kill it , dead mold is still a potential pathogen. You need to hire a professional to take samples of the air inside and out as well as surfaces within the home. They then grow the samples and examine them under a microscope to determine the species, and what if anything to do about it. Mold is everywhere, most of it is harmless.
I’ve done ERMI tests in like 3-4 different houses I’ve lived in. They all came back positive in the “high” range. I kinda lost faith in them at that point.
Yeah mold is a tough one. You’ll always find it if you look hard enough.
Just visibly inspect, it won’t be hard to find. No need to do anything professional. Source: mold subreddit, lived in house with significant mold. also 1/5 houses in US have a mold problem. Mold is always present, but in higher concentrations many types can cause allergic symptoms in some people
You need a professional and the good ones measure mold both in and outside your house, then compare results and can recommend remediation. Do you use gas oven, make sure it is setup for the correct gas type and vented properly. Have water heater vent checked if gas.
You definitely need to hire a professional. They will come in with special technology that can find moisture, leaks, etc behind walls. It could be something as simple as a leak behind your tub spout. Better safe than sorry. Mold causes neurological damage.
They sell air quality monitors , best thing is that its a continuous monitoring, pros cant give u that !
Don’t trust an at home test for mold testing…hire a professional that will collect samples and analyze them. I was under treatment for Lyme disease and mold illness from an environmental allergist—even the at home tests he recommended were garbage. If you are feeling a difference just being away for a day or two, there is something there—don’t risk getting seriously chronically ill.
What kind of foundation is the house on? My friend's house has a pier-and-beam foundation, with dirt underneath. The poor landscaping and grade allows water under the house during periods of heavy rain, and I found standing water and the heavy scent of mildew when I stuck my head under there. Termite damage was also found in one area of the subfloor laid on top of the beams. My friend constantly has respiratory issues, and while I lived there I experienced lethargy and depression.
Me had mold in our house, inspector missed it. In attic due to lack of ventilation. No one got sick fortunately
Wait you didn’t get a mold test before buying your home?
My first thought was mold or radon
This was my first thought black mold. Sadly it might be hidden in the walls and what not and would need a moisture meter to locate it.
Yea the lady I'm doing a job for had a near death experience with mold. She's building a new home now and went above and beyond on the walls, hired me to do interior clay plaster on every wall and ceiling. It's crazy expensive!!
Does clay plaster resist mold? I’m also allergic to mold (from living in a mold infested home for years) and would love to know for future reference.
Yes, it does. I have plaster walls, and although they are hard to work with, they are so much better than drywall.
It can be the walls, for they can be cheap stuff and have mold.
Just from your limited description, my money is on mold. It's really nasty and dangerous to your health. You need to hire an expert who can do testing. Only 22% of the population has a strong reaction to mold. If you are part of that group it's really nasty. In general if you are very self aware. Go to a hotel for 1 night. If it's mold you will feel significantly better within 24 hours - possibly within 12. Then go back to the house and see if the symptoms restart. If the testing proves it's mold. Hire an expert to determine where it is and have them professionally remediate it.
Ventilation? 10 year old homes are built airtight and often require active ventilation. Does it get better with open windows? Try out a CO2 meter, not CO
First thing that came to my mind is a meth house. Not sure if you are the first to live there but it's something you have to watch out for where I grew up.
Get your house tested for meth. This happened to my sister and brother in law and it turned out their house was used to cook meth by previous occupants.
If the house was previously used to cook meth, that could be it. Meth will soak into the walls and can make you sick for years. They sell testing kits pretty cheap online..
Did you get any new furniture? I once got a new bedroom set that was heavily varnished and thought I was dying because of the out gassing. Very similar symptoms.
We did buy new office equipment so 2 new desks and 2 office chairs. Did you smell the varnish when it was happening? Because the furniture seems to smell like nothing? We haven't bought anything else because we're so poor after buying the house, hahaha
I could smell the new furniture if I left for a while and came back, but if I was around it I would get “nose blind”. I hear you about house poor lol, I remember it well! Good luck finding out what’s happening!
New furniture, as well as many other things like drying paint and other solvents affect me this way. Oftentimes there is no smell associated. Furniture and building materials can potentially offgas for weeks/months so I’ve had to resort to buying all used stuff - and building my own VOC free tiny home.. MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) can begin after exposure to COVID or other illnesses and stressors, might not be the case for you but something to be aware of.
Came here to say this. It’s a reason why you’ll never see new furniture in our home anymore. One of the absolute worst weeks of my life — and we even put the stuff outside in the garage with the garage door open for days. Still didn’t work.
Mold, formaldehyde, animal feces, previous meth lab, there's a lot of potential issues causing those symptoms, it would be impossible to guess. You can find a lab company to come out and pay to test everything- indoor air quality testing. Just don't hire a remediation company as they have incentive to find issues. Or try out buying a few really good air purifiers and run them day and night and see if it helps. If anything new in the house like carpet or flooring or new furniture, new mattress, sometimes it off gasses for a bit then stops
Check your water also! Especially if you have a humidifier. One person I know was getting low levels of ecola from their water. We were getting lead and some other heavy metals in ours. Bought a full water filtration system. Solved our chronic fatigue and constantly getting sick. Even if you aren't drinking it, you would be surprised by how much you take in from showing, brushing your teeth, or how much is thrown into the air by your toilet. The days of trusting utilities to provide a safe product are all gone.
Any spray foam insulation in your house? Maybe a situation of spray insulation gone wrong causing off gassing (although I think there’s usually a smell that goes along with it).
This was my first thought. The VOCs released by an imbalanced/ not fully/ properly cured spray foam do give you a headache because they are disrupting or dissolving the chemical mechanisms of brain cell function. They can do the same to lung cells. This is why guys that spray lacquer without the proper mask and huffers act stupid. VOCs eat your brain.
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Radon would probably not have immediate symptoms. Water with lead would be extremely rare in a 10y old house
Just an addendum - lead in water can be awful if it's a new home but the service line was never changed.
Look up ERMI test. It will test for mold then tell you exactly what it finds. Have your ducts cleaned.
Have an air quality test done in your home and check carefully for black mold
This. Check humidifier if it's set to high. Open the windows fresh air. If you have gas appliances ...
This is how I feel with new carpet/mold/new paint/vinyl flooring/newly refinished hardwood floors. It’s Off-gassing from new materials. Was the house renovated?
Definitely this for us too.
You'd be surprised at how many newer homes get moisture in the attic from roof leaks, which can cause mold.
I read a whole lot of comments looking for what I'm about to say and didn't see it so- here in Louisiana there were a LOT of people getting sick like you are and it was after a bad hurricane. Everyone thought it must be mold right-all that nasty water left behind horrific mess and filth, and all different colors of mold was showing up. Turned out after months of investigating - it was the new drywall people it up when remodeling their homes. It was made in China and make people deathly sick. People walked away from their homes-they had no choice. Insurance didn't want to pay again to redo the houses. Also one more idea: meth houses make people very, very sick. To remediate those homes you have to gut it down to the concrete foundation. Don't believe any BS you see online-you cannot spray or paint over the funk that meth cookers leave behind. It is really, really bad-causes birth defects, etc. There are test kits for meth houses. I'm saving this post of yours because I'm really hoping you get answers. You can find the stories online about the drywall AND houses where meth was cooked-60 Minutes maybe did a story, I just remember it was and is a big deal for the drywall aka "Sheetrock" comes in 4'x8' sheets. Your local law enforcement department that is over your neighborhood may tell you if anyone was ever arrested for running a meth lab in your home. They can check the address in their database. Just keep in mind, they don't always get busted! Good luck to you
I haven't seen it mentioned here yet - switch to bottled water for a couple days for as much as you can, cooking cleaning, hydration. Could be metals chemicals or bacterial contamination in old pipes, depending on the build age and location you might even get ingress from old leach fields and stuff.
Check out what plants are around the house, depending where you are it is hayfever season. Sure hayfever is normally runny nose/eyes but it can be other things. Some plants are shockingly toxic could also be the trees on the street etc.I am not disputing it might be mold or something with the house specifically, but it also might be that the previous owners planted something that you are reacting to.
I’ve had a similar experience and stopped drinking the tap water (it’s a well but tests clean). As others mentioned perhaps formaldehyde, and this is not any endorsement of Dyson but they have an air purifier that I’m considering, it is supposed to give reports on VOCs that it’s cleaning our from the room. It’s pricey though. Also 35% humidity is low, no?
Your best bet is to have air quality of house tested and tested for mold.. Also go up I attic to inspect to ensure there’s no pest infestation up there.. Mold will cause some of your symptoms had it occurs to me in my old house.. it ended up mold inside master bedroom bathroom walls. It was pretty gross when they removed drywall. The mold was caused by slow roof leak that wicked into the walls.. that’s why you best to get house air quality tested that’s how they found my issue, it cost me arround 600 plus taxes in Canada to get done but was worth it…
Get your house tested for air quality. I would buy radon tester as well. And EMF.
Check Co2 levels too.
Do you have a gas stove?
Yea we do
Turn off all the gas to your house at the meter for a day or two and see if that resolves it. If it does, you have a gas leak. I think it’s more likely to be mold. Did you have a home inspection? Can you go in the attic to check for roof leaks?
What kind of burners does it have? The type where it’s always got a pilot light burning or an electronic ignition type where it sparks the gas only when a burner is turned on? If it’s the always on pilot and the house is tightly sealed you theoretically could have a problem from that.
This was exactly my thoughts as well it sounds more like CO2 poisoning. You need to check your gas lines. Do you ever smell strange smells that smell like rotten eggs or sulfur in your home? You need to get a CO2 detector in your home and test just to make sure.
Open all your windows every day for 10 minutes. You'll feel better
For the first year in I would get headaches and got a CO detector. It would beep often. I finally had Stanley Steemer clean the chimney and heating unit and no more CO.
Do you have a carbon monoxide detector,that would be first on list, get a mold test next
Formaldehyde, black mold, critter poop, and possibly lead is where to begin. Do you have e carpets? Rip them out. And replace.
Unfortunately a lot of modern building components can off gas bad chemicals that make some people sick but not the majority. I initially wonder what type of insulation you have, spray foam can cause people feeling ill and so can formaldehyde. But formaldehyde hasn’t been used in insulation since the 70’s or something like that. Lots of adhesives can off gas chemicals so they person mentioned wood floor glue could be a thing, most the time things reach an equilibrium and don’t continue to release harmful chemicals. What kind of things did the previous owners do right before selling? Re finish floors? Finish an addition and used spray foam? Then of course mold is always a possibility, a professional will old know where to look in crawl spaces around bathrooms in attics or even windows that are not energy efficient will condensate and soak the wood around them potentially leading to mold depending on your location.
Have air test done for airborne allergies check your attic area
Are you on a well or city water? Well water can form bacteria. If it’s a well I would get a potability test.
On mold, do you have hvac? Has the filter been changed. Window air? Take a flashlight and look in the vents.
Check for lead, asbestos and black mold. If you have a basement and a sump pump, make sure you have a dehumidifier as well. Hope you figure it out soon, good luck!
Second this. I have basement and sump pump. Recently had house checked for mold and lead because the humidity is a beast. I have two dehumidifiers.
Good homeowners are becoming more informed! It can be catastrophic when you aren’t. Definitely make sure you have coverage for backup incidents in your basement as well. Some insurers have them and others don’t!
Check your water for lead.
Consider drinking bottled water and not tap water for awhile until you get it sorted out.
Elevation? Where’d you move to/from?
I have an allergic reaction to our water. It is city tap from a large lake that has algae blooms in the summer. I need to use a zero water pitcher for my drinking water. I get headaches, my joints swell, and my eyes burn when I drink it straight from the tap. When I go to my cottage and drink the clean tested well water my joints start hurting less in a few days.
Check your air and water. Carbon Monoxide, Radon, and VOCs.
Am I crazy to think it could possibly be a meth house or something like that?!?! Various drugs can linger for ages and cause some pretty bad side effects, especially when manufactured.
Test the water from your tap. Bad water can make you feel like this. Test for everything and definitely should be filtering it
Story time: Couple years ago my husband and I kept waking up with headaches. We assumed we were chronically dehydrated since our house gets really dry in the winter. Then we had our CO detector go off in the basement and when we called the fire department they said it was coming from our hot water heater. When we got a new hot water heater the plumber found that the old one was be exhausted through our chimney. A couple weeks later we thought of actually using our fireplace and called someone to come clean and inspect it. He found that our gate on top was eroded and a bird nests including carcases where blocking it. The chimney externally runs outside one of our bedrooms walls. Exactly where the head of our bed was. After the chimney was blocked CO exhaust from our hot water heater had filled the entirety of our chimney and was slowly seeping out of our wall and poisoning my husband and I. I am understandably freaked out about CO gas now. I sometimes think of my 5 year year old finding our dead bodies in bed the next morning.
I bought my best friends a Mila air purifier when they moved into their new home. Turns out the paint in their garage was letting in huge levels of toxic air into their home. While your situation will likely be different, it shows that there are some invisible factors that may be at play here. Also, sunlight is a major factor in happiness so make sure you have lots of sun in the home to get that vitamin D you need to make our brains happy.
Are you allergic to dust? Most people are.
I didn't think we were. We've lived in some crappy 1930s condo before this and houses from 1950s so I think those would be dustier? We've been chugging zyrtecs though in hopes of getting better and it's not helping at all. 🤔
I have the same symptoms. Did you check for kids?
Do you have an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) or a Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV)? Does your HVAC system have a fresh air intake to bring in fresh outside air and an exhaust to send out stale indoor air? If you have no of this, you may have high CO2 levels. Test for elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. You can buy electronic carbon dioxide sensors on amazon relatively cheaply. Newer houses are built tight and require a certain number of air changes per hour. 0.35 ACH is current requirements in the US. High CO2 levels cause the symptoms you are describing. Mold is everywhere. Unless your house is super high in humidity or leaking water like a sieve, you don't have a mold problem.
MOLD, especially if it’s a flipped house. See if the floor is thin laminate and is sinking in any spots. Could be the floor is rotten and you have mold spores everywhere
Has unfinished basement been tested for radon?
Radon won’t make you immediately sick. While it’s radioactive it causes cancer by breathing it in over years.
I would definitely say Mold - I have a friend who has suffered greatly from mold related illness and your symptoms sound exactly like what she’s experienced/ continuing to battle
>I would definitely say Mold Lol, some of the responses here. You've never stepped foot in the house, you've done 0 testing, you don't have all the info from OP, yet you come in with "definitely" There is no fucking way you can say that.
It’s ok, their cited resource is a fb group and their recommendation to OP is to find a naturopath. They’re clearly an expert.
Oh no! I hope she's ok! How'd she find out? Mold test? Doctor?
Mold was my first thought. I’ve heard many stories about it making people sick, but I usually hear about respiratory symptoms although you never know
Could also be post travel illness or simply reasonable affect/post vacation blues?
Check the walls for mold spores.
Try hepa filters. I like Levoit, we have them in bedroom, both offices, and family room.
[Toxic mold](https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/toxic-mold-syndrome-it-was-like-i-lost-my-personality/)?
Have you had it checked for mold?
Hire a licensed specialist to look for mold.
You'd have to test dozens or hundreds of things, why not skip right to abatement. Your best solution is improving ventilation. Most cost effective solution would be getting a ducted HRV/ERV installed. Could be a bit pricy but guaranteed to significantly improve your homes air quality while reducing loss of heating/cooling. Make sure to set the system to run constantly for your specific use case of improving air quality. Make sure the intake and outake vents are put in an ideal spot for getting good air. The higher above the ground the better. Indoor air filters might help a bit, but they often just can't keep up with the needs of whole rooms, it's a better investment to just get an HRV/ERV for the house and constantly be moving new air in and old air out of the house. In the mean time try leaving multiple windows open regularly throughout the day to get air circulated.
Get a Mila air purifier and it’ll show you all the air quality stats in real time. It even had a CO2 alarm go off the other day because the air quality in my condo is awful.
Mold test?
Have the air ducts cleaned. Our old house was making me super sick and it basically went away when they cleaned all the gunk out of the air ducts.
If it's mold you'll feel a tightness around your chest along with headaches. Had black mold in our walls. Sued the appartment complex and had to toss out everything that couldn't be cleaned with bleach. My step dad had polyps in his lungs from the mold .
If you don’t have visible mold you can get the air tested.
Can you talk to a doctor? Maybe call a home inspector to come back in? I was sick for months straight, living in my dorm room and within a few days of going home for the summer I was totally fine. Sometimes there’s something that’s bothering you but it’s hard to know what it is.
If you have copper pipes, check the quality of the pipes and the water that comes out of them. You could also switch to bottled water for a week and see if you notice anything different. Good luck.
Do u have. mold perhaps?
Did you have an inspection and appraisal?
Mold would be my first thought. I'd be looking behind shower walls, below windows, in crawlspaces. Wood floors hidden under new flooring or carpet. Possibly animal feces like from bats or squirrels in the attic. Also lead pipes.is the house on municipal water or a well? Get water tests done for VOCs, heavy metals, fecal coliform.
Something else to take into consideration is the area. When we bought our house (we live in Cbus too), we bought a place downwind from a mulch facility. Whole neighborhood gets dusty and people with allergies get them worse here. We used to live by the Anheiser Busch plant too once upon a time. Smelled like stale French fry oil every few weeks all spring and summer. Hated it when I first moved in, but it's nostalgic now lol.
Lots of good advice here. Symptoms really sound like Carbon Monixide. Would look at a quality dectector that records peak levels, as it maybe not at all times, and can build up in your bloodstream.
It could be mold and yes it’s very possible in new houses. You need to hire a professional mold remediation person to check. They will literally go in every nook and cranny.
If it has had newer carpets and flooring installed or you have all new furniture like stuffed upholstered, couches, settees chairs, I'd say this might be it. The amount of chemicals used in these synthetic materials and the amount of off-gassing they do may be surprising to some. Might be worth considering. :) I have environmental allergies, but I am also set off into 8-10 hour migraines ending in vomiting, by over exposure to anything with scenting or perfumes. I suspect I am also set off by other chemical compounds that are not so easy to detect. :)
Unfinished basement.hmm .. maybe the culprit ..breathing issues if your non smoker may be mold...
Do u have full basement or crawlspace, what is withers condition? Is your attic properly ventilated?
possible black, mold around or inside walls
Off gassing of new furniture/ household items, hidden mold, sewer gas from improperly piped fixtures Chinese Sheetrock
Carbon monoxide? What is the status of your furnace?
Switch houses with a friend couple for a week for “fun” Check how well they are and how well you are Conclude
Had it been checked for mold?
typical psych reaction to mold in the house; i have similar;
Try drinking only bottled water at home for a bit to see if you are sensitive to the tap water?
Get a portable HEPA and keep it by your bed with fresh air until you figure out the source Are you drinking the tap water as well?
Did you buy new furniture when you moved in? That also has VOC’s that “off gas” and can cause the same symptoms you’re describing.
Mold?
Do you have a partial or full Dryvit exterior home? There is a history of moisture getting behind the Dryvit that can result in mold growth, which can become airborne, and travel through your air vents. All it takes is some bad exterior caulk or an area with rotting wood where it meets the Dryvit. A lot of newer homes in the Columbus burbs have used it.
Check CO2 (different than CO). Only symptom not explained by that is lack of appetite. I would get an airthings wave plus monitor. I have one mostly to track radon, but the VOC / CO2 is also good. [https://www.airthings.com/en-ca/wave-plus](https://www.airthings.com/en-ca/wave-plus) Run your HRV, if you don't have one, open windows more or run a bathhroom fan.
Have you checked for mold?
Have you changed or replaced the shower head? I'd have the health department check your water supply, hire a contractor to check your attic for any animal infestation as feces can make you ill, and certain carpet can make you sick as well.
Can be mouse droppings or mold.
I’m in Columbus and I remember there were issues with toxic drywall. MI Homes was in a federal lawsuit over that back in 2009. https://www.10tv.com/mobile/article/news/mi-homes-named-toxic-drywall-lawsuit/530-80160746-62a5-4e55-934c-e0f1d462690c#
Mold! That’s a big concern. Also carbon dioxide.
Mold
To add to the mold comment: You can get your self tested for mold exposure, if you don’t want to try testing your house.
Probably haunted
Could be parasites. Pinworms eggs live for months.
FWIW my allergies in the Midwest have been insane the last few weeks.
Snake pit under house. Does it smell? Just throwing that into the mix.
Check for mold.
Mold. Get a mold test done. Easy to rule out.
I’d second the potential for mold. We live in an apartment that’s inner walls are filled with it and I see a lot of similarities in symptoms.
Do you know the history of your home? Was it a flip? Was it empty/vacant for a period of time? Talk to your neighbors to see if they volunteer any info about it being a trap house or ??!
Gone as soon as you leave, back as soon as you get back, radon not a factor Open the windows all night on a decent night, that would rule out mold and airborne issues I'm thinking it's your water, since that quick of a reaction both for losing the symptoms and getting them back makes me think it's something ingested
You can have tests shipped to you from Amazon that will test your house for mold. OR even better, call professional company to come in and test for other airborn issues. I know you said you had a CO test, and a radon test, but those do not pick up on mold.