Specifics of how certain terms are used in the scientific community may assist you in communicating with doctors regarding your concern. To say that event A CAUSES event B (mold causes SD) would imply that if A occurs, then B always occurs. Because everyone exposed to mold does not have SD, it is technically correct to say mold does not cause SD. However, there is a different question you may wish to ask and that is "does SD occur more often in people exposed to mold?"

For example, smoking tobacco does not cause lung cancer. Recent reports show that about eight percent of smokers get lung cancer. Yet, the fact that only four percent of nonsmokers get lung cancer reveals that there is a higher incidence of lung cancer among smokers - smokers are twice as likely to get lung cancer as nonsmokers. We are surrounded with evidence that this statistic is taken very seriously.

I'm a strong believer in "gut instinct", even if the medical people haven't done the kind of research yet, that might support your suspicions. I think Linda makes some very good points, but, I think it sounds like more than a coincidence to me.

Here's an analogy. Some people have bad reactions to certain medications. But not all people react badly to those meds. Yet, when someone DOES have a bad drug reaction, it WAS the DRUG (plus the individual person's makeup) that caused the bad drug reaction!

I don't think that the medical folks really know a lot about what toxic molds can do to people. Since they don't know, they shouldn't be so categorical, in their dismissal of your suspicions about the possible cause & effect of toxic mold & voice problems.

I have a website called "Can't Breathe? Suspect Vocal Cord Dysfunction!", and a significant number of patients have contacted me & told me that they too had big-time mold problems in their homes &/or workplaces (including schools).

I hope more research will be done, soon, to uncover all the terrible health effects of toxic molds on people. In the meantime, have they done anything to really get rid of the mold in your school? If not, can you relocate to a safer environment for work?

I just did a little internet search, and found more than one source that said that central nervous system problems can result from toxic molds. The central nervous system includes BRAIN & spinal cord.

One of these articles is called, "Is Indoor Mold Contamination a Threat to Health?", by Harriet M. Ammann, PhD, DABT, Senior Toxicologist, Washington State Department of Health, Olympia Washington.

This fascinating & educational article can be found at http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/oehas/mold.html and it educated me to the premise that molds can cause the release of toxic gases, from the "substrate" that the molds are growing on!

Since dystonias can be caused by toxic chemicals in some cases, I can see one theoretically possible link to SD from toxic molds!

Keep asking questions, and I wish you the best.

Sincerely,

Carol

vcdcjs@hotmail.com

website: "Can't Breathe? Suspect Vocal Cord Dysfunction!"

Good luck on your upcoming Botox injection.

Re the "mold thing," if there is anything we BB-participants have tried to do on this bulletin board over the past few years is to acknowledge that all human systems are different, as well as supporting new patients in getting more educated and communicative with their doctors. You may need new ones who are willing to listen. "Firmly state"? That's interesting.

You'll be glad to know that there is much support, at recent SD and dystonia symposiums, on the concept of *patient-physician partnerships.* I've been impressed by the symposium-doctors in Michigan (3/2001), Arizona (3/2002) and in Miami last month....in working with patients as partners. I'm also impressed by my new otolaryngologist. Same philosophy. Joint education of patient and doc.

I've done some research on mold (due to persistent water-problems in my house for 7 years) and, although mold probably didn't cause your SD (and definitely didn't cause mine), it could have triggered something with you or it may have made something worse, depending on your own body. It may have had no effect. Difficult to tell. Most of us have a "genetic-predisposition" in our neurological structure (I do) but it may take a *trigger* to set it off.

I am highly allergic to smoke, fragrance and probably mold. I can smell the petroleum products in the plastic grocery bags. Probably have a sensitized respiratory system. However, most of these sensitivities began way after I got SD so they didn't cause my case. In California, people used to be able to smoke inside. Fortunately, for me, that is no longer the case.

Doctors at recent symposiums have acknowledged that severe upper respiratory infections can possibly *trigger* (not cause) SD. Please feel free to write me off the BB on any of this; but, the most important thing is to establish a positive relationship with a doctor you trust, who is open to your case.

Good luck and happy holidays,

As far as gut feeling concerning exposure to environmental factors, in the early 70's, my parents installed a new yellow shag carpet in our home and my sister and I played in that room often. This is around the time I developed asthma, alergies, had 2 severe headaches and often had minor headaches and fatigue. The alergy and asthma problem went away within the first 2 1/2 years after moving from that house(I still have allergies but the severity has diminished considerably in that time). I did have another severe headache after spending the night playing monopoly on the floor at a friends house about a year after I moved. He had a yellow shag carpet in his room. I can still remember the smell from those carpets to this day...

I have heard other accounts of people having problems with yellow carpets around the early to mid 70's. My sister in law was hospitalized at the age of 4 with severe hives and constricted airway after exposure to the yellow dye in her carpet. My wife played on the same carpet and was never affected.

To summarize, I have a gut feeling that this may have played a part in my development of SD but it was probably one of many factors. Since the predisposition was probably there to begin with, it is logical to think that something would have eventually triggered the problem anyway.