Friday, February 4, 2011

A heart for fighting mold

Today is national Go Red for Women day, the American Heart Association's campaign to make women aware of how deadly heart disease is. One of out three women dies as a result of heart disease. My mother, Rosemary, was one of the one out of three. So was her mother, Dorothy. So were her two sisters, Betty and Margaret.

Obviously, I have a vested interested in taking care of my ticker.

I'm particularly interested in recovering my health after the exposure to mold because I don't want to make things any harder for my heart than they already are. I have a lot of things going for me - I eat better than my mom did, I don't smoke (she did) and I'm aware of my family history of heart disease at a much younger age.

But there are a lot of unknowns out there. I know the mold has caused, for me, some breathing and lung symptoms - the asthma-like cough when I have a cold that seems to linger for weeks on end, for example, and the accompanying tightness in my chest.

Unfortunately, there's just not a lot out there about heart health and mold. You'll find a few references - like this one - but they tend to lack real information beyond "mold can affect your heart health." Or they have a panic-inducing intent because they're clearly written by lawyers who are hoping you will sue someone. Neither of the two really tell me what I want to know, which is what I need to be doing in the meantime!

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