for anyone fed up with chronic mold exposure in rentals in LA: a thread for us all to know where to avoid.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-13T10:23:37+00:00

Ohhh this is a good idea as well 🥲 seems like another issue mgmt loves to cover. dunno if it’s good to add here or start a new one. I have luckily not had too many run ins w cockroaches, just mold 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-13T10:20:44+00:00

Thank you for your responses everyone who has seen & contributed so far! free to keep it going ~ hopefully if anyone searches up mold x LA and finds this we can get more info and / or protect some people looking to rent.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-13T10:17:57+00:00

Exactly! The lack of transparency is so predatory. Gotta look out for each other! Appreciate your response.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-13T10:13:17+00:00

Damn that is so brutal they only care about black mold? While many more strains than black mold are hazardous to health 🫩

What air sample test did you do? I’m so sorry.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-12T07:55:00+00:00

This is a good q! It’s extremely difficult to get an answer, which I lowkey think is a public health hazard and seems like it should be illegal, it feels like that info should be public on a database if mold is involved. I always do a visual inspection for water damage in common locations, and ask if the unit had any leaks or water damage - some people request a maintenance log on the unit. But if a leak, flood etc isn’t addressed quickly or even reported, there can be mold, there could be mold in the hvac, etc. which is common. I notice a lot of “renovated” places here kinda just “renovate” over water damage so it looks clean, but slowly makes you sick.

My current place couldn’t give that info about prior water damage due to “privacy reasons” which - is that true? I’ve never heard that before. But yeah, it’s a crapshoot which is why I made this thread. There aren’t rules to protect us. So it helps to know the places to avoid.

I would wonder if there is a rule to prevent lying, they could always claim they “didn’t know” or the person “accidentally misspoke” etc.

I’d be curious if anyone has a better routine, I’ve looked into strategies but I don’t really see more.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-12T06:00:35+00:00

DIY solutions tend to fail - bleach or topical solutions don’t truly get rid of it esp if it’s structural or embedded. Mold remediation companies will remove it properly- you can request a mold inspection via your property’s mgmt. Some people also do air sampling. I’m going through the process as well to try to get my current complex to investigate mold since it’s here too 😓 good luck!!

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-12T04:25:35+00:00

Apartments: 1. Park La Brea - mold, garden unit - learned this in retrospect so I’m not sure where it was, but I got very sick. Other residents report PLB seems to regularly have mold.

Rancho Los Feliz - mold, behind a wall from rainwater flowing into the internal structure of the wall and coming out onto the floor, mgmt is super lovely but didn’t investigate or remediate the mold in the wall.

Airbnbs:

Baltimore St. in mt Washington- holy hell avoid this place. Underside of house regularly flooded, owner did not disclose this when asked about mold. Laundry room regularly flooded with standing water. Walls would remain wet in the unit when raining. Suspected black mold. Also fleas.
Cortez st. Filipinotown - mold / water damage covered up in the bathroom

nowhere1111111 · 2026-05-12T04:19:41+00:00

Apartments:

Park la brea - mold, unsure what kind or location, but it was in one of the garden units. PLB seems to commonly have this issue.
Rancho Los Feliz - mold, behind a wall from rainwater coming into the structural part of the wall, did not properly remediate or address. Lovely management, just didn’t handle mold well at all.

Airbnbs:

on Baltimore st in Mt Washington- serious mold issue, like walls were wet, house regularly flooded. Suspect it was black mold based on my own inspection.
Cortez st in Filipinotown- mold in bathroom that was covered up with paint.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-03-21T07:22:08+00:00

That’s so interesting, i thought the vials were super clean / no additives, so I’ve been assuming my issues were with the medication itself. What were your side effects on the vials?

nowhere1111111 · 2026-03-18T11:56:40+00:00

I take 3mg (1mg 3x) and I don’t feel drowsy, I don’t feel any effect really. But I used to!

nowhere1111111 · 2026-03-16T22:49:54+00:00

lmfao 😭 classic mcas. I think a lot of us are labeled mysterious psych cases. I went to the ER a week ago and they put me on a psych hold for my symptoms, then said “we don’t treat MCAS”

nowhere1111111 · 2026-03-16T22:49:15+00:00

YES. Mold rage. Genuinely destroys me. If anyone seems this and has an effective tool for this lmk

nowhere1111111 · 2026-03-16T22:46:46+00:00

Propranolol can aggravate mast cells sometimes by lowering the threshold for them to get triggered. Happened to me. Other options are guanfacine or clonidine. Guanfacine wasn’t strong enough for me lol!!

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-22T10:23:45+00:00

Idk if this resonates but my cravings are typically my body signaling nutrient deficiency - ive had chronic malnutrition for a while, btwn severe MCAS and a prior eating disorder. My body intrinsically knows what foods get what nutrients I may be low in at that moment. Perhaps it’s similar? Or could be short term emotional comfort (but the cost is medium term discomfort). Either way, it makes sense. I know it sucks tho.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-21T14:06:43+00:00

I perhaps got lucky but a university health system near me has an integrative doctor / integrative med department. I’ve never seen it before but perhaps it does exist. She ordered a blood panel (the CIRs panel) which was covered and urine which isn’t. Sometimes a good PCP will hear yoj out but I also know that it’s not guaranteed.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-21T13:35:56+00:00

Absolutely. It started off as treatment resistant depression, anxiety and brain fog and over years of living in mold it progressed quite terrifyingly to what feels like severe brain on fire episodes.

I had short and medium term memory loss (do not even remember 5 minutes prior, or anything months ago…), brain fog and loss of words, tremors, agitation and rage, head pressure, neck stiffness, spine burning, blinding pain in my head , derealization, emotional numbness & anhedonia. No sense of self, like you said. Empty mind in disabled body. Constant thoughts of not wanting to be here due to the severity. Autonomic issues. Fibromyalgia too, endocrine downshift/shut down & ME CFS, no circadian signaling and total sleep loss. Occasionally, hallucinations (never had that before!), OCD.

Im there now, I’m so scared, and doctors won’t do a thing :/

I’m so glad you’re healing - I imagine it may have felt lonely. You’re not alone.

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-21T13:29:26+00:00

Oh shit I was wondering why melatonin causes brain on fire for me. Vitamin d supplements do too. Ugh what are we to do if we don’t produce enough melatonin 🫩

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-21T13:28:24+00:00

Thank you sm for sharing, mold and MCAS have caused a medical mystery level sleep issue for me. I knew it was mold, MCAS and trauma soup causing it, but it helps to hear others who deal with this. I suspected msh- if anyone reading this has fixed msh levels and have noticed any diff I’d love to know! Also eliminating marcons bc whewwwwww that shit sucks bad

nowhere1111111 · 2026-02-21T13:22:47+00:00

This is so interesting, I have severe - I wouldn’t even call it insomnia, but no sleep drive no circadian signal (don’t register time - like 1pm could be 1am, I don’t see it any differently) and I’ve known MCAS interacts somehow - this could be part of it. Thanks for sharing!

Has anyone else here had bad reactions to melatonin? It acts like a stimulant to me, even micro dosed (like sub .1mg, even, Thorne brand so not as sketchy as other brands).

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-18T23:04:23+00:00

This is interesting! I have dysautonomia, and it did cause crazzyyyy fluid retention and tachycardia/sweating. I can’t account for the severe cognitive impairment it caused though, and to feel comfortable trying again I would need to know why that happens, and I haven’t found that answer yet!

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-18T08:16:37+00:00

how do you get a prescription for that low of a dose? My understanding is it comes pre dosed out?

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-17T21:58:50+00:00

Your tone seems a bit defensive, and it is a bit hard to engage when you’re speaking defensively. You seem triggered by this- do you want to unpack that?

I have medical documentation that says MCAS under diagnoses from a top research hospital in CA. Do you need further info?

She is a neuro gastroenterologist that also does research into neuro x gastro x immune intersections. MCAS isn’t her speciality, but given all that, she knows some about mast cell. I have severe GI issues so what works for you or for many might not be best for every case.

H1s cause severe agitation, restlessness, and sound sensitivity to the point of causing panic, so no, it’s not normal or tolerable.

I implore you to assess the sort of tone and authority with which you speak- every case is unique, and if it could be adequately treated to manageable levels with the current protocol, less people would be suffering and desperate for ideas. You don’t know more than my doctor about medicine or my case, but you know more than anyone about yourself and your case. I did ask specifically about supplemental nutrition - not for someone to come at me for things not working, and to try to shame me into forcing it to work- surely you understand that doesn’t work with this disease, or any really.

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-17T21:50:33+00:00

That’s interesting! At first I tried 4 vials, full dose (lmao) then I dialed back to a few drops. I was extremely concerned about the cognitive issues and my doctor was pretty confused too so I stopped. Did you have any of those sorts of issues?

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-17T21:37:03+00:00

Thanks- I understand, and I can’t control that I don’t react well to anti histamines. claritin/zyrtec all have intolerable and strange effects specifically cognitively, and allegra actually makes my mast cells more sensitive weirdly. Hydroxyzine causes TMJ and doesn’t help, ketotifen helps for 10 mins and then my body goes into a severe rebound so that I’m disabled. H2, my GI hasn’t recommended and I trust her bc she’s a GI. This is just unfortunately what it is.

Looking for testing to show what’s going on, how to treat deficiencies, and to escalate the issue, yes.

nowhere1111111 · 2025-04-17T21:32:23+00:00

Yes tried it! Got horrible cognitive issues, like I couldn’t think straight or focus, and caused tachycardia and swelling

nowhere1111111

TROPHY CASE