Today’s guest is Samantha Huddleston, a military spouse, mother, mold survivor, and advocate for awareness. After moving from Hawaii to Washington and then to California, Samantha believes she hopped from moldy environment to moldy environment before her body had finally had enough. That’s when her journey of fighting to be heard began.

It would take years of living in a moldy home before she realized that a contaminant in her indoor environment might be what was causing her problems all along: mold. She saw doctor after doctor, but few had any kind of experience or awareness when it came to mold. Even after being diagnosed with Hashimotos, she trusted her instincts that the mold she continued to see in her home was triggering her chronic symptoms. Eventually, fighting to be heard paid off, and she finally found someone that listened, ran tests that showed high levels of mold toxicity, and started her down the path of detoxing.

Today’s Talk:

In this episode, Michael Rubino sits down with Samantha Huddleston to discuss her long journey living in moldy environments and fighting to be heard. It took years for Samantha to find individuals who believed in her instincts that mold was the problem, showing just how much more awareness is needed when it comes to this indoor contaminant.

After moving to an older home in California while her husband went to graduate school, Samantha slowly started noticing recurring moldy issues throughout the home. At the time, though, she had no idea how much mold could impact her health and opted to try to clean it off. About a year after moving into the home, her symptoms started to ramp up. From anxiety and depression to chronic fatigue and brain fog, Samantha could barely get through her normal, everyday life. 

Her first attempt at seeking medical help occurred on Christmas Day, and she continued to see doctor after doctor from that initial visit to the ER, starting her journey of fighting to be heard. The medical professionals went back and forth on whether she might have a thyroid malfunction, kidney issues, iron deficiency, or mental health problems, but eventually settled on Hashimoto's. Still, she just had a feeling that the mold she kept seeing was the culprit. 

Refusing to let the idea go, Samantha kept fighting to be heard and finally found a doctor that listened. After running a series of tests, her bloodwork showed high levels of mold toxicity. Armed with the answers, Samantha began the long journey of detoxing and is still working on getting her body back into balance. Choosing to look on the bright side, she said that she’s still grateful for the experience because it opened her eyes to how important it is to have a safe indoor environment and how little awareness there is for mold. By sharing her story, she hopes that others will begin to examine their homes as potential sources of ongoing illness and find the culprit for their symptoms much faster than she did.

"The doctor works for you. That’s my big thing. If the doctor is not addressing the problem, and they're not willing to listen, and they're making you feel like you're a little bit crazy for talking like this, then they're not the doctor for you. You might try out a bunch of them. It's a long process. But I promise it will be worth it in the end to find one that actually listens to you."

https://www.themichaelrubino.com/
https://www.homecleanse.com/

You can chat more with Samantha Huddleson at:

@samantha__huddleston