Doctor Responds to Rise in Mold Illness

Imagine this scenario. A general practitioner sees a dramatic rise in the number of patients with mold illness. He sees so many patients he decides to leave his practice and open a specialized clinic aimed at treating mold exposure. Such is the case of Dr. Scott McMahon of Roswell, New Mexico. The rise in mold illness is due in large part to a mold problem at Goddard High School. According to television station KRQE:

Goddard High has had a problem with mold in the past. Now Dr. Scott McMahon, who's been practicing medicine in Roswell for 18 years, plans to open his own clinic treating only patients suffering from mold sickness.

Symptoms can include:

• Extreme fatigue
• Severe headaches
• Nausea
• Brain Fog—cloudy thoughts, forgetfulness, and confusion

Mold can accumulate anywhere there is water. Most of his patients have a genetic predisposition to getting some form of mold sickness. McMahon can test for that predisposition with a simple blood test, and the infection can be treated.

He said he's treated 34 patients with proven lab tests who've attended Goddard. He plans to treat others and anyone else who think they might be sick after being exposed to any type of mold.

McMahon's practice will open in February.

Goddard High School has been at the center of a mold controversy since 2008, when parent Paul Taylor sued for the right to properly test the school building after his daughter became ill. Mr. Taylor won the right to test and found high levels of toxic mold. (See this blog entry for more.) A lawsuit seeking injunctive relief was dismissed in October 2010, with the judge strongly urging the school district to properly address the mold issue. Paul Taylor has since been involved with the new website Surviving Mold.

To view the news story, which includes an interview with Dr. Scott McMahon, click here.