We accidently got an old insecticide in our house, and all evidence points to DDT (Dangerous Doom Thing according to my son. 🙂 ) It’s really Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane but who can say that word?! LOL It was banned from use in the USA in 1972, but it remains in some soils and even worse in some buildings. It needs sunlight and soil microbes to break down, and even then it takes years and can remain in soil.
Trigger Warning (for poisons/sprays): (15) DDT Let’s Put It Everywhere 1946 – YouTube
this little-known article was published 3 years later but not soon enough to stop the use. 🙁
DDT Poisoning A New Syndrome With Neuropsychiatric Manifestations by Morton S. Biskind, M.D. and Irving Bieber, M.D. (whale.to)
Later, Rachel Carson wrote a book and almost single-handedly got DDT banned in the USA Rachel Carson: the Lady who Saved my Life ⋆ Black Hills Picture Books
Back to my story: so in 2017 after it came home accidently on my husband from his new job, I got a few minor symptoms, but I thought I should just endure the symptoms because we needed an income. At that point, we had no idea it was an insecticide. Then after I threw up violently every day for at least a month (and got other symptoms such as the extreme RLS mentioned in the Biskind article, violent coughing, prickling, neuropathy, tingling, zapping, massive insomnia, etc.), we realized we had a big problem.
The First Clean-up
As I analyzed where in the house I kept getting sicker, we realized this stuff had spread all over and that many of our things were holding it. We started with what we already knew about mold contamination: paper and porous furniture capture and hold it the most. So we got out some trash bags and began trashing items. We started, sadly, with our bookshelves full of books. We also tossed any unneeded (outgrown) old toys, office supplies, etc. We had already lost most of our books and toys at the mold house back in Indiana, so we didn’t have a lot, but we knew better than to try to keep what few books we had at that time (2017). Thankfully we already have a few new books, and they are FINE–yahoo!!!!!
We’ve been through a lot so we make the most of funny things that happen: During our clean-up, one of the kids stepped on a trash bag and it talked!!!!! It turned out to be one of the kids’ R2D2 Bop It, so we had to demonstrate for Dad when he got home and came in to start taking stuff to the dump. LOL Then he took stuff, then we cried a little. Then we started loading up furniture to go to the dump. We emptied out literally everything we could (mattresses ended up having to go later 🙁 ) and left *ONLY* my husband’s grandma’s piano in hopes that we could keep it. Sadly, I reacted so badly to it (even after more house cleaning, etc. etc.) that it had to go, too. Of all the stuff we have lost through mold, DDT, and moving across the country, that was the one THING/possession (vs. job, relationship, etc.) I cried most over.
Partial Paralysis
Then one day I tried to stand up and couldn’t. I had partial paralysis, partial numbness, and partial neuropathy in my legs. I was scared silly. We ruled out a stroke and then later found our fridge had been leaking a chemical, and combined with the DDT, I could not walk! I had a Parkinson’s-like gait for 3 years after that. I could not sleep more than 5 hours a day no matter what combination of night and naps I tried.
Only Pesticides, Mold have been Bad Enough for Me to Pitch Stuff
Bad, toxic molds and DDT are the only substances which are bad enough in cross-contamination for me that warrant throwing items out, even though I have extremely severe Toxic Injury, ten conditions related to C 8 poisoning in utero, and signs of liver damage starting around age 10. We have rarely thrown out items other than mold-contaminated or DDT-contaminated. So I would call those “super-cross-contaminators.” Once we had to give away some herbicide-contaminated items, and another time some things a neighboring camper at a campground (when we were homeless) sprayed with fly spray.
The Second Clean-up
We had people come help, and they and my son and husband cleaned “like Monk” (TV show fictional character) (like spring cleaning) under everything, around everything, mostly with wet paper towels which were immediately pitched OUTSIDE. It would NOT have worked without our flooring being all ceramic tile. It also would not have worked if we had had HVAC or non-washable, cotton curtains (the curtains eventually washed clean). It also would not have worked if we had had drywall. We know this because I self-contaminated a cabin (where I was staying while they cleaned here at the house) and it got on the drywall at the cabin. I cannot explain why our plaster walls repelled it and have survived “beautifully.” (15) How to Create Walls Using Plain Plaster on Metal Lath – YouTube
The Washing Machine Mess
One day I started coughing in my room despite trying so hard to keep my room cleaned (my son mopped every day for about 8 months). I prayed for wisdom, suddenly heard the washing machine going, and realized the DDT was spinning out the top! We had to wash clothes outside for a long time.
The Metal Miracle
Because the stuff just goes everywhere (it’s crystalline…think snowflakes with a tiny puff of air, etc…… We realized we needed to “contain” it as we began replacing contaminated clothes, etc. I’ll tell you the miracle part in another blog post, another day; this post is already “too long” according to blogging gurus. 🙂
Milk that Stuff
One day I was chatting online with a friend. She said, “Isn’t DDT fat-soluble” (she was right) “Then why not try soaking things in milk; it worked!!!!!!! I could NOT believe it. A kitchen towel which had caused terrible symptoms, with whole milk poured over–suddenly didn’t! DO NOT soak anything longer than 1 hour and DO NOT wash in a washing machine without like a very, very long rinse in tub first (unless you want your washer to smell like old milk!)
Replace Appliances
We kept trying to replace as little as possible, but when we found I would throw up after a meal made from food in the fridge, we had to replace the fridge… etc.
One Final Clean-up
After all this….four years later, we finally got rid of enough that I stopped having aphasia, opthalmic migraines, liver pain, etc. i am so thankful.
DDT 2748957
Upton Family: 2738958!!!
Upton Family declared winner after marginally edging out the DDT (by one point)!
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books Edgemont, SD 57735a
