Ill after shoveling lots of wood chips

I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm feeling ill from mold toxins or something like that after spending a couple of hours last night shoveling wood chips out onto my land. I always sneeze and cough a bit when moving wood chips around, but this is another level.

The chips are from a linden tree my neighbor took out of his back yard. The pile has been sitting around on our patio for a couple of weeks, and the wood may have been sitting around a couple of weeks before being chipped.

Here's what happened: I shoveled, wheelbarrowed, and crawled around on hands and knees spreading the stuff until well after dark. When I came in, I blew my nose a couple of times and the snot was brown, and I ended up wiping my nose out for surprisingly long until the tissues were no longer brown. (Sorry for the gorey detail.) I could tell I had it in my lungs too, and I was coughing a bit and figured it would probably take a couple of days to work itself out. Otherwise I felt 100% fine.

But then during the night I woke up with a high fever--not sure exactly what it was, but I felt hot and freezing at the same time and was shaking, so I knew it was bad. It gradually improved but now, in early afternoon the following day, I'm still feverish and crushingly exhausted.

I would think I had just come down with something, but this same exact thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and although I can't be 100% sure, I think it was the night after shoveling the wood chips from the trailer to the patio. I recovered pretty quickly--much better the following day, though it took a few days to get back to normal.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Am I crazy or could this be a toxin issue rather than a bug? Unfortunately we still have more wood chips piled on the patio, so if that's what made me ill, I'm going to have to work out how to deal with them safely.

I've never experienced anything like that, but I'm sorry you're going through it.

There could be quite a bit of things in there that would cause problems for a susceptible person. Since it is a known occurrence for you, you might consider wearing a mask from now on when messing with the chips. If it keeps up, I'd at least do a video appointment with a nurse practitioner if that is available to you, or ask your PC if he or she wants to see you.

j

Jae Gruenke wrote:I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm feeling ill from mold toxins or something like that after spending a couple of hours last night shoveling wood chips out onto my land. I always sneeze and cough a bit when moving wood chips around, but this is another level.

The chips are from a linden tree my neighbor took out of his back yard. The pile has been sitting around on our patio for a couple of weeks, and the wood may have been sitting around a couple of weeks before being chipped.

Here's what happened: I shoveled, wheelbarrowed, and crawled around on hands and knees spreading the stuff until well after dark. When I came in, I blew my nose a couple of times and the snot was brown, and I ended up wiping my nose out for surprisingly long until the tissues were no longer brown. (Sorry for the gorey detail.) I could tell I had it in my lungs too, and I was coughing a bit and figured it would probably take a couple of days to work itself out. Otherwise I felt 100% fine.

But then during the night I woke up with a high fever--not sure exactly what it was, but I felt hot and freezing at the same time and was shaking, so I knew it was bad. It gradually improved but now, in early afternoon the following day, I'm still feverish and crushingly exhausted.

I would think I had just come down with something, but this same exact thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and although I can't be 100% sure, I think it was the night after shoveling the wood chips from the trailer to the patio. I recovered pretty quickly--much better the following day, though it took a few days to get back to normal.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Am I crazy or could this be a toxin issue rather than a bug? Unfortunately we still have more wood chips piled on the patio, so if that's what made me ill, I'm going to have to work out how to deal with them safely.

I get that from wood chips. I'm pretty sure mine is a mould reaction,  although there are other invisible beastie my body could react to.

My treatment.

Low inflation diet, lots and lots of warm fluids. Neti pot 3-4 times a day or until it runs clear.   Cotton masks before exposure to anything known to aggravate my immune system like grass. Takes about 3 days of misery and another month of extra sensitivity to things in the air.

If it gets in the lungs, gets suddenly worse, causes serious problems breathing or doesn't g3t better after a couple of says, a trip to the hospital may be required.   Might not be a bad thing to see a doctor anyway.

Oh, and it took me years to figure out to shower after exposure,  wash clothes and bedding if contaminated.

But you could have something different going on.  Whatever it is, your immune system feels it's a serious threat and wants it gone.

Sorry you feel this way. Many illnesses have several days between exposure and symptoms, so it is hard to rule another cause out without more “experimenting” on yourself through more exposure to wood chips, but that is likely not worth it.  I would try a mask and eye protection next time moving chips and see if that helps. I’d also use a garden rake to spread the chips to limit up close exposure. Leaving them in uneven piles is also recommended for soil building and back saving by Michael Phillips, author of the “Holistic Orchard”.

I am sorry that you are feeling ill.

I am with Ben that with a high fever, you might have something going on before the shoveling.

Either way, I hope you get well soon.

Get lots of liquids and rest, too.

https://www.hgtv.com/design/remodel/interior-remodel/mold-exposure-symptoms

Allergic reactions are common to an overgrowth of mold. Symptoms include sneezing, coughing, skin rashes, wheezing, a runny nose, redness of the eyes and the onset of asthma.

More severe reactions to mold exposure include difficulty breathing, fevers, a compromised immune system and recurring lung infections

Fever can happen with mould exposure. Mine takes 3 to 12 hours to show up.  Although the cough can show up within seconds now that my immune system is better at identifying the threat.


More details.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mold-allergy/symptoms-causes/syc-20351519

I've been really into Chipdrop and have moved a boatload of mulch over the past two years.

I have allergies to most things in the environment and the mold from the chips is no joke. You also are dealing with a lot of fines in the mulch material itself that get kicked up as dust. I highly recommend a mask as a previous poster has suggested. I also make sure to take a shower immediately after doing the task and really washing off any nasty ick that might still be on my body that could be an irritant.

I have found wind to be a helpful thing when moving mulch. If you can orient yourself upwind you can eliminate a lot of exposure. I take full advantage if there ever is a steady direction to the wind on a particular day.

Jae Gruenke wrote:So I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Am I crazy or could this be a toxin issue rather than a bug? Unfortunately we still have more wood chips piled on the patio, so if that's what made me ill, I'm going to have to work out how to deal with them safely.

The same thing happens to me with moldy wood chips or moldy compost piles. Most commonly it's just lung irritation and lethargy, but occasionally it's a full-on immune system response the next day, mimicking the early stages of getting the flu. It's not actually dangerous; it's only that my immune system has been conned into thinking it's under attack.

For me, the dose is the poison. So I wear a well-fitting N95 respirator, use long-handled shovels, and move dodgy stuff on a windy day where it will be carried away instead of flying in my face.

But whenever possible, I try to proactively knock down the mold before moving the biomass. Mold likes semi-dry conditions with just a bit of moisture. I force compost piles to become wet and anaerobic at the start, to speed decomposition and whack the mold. I will soak moldy straw bales in a tank with water and compost tea -- the mold doesn't seem to return. And when I get wood chips, I won't hesitate to soak/saturate them to keep them good and wet for a while. These techniques have been effective for me.

Thank you everybody! Based on the advice here, I've washed my hair, my bedding, and every shred of clothing I wore for this project. I'd showered last night but hadn't washed my long hair, and I assume it's contaminated everything else. I'll hose my shoes off tomorrow.

I also had a long soak in an Epsom salts bath, which helped with the aches and probably some detoxing.

I've been taking activated charcoal, and though I don't have any glutathione, I do have NAC so I've started taking that. The fatigue is just amazing, I'm the sort of person who still works when they're sick, but today I can sit upright for about 15 minutes, then I have to lie down. That said, I am feeling better than this morning.

I will definitely use an N95 and be very cautious in moving the rest of the pile. I've noticed that the chips I put down in one part of the yard a couple of weeks ago don't bother me, but going into the area I was putting chips down last night makes me feel lousy. I think the very hot, dry Utah summer weather (100 degrees today) disinfects the chips when they're in a thin enough layer. So I'm thinking I'll just scrape a few shovelfuls off the top of the pile at a time and gradually move the rest of the chips out onto the ground, rather than digging at the bottom of the pile where it's been damp and dark and trying to do it all at once.

Thanks to the folks who suggested soaking moldy mulch, it makes sense, but dry heat is currently available in abundance... water, not so much.

I'll tell you, this experience does cool my enthusiasm for wood chips. Hats of to those of you who still use them despite being vulnerable. Impressive.

I've made myself very sick a few times, just as you describe, shoveling wood chips.  The bad news is, after you get sick from it once, each time seems to get worse.  The good news is, there are two easy ways to avoid it.  If you use fresh chips, you avoid the issue entirely and can shovel them all day without issue.  I bought my own chipper in large part to avoid using chips that began to mold at all.  The other way is, as mentioned, use a respirator.  I always wear one now when I get chips that aren't completely fresh, either from wood company deliveries or from the local compost area.  I use large amounts of chips.  I would really hate having to garden without them.

I would be very careful in the future.  As I said, each time it happened to me was worse than the time before.  I definitely suggest taking the simple precautions to avoid this is the future.

You have experienced an acute allergy reaction to mold spores in the wood chips getting in your lungs. Hopefully you are getting better now. Look up farmer's lung disease when people are exposed to the very fine dusts of various allergens, mostly commonly of moldy hay or grains.

Your reaction isn’t surprising, the variety of shrooms that grow in our chip piles is extraordinary.


In addition to the other measures already mentioned, I would add a saline rinse to which I added colloidal silver. That stuff kills a lot of grody things. I buy saline nose spray and pour out the stuff inside and wash it well then add my clean, sterile ingredients to the bottle. You don’t want to use it more than 3-4 times a day as I’m told it will cause headaches but it has cured a lifelong propensity for sinus infections.

Im sensitive to molds too. And wood does grow a LOT of different kinds. All good, but I don’t think we are supposed to inhale them

There are a ton of different proven reactions to molds. I believe you when you describe your symptoms.

Anyway what works for me is to slosh some water on my wood chip pile before moving them which seems to prevent some of the aerosolizing of the spores and so forth. I know it makes the chips heavier, but I just shovel and carry smaller amounts more slowly. It’s worth it to me. Plus it gets the decomposition going too, for wherever they are placed.

I do the same for compost turning and shoveling.

I also *always* wear a mask doing any wood chip, grass, hay, compost, or soil work.

The brown nasal discharge could be microscopic wood chip fibers themselves (happens to me minus feeling ill). I tend to be the person in our household dealing with mulch because I am less prone to react to environmental allergens. I still try to limit the time dedicated to "dusty" tasks per day. I second the mask idea.