Hello,

I recently helped a client purchase a condo.

After taking possesion of the property and spending the first night in the home he woke to a sore throat and headache.

He became convinced that the condo caused his symptoms. In an attempt to remedy the problem he has removed the (new) carpeting, had the ducts cleaned, tested the air for the presence of mold and allergins (nothing found). To no avail, so now he's considering selling the unit.

I told him that I would do some investigating and try to look into other possible causes. So far it looks like the only thing that hasn't been done is testing the air for the presence of high levels of VOC's.

Does anyone have any suggestion about other possible causes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I promise I am not trying to be sarcastic, but there are a million other possible causes, many which have nothing to do with the home. Most illnesses have an incubation period from the time of exposure until the first symptoms are displayed, so it is quite possible that he was exposed to something in the environment before moving into the new home - and the onset of symptoms happened to coincide with the move in.

call greg house.

I should have mentioned that after his first night in the property he began staying with a friend and tried spending the night there 3 other times each time with the same result.

of course he may end up dead or nearly dead several times before they find out what's wrong, but hey.

Well that certainly make a difference.

Hmm. Never had to deal with that before....was it new construction?

if there is nothing wrong with the air quality test then it could be an allergic reaction to someting in the home. maybee he bought a new comforter?



the advice above is not intended to be medical advice in any way shape or form (kind of like the legal disclaimer:-)

I had a roommate years ago who became really sick. She spent alot of time and money with Drs. trying to figure out why suddenly she could not breath, and was very sick.

So one night I jokinly asked if I should return the bag of crap she took from her friend in the event of her death.

It turned out though that the clothes and blankets she got from her friend actually had a cat. Though everything was washed when she brought them home, the (dander ?) still remained. She did not even know she was that allergic to anything. We ended up getting rid of that sruff and she recovered.

It sounds like the same thing. He needs to go see specialist or look at everything he took into the home (especially the stuff given to him).

Did he get in "over his head", buying this condo? If so, could be psychosomatic.