Please help! Unhealthy house – Unknown problem

By mizT

Living in present rental about a year and a half. Dec. ’09 to present.
A few months after moving in, water line to icemaker in fridge was leaking. Didn’t know until livingroom floor squished while walking a cross it. (seeped under wall from kitchen to livingroom) Estimated it had been leaking for a few days. This is a floating "wood" floor.  Owners told us they would replace the floor. But never did. The landlord said if it wasn’t buckling then there is/was basically no problem. Also….  Aug. 2010 central a/c unit froze up. Landlord sent repairman. Coil was apparently dirty. (and froze over) Previous tenants were supposedly "lazy slobs" and never changed filters, etc…. – Plus I found out in the last day or two that this house had hurricane damage from Ivan ’04.
Problem—> early fall last year (2010) I started smelling a faint sweet-ish odor. It also had a slight chemical smell layered in with it. It would come and go.  Over time it got stronger and would last longer. Till now it never ceases. At first my family didn’t smell anything. Now they do! Even with all windows and doors open with 3 fans and 1 industrial fan, you can still smell it. And you can smell it in everything, Mattress, clothes, plastic items, etc….
Ever since we moved into this house, my health has deteriorated.  And now, my SKIN SMELLS THE SAME AS THIS ODOR! It is seeping from my skin. These are some of my symptoms: chronic fatigue – extreme forgetfulness – short term memory loss – sinus problems – as I sit and type this, my nose is burning – heart palpatations and chest pain – severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. The vomiting and diarrhea began a month ago. Occurs every 5 days or so.  The worse I have ever had. So bad and painful that if I had to do that every week for the rest of my life, I would rather die.  Plus there are a couple of things that would be TMI here. This is about all I can type. I want everyone to be able to read this without taking to much of your time and…. I have to get out of the house. I am feeling sick and terrible right now. Oh, btw… went to my Mom’s a few months back. Felt so much better there! And I have felt a little better since we have all the windows open.  I stay out as much as I can. Moving, losing household items and furniture, etc… money we absolutely DON’T have.
Landlord came in today. Spent 3 minutes in here… of course he didn’t smell anything. And drops off a letter to my husband… they want us to pay for a home inspection??? huh?!?!? What is going on?
Any advice, help, answers will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much for reading this. ~God Bless! ~mizT May 17, 2011

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