When you suddenly feel sick or nauseous for no clear reason, it’s worth taking a closer look at what you’re consuming, especially if your mouth tastes earthy or musty afterward. Like many of us, a woman in Pennsylvania had been drinking water without giving it much thought because staying hydrated feels automatic. She didn’t notice anything was wrong until stomach aches set in and she spotted dark specks at the bottom of her regularly reused bottle—mold spores had started to grow. The warm water she drank during winter turned out to be the ideal environment for them to thrive.
So, I guess I’ve been drinking mold water.
byu/Ornery_Brief_2743 inMoldlyInteresting
“I found the source of my tummy aches lollll,” the woman exclaims in her post on r/MoldlyInteresting. “So, I’ve been refilling this bottle and I do rinse it out. I didn’t put two and two together to realize I’ve been getting nauseous lol.”
She claims she’s been drinking warm water out of the same mold-infested bottle for 4 days straight. Of course, once she realized the growth, she threw out the bottle and isn’t feeling sick anymore.
“Jeepers OP. That’s the kind of bottle you don’t reuse. Go get a proper one please,” the top commenter says, noting that recyclable plastic bottles are meant to be thrown away. The Pennsylvania woman explains that she never put the bottle in the dishwasher with her other dishes. Instead, she filled it with hot water and shook it to rinse it out.
Another user responded that this method basically gave the bacteria a Turkish bath; washing the bottle by hand with soap and water is what actually removes the grime clinging to the inside.
Image Source: Ornery_Brief_2743 via Reddit
In the end, she bought a proper bottle — a stainless steel thermos that keeps her water warm while preventing mold, as long as she cleans it regularly. Her post serves as a helpful reminder to periodically wash any cups or bottles you use often for water; otherwise, you might unknowingly create a cozy home for unwanted fungi.
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