Lead level blood test

[Axtman]

I was at my doctor's office a few days ago. I was a little concerned about lead levels since I handle lead solder and solder/unsolder equipment. I had him check for lead since I was getting full blood work done.

The good news is my lead blood level is 1.0 ug/dL (Normal lead level is 0 to 3.4 ug/dL).

Next time you guys have bloodwork done, I recommend having them check for lead.

[mozz]

I'd be afraid of the results, same with my well water. Just desoldered 48 germanium transistors, 200 silver mica caps and a bunch of germanium diodes, while drinking a beer last night. Used to cast lead bullets by thousands, while smoking but I'm glad I gave that bad habit up.

[g1]

Don't feed the solder by holding it in your mouth. There are proper tools.

[DrGonz78]

Famous last words, “Hey Mom check out what I can do!” I said that as a kid and then hurled myself down a huge flight of stairs like a stunt monkey. Don’t eat those old paint chips either.

[xtian]

The good news is my lead blood level is 1.0 ug/dL (Normal lead level is 0 to 3.4 ug/dL).

"In adults, symptoms can occur at levels above 40 μg/dL, but are more likely to occur only above 50–60 μg/dL." <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning>

Looks like you'll need to work harder!

[Justin Thomas]

... Used to cast lead bullets by thousands, while smoking but I'm glad I gave that bad habit up.

Smoking? Or casting bullets?

Jusrin

[Justin Thomas]

I've often wondered about this... I wonder if insurance will pay. Probably not a good idea to let them in on my hobby, though...

Glad you're good, Axtman.

Jusrin

[Chuck H]

"In adults, symptoms can occur at levels above 40 μg/dL, but are more likely to occur only above 50–60 μg/dL." <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning>

Looks like you'll need to work harder!

Right! "Normal" only means "what is typical". Not "what is ideal or healthy". There are A LOT of statistics and semantics exploited for the purposes of profit in the the current health care ideology/model.

[mozz]

Smoking? Or casting bullets?

Jusrin

When we was kids, back in the 70's, my dad did a lot of shooting. Me and my sisters used to help him reload, sorting cases, putting the lead tip wadcutters into the shells, etc. I myself used to reload 9mm, 38 special by the 1000's. I'm pretty sure later in life my dad was told he had elevated lead level in his blood. I can only remember them telling him to drink lots of milk? Chelating removes it slowly from your system. I'm not a doctor and never stayed at a Holiday inn. We do some soldering at work with leaded solder but we are not allowed to have food or drink at the soldering benches.

[pdf64]

Exactly, ingestion is the key route for lead poisoning.
Our mitigation is to use barrier cream on hands, and wash hands between handling solder etc and eating / drinking / smoking.
Also absorption via 'sensitive' tissues, so wash hands before using the toilet, as well as after, obviously

I recall hearing on BBC Radio 4 that lead poisoning (or at least problematic levels of lead in the blood) is becoming a problem in rural communities, where a highish proportion of the meat consumed has been hunted and is contaminated with shotgun pellets (rabbits, pigeons etc). The harsher economic conditions for rural life (eg fuel and energy prices) are pushing people to rely more on hunted meat.

[Axtman]

I have read that lead has a slightly sweet taste, which is why kids would eat paint chips. Lead has been removed from paint since 1978 and gasoline since 1996.

(BTW, I hate using lead-free solder.)

[Justin Thomas]

I have read that lead has a slightly sweet taste, which is why kids would eat paint chips.

Lead itself doesn't have a slightly sweet taste, as far as I can remember from using my teeth to set split-shot sinkers on my fishing gear... Hey, Daddy & Grandpa did it so I did too. I also enjoyed chewing on my BB gun pellets because when I put them in the gun & shot them, they'd make funny noises or fly really funny.

I know for a fact I ate paint chips as a kid, not as a meal or anything; probably just to see if the different colors were different "flavors." [Just like we would sniff all the markers because they advertised the fragrances on the box. We then applied it to ALL markers, and that's the extent of my drug use.] I think we were all more impressed that we could run our hands over the chipping paint & it would make cool noises as it crunched. Aahh, simpler times bedore screens took over.

Jusrin

[Justin Thomas]

Chelating removes it slowly from your system...

My old amp tech went through that; it took years. He ended up on basically a "rabbit diet," and had to move to another state for a couple years to live with his parents. When he got back he completely refitted his shop with a fume hood, wore a full face shield, etc.

He learned he probably got lead poisoning because he would use dental picks to poke & prod in amps (like many of us) but then absent-mindedly use them to pick his teeth. He told me they looked clean, not like he was ingesting blobs or balls of solder, but just those tiny little invisible bits of scrapings piled up after a couple decades... Sadly, a few years after his return, his ex-wife found him dead in his home (they lived next to each other & she hadn't seen or heard anything for a couple days & went to check on him). I can't help but think his depression was exacerbated by his lead poisoning experience; even though he was "clean," the damage had been done.

I take safety a bit more seriously now; no eating while at the bench, washing my hands frequently, and definitely not holding solder in my teeth. If I ever get my own home I'll definitely put in an exhaust fan too.

Jusrin

[tedmich]

its breathing and ingestion as main routes; and its mainly little kids that ingest
Never make dust with solder or lead paint!
I had a college buddy that had a baby while he was refurbishing an old house and he sanded many doors to refinish and poisoned her, and theres really no going back sadly.

[x-pro]

It is much more interesting to determine the amount of gold in the body to understand how valuable you are.