I'm afraid that the idea or returning to wood turning has, quite
metaphorically, 'bitten the dust'. A few days ago I spent no more than
half an hour bandsawing up a few birch twiggy hooks. The garage door was wide
open with a good breeze into the garage but within a few minutes my nose was
itching and my eyes streaming. Soon I had a raging headache and so I
stopped work and came indoors. Now on occasions my blood oxygen
levels have dropped to nearly 90%.
I had to give up woodworking in 2012 because I was suffering from Hypersensitive Pneumoniosis (an autoimmune
response to mold spores in wood dust). Then my lungs were at 40% efficiency for
exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. I have some permanent scaring in my
lungs.
I have been pretty much symptom free for 2 years and thought that with
increased dust extraction and a change of wood type and only a little bit of
wood turning I might be fine but this
has clearly demonstrated that ‘Lamp Light Designs’ has rather hit
the buffers before leaving the station.
Hi Interesting to read about your wood dust exposure and autoimmune disease. Are you aware that all wood contains crystalline silica linked to causing autoimmune disease? Wood dust from wood composite boards is included in the classification, but it's much worse of course, it contains lots of other added silica in its various elements such as in glues, fillers, binders, protective coatings & so on. I have researched this subject for many years now after both myself & my husband were both diagnosed with Wegener's Granulomatosis or GPA as it is now known, a rare form of autoimmune vasculitis. We are said to be the only husband & wife couple in the world that did not meet via a support group. Odds set at 100 million to one, so not by chance. Our doctors insist on it being caused by an exposure as we both had it. I was diagnosed in 1999 & husband in 2006 by different hospitals, bit of a shock to everyone, hence my research. Wood dust. He's been a wood machinist, who are exposed the most of all wood trades, to copious amounts of ultra fine wood dust particles 8 hours per day every day every week every year. Little or no PPE/RPE not even masks supplied. He also worked for 5 years with a board that they later found out was asbestos cement board used on ships, the contract was for Cammell Laird shipbuilders in Liverpool. He worked for a company called 'Bushboard' (previously called Mallinson & Denny Ltd). Used as wall partitioning & toilet cubicle walls, etc. They were told it was the safe kind when they eventually found out but there is no safe type. Asbestos too has been linked to causing autoimmune diseases, its properties & structure is very close to crystalline silica. Research has been done for decades in the wood industry into premature wearing of industrial strength metal diamond & tungsten carbide tipped saw blades. They find each time, whether its natural wood or wood composite boards such as MDF, chipboard, particleboard, that its the 'high content of crystalline silica' that is the cause. If it does this to strong coated metal saw blades then can you imagine what harm it does to lungs? In wood machining too the wood dust particles are so much smaller due to the high speed machinery used, particles so small that often they cannot be seen with the naked eye, less than PM 2.5. They do say it's not the dust you can see that is the most harmful that it's the dust you can't see that will kill you. My husband has autoimmune disease, scarring of the lungs, nodules that had grown in two years, narrowing of an airway, reduced lung function, asthma, psoriasis. This has not happened by accident. The silica & asbestos that he has been exposed to at work buried in the wood dust, which was then brought home to me when I washed his work clothes and on his skin & hair, has caused us to both to suffer from this same rare autoimmune disease. This is just a little of our story. Wood dust is a Group 1 carcinogen on the same level as asbestos yet few working with wood or those exposed in other ways are aware of this. Everyone needs to wake up & smell the coffee...or should I say the wood dust!
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