Solder sniffers beware,,, lead = bad

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : >

: > Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : > 30 years involved in electronics with a good : > 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : > amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : > research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : > just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >

: > To make a long story short, for the last couple : > of months I've been munching mass quantities : > of Cilantro, about 1 bunch/day. : > Also I've been supplementing with selenium. : >

: > Both supposedly have chelating agents in them that : > can help rid the body of metals. : > Anyway, after about 2 month's of this, I am noticing : > my coordination has improved immensely : > when playing the guitar, and no more : > weird numbness or spinning sensations as of late. : >

: > I suppose this is all a bit anecdotal, but thought I'd relay : > my experience anyway FWIW. : >

: > I also read about how lead poisoning was what : > made the Hat makers go mad and is where the : > expression "Mad Hatter" came from. : >

: > This struck me a bit funny since my wife : > and I have an animal shelter for cats. I'm : > thinking about changing my screen name to : > "The Mad Catter" :-) : >

: > BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : > starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : > if some of the metal toxicity might also be : > a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >

: > At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : > of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : > to be keeping it in check. : > I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : > purported to have chelating properties. : : sensible thing would be get a blood lead test, as you may be barking : up the wrong tree otherwise. Or meowing. : : Is there genuine evidence for the chelating effects of the things you : mention? : : Re nutritional supplements, lead does some of its harm by competing in : the body with iron, calcium and zinc. Thus some of the effects can be : reduced by increasing levels of these minerals to the upper end of : what is healthy. In so doing one must also raise levels of the : minerals iron, calcium and zinc compete with, to prevent deficiencies. : : Vitamin C is also a weak lead chelator. See wikipedia's lead poisoning : article. : : But all this is only useful if you actually do have a lead problem. : You need to find out, vague guesses arent much good. : : : NT

True vague guesses aren't much good, but in my case the things I'm doing have really made a huge difference. I was to the point where I could hardly play the guitar. It was really weird. I didn't really feel as though I was uncoordinated or anything, but when I'd try to play I would miss strings that I rally thought I was going to hit. It was like there was some kinda disconnect from the brain to the muscles. Now I'm tearin it up again.

I suppose I should mention that I started taking L-Carnitine and Coenzyme Q-10 also. Not because of my suspicions about possible lead poisoning, but simply because they're suppose to be good for cell rejuvenation in general. At my ripe old age of

52, one begins to think about such things :-) So I suppose there's the possiblity that these supplements mighta played a part in the turn around, dunno.

I plan to get tested fairly soon, and when I do, I'll post a follow up.

:

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : : Alcohol ! : : : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : : Were you in the habit of licking your fingers while soldering ? Or chewing the : solder ? : : If not forget lead. : : Graham

There were times probably when I would reach into my mouth to try to catch the crumbling mercury amalgam ;-) :

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message news:K4wHh.37822$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net... : : "Dave Moore" wrote in message : news:W7vHh.3913$B7.2859@bigfe9... : > Damn, for almost a week I have been forgetting to : > post about my recent experience. So, since : > I finally remembered; : >

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : >

: > Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : > 30 years involved in electronics with a good : > 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : > amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : > research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : > just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >

: > To make a long story short, for the last couple : > of months I've been munching mass quantities : > of Cilantro, about 1 bunch/day. : > Also I've been supplementing with selenium. : >

: > Both supposedly have chelating agents in them that : > can help rid the body of metals. : > Anyway, after about 2 month's of this, I am noticing : > my coordination has improved immensely : > when playing the guitar, and no more : > weird numbness or spinning sensations as of late. : >

: > I suppose this is all a bit anecdotal, but thought I'd relay : > my experience anyway FWIW. : >

: > I also read about how lead poisoning was what : > made the Hat makers go mad and is where the : > expression "Mad Hatter" came from. : >

: > This struck me a bit funny since my wife : > and I have an animal shelter for cats. I'm : > thinking about changing my screen name to : > "The Mad Catter" :-) : >

: > BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : > starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : > if some of the metal toxicity might also be : > a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >

: > At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : > of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : > to be keeping it in check. : > I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : > purported to have chelating properties. : >

: >

: >

: Lead as a metal does not fume at soldering temperatures, such that it can be : ingested in that way. The fumes and vapour that you see when soldering, are : from the flux contained in the solder, burning away. There is some evidence : that prolongued exposure to the rosin based fluxes used to date, can cause : respiratory tract ailments such as industrial asthma, and may in extreme : circumstances be carcinogenic. The fluxes that are now being used with the : new-fangled lead-free solder that has been forced on us in Europe as a : result of new legislation, are quite acidic, and very aggressive compared to : the previous rosin compounds, so bench ventilation is now rather more : important than it was. : : It may be possible to suffer a degree of lead poisoning from continuous : handling of the basic metal, although it is a fairly inert material that is : not generally associated with absorption through the skin, unlike beryllium : for instance which is used elsewhere in electronics. Some commentators have : also refuted that there is any free lead toxicity issue with solder, as it : is a stable alloy with tin, and chemically locked in. Even over 30 years of : handling the stuff daily ( as indeed I have myself ), it is unlikely that : you would have ingested as much lead as you would have from the exhausts of : gasoline powered vehicles in say a year, prior to the switchover to unleaded : some years back. Once you have metal deposits in your body, I understand : that it is very difficult to drive them out, which is why this kind of : toxicity is cumulative. : : There has been some suggestion that in ye olden tymes, people were : lead-poisoned by drinking wine and cider from mugs made of pewter : (traditionally, another tin / lead alloy of the ratio of about 4 :1, but can : have other components also). The acidity of the drink supposedly broke down : the alloy, and dissolved the lead, giving it a nice route into the body. : : Many people now seem to suffer "short-term memory loss". People everywhere : joke about it. One of the games console makers have even brought out a : memory training game that they have been advertising on tv over here using : the TV presenter from "Millionaire". I know people who have never worked : with solder in their lives, or any form of lead come to that, who claim that : they can be thinking of something that they have to say, and by the time : they come to say it, it's gone ... Sound familiar ? This is reaching : epidemic proportions over here, so what's the cause ? Crap that they're : putting in the food ? The water ? Genetically modded oils that they are : cooking stuff in ? Much more worrying, I think, than lead from solder ... : : Arfa

Thanks for the opinions, All I can say is that I have been handling the holy hell out of the stuff for a hell of a long time.. Consider this, I would solder some stuff then pick up the guitar play a bit. Then solder some more, play a bit more, on and on for maybe 12 hours/day at times. So now picture this on a 'time off' off day (a real rarity:-) I waltz into the room play a bit of guitar then break for a sandwich. What just happened here? I've just unthinkingly transfered the lead that's accumulated on my guitar strings to my sandwich. Scarf the sandwich, then it's in the body.

: >> ... : >>

: >>>> Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : >>>> 30 years involved in electronics with a good : >>>> 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : >>>> amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : >>>> research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : >>>> just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >>

: >> ... : >>

: >>> Lead as a metal does not fume at soldering temperatures, such that it can : >>> be ingested in that way. The fumes and vapour that you see when : >>> soldering, are from the flux contained in the solder, burning away. There : >>> is some evidence that prolongued exposure to the rosin based fluxes used : >>> to date, can cause respiratory tract ailments such as industrial asthma, : >>> and may in extreme circumstances be carcinogenic. : >>

: >> Rosin has Zinc Chloride in it... I've been poisoned with : >> zinc before (welding) and you need to drink milk for : >> the chelating calcium in it. Bad sick headache... not sure : >> of prolonged low-level exposure, but fume hoods are nice. : >> __ : >> Steve : >> . : >>

: > That's a new one on me. I had always understood rosin to be a fairly benign : > material - at least when not heated up - made from naturally occuring pine : > resin. Is the zinc chloride something that has been added in to make the : > rosin suitable for some specific purpose ? : >

: > Arfa : : Man have I woofed up volumes of "solder smoke" over the 25+ years on the : bench. I used to love walking into the shop on a cold clear morning and : waft in the mixture of rosin, pipe, and cigar smoke floating through the : air. There is nothing wrong with me these days, just ask my son, either : head will tell you so. : : -- : Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004 : : COOSN-266-06-25794

I suppose it should be mentioned that soder for electronic work to my knowledge doesn't have zinc Chloride in it. I made the mistake of using some flux with Zinc Chloride in it years ago on a circuit. It took me quite awhile to troubleshoot why it didn't work right down to it's root cause, the conductivity of the zinc on the PCB )`: : :

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : >

: > Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : > 30 years involved in electronics with a good : > 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : > amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : > research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : > just might well be those of lead poisoning. : : I would have thought that this would have happened much sooner than 30 : years. : : -- : Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004 : : COOSN-266-06-25794

Why so? Metal toxicity is cumulative no? To me that means it ain't a problem until it *is* a problem :-)

If that was the case, I don't think I would have recouperated the way I did.

Yeah, you're right, he's wrong. You're still an asshole.

: >>

: >> BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : >> starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : >> if some of the metal toxicity might also be : >> a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >>

: >> At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : >> of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : >> to be keeping it in check. : >> I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : >> purported to have chelating properties. : >>

: >>

: >>

: >Mercury in teeth fillings is a known problem .......... : >

: : Only if they were placed there by an incompetent dentist. : : A properly done mercury/silver amalgam filling gets over 95% of the : mercury squoze out during placement, and the rest is pretty well : trapped.

So they say. Have you ever heard of the word Gullible?

"Xtrchessreal" wrote

: When I was about 10 my dad brought home a bottle of pure Mercury. He : showed us how cool it was on a steel plate and warned us not to touch : it. Nice of him huh?

When I was young, whilst visiting a small vacuum tube factory in California, the electronic engineer friend of the family let us kids play with a can of mercury. It was fun to stick your hand in the can and feel it's viscosity. Then we all got to stick our hands in again with silver dimes and dollars.

Would mercurochrome (sp?) be considered such ?

: >> Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : >> play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : >> Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : >> the edges of doorways on occasion, : >> instead of gracefully passing through them. : >> Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : >> my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : >> almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : >> in the hands. : >>

: >> Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : >> 30 years involved in electronics with a good : >> 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : >> amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : >> research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : >> just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >>

: >> To make a long story short, for the last couple : >> of months I've been munching mass quantities : >> of Cilantro, about 1 bunch/day. : >> Also I've been supplementing with selenium. : >>

: >> Both supposedly have chelating agents in them that : >> can help rid the body of metals. : >> Anyway, after about 2 month's of this, I am noticing : >> my coordination has improved immensely : >> when playing the guitar, and no more : >> weird numbness or spinning sensations as of late. : >>

: >> I suppose this is all a bit anecdotal, but thought I'd relay : >> my experience anyway FWIW. : >>

: >> I also read about how lead poisoning was what : >> made the Hat makers go mad and is where the : >> expression "Mad Hatter" came from. : >

: >I thought it was mercury. : >>

: >> This struck me a bit funny since my wife : >> and I have an animal shelter for cats. I'm : >> thinking about changing my screen name to : >> "The Mad Catter" :-) : >>

: >> BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : >> starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : >> if some of the metal toxicity might also be : >> a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >>

: >> At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : >> of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : >> to be keeping it in check. : >> I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : >> purported to have chelating properties. : >

: >bet you smell funny, like an Indian or a Mexican ;P : >

: Cilantro dental odor is more than a little foul. Mixed with : cigarette odor and you almost puke. : : Riding the bus in North San Diego County is a nightmare when it is : full of Mexican illegals on their way "home" from working the local : farms. : : Nauseating even. The odor, and the fact that "home" is here.

Then there's the frijole factor to consider.

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : >

: > Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : > 30 years involved in electronics with a good : > 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : > amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : > research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : > just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >

: > To make a long story short, for the last couple : > of months I've been munching mass quantities : > of Cilantro, about 1 bunch/day. : > Also I've been supplementing with selenium. : >

: > Both supposedly have chelating agents in them that : > can help rid the body of metals. : > Anyway, after about 2 month's of this, I am noticing : > my coordination has improved immensely : > when playing the guitar, and no more : > weird numbness or spinning sensations as of late. : >

: > I suppose this is all a bit anecdotal, but thought I'd relay : > my experience anyway FWIW. : >

: > I also read about how lead poisoning was what : > made the Hat makers go mad and is where the : > expression "Mad Hatter" came from. : >

: > This struck me a bit funny since my wife : > and I have an animal shelter for cats. I'm : > thinking about changing my screen name to : > "The Mad Catter" :-) : >

: > BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : > starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : > if some of the metal toxicity might also be : > a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >

: > At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : > of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : > to be keeping it in check. : > I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : > purported to have chelating properties. : : Before you start fooling around with dangerous selenium compounds read : this excerpt from on the the selenium compound MSDS sheets. Animals : have died from eating plants containing as little as 5 PPM of : selenium. Just recently there was a recall because some company : accidentally let sunburned potatoes be bagged and sold to the : consumer. Not nice stuff at all! : : Selenium compounds are poison by inhalation and intravenous routes. : Some selenium compounds are experimental carcinogens. : Long-term exposure may be a cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in : humans, just as it may cause "blind staggers" in cattle. : Elemental Selenium has low acute systemic toxicity, but dust or fumes : can cause serious irritation of the respiratory tract. Inorganic : selenium compounds can cause dermatitis. Garlic odor of breath is a : common symptom. Pallor, nervousness, depression, digestive : disturbances and death have been reported in cases of chronic exposure : (Sax, Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials, eighth : edition).

The selenium I'm taking is in the form of brewers yeast. So I imagine, the biggest danger might be spontaneous effervessence. :

: > Not long ago I started noticing that when I would : > play the guitar I was missing a lot of the strings. : > Also I was doing weird stuff like bumping into : > the edges of doorways on occasion, : > instead of gracefully passing through them. : > Sometimes when standing still, it would feel like : > my feet were sliding apart in this kinda weird : > almost spinning sensation. Sometimes numbness : > in the hands. : >

: > Anyway, finally, it dawned on me that perhaps : > 30 years involved in electronics with a good : > 20 of them heavily involved in prototyping guitar : > amp designs, might have taken it's toll. So I did some : > research online and discovered that indeed my symptoms : > just might well be those of lead poisoning. : >

: > To make a long story short, for the last couple : > of months I've been munching mass quantities : > of Cilantro, about 1 bunch/day. : > Also I've been supplementing with selenium. : >

: > Both supposedly have chelating agents in them that : > can help rid the body of metals. : > Anyway, after about 2 month's of this, I am noticing : > my coordination has improved immensely : > when playing the guitar, and no more : > weird numbness or spinning sensations as of late. : >

: > I suppose this is all a bit anecdotal, but thought I'd relay : > my experience anyway FWIW. : >

: > I also read about how lead poisoning was what : > made the Hat makers go mad and is where the : > expression "Mad Hatter" came from. : >

: > This struck me a bit funny since my wife : > and I have an animal shelter for cats. I'm : > thinking about changing my screen name to : > "The Mad Catter" :-) : >

: > BTW, also I have a lot of dental fillings : > starting to break lose, so I have to wonder : > if some of the metal toxicity might also be : > a result of mercury from crumbling amalgum. : >

: > At any rate, whatever the cause, heaping servings : > of Cilantro and a supplement of selenium seem : > to be keeping it in check. : > I plan to look into Chlorella which also is : > purported to have chelating properties. : >

: >

: >

: If i remember correctly, selenium is a poison also, and presumedly it : makes your sweat smell like a stinky skunk.

Oh,,, So that's why all them thar critters bin a'fallerin me.

It is cumulative but does the body not pass small amounts over a period of time?

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794

Just have a blood test. I have been using solder for 30 years and have been tested in the last few years twice and no problem found. I suspect the smoke from the resin is more of a health issue than the lead.

Leonard

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 2471 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Try SPAMfighter for free now!

On Thu, 8 Mar 2007 03:55:03 -0600, "Dave Moore" Gave us:

Try a good, hearty, fresh green salad twice a day.

Not some little dish filler either. A PLATE FULL of salad.

Graze in the pasture as it were.

Hammond contacts were a platinum-iridium alloy, and the bussbars were palladium.

Cadmium fingers are not normally a problem in the key contacts; they do, however, play hell inside the vibrato scanner and the percussion switch assembly. When a Hammond scanner has too much oil put into it (and most of them wind up this way) the cadmium fuzz that grows inside them forms a sludge with the excess oil, shorting out portions of the scanner. The correct way to remedy this is to disassemble the scanner, clean everything inside it (especially the fiber spacers which insulate the stationary capacitor plates from the metal shell) and then spray the inside of the scanner's round can chassis with some acrylic varnish to prevent regrowth of the cadmium fingers. The old repairman's trick of burning the fingers off by zapping the scanner with a megger is a stopgap measure, since they will just grow back and screw the scanner up again.

This is a fine pissing match, and anyone who hands a disgusting piece of shit like Cowell his ass gets my vote, but...Baldwin? Excuse me while I regurgitate. Technical considerations aside, the Hammond is good at what Hammonds are good at - jazz, blues, gospel, and rock - and Baldwins, well, aren't. The Hammond is inextricably woven into the fabric of American popular music, with a rich history that extends back into the heyday of the radio era. The noisy contact system (nine mechanical contacts hitting nine bussbars in a rather random fashion) produces the infamous "keyclick" that gives the Hammond its bite, and it is noteworthy that every digital emulation of the Hammond sound pays a considerable amount of attention to reproducing this "defect" as accurately as possible. The Hammond Organ Company lives on in the guise of Hammond-Suzuki, and continues to produce instruments used by top jazz and bues players the world over. They also continue to build traditional-style vacuum tube Leslies, as well as SS types.

If anyone has ever seen an equipment rider for a pro production with a Bladwin organ on it, let him step forward and speak up.

Good. I was a guest of the Clapton organization last night at the Pepsi Center here in Denver, and on the left-hand side of the stage was - of course - a Hammond B-3. Still kicking ass at ~50 years old.

Lord Valve Organist

? ? ?

Ooook ??

LoL..."Yes, see what you've done!"

Now, quit goofing around and get to a tech (human body type, aka doc).