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Spray safe!


Guest Ouija

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This is an important topic for beginners, since it addresses your health and how to protect yourself from the chemicals used in paint, markers, and other graffiti tools.

 

The most important thing is inhalation. Paint, as well as ink, contains chemicals that can cause nerve damage, cancer, brain damage, kidney problems, and tons of other shitty things. The most straightforward way to protect yourself from fumes is to wear a respirator. A respirator is basically a gas mask that covers just your mouth and nose, with a head strap so you can keep you hands free. Respirators are sold pretty much anywhere that sells paint, or has an extensive paint department. Places like local hardware/paint stores, Home Depot, Lowes, Eagle and Sears have them. Most of the time they're in the paint department, and run between $25-$40 (US). It's sounds like a lot, but dude, I'd rather dish out $40, and get replacement cartridges every so often, than have uncontrollable facial tics, a loose bladder, and renal failure when I'm 45. Make sure the mask filters out paint vapors and is NIOSH/OSHA certified/approved. Read the instructions, because this is the rest of your life you're talking about. Change your cartridges, because the mask is no good when the filters are done.

 

In addition to inhaling fumes, paint can soak into your skin and cause the same problems as inhaling the vapors. Your fingers might look cool after a night of painting, but it's a smarter idea to wear latex gloves, for a variety of reasons. A big box of 100 gloves is only a few bucks, and you can get them in the paint section of most department stores, supermarkets (where they keep cleansers and cleaning supplies), and pharmacies. You could even ask your doctor next time you have a check-up if you can get a box. I don't see why they'd say no when you explain you want to keep toxic chemicals off your hands. (I never tried it, I usually just grab a handful when they leave, but it's worth a shot)

You can also help prevent paint and ink from absorbing into your skin by staying hydrated. Drink water before and after you paint, and you won't get that tired assed-out feeling you sometimes get after a night on the town.

 

Check www.graffiti.org for detailed information on health and painting. They have a whole section devoted to real scientific information concerning the chemicals involved with spray paint, how to avoid exposure, and keeping yourself from becoming a drooling slob with incontinence.

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Oh yeah......if any of you feel like linking specific pages, copy/pasting information on here, or otherwise adding anything I forgot, please do so.

 

Don't be afraid to ask questions you think might be dumb. Fuck the haters.

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Originally posted by Smart

nobody wants 'the drip' kids... take him seriously.

No one wants both versions of "the drip"

If your going to be painting in an enclosed area for a while make sure you don't just use one of those cheap surgical masks. Those thing's might help keep your boogers from getting all multi colored but the inhalants and other bad stuff can and will STILL fuck you up. If wearing a mask like that you might even be hurting yourself even more because your just getting alot of that stuff stuck inside your mask, thus inhaling that shit straight up.

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I NEVER USE TO THINK ABOUT IT UNTILL ONE OF MY FRIENDS STARTED HAVING BLATER PROBLEMS.... I BELIEVE HE IS IN HIS EARLY THIRTYS AND HAS BEEN PAINTING SINCE THE LATE 80'S. HE'S EXPIERENCED THIS I THINK TWICE....PISSING BLOOD AND PASSING STONES IS NOT WHAT I CALL A PLEASENT TIME........

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i've heard that storing cans without the outer cap can also be a probem, because the propellant leaks out or something. i'm not sure about this, but better safe than sorry..

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couple things

 

hipnos-i think your misinformed, the only way it could leak past the valve would be if the cap was still on and gets pressed down, like in yr. backpack or what have you. it's a good idea to keep the caps in and top on for longevity reasons however.

 

on the safety tip, the way to tell if your mask needs new cartridges is if you can smell traces of fumes.

 

don't store your mask with your paint, even if it's in a sealed container i'm told that it goes bad too quickly like that.

 

aside from the fumes, be safe around high places and heavy moving objects as well.

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I originally posted this in a glove thread that Daze One Million started in June. It’s long, I know, but it’s very important that everyone is aware of this.

 

Originally posted by alkaline

Something to keep in mind for all you guys that wear latex gloves. This is an article that was printed in Skin and Ink magazine. The situation this guy describes is a little different, but it's good information to have just in case. Sorry about the length.

------------------------

A potential threat to the health of all working tattoo artists lurks in latex gloves, the very item we now think of as standing as our first defense against cross-contamination with blood-borne diseases.

When I began my tattoo career fifteen years ago I was immediately instructed in the concept of sterile field, and the many ways that a tattoo artist must maintain constant vigilance in their working environment. My mentor Cliff Raven was ahead of his time in his awareness of medical concepts, and as a result wearing gloves has always been a part of my tattoo experience. It is important to note how recently they have become a part of tattooing, and how ubiquitous their presence is now.

After five years or so I started to notice that I would get a rash on the back of my hands if I used gloves for long hours in hot weather. This is called a contact dermatitis, caused by direct contact with a substance. These little bumps are called comedomes, and if scratched at they become tiny open sores, perfect portals for entry of virus. When I learned that the vaseline commonly used to maintain the stencil on the skin is capable of breaking down the latex, causing it to become porus (why they advise NOT to use petroleum products with latex condoms) I started changing them every twenty minutes and making sure I let my hands cool off in between.

Eventually I started hearing rumours of latex allergy, which I heard was caused by the powder in the gloves. It acts as an abrasive substance, wearing down the skin surface, the epidermal layer, inviting the allergy-causing latex proteins to enter into the body. So at a cost almost double that of powdered gloves I switched to powder-free latex, marketed for the electronics clean-room industry. Things were fine for the next decade or so, no rashes, except I did notice that I coughed when I ate kiwi fruit, said to be an indicator of increasing sensitivity to latex. I figured, ok, how often do I eat kiwi?

Then this last February I worked at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Portland, Maine, one of my favorite conventions. I worked a very intense three day event in a room full of artists and fans, and immediately afterwards I developed a wierd barking cough. At the time I thought it was some sort of virus or fungus I'd caught on the plane flight in, and laughed with my friends about how the airlines never change the filters in the planes and we are all lucky not to get Legionnaire's Disease when we fly.

But the cough didn't go away, and it developed into something that felt like asthma. I was running on reduced oxygen, feeling like I was pre-pneumonial, and very tired all the time.

Then one day it hit me: maybe I had developed a latex allergy? I went to my Macintosh and spent the next three nights reading many of the over one thousand websites devoted to and discussing latex allergy. What I found out scared me a lot, and I am writing this article not as a medical expert but as a person who is immediately affected, to warn the rest of the profession that this problem is waiting to affect all of us.

My theory is that working in that room, where most of the artists were using powdered gloves, pushed me over a toxicity limit and caused me to develop a greater sensitivity to latex than I had previously.

On one website I saw a photograph of a powdered glove being taken off, and the lighting is arranged to show the three-feet-across cloud of powder filling the air around it. It is barely visible to us under normal circumstances, but it is a real problem. The proteins in the latex have bonded to the powder in the gloves, and once they are airborne they go into the lungs. This is how the allergic reaction develops. Once enough of this protein-bonded powder gets breathed in, it causes the body to develop immunities and the response is like asthma or a hayfever allergy.

Originally the gloves were powdered with talc, but in 1988 this was switched to corn starch which caused fewer cases of contact dermatitis. Now many are switching to oat powder, said to dry out the skin less and bind less to the proteins. Most manufacturers offer all their gloves in powdered and unpowdered forms.

The powder is the vehicle for transferrance for the proteins, and the rate at which this happens can vary greatly between suppliers or even between batches from the same supplier. Unpowdered gloves go through a chlorine wash that should lower the level of concentration of the proteins on the surface by rinsing them away.

But it doesn't stop with itchy dry skin and asthma. If exposure to the allergin continues, the reaction becomes more severe. It progresses from simple irritant contact dermatitis, to allergic contact dermatitis, to full latex allergy.

There are several of the websites I read that are dedicated to the memory of doctors and nurses who have dropped dead of heart attacks or anaphalactic shock because of this. Many medical professionals have had to leave their chosen careers because of it, and now cannot even enter a hospital. Many wear Medic-Alert bracelets warning of latex allergy, because if emergency treatment is given (say, after a car crash) with a latex tube for intravenous fluids, they will go into shock and die.

Scared yet?

How about not being able to ever again wear sneakers, or touch a rubber band. The average home or workplace is filled with things made from natural rubber latex, a fascinating substance whose discovery led to a host of products making use of the unique qualities of this natural polymer, a chain of molecules that can be stretched out and then retain its shape.

No more latex condoms! Now you can see this can get serious. Working around latex once you have the allergy could have disasterous consequences, and latex-free living could get very confining. No elastic in underwear! No pencil erasers. Let your imagination run a bit.

Fortunately there is a way to use an alternative product in the tattoo studio, and I am very pleased to say that within a week of converting my shop over to Nitrile gloves all my symptoms are gone. My employee Andreas Gutow had been experiencing mild problems breathing and chest constriction for years, but hadn't ever thought it was work-related or if it was he figured it was no big deal. In his other life his band Les Benson often plays in smoke-filled bars, and heÕd considered any wheeziness an unavoidable side-effect of a rock-and-roll lifestyle. He also noticed the difference as soon as we switched to Nitrile, those symptoms are gone.

Nitrile butadiene rubber, a completely synthetic polymer that mimics natural rubber, was developed many years ago; but until just a few months ago a patent made it the closely held product of only one supplier. The cost was prohibitive, and as a result few artists have experimented with it. Nitrile gloves are commonly blue or white, and so you may have seen a trendy few at conventions wearing them and wondered if this was a fashion preference. I predict they are going to be an important clue to the preservation of many careers that could otherwise be cut short.

I emailed all forty companies I could find on the web who listed themselves as suppliers of Nitrile. I asked them all for samples. Nine replied, and the result of my small bit of consumer testing was that I stayed with the same glove distributor I had been buying from.

Of the few who did send samples, not all of them were identified as medical quality. Beware what may seem like a good price on nitrile, because if the glove is not clearly marked for EXAM use it may be industrial or food industry grade and NOT have the FDA class one medical device 510K status. No gloves are actually "approved" by the FDA, but to be labeled exam quality they must pass more stringent quality control testing.

I ended up buying a case from my usual glove supplier, who was also so good as to accept back for trade-in my two cases of powder-free latex I had in backstock at the studio. He is very knowledgeable about the glove industry, a world-wide trading frenzy that involves Malaysian and Indonesian raw materials and production coordinated with international supply routes. In conversations with him I sorted through all that I was reading on the websites and got a deeper understanding of the problem.

Since the advent of AIDS and the several hepatitis strains the worldwide demand for latex gloves has skyrocketed, and not all the factories overseas keep to the medical-grade standards of production that are crucially necessary. If they do not rinse the latex gloves thoroughly there are more proteins left on the surface, and these possibly cheaper gloves will bring on an allergic reaction quicker. If they use a cheaper grade of powder, ditto.

It is these same companies that are now going into the business of producing Nitrile gloves. They have the factories in place, the technology is similar, and most importantly they have the international distribution routes in place. The gloves are brought in from Malaysia or Indonesia in containers on cargo ships, and hopefully they are inside the ship as it makes the forty day journey across hot tropical seas. If the container is on the top deck, a whole side of cases of gloves can be damaged, where they were overheated in transport. The mystery of why some batches of gloves break easily or stick together is solved.

It is quoted on numerous websites that twelve to eighteen percent of the medical personnel in America are now experiencing some form of latex allergy. A current flyer from the Center for Disease Control and the US Dept. of Helth and Human Services warns: "Workers exposed to latex gloves and other products containing natural rubber latex may develop allergic reactions such as skin rashes; hives; nasal,eye, or sinus symptoms; asthma; and (rarely) shock."

Johns Hopkins University teaching medical center is soon to become the first hospital to go latex-glove-free. They cannot go completely latex-free, that would require doctors and nurses to give up elastic in their underwear and shoes, but it is a start. Some patients, such as those with spinal bifida and certain auto-immune diseases, develop severe reactions to latex. Ask any nurse or doctor, they will tell you personal stories of co-workers and patients affected.

Another synthesized protein-free glove does exist, vinal stretch elastomer, polyvinal chloride, or poly-ethelyne gloves. These are the 1.0 mil thick sandwhich-bag type gloves used in food handling. They are non-conforming to the hand, not safe for use around blood, offer no tactile sensitivity, and are not at all an adequate alternative. Also PVC plastic contains DEHP, a probable carcinogen, and is being withdrawn from medical applications. I got samples of vinal labeled exam quality but the fit was way too floppy and totally inadequate for use around blood.

Tattoo artists are now competing for supply with many others who have non-medical applications for barrier gloves, such as automobile garage mechanics and food service workers who are increasingly being encouraged or required to glove up. All these new customers are putting a real strain on the world supply of gloves, and many new companies are entering the marketplace, often with substandard product. It is vital that tattoo artists remember that for their safety any glove much be rated for medical use, not industrial.

For me, I feel extremely lucky to have had the flash of inspiration to self-diagnose this in time, and also that the cost of Nitrile gloves has dropped now to a manageable amount, not much more than latex. I consider it a small extra price to pay to continue in the occupation I love. But I won't be working any more conventions, because I can't risk a recurrance of another major sensitising event. I want to do everything I can to not get any more allergic.

Much as I don't want to make myself into the poster child for this problem, informing my fellow tattoo artists of this very real threat to their continued ability to remain within this industry is very important to me. If this article saves a few people some illness and allows them to continue their work, I've done my bit.

 

Check out this picture of some nitrile gloves.

 

Also, do a search online, and find 800-numbers of some glove distributers. Sometimes you can call them and ask them to send you a few sample gloves. That way you can make sure you like them before you buy a whole box.

 

If this helps even one person, then this post will have been worth my time.

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All I can say is keep the people informed. I had a close friend who would never wear a mask, he would tel me it was gay and that I was paranoid. Wel my homie is now pissing into a bag from paint fume inhalation. Dont catch yourself sleeping, wear your damned mask.

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Hipnos, that seepage threat is nonexistent, even from a 300-can stash next to your bed. Seepage occurs very slowly, over the years, from some cans. The amount that seeps out in an hour or a day is what they call "negligible", or so close to zero that it's tough to find a measuring device sensitive enough to pick it up. In any case it's way below what your liver and kidneys can handle around the clock.

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Guest wakassOATH

i get my gloves from the doctors office

my mask is totally fucked i did all the rong things with it

and it has little holes and streach marks in the inside rubber

plus my filters are totally shot

time for a new one

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Guest --zeSto--
Originally posted by 23578

aside from the fumes, be safe around high places and heavy moving objects as well.

 

so roof-tops and frieghts are out.

 

seriously though, They're are real risks involved (more than just the police).

I dont think I'm willing to die for the throwup over the freeway.

Just make sure to plan safely, and work your way up to things.

There's a reason why some rooftops aren't open to traffic.

Cellings have canved in and rusted metal lurks almost everywhere.

The older the building, the greater the risk.

Even storm drains and gulleys could be the end of it.

It's very important to play safe.

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i cant stress enough with how much u guys need to wear a gloves, and masks.....especially u new comers startin to write.......i know for me i really dont like to use gloves that much but im startin to get in to the groove of using em...i guess why i never used em was cause of the feelin and stuff...but now that i know how much it can fucked up the nerves in ur skin...well thats not my idea of cool...and the mask thing...is very important....before i ever started painting...i always hit my black book...and those uni paint...sharpies....super piolots...etc...arent excalty the smell free type....i remember 5 mins of hittin in that shit...i would come out floatin on cloud nine....which wasnt really cool cause after awhile i started forgeting things...even the smallest shit i couldnt remember...then when i started painting it got kinda worse... i always used to see my folks wearin em when they went and painted i always thought it looked hella stupid so i was like i aint wearin that shit ...but they started noticing how much i could keep my head straight and shit so they gave me a mag on graff health...i know it sounds funny but they actually have that shit so it u cats can get u hands on it go grab it.. or go to that web site ouija recomended...its really use full info....and like he said id rather throw down 40 for a mask and filters then to have tics and bladder problems...which is what i did so i hope now itll help... but the best for u new comers to do is ask questions.... try to find out all the health risk about it and see what u can do to better ur health.....cause i know now that id rather know when i have to go insted of just losing it every 5 sec.......:D

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I'd spent a whole day on a fairly large production. I had this brilliant sensation of a burning throat, chest and stomach. I felt dizzy and sick. This is when I finally realized paint fumes were really starting to get to me.

 

Anyone who has ever done a piece should know afterwards, the colour of your main fill-in, reappears when you blow your nose. If you're saying "yuk.. I don't look at my snot", - let me put it to you another way. Ever painted indoors? If you have, you'll know what I mean by "spray mist". Spray cans let the paint out, and most of that paint lands on your train, wall or whatever, but the gas drifts on outwards.. until it settles. When you're painting, your lungs take in this mist, the inside of your lips and nose absorb it. (Ever seen anyone sniff cocaine?) Paint-toxins can even be absorbed through your skin. (Read anything on aromatherapy baths etc.) Now with this knowledge, think about the ground underneath your piece.. did it ever have a taint of your main colours? A cover of fine, sticky, dusty pigment? Now think about that in your body... Now buy (or rack) yourself a mask, pronto.

 

What Mask?

A decent mask should cover your nose and mouth. It should have at least two filters. The outside filter is called a "dust filter", and usually consists of filt, or a paper based filter, in plastic casing. The outside filter stops you inhaling the dusty particles of paint mist. The inside filter is a "gas filter", and usually consists of a coal-based substance, in a metal casing. This is the filter that stops the gas/fumes - which you may not notice as easily as the "paint dust" - yet this is the most hazardous aspect of using aerosols.

 

Both filters should fit in, or screw into your mask. Masks themselves are generally made of latex, plastic or rubber, and should strap on tightly enough to stop you inhaling any other way than through the filters. There is usually a simple valve on the mask itself - which allows you to exhale.

 

Filters will continuously "clean" air if they are left in an open space. So when your mask is not in use, keep it in a clean airtight container. (Your mothers tupperware will do ;-)

 

If you ever smell or taste paint through the mask, it's time to change filters. Generally - depending on how much you paint - changing once a year is advisable.

 

There are other, cheaper forms of masks, but these usually only stop dust/mist.. they're meant for sawdust.. not toxic fumes... by all means they're better than nothing - but not good enough.

 

Furthermore

 

Before and after you paint, make sure you eat and drink (preferably water). This should make your body less absorbent to the paint's toxins. Never clean your spray can tips by blowing through them, (this will invariably cover your lips in paint), do it as it says on the can, hold upside down, and spray until only gas comes out.

 

In my case, I think I might of realized just in time. I'd never suffered from asthma before. Now, when I run to catch a train or whatever, I'll quite often end up wheezing and puffing badly.

 

The following extract is quoted from Upski's book "Bomb The Suburbs". If I haven't influenced you, hopefully this will:

 

 

 

MESSAGE TO MARIO: WEAR YOUR MASK

"We used to have a joke that spray paint was fucking up our memories. A few weeks ago, Mario called me with a new joke. When we were 13 and 14, we painted dozens of walls together, traded girls, fought gangbangers, battled other crews, and talked on the phone almost every day. For a while, Mario was my best friend. After we stopped hanging out, he got even deeper into painting. He painted with different partners every week, traded photos around the world, and filled his life with graffiti. Even the great Trixter had said he was a graffiti head.

 

We used to have a joke that spray paint was fucking up our memories. A few weeks ago, Mario called me with a new joke. "It wasn't the memory, it was the bladder," he said. "About a year ago I started noticing I had to use the washroom more often. Before I learned to control it, I would urinate in bed even. It kept getting worse. Now, I can't drink anything for two hours before I go to bed. I pee once before bed, then I have to get up again twice during the night"

 

The neurotoxins in spray paint have damaged the part of Mario's brain which produces hormones to control his bladder. The label on any spray can will tell you it can also damage the immune and nervous system, kidney, liver and lungs - the same is true for a lot of markers.

 

Anyone who's gone piecing has felt the slight dizziness, and loss of appetite. Some of us get headaches and nausea. I personally get muscle spasms and my hair is starting to go (one of four writers I know who're early balding). In the long run, who knows? Spray paint could be our Asbestos, our AIDS.

 

Coincidentally, I have a second friend named Mario. This Mario lives on the West Side, and he's at least as much of a graffiti head as the first Mario. He paints at least as much as the first Mario, and has at least as many problems. "All my life, I never used to pick my nose," he told me recently. "Then in 1988, I started having to pick my nose all the time, getting paint-colored snot, scratchy throat, wheezing. Then one time, I did this real big production and I coughed up blood. After that I lost my voice for like a week. Dude, I was scared. I didn't want anybody to know. The doctor told me don't spray paint no more. I kept doing it, and my symptoms kept getting worse. I stutter... I get a tightness in my eye, twitches in my wrist... Dude, I get major, major headaches... The worst part is, I feel like I'm getting stupider; I can't articulate myself as well as I used to be able to... I think I'm addicted to doing graffiti, I fiend for it. Graffiti is my life. I feel like I might have to die for it."

 

I have to admit, death by graffiti sounds like an honorable way to go out. I dream of it myself. But isn't that giving up at the game, copping out at the challenge of life: the challenge to be stronger, smarter, healthier, better than we thought we could be. The challenge to survive.

 

Mario, I don't want to visit you in the hospital or at the cemetery, and I don't want you to visit me there. Sometime in life, I too may have to cough up blood, lose my hair, or to lose my mind because of the painting I've done. But I ain't going out like no sucker.

 

When I use spray paint, I do everything to dilute the toxins and keep them out of my body. I eat before and after painting, use the wind to avoid inhaling fumes, steer clear of other toxins, refuse to paint indoors, and refuse to go out unless I really care about the piece. Most of all, I wear gloves and a mask, changing the filters regularly. I'm wearing that fucker right now. Please wear your mask too, Mario. Both of you. that shit ain't funny no more."

 

 

Taken from "Bomb The Suburbs - revised second edition", by William Upski Wimsatt,

http://graffiti.org/faq/masks.html

http://graffiti.org/

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Guest BIGMETALCIRCUS

kidney stones are by no means fun at all. it took me three months to pass one that was 6mm by 3mm in diameter. lots of blood pissed away and a day spent in a canadain hospital while on vacation.

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How to make sure your mask is on correctly

 

Not like avoiding putting it on backwards or whatever, but to make sure you have a tight fit around your face, so no fumes come in from the side.

 

 

After putting your mask on, cover the cartridges with your hands and take a deep breath. If you feel any air seeping through the sides of your mask, adjust it. Then cover the little piece in the middle where air escapes after you breathe it. Adjust that if necessary. If you have facial hair, that might fuck up the airtight seal you need, plus everyone's face is shaped differently, so adjusting the mask is important. It takes 2 seconds.

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paint absorbed through the skin will fuck you up!

 

I am very good about wearing my mask but I never wear gloves and in the summer I am sometimes almost naked when painting, like an idiot. I have recently developed a kidney problem that is going to stay with me the rest of my life. I piss blood atleast once a week, my lower back hurts, I am always sleepy, and very achie. The other thing about it, there is nothing my doctor can do to help me. Sure, pain killers, they won't make me better. Also, drink a shit load of water before and after.

 

 

please wear gloves.

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wow thnx alot

 

actually...tonight i was painting a freight and i inhaled alot more fumes than i ever have. then on my way home from the yard i pieced up a wall and then again i was inhaling alot of fumes. well i got home with a KILLER headache and i felt like puking. i just come now to figure out how bad fumes can hurt you. you can bet your ass im not going painting again without a mask or gloves...this has scared me straight. thnx guys, this site is doin a damn wonderful thing ;)

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Originally posted by dr. frink one

i just have to ask....what are some minor side affects you guys are feeling now..., or major ones for that. Sometimes i think i am just being paranoid....i wear a mask, but juts wondering if people could list some minor things they notice.

 

Some common problems are muscle spasms and other irregularities in motor function, respiratory problems, like wheezing and coughing, persistent headaches, dizziness, bladder problems, sterility (your boys don't swim), etc, etc. Everything that can happen to you can be found in the MSDS information for paint. Check the manufacturer's websites.

 

http://12.15.48.56/ibg/MSDS/

 

Keep in mind that you can experience similar symptoms from any number of unrelated conditions. Getting a headache every day might not be related to painting at all.

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Hey. First I would like to say this post is great. I never really check the yard but these are good tips. I just recently acquired a respirator. So i am pretty new on using the thing. I was just wondering like how often i should change the filters and cartridges. And to not be smelling the aerosol through the mask, yet still be breathing it in? Cause the other night i was peicing and i was wearing my mask, and i thought it was correctly fitted, and when i was done i had worked up a huge headache. So i was wondering if I got a shitty respirator or if it wasnt fitted or what. If anyone has answers or just more tips on becoming more familiar with your respirator please hit me back. Thank you.

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Originally posted by fire crotch

Hey. First I would like to say this post is great. I never really check the yard but these are good tips. I just recently acquired a respirator. So i am pretty new on using the thing. I was just wondering like how often i should change the filters and cartridges. And to not be smelling the aerosol through the mask, yet still be breathing it in? Cause the other night i was peicing and i was wearing my mask, and i thought it was correctly fitted, and when i was done i had worked up a huge headache. So i was wondering if I got a shitty respirator or if it wasnt fitted or what. If anyone has answers or just more tips on becoming more familiar with your respirator please hit me back. Thank you.

 

If you're painting and you catch a whiff of fumes, your mask is leaking somewhere. Not like a hole in it, necessarily, but some part of the seal isn't fitted well. Try adjusting it.

If you smell paint continually while wearing your mask, the cartridges are spent. Time to get new ones. They'll last longer if you keep them in some sort of airtight container, like tupperware or a freezer bag. If you can't smell the fumes, your mask is ok.

Keep in mind that headaches are common with stress, too. You could work up a good headache in a sketchy spot if you're feeling nervous. It's called a tension headache.

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Guest wetgal925GMP

i just want to say thanks to all the peps that are looking out for everyone else most people just talk shit about it but you are taking it serious like it should be so thanks to u all and i give much props

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