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Hello fellow experimentalists. 
As many of us are aware, here on the energeticforum.com, many of the experiments and lab procedures we experience come with an inherent level of risk. Abating that risk should always be first and foremost on our minds. This is a story about a day when my ignorance got the better of me.
I recently was very careless with my own health and wanted to explain a bit about what it was that I did that was the cause of some pretty serious health concerns. As embarrassing as it is to share, I feel it more important to state the conditions that i created for myself here for others to read, that I might help prevent the same situation from occurring for others. Before i go too far in elaborating, I do wish to point out that at I am currently feeling just fine and no longer exhibit any serious maladies related to my poor procedures. However, there are some minor residual side affects present. Part of this discussion is to perhaps detail some preventative measures and treatments of heavy elements that might find their way into your bloodstream when soldering and desoldering.
During regular use of a soldering/desoldering device and typical soft solder, we generally turn the medium into a liquid state at temperatures of 90 to 450 °C (190 to 840 °F). At this temperature it is my understanding that we may vaporize certain flux related element contained therein but we are not causing any lead that might be contained to reach a vaporized state. Lead vaporizes at 1750°C (3180°F). This is the pivotal issue that i overlooked.
As many of us are often in search of that one passive component, or transformer, toroid, or what have you. If your like me, I often find what i'm looking for buried under huge layers of solder on some discarded component board salvaged from an electronics dump. I do like to try and be thrifty and recycle as much as possible. It has been my experience that even at 90watts some of these solder boards do not want to let loose of their encased treasures very easily. Where i've made my most grievous mistake is in using a pure hydrogen torch to desolder, having ran out of portable propane that i can carry outside. Well, there are 2 mistakes here that i recently made. The first mistake, i am hypothesizing, was the use of a hydrogen torch. Hydrogen is a very reactive gas as it is #1 on table of elements. It is hard to say how it was reacting with elemental medium contained within the solder of the board i was removing components from. Because it is so reactive, I believe that it is capable of producing elevated levels of temperature during its combustive reaction with those elements. It may be that these elevated temperatures were a contributing factor in causing the possible lead contained in the solder of aforementioned board to vaporize. However, it is possible that even a propane torch would be capable of reaching these temperatures (1750°C (3180°F))?. My second and most prominent error was the fact that because my hydrogen torch is not portable, i simply opened a window and proceeded to desolder with it indoors. BIG MISTAKE!
I continued to spend the entire day in my lab monitoring a duration experiment and inhaled the contaminated environment for most of the day. it was around 7pm that i began to feel an irritation in my lungs which developed into a distinct heaviness over another hour or two. Feeling tired (and a little discouraged with my experimental results :P) I decided to lay down and have a nap. I woke up 2 hours later with a plugged sinus and lungs that felt like they were full of water. Choking and coughing, I blew my nose and to my alarm i saw BLOOD! Furthermore i was spitting up what also appeared to be blood from within my lungs.
I nearly immediately realized what I'd done to myself and began to flush my entire house with fresh air with all the windows and doors wide open.
Typically, i believe that the recommended procedure would be to consult a physician at this point. I have my own personal reasons for not having done so. However i did take time off from work and closely monitored my situation from home. What followed was several more days of progressively smaller quantities of blood in my sinus, however a very severe infection did set in very quickly and I was choking nightly on a copious amounts of yellow infectious mucus. I took very serious care to not ingest any of it and to spit it out into a container. The sheer volume of it all was surprising if not alarming.
In treating the situation I took the personal choice of not taking antibiotics. This might not be what is recommended, but for me it is a choice that i prefer to take as i have post nasal drip and am accustomed to sinus infection. My preferred method of treatment is to boil up some water and mix with saline salt and snort as deeply as possible once it has cooled to a tolerable temperature. The first few time this treatment hurts like wild fire in your nostrils, but quickly subsides. The infection was immediately reduced after doing so. I would repeat twice daily for the next few days. As well extra regular visits to the shower for periods of deep inhalation of moist water vapor provided additional relief. At night i would run a humidifier as well and this, i found to help. For the chest infection, i believe much of that i was seeing was caused by nasal drip into the lungs, however most definitely not all of it. The sheer heaviness and quantities of infection i was seeing were not typical of infection exclusively in the sinus. I went to the store and purchased a large bunch of garlic as well as garlic dilled pickles. I would cook with garlic in everything, in particular a spaghetti sauce with a large variety of vegetables. I don't eat much meat so my sauce was strictly vegetarian. I was able to take some time off during this period so i was not overly concerned with dealing with the public during this heavy ingestion of garlic. Thankfully. In a period of less than one week from the initial point of contamination, I am happy to report that I had dealt with the infection entirely.
I know that my treatment methods are not typical, and i'm not necessarily recommending them for anyone else. I'm only reporting on what my experience was here. For some my treatment of the situation might be applicable. Take it or leave it.
With regard to detoxification of these heavy elements, well. I can only hope that I haven't done myself any real permanent damage. At the time i had already been taking a pill form of kelp for iodine as well as clorella. It is my understanding that by having a thyroid which is supplemented with iodine, you can avoid having certain elements contained within your blood stream from having as severe of an impact on your metabolism. clorella is also recommended in aiding the expulsion of heavy element from your blood stream. I do also juice on a daily basis and supplement nutritionally with about $50 per/month of vitamins and minerals. I hope that these measures did provide me with the means to prevent additional illness. In researching on the subject i did find these additional recommendations for detoxification. I realize some of this might be more appropriate on the health sub category. But the soldering issue is definitely one for this renewable energy thread.
Any way thank you for listening to my story. Please realize, I'm not proud of the situation i caused. Now that it has happened, i have learned my lesson. I only hope that it is not wisdom acquired to late to be useful in my case. I don't believe so.
* Milk Thistle is also known as silymarin. It helps your liver detoxify and in the process, eliminate heavy metals. Milk thistle also protects the membranes of red blood cells.
* Chlorella is a mild chelator. Chlorella has a 3-layered cell wall that contains cellulose microfibrils, which aids in heavy metal detox. Green algae contains cholorella. You can obtain this all important nutrient in the form of a drink from juice bars or simply make one yourself.
* Methionine is a natural occurring chelating agent that supplies sulfur in the body. It helps in heavy metal detox by increasing the production cysteine and lecithin for the liver and for good kidney health.
* N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) increases cysteine and glutathaione production. It is also a source for sulfur. Fresh garlic is a common source of NAC. If you find it hard to eat garlic because of the pungent smell, there are also garlic supplements that you can buy.
*Mega H increases the conductivity of the water in your body and lowers the surface tension of cell fluids. These functions help in the easy removal of toxins from your body.
* Vitamin B6 is advised if you have undergone dental procedures or has dental fillings. It prevents the contamination of heavy metals in the body.
* Magnesium is important for the proper functioning of your immune system and body enzymes. Great sources of magnesium are found in pumpkin, Brazil nuts, spinach and in fish like halibut.
* Cilantro is helpful in removing heavy metals, including mercury, from your body. Cilantro aids in restoring the normal functions of body cells. You can easily sprinkle cilantro in your salads and soups.
If any of you have additional information to share on this topic please be free to chime in.
Once again, i know what i did was foolish. So i hope to not hear a lot of criticism.
L&L
TheDude
As many of us are aware, here on the energeticforum.com, many of the experiments and lab procedures we experience come with an inherent level of risk. Abating that risk should always be first and foremost on our minds. This is a story about a day when my ignorance got the better of me.I recently was very careless with my own health and wanted to explain a bit about what it was that I did that was the cause of some pretty serious health concerns. As embarrassing as it is to share, I feel it more important to state the conditions that i created for myself here for others to read, that I might help prevent the same situation from occurring for others. Before i go too far in elaborating, I do wish to point out that at I am currently feeling just fine and no longer exhibit any serious maladies related to my poor procedures. However, there are some minor residual side affects present. Part of this discussion is to perhaps detail some preventative measures and treatments of heavy elements that might find their way into your bloodstream when soldering and desoldering.
During regular use of a soldering/desoldering device and typical soft solder, we generally turn the medium into a liquid state at temperatures of 90 to 450 °C (190 to 840 °F). At this temperature it is my understanding that we may vaporize certain flux related element contained therein but we are not causing any lead that might be contained to reach a vaporized state. Lead vaporizes at 1750°C (3180°F). This is the pivotal issue that i overlooked.
As many of us are often in search of that one passive component, or transformer, toroid, or what have you. If your like me, I often find what i'm looking for buried under huge layers of solder on some discarded component board salvaged from an electronics dump. I do like to try and be thrifty and recycle as much as possible. It has been my experience that even at 90watts some of these solder boards do not want to let loose of their encased treasures very easily. Where i've made my most grievous mistake is in using a pure hydrogen torch to desolder, having ran out of portable propane that i can carry outside. Well, there are 2 mistakes here that i recently made. The first mistake, i am hypothesizing, was the use of a hydrogen torch. Hydrogen is a very reactive gas as it is #1 on table of elements. It is hard to say how it was reacting with elemental medium contained within the solder of the board i was removing components from. Because it is so reactive, I believe that it is capable of producing elevated levels of temperature during its combustive reaction with those elements. It may be that these elevated temperatures were a contributing factor in causing the possible lead contained in the solder of aforementioned board to vaporize. However, it is possible that even a propane torch would be capable of reaching these temperatures (1750°C (3180°F))?. My second and most prominent error was the fact that because my hydrogen torch is not portable, i simply opened a window and proceeded to desolder with it indoors. BIG MISTAKE!
I continued to spend the entire day in my lab monitoring a duration experiment and inhaled the contaminated environment for most of the day. it was around 7pm that i began to feel an irritation in my lungs which developed into a distinct heaviness over another hour or two. Feeling tired (and a little discouraged with my experimental results :P) I decided to lay down and have a nap. I woke up 2 hours later with a plugged sinus and lungs that felt like they were full of water. Choking and coughing, I blew my nose and to my alarm i saw BLOOD! Furthermore i was spitting up what also appeared to be blood from within my lungs.
I nearly immediately realized what I'd done to myself and began to flush my entire house with fresh air with all the windows and doors wide open. Typically, i believe that the recommended procedure would be to consult a physician at this point. I have my own personal reasons for not having done so. However i did take time off from work and closely monitored my situation from home. What followed was several more days of progressively smaller quantities of blood in my sinus, however a very severe infection did set in very quickly and I was choking nightly on a copious amounts of yellow infectious mucus. I took very serious care to not ingest any of it and to spit it out into a container. The sheer volume of it all was surprising if not alarming.
In treating the situation I took the personal choice of not taking antibiotics. This might not be what is recommended, but for me it is a choice that i prefer to take as i have post nasal drip and am accustomed to sinus infection. My preferred method of treatment is to boil up some water and mix with saline salt and snort as deeply as possible once it has cooled to a tolerable temperature. The first few time this treatment hurts like wild fire in your nostrils, but quickly subsides. The infection was immediately reduced after doing so. I would repeat twice daily for the next few days. As well extra regular visits to the shower for periods of deep inhalation of moist water vapor provided additional relief. At night i would run a humidifier as well and this, i found to help. For the chest infection, i believe much of that i was seeing was caused by nasal drip into the lungs, however most definitely not all of it. The sheer heaviness and quantities of infection i was seeing were not typical of infection exclusively in the sinus. I went to the store and purchased a large bunch of garlic as well as garlic dilled pickles. I would cook with garlic in everything, in particular a spaghetti sauce with a large variety of vegetables. I don't eat much meat so my sauce was strictly vegetarian. I was able to take some time off during this period so i was not overly concerned with dealing with the public during this heavy ingestion of garlic. Thankfully. In a period of less than one week from the initial point of contamination, I am happy to report that I had dealt with the infection entirely.
I know that my treatment methods are not typical, and i'm not necessarily recommending them for anyone else. I'm only reporting on what my experience was here. For some my treatment of the situation might be applicable. Take it or leave it.
With regard to detoxification of these heavy elements, well. I can only hope that I haven't done myself any real permanent damage. At the time i had already been taking a pill form of kelp for iodine as well as clorella. It is my understanding that by having a thyroid which is supplemented with iodine, you can avoid having certain elements contained within your blood stream from having as severe of an impact on your metabolism. clorella is also recommended in aiding the expulsion of heavy element from your blood stream. I do also juice on a daily basis and supplement nutritionally with about $50 per/month of vitamins and minerals. I hope that these measures did provide me with the means to prevent additional illness. In researching on the subject i did find these additional recommendations for detoxification. I realize some of this might be more appropriate on the health sub category. But the soldering issue is definitely one for this renewable energy thread.
Any way thank you for listening to my story. Please realize, I'm not proud of the situation i caused. Now that it has happened, i have learned my lesson. I only hope that it is not wisdom acquired to late to be useful in my case. I don't believe so.
* Milk Thistle is also known as silymarin. It helps your liver detoxify and in the process, eliminate heavy metals. Milk thistle also protects the membranes of red blood cells.
* Chlorella is a mild chelator. Chlorella has a 3-layered cell wall that contains cellulose microfibrils, which aids in heavy metal detox. Green algae contains cholorella. You can obtain this all important nutrient in the form of a drink from juice bars or simply make one yourself.
* Methionine is a natural occurring chelating agent that supplies sulfur in the body. It helps in heavy metal detox by increasing the production cysteine and lecithin for the liver and for good kidney health.
* N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) increases cysteine and glutathaione production. It is also a source for sulfur. Fresh garlic is a common source of NAC. If you find it hard to eat garlic because of the pungent smell, there are also garlic supplements that you can buy.
*Mega H increases the conductivity of the water in your body and lowers the surface tension of cell fluids. These functions help in the easy removal of toxins from your body.
* Vitamin B6 is advised if you have undergone dental procedures or has dental fillings. It prevents the contamination of heavy metals in the body.
* Magnesium is important for the proper functioning of your immune system and body enzymes. Great sources of magnesium are found in pumpkin, Brazil nuts, spinach and in fish like halibut.
* Cilantro is helpful in removing heavy metals, including mercury, from your body. Cilantro aids in restoring the normal functions of body cells. You can easily sprinkle cilantro in your salads and soups.
If any of you have additional information to share on this topic please be free to chime in.
Once again, i know what i did was foolish. So i hope to not hear a lot of criticism.
L&L
TheDude
I appreciate it very much.
I do miss the west coast for it beauty and ocean.
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