Approaching Dr. about lead levels
- Thread starter chris in va
- Start date
About 5 or 6 weeks ago, I mentioned it to my doctor. He had the lab slip out for it before I finished my sentence. He also put it in for Hg while we were checking for heavy metals.
The lab is next door - my blood was drawn within an hour.
Results: 8.4mcg/dl - 20.0 is considered the threshold of concern; 10.0 for a child (there is no actual acceptable amount).
As for the Mercury: none detected.
The lab is next door - my blood was drawn within an hour.
Results: 8.4mcg/dl - 20.0 is considered the threshold of concern; 10.0 for a child (there is no actual acceptable amount).
As for the Mercury: none detected.
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1940
I suppose promoting everyone to Sargent would solve the problem.
F. Guffey
Lead bullets are metallic lead. Lead paint is lead oxide, a lead salt! Lead that is oxidized is readily absorbed into the blood stream. Or one of the lead salts like lead styphonate.((Lead styphonate is what makes primers work, shooting in enclosed spaces like indoor shooting ranges is where shooters get high levels of lead.))
Tumbling with dry media get some of the Lead Styphonate out of the inside of the brass, and into the dry media. Emptying a tumbler indoors without ventilation or a good filter on yer face can get a lot of lead in your blood.
Mine tailings are loaded with lead oxide. The lead bearing ore is in the form of lead oxide. It has to be smelted to return it to the metallic state. I barely passed high school chemistry, so my terminology is weak. But the reaction to take an oxide ore to the metallic state is called reduction. Removing the oxygen that has made the oxide from the ore to return it to the metallic state.
As far as the lead in-the-blood-test, I get mine checked every year along with my lipid panel at the VA. My NP only raised the question one time, the first time, as to why I was concerned. I simply said I make and shoot lead bullets, that involves handling a lot of lead. Once she heard that, she ordered the test. Just had to bleed a bit longer! Oh, I've never gotten above 9.0, most times it's under 7.0
[/QUOTE]Oh the ever awesome VA experience... did you ever deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan? If you did just say you were exposed to burn pits (which I guarantee you were) and you want a blood a analysis for heavy metal exposures. It's what I do.... [/QUOTE]
I've had nothing GREAT experiences with the VA. Handling my diabetes, several urinary tract surgeries, and most recently CABG heart surgery,(wrongly called open heart surgery.) (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. The hospital at Milwaukee is an old building, but the staff and doctors are very capable, and the equipment is new and run by experts.
Vt.birdhunter
New member
Metallic Lead+stomach acid=Oxidized lead
throttleup
New member
Lead Poisoning
OSHA considers anything over 10 to be lead poisoning.
OSHA considers anything over 10 to be lead poisoning.
Above from here;
http://www.webelements.com/lead/chemistry.html
Stomach acid is weak acid that won't even dissolve the lead oxide. Neither will plain water;
So guess again.
That used to be only for children, now it's for adults. The EPA needed to justify it's existence, reason for controlling everything, so they lowered the standards. Allowed adult levels used to be 20. So now the EPA can shut down factories for tests of workers that are over 10!
Vt.birdhunter
New member
Snuffy,
I was an environmental consultant for 20 years.
Among the sites I remediated were shooting ranges. Just the slight pH change that occurs from acid rain (about 7-5.5) is enough to cause migration of lead into the water table.
Backstop sand used to be sifted at local ranges to stay within parameters set by our DEC. A friend of mine was given a patent for a hopper system that distributes lime into the backstop sand raising the soil pH enough where acid rain can not leach material from the lead. Material is processed as pH drops.
Stomach acid is on the same order of strength as battery acid. It contains hydrochloric acid, a strong acid. As you mentioned, lead reacts with HCL. It is far stronger than acid rain.
For centuries lead was consumed for is supposed sweet flavor. It was mixed with wine to make "sweet wine". The Romans drank from lead lined pipes and drinking vessels. Side effects of lead poisoning are considered a contributing factor in the fall of the roman empire.
One the main vectors among inner city children for lead poisoning is consuming flakes of deteriorating paint from the walls due to its "sweet" flavor.
Long story short: Its not safe to eat lead
I was an environmental consultant for 20 years.
Among the sites I remediated were shooting ranges. Just the slight pH change that occurs from acid rain (about 7-5.5) is enough to cause migration of lead into the water table.
Backstop sand used to be sifted at local ranges to stay within parameters set by our DEC. A friend of mine was given a patent for a hopper system that distributes lime into the backstop sand raising the soil pH enough where acid rain can not leach material from the lead. Material is processed as pH drops.
Stomach acid is on the same order of strength as battery acid. It contains hydrochloric acid, a strong acid. As you mentioned, lead reacts with HCL. It is far stronger than acid rain.
For centuries lead was consumed for is supposed sweet flavor. It was mixed with wine to make "sweet wine". The Romans drank from lead lined pipes and drinking vessels. Side effects of lead poisoning are considered a contributing factor in the fall of the roman empire.
One the main vectors among inner city children for lead poisoning is consuming flakes of deteriorating paint from the walls due to its "sweet" flavor.
Long story short: Its not safe to eat lead
VA
SNUFFY......I'm glad that you have had good experiences with the VA.
I'll tell you this: I go to the CBOC in ALBANY, Ga. about 58 miles from my home. Carl Vinson VA Hosp. in DUBLIN Ga. is 139.8 miles from me. I had a heart attack Jan.14 this year and was taken to PHOEBE PUTNEY Hosp. in ALBANY. After my release on Jan. 22, I came home for recuperation and tried to make an appointment for follow-up at the CBOC.in ALBANY. to get meds prescribed by the attending physician at PHOEBE and was told APR. 28th..was earliest available...Never mind the 30 day window for appointments that we are supposed to be allowed.
I've been on the phone every other day with the DUBLIN Hosp. trying to get in touch with a doctor in ALB.[YES, we have to go through DUBLIN to get in touch with ALB. CBOC]. Either the phone rings off the hook, or someone picks up and then hangs up. I've been waiting 3 solid weeks for a doctor to call me from ALB. as no doctor will speak to you from DUB. Hosp.[It's their protocol-You have to go through your doctor at the CBOC]. On Monday-the 23rd the only phone call I will make regarding the VA, period, will be to REP. SANFORD BISHOP'S office for paperwork for an official complaint. This has gone on far too long.
I've asked for help through the Patient's Advocate Office in Dublin and was told they would look into it and get back with me (still waiting/2 wks.) Finally got in touch with a pharmacist at DUB. and explained the dilemma to her and asked about some meds which were supposed to be sent to me from DUB. She replied that no request had been received from CBOC-ALB. doctors but that she would call ALB. and get the info from them and process the Rxs.-......Wait for it..... She waited on the phone for 25 min. and got the same response that I'd been getting for three weeks.
Sorry to rant on so, but as I said on opening...If you and others have had good dealings with the VA, I'm glad for you all.....BUT, It sure as hell AIN'T happening here in GA.
I was never concerned about lead toxicity before, Until I remembered we burned TONS of munitions while in GULF 1 and was exposed to the fumes as well as the oil fires and residue, upon reading this OP..... Different story now.
Wish you all best of luck. Maybe some changes will be for the better in the VA system in the future.
WILL.
SNUFFY......I'm glad that you have had good experiences with the VA.
I'll tell you this: I go to the CBOC in ALBANY, Ga. about 58 miles from my home. Carl Vinson VA Hosp. in DUBLIN Ga. is 139.8 miles from me. I had a heart attack Jan.14 this year and was taken to PHOEBE PUTNEY Hosp. in ALBANY. After my release on Jan. 22, I came home for recuperation and tried to make an appointment for follow-up at the CBOC.in ALBANY. to get meds prescribed by the attending physician at PHOEBE and was told APR. 28th..was earliest available...Never mind the 30 day window for appointments that we are supposed to be allowed.
I've been on the phone every other day with the DUBLIN Hosp. trying to get in touch with a doctor in ALB.[YES, we have to go through DUBLIN to get in touch with ALB. CBOC]. Either the phone rings off the hook, or someone picks up and then hangs up. I've been waiting 3 solid weeks for a doctor to call me from ALB. as no doctor will speak to you from DUB. Hosp.[It's their protocol-You have to go through your doctor at the CBOC]. On Monday-the 23rd the only phone call I will make regarding the VA, period, will be to REP. SANFORD BISHOP'S office for paperwork for an official complaint. This has gone on far too long.
I've asked for help through the Patient's Advocate Office in Dublin and was told they would look into it and get back with me (still waiting/2 wks.) Finally got in touch with a pharmacist at DUB. and explained the dilemma to her and asked about some meds which were supposed to be sent to me from DUB. She replied that no request had been received from CBOC-ALB. doctors but that she would call ALB. and get the info from them and process the Rxs.-......Wait for it..... She waited on the phone for 25 min. and got the same response that I'd been getting for three weeks.
Sorry to rant on so, but as I said on opening...If you and others have had good dealings with the VA, I'm glad for you all.....BUT, It sure as hell AIN'T happening here in GA.
I was never concerned about lead toxicity before, Until I remembered we burned TONS of munitions while in GULF 1 and was exposed to the fumes as well as the oil fires and residue, upon reading this OP..... Different story now.
Wish you all best of luck. Maybe some changes will be for the better in the VA system in the future.
WILL.
Actually, that theory was debunked in the 1980's. The Romans used terracotta for their plumbing. While lead toxicity wasn't documented at the time, it's highly doubtful it had much of anything to do with the "fall." The reason the theory keeps getting mentioned is because it's a lazy way for writers to point at one thing and say "that's why!"
As shooters, we're all exposed to lead to some extent. The question is, "how much is acceptable?" A doctor will tell us the answer is 0. Reality tells us that's impossible. The best guideline is to try and keep our levels below ~15μg/dL.
Fun aside: the first time I scoured a backstop, I was struck by a fond and familiar scent. I could not place it. Then I remembered: it smelled like my grandmother's house from when I was a child
