level in blood

[white eagle]

I was told the lead level in my blood is high
Hmmmmm.........:groner:
don't know what to make of it :!:
have you all had your own levels checked

[odfairfaxsub]

how long have you been casting and what is your methods? what is your line of work too.

[imashooter2]

"High." Did you ask your doctor for the number so you could make informed rational decisions?

[captaint]

white eagle - What's your number??

[Beagler]

I was told the lead level in my blood is high
Hmmmmm.........:groner:
don't know what to make of it :!:
have you all had your own levels checked

Everybody's body processes the lead different. Some people can expel it faster than others. You either breath it in or eat it. Nail biting, smoking, eating, before washing up. Alot of the guys at work take apple pectin to help flush out the lead faster to bring there levels down before there next blood sample. We get stuck every three months. I;m currently running a lead level of around +/- 20. I'm due to get the needle soon myself.

[mold maker]

I've been cautiously casting for near 40 years. I don't breath the dust from dross, and I wash before eating or drinking. I don't smoke, so there is little way for me to intake lead.
I'm not sure I remember the numbers, but they are always on the very low side, for normal in this area. (4 I think)
Everyone will have some lead from the environment. Some areas will naturally be higher.
I'm reasonably sure there is no lead plumbing in the city system and most all of the galvanized pipe in the home was replaced with soldered copper about 20 years ago. I'm sure that was the old lead/tin solder. Maybe I'm just lucky, but so far blood lead levels are my least worry.

[MtGun44]

EXACTLY what is the number? A great number of docs are VERY uniformed about lead. A very
common problem is that they apply the children's level of 10 to adults. As long as you are
under 40 you are good to go, regardless of what some doc says.

Bill

[white eagle]

all he told me on a Sunday was my level was high
that is all I know at the moment

[MtGun44]

Don't sweat it until you get the number and it is over 40. If it is 12 or something, you are
good to go. Get a new doc, while you are at it if he is freaked about 15 or 20 or something.
If he gets this wrong, what else is going to get wrong?

You know what the call the guy who graduates last in medical school? Doctor.

I have a good friend that teaches medical students anatomy. They are not all "the
sharpest pencils in the box" if you know what I mean.

If you are over 40, that is not good, but most serious symptoms start above 60 or more.
If you are actually high you need to figure out what you are doing wrong. Most lead comes
into the body via the mouth. Eating, drinking or smoking with lead contaminated hands is
VERY bad business. Wash them and you are fine. No food, drink or smoke in the
reloading or casting zone.

Bill

[Bad Water Bill]

I've been cautiously casting for near 40 years. I don't breath the dust from dross, and I wash before eating or drinking. I don't smoke, so there is little way for me to intake lead.
I'm reasonably sure there is no lead plumbing in the city system and most all of the galvanized pipe in the home was replaced with soldered copper about 20 years ago. I'm sure that was the old lead/tin solder. Maybe I'm just lucky, but so far blood lead levels are my least worry.

Some plumbers are STILL using lead solder as it is cheaper and no one comes behind to check on them.

For almost 100 years most homes had lead tubing run from the city lines to your home. When the gov said to stop using the lead feeder pipe very few municipalities went out and dug up their street,your lawn and sidewalk to replace the lead lines. Did your community do that?

Just a couple ways we can get lead into our system no matter how careful we are

[Bret4207]

What was it before you got into casting? A number that is high doesn;t mean anything without some reference point. Could a dozen things causing it beisdes casting.

[DragoonDrake]

When I was 16 years old I have my lead level checked, it was 26; my doctor freaked out. That was well before I started casting.

I have been casting for about 5 years now and am 26 years old; guess what my level is still 26. Go figure. Doc still freaks out, I flat out told him, " Tell me when it is a problem, because I am still going to cast and shoot." He shut up.

Adam

[Swampman]

The fumes aren't really an issue. Exposure would be from ingestion or breathing dross dust.

[jcwit]

Fumes only become a problem when the melt gets to over 1100 degrees, which is way to high for casting.

[leadman]

I posted before on my experience with lead in my blood and what I found out. My high level was around 12 or 14, but I could feel a difference when I ran my tongue over my teeth and the gums were slightly purple. Also the base of my fingernails(the crescent white part) had turned slightly purple. My blood pressure also went up.
I followed the Minnesota diet for children with increased BLL and my BLL is now .5.
I also tested my casting and shotmaking area with lead detecting swabs. These can be purchased at Home Depot. I can assure you lead will find its' way out of your pot at 800'!

I made changes in my area by building my "casting closet"with a 20" box fan pulling fumes away from me and paying better attention to hygeine.
Wash your hands and face immediately after casting before doing anything else. Lead can get in by rubbing your eyes, thru your nasal cavity, and your mouth. Cuts also let it in. Some forms of lead can be absorbed thru the skin, so watch lead dust and corroded lead.

My BLL is now .5 so what I did works.

[MtGun44]

12 or 14 is perfectly safe for adults. OSHA does not require anything to be done when
a worker has blood under 40.

Bill

[jcwit]

I also tested my casting and shotmaking area with lead detecting swabs. These can be purchased at Home Depot. I can assure you lead will find its' way out of your pot at 800'!

Where did the lead come from that you were melting? If lead recovered from a range either indoor or outdoor more than likely the lead contanimation came from lead dust not from a pot at 800 degrees. Lead does not vaporise to any extant till one gets into 1,000 plus range. Also the swabes may have been picking up such minute amounts so as to be insignificant, but still showing a presence of lead.

Furthermore as MtGunn44 sayes the lead levels you report is of no consequense for an adult. Also who's tyo say the lead even came from casting or shooting?

Just saying!

[Shooter6br]

Milk thistle has been used foe hundreds of years to remove toxins from the blood. In Europe it is given IV for poisoning. We dont use it because there is no big pharm bucks to be made from it. Rick.....R.N

[Bad Water Bill]

How about telling us how to find and use the thistle?

Please:bigsmyl2:

[excess650]

If you shoot INDOORS, it will be the gas from the priming compound (lead styphanate) that your body will readily absorb. Particulates aren't processed and absorbed nearly as readily. Chelates (sold in vitamin shops)will help reduce lead levels.

[Wayne Smith]

How about telling us how to find and use the thistle?

Please:bigsmyl2:

You will find it in your drug store with all the rest of the supplements. Vit C and E and Milk Thistle and Glucosamine and Chromium Piconlate and lots of others.

[leadman]

The lead in my pots was from isotope containers and wheelweights that were previously melted into ingots. The Lyman 3rd edition cast bullets manual also has a warning about the lead settling around your casting area. I think that some of this lead makes it way out of the pot when fluxing and stirring. The 20" box fan was tested when it was installed on my cabinet that I built, along with areas of the cabinet. After almost a full day of casting and making shot the same areas were tested again, they were positive for lead where they were negative before.
I spoke with several doctors about my BLL and why I was able to detect changes in my body. One doctor said he had had a patient before that had detected changes like me at similar levels. These levels were below levels requiring treatment per OSHA, but who says this is a safe level. Could the companies have influenced the level so they could keep people working? Do you want to experience increased BLLs when it is so easy to test your casting area and avoid the lead contamination?

[MtGun44]

People are different. The overwhelming majority have no symptoms at 40. I have stayed
between 20 and 30 for the last 30 yrs due to shooting a lot at an indoor range.
I have a number of friends that did the same for decades or so without problems. Sounds
like you may be ultra sensitive. Like some people have nearly died when peanuts are just
near them, and most of use eat handfuls without a problem.

Bill

[contender1]

Lead issues can get very interesting. Locally, a college has a basement shooting range. (They teach LEO classes.) Well, an air vent screen tested "high" for lead levels the other day. They closed the building, are testing the whole building, and the staff. If the staff tests high, then they will test the students. Last nights news stated that it could take "weeks" to clean up the lead in the building. I'm wondering about the future of their range there. Anybody wanna bet a move will be made to close it no matter what all the tests reveal? (It's in a town known as San Franscisco east, Asheville.)
So far, there have been no numbers of lead levels shown or spoken on the news. THey just say "high."

[1911sw45]

I just got my BLL tested for the first time in my life. I am 36 yrs old. I use to as a kid chew and ate .22 lead boolits and split shot sinkers. I ate hundreds of them. I cast boolits now and shoot lead. There was no lead detected in my blood! Now tell me whats all this bad for you BS that the EPA and government says about lead. I have no ill effects from eating lead as a kid.

thank,

Adam

[jcwit]

All becsause we can now easily detect such small minute quanties of dangerous substances.

[Bad Water Bill]

As I have said here before it is someones agenda.

When my grand father died at age 92 he had NINE projectiles in his body. One of them from when he was a child. The rest he carried around for probably 50 years before he died. His last child was born when he was 65. He was still driving at age 87 when he visited me from the mountains of Kalifonyia.

Some types of lead are BAD but what ever caliber of projectiles he was shot with sure did not keep that man down in any way.

[jmar254]

I have been in the radiator manufacturing business for about 20 years, been casting for only 3 or 5.

My number was 21 when tested a couple years ago, ate Vitamin C and was retested in three months, dropped to 14. Eat Vit. C and don't worry about it, unless you floss with solder wire.

I hate orange juice so Vit C was good for me.

[mongo]

This got me to start thinking, Went to the gun club yesterday and cast 2600 bullets from the indoor range lead. After making it into inguits. Then a couple of buddies and I set up a modifies ISPC course in the indoor pistol range. I was sweeping up the brass and dust after we were done and got a large pile of lead dust. The range has a concrete floor and is 85 ft long. We have been running thew this dust for about six months. Fist thing tomorrow I'm getting a large bottle of vitimin C, And I aint running threw that dust anymore.

[mongo]

How about telling us how to find and use the thistle?

Please:bigsmyl2:

I found milk thistle at Target store last night. It was just under $14 for a nice size bottle. Got some vit-c also, Couldnt find apple pectin. Maybe at one of those health food stores.

[snuffy]

I was sweeping up the brass and dust after we were done and got a large pile of lead dust. The range has a concrete floor and is 85 ft long. We have been running thew this dust for about six months. Fist thing tomorrow I'm getting a large bottle of vitimin C, And I aint running threw that dust anymore.

That's not lead dust, it's mostly unburned powder, some powders don't completely burn leaving a "cinder" behind. There's probably some lead dust in there along with lead styphonate from the primers.

Indoor ranges have been known to catch fire when that powder gets an ignition source. You may have saved the range from a fire. Don't let that pile get near a spark or flame!:brokenima Best to wear a good respirator when sweeping that stuff up.

[white eagle]

normal range is between 0-9
I happen to be a # 27

[MtGun44]

"Normal" is meaningless in this situation. If you have no exposure, you will have no lead.
If you have exposure, you will have some lead. The 0-9 number comes from recommendations
for CHILDREN. Your doc is ignorant of lead, as are a great majority of them. Please check
out what I am telling you, as I am sure you are inclined to believe your doc more than some
guy on the net. But, you will find that I am right and he/she is wrong.

The only thing that means anything is whether your lead level will harm you. OSHA says that
you can stay at 39 for 30 yrs and not be harmed.

I personally have been in the mid 20s for 25-30 yrs, no harm. HOWEVER, I was shooting
at an indoor range 46+ times per year, so I knew what my exposure was, and that was
with good lead hygene measures. The only way I could get it lower was to stop shooting
at that range, and I was unwilling to do that, as long as I knew it was not harming me.

What is your exposure that you are at 27? If it is loading and casting, you should be able to be
quite a bit lower with better practices. If you don't want to do anything, you will be OK,
even for the long term. BUT, you can do better, I am fairly sure. I'll bet that you can clean
up your processes and get it much lower. Are you eating, drinking or smoking around the
lead pot or reloading area? Are you washing your hands very well immediately after
you cast, size or load?

Bill