Respirators and fungal infections, I really need some help here!

Hey this is my medical advice . Replace the mask . Chronic infection and doctor fees would cost you in the thousands . You work in highly polluted conditions , Your mask should be your number 1 concern . Try to set up shop outside and do as much work there as possible . Take a break from working in the garage for a week or two if that is an option . Chronic respiratory infection will lead to irreversible damage to your lungs . Ask your doctor to take a sputum sample and send for culture to see exactly what bug is causing this , if this hasn't been done yet . The garage needs to be disinfected . I hope you feel better .
 
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Here is some basics
To ensure that your respirator is effective you need to be fit-tested
You must be clean shaven, even a days growth of hair can render a mask ineffective
When not in use store your respirator in an air tight container such as a zip lock freezer bag
If you want, pm me your email address and I will send you some good training information on Monday when I get back to work
 
Here is some basics
To ensure that your respirator is effective you need to be fit-tested
You must be clean shaven, even a days growth of hair can render a mask ineffective
When not in use store your respirator in an air tight container such as a zip lock freezer bag
If you want, pm me your email address and I will send you some good training information on Monday when I get back to work
 
Immortals said:
The garage needs to be disinfected ..
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I suggest you disinfect the area with something like "Misty" hospital disinfectant. Unlike things like Lysol it contains phenol (like chloraseptic throat spray) which has residual mold and fungal antiseptic properties. You can find it on ebay.
 
That's exactly what happened from the first set of Docs I went to see. Still can't shake the cough at night but feeling better.
 
Do you guys fully explain your profession and working environment to the doctors during examination ? A lot of doctors including myself are not very tool and craft savvy and might not understand at first your working environment and the correlation of that with your sickness . Sadly more and more knife makers are getting respiratory diseases because of polluted working conditions . There should be a sticky somewhere with warning signs for all the seasoned and rookie knife makers here in this forum .
 
Actually the first set of Docs (New Practice and young) do know what I do but in all fairness they probably don't get the respirator part. I never mentioned that to them. But you would have to think that after the second set of antibiotics and steroids did not work that something else was up. Their solution was more of the same steroids. Time to find a new (or in my case old) Doctor. Told him what was going on looked at my tongue and said Fungal infection gave some Meds and sent me for a chest ex ray. Hey in my book three strikes your out or at the very least "Lets revisit the problem." I guess I will post that when I get to see the second Doc again on Wednesday when he gets back from his summer vacation. Sometimes you just can't win. cough, cough, . Nothing against Doctors but I have seen enough to know that some have God complexes.
 
You are absolutely correct , It is standard procedure to follow up with cultures and at lease a chest x ray when the problem reoccure with this frequency . Remember just like every other profession there are good and bad ones . Please don't hesitate to send me a message in private if I can help you with anything .
 
Immortals said:
You are absolutely correct , It is standard procedure to follow up with cultures and at lease a chest x ray when the problem reoccure with this frequency . Remember just like every other profession there are good and bad ones . Please don't hesitate to send me a message in private if I can help you with anything .
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Thank you , Ken
 
For maintenance if the mask, have you considered the wipes that are used for cpap users?
 
Well I did not make it through the Gun and Knife show. After about 4 hours Saturday morning I was swaying on my feet. No energy and my mental abilities were deteriorating , well thats what it felt like. High School and College were in the late 60's and early 70's and I have had some experience before along those lines. Any way got into bed and stayed there. On the up side I actually slept through the night last night with out coughing. Tomorrow back to the second doctor.

Yesterday I installed the free standing Air Conditioner and it keeps the garage at about 83-84 and dry so thats an improvement.
Alcohol wipes for the mask still finding "stuff" in it. Trying to thoroughly clean it every day regardless of how long I had it on.
Got in touch with the company that sells the filters and asked how often to change them. response "when it gets hard to breath" not the answer I was looking for.
This would be the mask and filter NOT the vendor I purchased from.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NORTH-7700-...736?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4164d9a270

Ken
 
"when it gets hard to breathe"

Yes, this bit of spectacularly unhelpful advice is pretty typical of the safety literature and mask owners manuals...30 years ago. But without knowing how many particles are in your air, how much air you use with each lung full, and how much breathing restriction you can tolerate, it's really about all anyone's going to be able to tell you over the phone.

"Hard to breathe" is both relative depending on a person's lung health and difficult to determine because your filters don't clog all at once..it just gets gradually harder to breathe. But in your situation, "hard to breathe" is somewhat irrelevant, unless you are doing a really dusty job. You should probably be replacing your filters before they are clogged for the sake of hygiene. The humid air will moisten the filter material when you inhale, and mold will flourish if either the filter material or dust are a food source. If your inhalation valves at the filters are leaky when you exhale (do you know how to test these?) humidity/saliva will end up on your side of the filter material and support mold/bacteria.

How often to replace the filters...I remember living in Florida, you could practically watch mildew grow. If it were me and I was wearing this mask 8 hours a day, I would probably replace the filters daily. Actually if I were wearing it 8 hours a day I would get a powered respirator, these come with a little tester that will tell you when the batteries are weak or the filters are clogged. And they are much cooler and easier to breathe through. If I was only wearing a respirator an hour a day I might be tempted to find some sort of storage that would not let the mold grow in the filters, but experimenting with your health to save a few bucks sometimes does not work out well.
 
Another question for you
For dust and mists you will find most respirators come with an N95 particulate cartridge/filter, these are for areas without oil aerosols in them.
You may what to use an oil proof respirator such as a P95 or better yet a P100
Once again if you have not been fit-tested with your respirator you may be getting no protection at all
You may want to see an occupational physician as they specialize in this sort of thing

Excellent information on this link
http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/health_and_safety/by_topic/assets/pdf/breathe_safer.pdf
 
They are P100 filters. Yes I know how to test for a seal, fit. Amount of time say 4 to 5 hours a day with the garage door wide open. Now the door is closed but the air is cooler and dry. Hard to figure. One more thing the mask and filters are stored inside unattached where it is cool 77-78 degrees and dry. Where as before they were cleaned, sort of, and kept in the hot humid garage. My bad. Also have taken a few weeks off from grinding just doing some light Kydex sheath work. (mask on). More tomorrow.
 
FOLLOW UP

Yesterday I went back to the second Doctor, the one who knew it was a fungal infection. My tongue had turned white again but not the almost grey that it was when I first saw him. Truth be told I was nervous, I actually thought that this was it, I poisoned myself and in thy process I also dropped 15 lbs so I really did not know what was going on. Actually I dropped the weight because I was an worried as I became.

The upshot was that this was normal some weight loss and the tongue turning whiter. The doctor said not to worry everything was ok and my symptoms would likely be able to take care of it it's self. The first set of Doctors who misdiagnosed the fungal infection had pumped me so full of antibiotics that they had killed of most of the good stuff that was supposed to be protecting me. Another round with the old doctors and I would have likely been in the hospital by now with a much more compromised immune system. So the New (old) Doctor said eat consume a lot of fluids take it easy for a month. My system should be back to normal by then and try to stay away from sick people for a while. Yea, I have my appetite back.

So what did all this teach me?

1) Heat and humidity is bad in the working environment that I (probably to many of us) work in and that a respirator even with the correct filters may not be enough.

2) Pay very close attention to the cleaning of the respirator especially the diaphragms and do that daily.

3) If I am starting to feel sick and I think it may be work related take a step back and look at everything critically and try to pin it down.

4) Regardless of what I come up with ask question here. Thank you for all the responses and help.

5) Keep the humidity low in the work area. In this case I uninstalled a free standing A/C unit. It keeps the garage at 82 and dry if I get it going while its still relatively cool out.

6) Do a good job of cleaning the respirator using either alcohol pads or hydrogen peroxide and do it often, did I mention do it often...repeat.

7) When I am not using the respirator store the respirator inside the house where it is cool and dry

8) I am currently looking for a free standing air filter of some sort (suggestions are encouraged) to use in addition to the respirator.

9) An Air Conditioning friend of mine came by and suggested then taped up all possible openings on the air handler which is in my garage. He said that without doing that and doing it well the air handler would start to pull the dust from the garage into the house now that I keep the garage door shut. Good friend, thanks Alex.

10) Moderator: As suggested earlier perhaps making a sticky out of this thread is a good idea. This was a very difficult and uncomfortable 3 months. If we can keep one person from going through this, I and apparently some other think its a good idea.

Thanks again to those of you who helped.

Kenneth Hills
 
vintagefan said:
There are fungicides that can be purchased that you can dip the mask body in, and just make sure to change filters quite regularly. I think that would be the surest bet. Do it every day I'd say....
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Can you give some names of such products?
I was thinking it would be nice to have a 5 gallon bucket sitting next to the shop door full of this solution to store the entire mask in over night.
I guess I should probably take the filters off first though, huh? Too bad.
I love "set it and forget it" stuff.
What do you guys think of this idea?
 
Thanks Cacara.
And then there is this idea mentioned earlier...

sunshadow said:
get a PAPR mask like the Trend Airshield so fresh air gets forced in, used air exhausts naturally out the bottom.
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I'm kinda wondering if I should invest in something this expensive.
It would be worth it to me in the long run if I didn't have to do any cleaning inside the mask and helmet.
I HATE cleaning things up after work.
What I'm trying to figure out is if the face shield can be easily replaced, how much that would cost, and whether Trend is really the best brand or not.
 
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