health issues

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What health issues do you have that could affect your welding career and were they brought on by welding?I deal with stage 1 high blood pressure that is caused by being overweight and getting to much sodium and not enough exercise.  Also I deal with asthma though it has greatly tapered off since leaving a company that never cleaned their air ducts specially in the refrigeration rooms.  Theres also some stress issues that are a work in progress.  Asthma came from my lungs getting frosted during a very bitterly cold winter day and extreme physical activity.  It has never been affected by the welding in any way thankfully and is under control and thankfully the company requires respirators and push/pull ventilation.
Reply:5 back surgeries from working in crap job shops that didn't have adequate equipment and being stupid in my youth. A scar on one of my lungs from going into a fire to get some guys out that the fire department gave up on. They lived.Two turn tables and a microphone.
Reply:Originally Posted by PangeaA scar on one of my lungs from going into a fire to get some guys out that the fire department gave up on. They lived.
Reply:ADHD, not sure of that one. Have a hard time focusing, but when I weld it alllll goes away.
Reply:Trashed left leg. Fell in mine shaft as a teenager, got T-boned on motorcycle on same leg. Six surgeries to that leg over the years.Broke the L2 Vertebra in my back due to damaged ladder collapsing under me.Weak legs are the main problem I have for working. I always have pain and it gets worse as the day goes on but weakness is worse. I often try to step up on a step and can't do it, have to back up and try again.CRS - Can't Remember Sh!tProcrastination - I will have to tell you about that sometime.
Reply:Originally Posted by JoshDLet me guess, you don't always drink beer, but when you do, you prefer Dos Equis?
Reply:I have probably $50,000 worth of titanium in my back and leg.  If you think the parts are expensive, you should see the bill for labor, ha ha.None of it caused by welding.I almost had to get a waiver to get into the military due to hearing.  Its not too bad though.  Thankfully my eyes are still pretty good.
Reply:Fell through an open hole on the roof of a warehouse a long time ago. Wrecked pretty much everything you can wreck and survive. They managed to wire and screw everything but one kneecap back together. My spleen is still pretty angry with me too. lolAnd I have lingering neuromuscular issues.If I had bothered to ask, I'm sure they would have tried to dissuade me from a career in welding or anything else requiring fine motor control. But I manage.Better than most guys anyway.
Reply:Originally Posted by ncfhFell through an open hole on the roof of a warehouse a long time ago. Wrecked pretty much everything you can wreck and survive. They managed to wire and screw everything but one kneecap back together. My spleen is still pretty angry with me too. lolAnd I have lingering neuromuscular issues.If I had bothered to ask, I'm sure they would have tried to dissuade me from a career in welding or anything else requiring fine motor control. But I manage.Better than most guys anyway.
Reply:Kidney transplant 1996, leukemia 2010, bad back forever, married 1992... I only weld as a hobby, it's what keeps me sane, sorta.Sure, I can fix it... I got a welder!!!
Reply:WHAT???CAN YOU SPEAK UP???Hearing gone bad!!!    Its earplugs or earmuffs everytime i pick up a grinder.  I almost lost an eye... not really but it kinda felt like it when I was chipping extreemly hot  slag and it landed under my glasses and stuck to my skin.    ouch!!!   I couldnt get it off the first 2-3 swipes at it.  Just sat there and baked in deeper. Attached Images“I'm going to do the thing that God put Galen Beasley on this Earth to do:Have Salon quality hair and weld.Nothing like a good cup of coffee and the smell of 6010 burning in the morning. 971-204-3444 cell API ASME Structural NDT and Repair
Reply:Originally Posted by fwalz3Kidney transplant 1996, leukemia 2010, bad back forever, married 1992... I only weld as a hobby, it's what keeps me sane, sorta.
Reply:Originally Posted by Big65moparWhat health issues do you have that could affect your welding career and were they brought on by welding?I deal with stage 1 high blood pressure that is caused by being overweight and getting to much sodium and not enough exercise.  Also I deal with asthma though it has greatly tapered off since leaving a company that never cleaned their air ducts specially in the refrigeration rooms.  Theres also some stress issues that are a work in progress.  Asthma came from my lungs getting frosted during a very bitterly cold winter day and extreme physical activity.  It has never been affected by the welding in any way thankfully and is under control and thankfully the company requires respirators and push/pull ventilation.
Reply:Originally Posted by stevewmSame here.  Another kidney transplant here, 2002.  Sounds like you are doing okay since it has been 15 years now for you.  Hope the leukemia is under control.  I also have a bad back from a car wreck hand having too much fun with high performance airplanes in my youth.The anti rejection meds I take for the transplant make my hands shake a little which makes precesses like TIG kinda hard for me so I mostly do MIG,  U usta do fly tying and wood carving but don't any more for the same reason.Steve in Central TX
Reply:adhd is a pain, I'm fighting with it and some days are good but if I'm fighting with something such as the stainless stick welding I'm trying to learn in a week then my mind goes a wanderin.
Reply:Just getting older quicker than I should and having had  Leukemia in 07 hasnt helped with my welding career so I just keep on truckin!!!     BTW...Big mopar 65... School is great and Mr R is a good guy and instructor.
Reply:Glad that school is going well.  About two months before you graduate the welding program I would put an application into http://www.huntingtoningalls.com/ if you want to get into the shipyard and you might even want to do it sooner because they are hiring close to 500 welders and it takes a good while to weed through those who can't do it.  Theres a guy here who is going to school for welding and working here as well.This weekend I will be getting back onto the treadmill to get on the jogging wagon again and will also be changing out my diet again to weed out some stuff thats slipped back in.  This should allow me to get off the bp meds as well as curtail some stuff thats starting to show up again.
Reply:Originally Posted by Big65moparGlad that school is going well.  About two months before you graduate the welding program I would put an application into http://www.huntingtoningalls.com/ if you want to get into the shipyard and you might even want to do it sooner because they are hiring close to 500 welders and it takes a good while to weed through those who can't do it.  Theres a guy here who is going to school for welding and working here as well.This weekend I will be getting back onto the treadmill to get on the jogging wagon again and will also be changing out my diet again to weed out some stuff thats slipped back in.  This should allow me to get off the bp meds as well as curtail some stuff thats starting to show up again.
Reply:I have a titanium plate and 32 screws in my face, back has been broken in 2 places, knees dont work so good any more, My ankle also gives me some hell. Still too awnry stubborn and mean to let it slow me down though.
Reply:After reading thru what a lot of you have to live with daily I am VERY thankful for what I have.The constant ringing in my ears and knee's that pop is soo insignificant.     My hats off to you guys.  All the bestGalen“I'm going to do the thing that God put Galen Beasley on this Earth to do:Have Salon quality hair and weld.Nothing like a good cup of coffee and the smell of 6010 burning in the morning. 971-204-3444 cell API ASME Structural NDT and Repair
Reply:I'm Bi-Polar and learning disabled/ADD. Some of you probably guessed the BI-Polar part from some of my more colorful posts. Har Har. Trying new meds and hope they work. I get long periods of what I call "The Blackness". Just not able to do much. I hate it and am tough on myself for it, but I really can't do much about it. Grew up with " your being lazy" and "your just not trying" and "your stupid" and that affected my ability to deal with it. Anyhow.......bad knees, bad upper and lower back/ arthritis, and currently a broken thumb. Mind says I'm 20, body yells otherwise!200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.
Reply:Diabetic for 12 years (Type 1).  Never been overweight.  Definitely not because of welding (I got diagnosed when I was 13) but when my blood sugar gets low it definitely makes my hands more shakey, nothing a can of mountain dew can't fix fortunately.Knock on wood, all of my stitches (lost count of how many I have) have been from welding-unrelated accidents!  Put a pretty sweet 3rd degree burn on my right leg with a lincoln plasma cutter though (I now have an esab, with the button on the TOP of the torch instead of the bottom)
Reply:Polio when I was born in 1951 (which is why I am 5 foot 1 inch tall), but I am proportioned ok for my height.  Lots of time in the hospital, and rehab when I got older, but I get around ok without any noticeable difficulty.Appendix burst when I was 5, big operation, lucky to be alive.Pushed my nose bone in when I was racing Motocross in my early 20's, ended up in the hospital and had a couple of nose operations when all was said and done.Now the biggie, a heart attack in 2007 at age 56, was all alone on a Sunday morning out for a walk, literally had to get back home on my own while having a massive attack, to get my wife to drive me to the hospital.  One artery completely blocked, two other arteries at 95% blockage, I was not expected to make it.But I did, after a triple bypass.Worst things about the attack was thinking about how my death would have impacted my wife and kids, having people at my bed side getting my financial affairs in order with my wife and I, and actually thinking that this was the end of the line for me.What I can tell you though, is that when you are having a heart attack, it is not that painful (like really bad heartburn), but it is SCAREY AS HELL.Regards to all.Working on cars and bikes is my hobby, learning to weld the pieces together is my quest.
Reply:Broken ribs from catching a full back in my ribcage when I was 13, following year kicked by horse on opposite side, 2 more broken ribs.Motorcycle accident with requisite face plant & skid on asphalt at 30 mph, almost lost my right eye from that one.  I was 15.  Other broken bones from bike accidents, last one broke same two ribs on right side as the full back did in HS.  I was 24 then.Coronary Artery Stent #1 2004, gave me back 20 years of my life.  I was 47, but no permanent damage.  This one was needed to correct a genetic defect in the coronary artery.2006 had Right Shoulder repaired for torn rotator cuff & torn biceps tendon.  Pain wasn't being managed by pills, so figured it needed fixed.  Still need the left side fixed though.Feb 2009 - Ate a Quizno's sub, sitting in recliner & had a MI (heart attack).  Stent #2 a few centimeters below the first one as I had thrown a clot that blocked the main anterior artery.  Doc said I was 10 minutes away from meeting the mortician.  Discovered I need a couple more on the posterior side, but haven't taken the time to get that done yet.  I'm 53 now.Of course the obligatory burns, scrapes, scars & other stuff we all get when we live life.  Nothing terminal though.................................. yet.Last edited by MarkBall2; 04-15-2011 at 05:07 PM.MarkI haven't always been a nurse........Craftsman 12"x36" LatheEnco G-30B MillHobart Handler 175Lincoln WeldandPower 225 AC/DC G-7 CV/CCAdd a Foot Pedal to a Harbor Freight Chicago Electric 165A DC TIG PapaLion's Gate Build
Reply:Mysterious back ailments, but mainly in the trapesus. Broke the outer metatarsals on each foot at the same time. Rather untreated, they've left a deformity on the outside of my foot. Long days on my feet, heavy lifting, Bent over position welding deck or bent plate, long days of welding overhead. All aggravate the **** out of them.None were caused by welding. I got them all by bailing out of unarmoured cargo trucks in iraq when the bad guys were really shooting insane amounts of lead at us.Weldanpower 225 G7Ironworkers Local #24Bottom line - protect your EYES, protect your LUNGS, protect your FINGERS and protect your HEARING. Too many young, macho welders grow up to be old farts who can't see, can't breathe, can't hear and have missing digits. Don't become one of us!
Reply:I've had ringing in my ears all my life, its tinnitus and its hit or miss on what can take it away.  Mine is a chorus of whines that at last count was about 7 when it kicks in usually from really bad stress or plugging my ears when the wife is on a rant.  There is a device that has about %80 success but it runs about the same as a nice multipurpose welding rig so figure $6k when the adjustments are done and most insurance doesnt cover it.  Interestingly there is a phenomena called the taos hum related to Taos NM that as far as I can tell is the same thing but people there notice it more easily and are blaming it on a military installation there.Broke left arm as a kid falling down a loft ladder to the attic, broke left foot in three places thanks to a balloon, flower pot, and wooden indian, sprained both ankles 4 times with the left happening once not long ago.  Injured my back a few times mostly from old jobs and mostly from lifting wrong but one happened just by leaning forward a little to pick something up and I never put my hands on it.  Crushed my right calf between a piece of 5klb equipment and a steel barricade a few years ago.  Got metal stuck in the center of my eye and had to use a rare earth magnet to get it out and that was from grinding for welding.
Reply:Big65  maybe broaden it a bit and add ailments from work or exposure kinda things?  For ex When we were kids we used to like to sit at the end of a cotton field and watch the crop dusters spray? DDT yup.  And I dusted a lot of Sevin for bugs on livestock... cancer causing? sure. .  The Navy tour helped me get exposed to asbestos and lots of weird chemicals.  Later there was Carbon Tet and Mercury around the chem labs in grad school.  I smoked for years, I'm my own worst enemy.  All in all, like many fellas,  exposed to lots of dangerous stuff. Is it any wonder that I have some kind of Cancer?  I thnk it is  genetic too, my Granddad had a lot of the same symptoms, they never pin pointed why.   I am darned lucky to be above ground, and from reading this many of you are tooIt gets worse all the time, but I am a very different fella these days.  I live much more for today, less of the  crazy stuff like politics bothers me  (What? Me worry).. I have been in Oncology treatment and that scares me more than Nam did.  One slip and you are gone.   Last month things went south,  an honest mistake but I was down for a week.   Tinnitus, yup,  from the proteins the cancer tumors produce. It is a terrible thing huh?  Drives me wacko sometimes.  (Wacko is a hi tech med term, ask Mark if U don't believe me). My thinking is to go do all I can today; tomorrow is surely not promised.  I do believe my animals help a lot.  They help me see some good in it all.  I recommend a dog or even more fun goats Good wishes and luck to all who have pain and that anxiety of big health problems.Last edited by PapaLion; 04-16-2011 at 09:23 AM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:The tinnitus is something that I have had all my life and for the longest time I thought it was normal and everyone had this same sound so it normally does not bother me.
Reply:I would like to know what is the best respirator to use to protect myself from the welding fumes put off by stick and tig welding?
Reply:I re read this once in awhile, the human body is fragile, the human spirit is not. So my Doc says to me "You got low iron, so take ferrous oxide and we'll see how it goes."  Well  how it goes is for the poop to turn into lumps of hard coal, that's how it goes... it don't.  Next month I say "Doc.  how could I have low Iron, I get scraped, burnt, jabbed, cut with iron regularly, I must be getting some of that, right?"   He was not amused, he's thinking soon I should spend 3 weeks in LaJolla and take iron infusions regularly to get it back up... on a side note, well, getting it up is not the problem, what to do with it after that unfortunately surely isOk, now smile if you're a miracle that is still here... to heck with the torpedoes, take care of you but still have some fun.  I will not leave this earth with a frown on my face.go listen to the posts Thursday evehttp://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=101321&page=2Last edited by PapaLion; 04-26-2012 at 11:57 PM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools