Asbestos Poisoning

Exposure to asbestos occurs when products or building materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged. Asbestos poisoning may not rear its ugly head for year’s even decades after the exposure, leaving doctors to try and discover the root cause of the patient’s sudden illness. When Asbestos deteriorates or is damaged, it releases millions of microscopic fibers into the air, where they can remain airborne for hours or even days. Anyone who happens to be in the area will breathe in these deadly fibers without knowing they were exposed.

Many patients have breathed in asbestos fibers for years without realizing the potential hazard. These tiny fibers are 1200 times smaller that the human hair, making them almost impossible to detect. Asbestos poisoning has affected an estimated 1.3 million people just in the past 60 years. Asbestos exposure has been shown to develop into several different conditions that are considered extremely serious and some even fatal.

1) Asbestos exposure conditions:

• Asbestosis: a conditions that leaves the lung tissue you scarred to the point of making breathing extremely difficult and in extreme cases it can be fatal.
• Lung Cancer: asbestos poisoning is also linked to small and non-small lung cancer.
• Mesothelioma Cancer: a cancer that of the mesothelioma or pericardium tissue within the chest cavity.
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Immune system break-down
• Many other respiratory and digestive issues can also be linked to asbestos exposure

Asbestos Poisoning

Symptoms of asbestos exposure can appear anywhere from 10 to 40 years after the patients have been exposed to the mini fibers. Once the symptoms appear, the asbestos exposure has already caused the damage and the patients should seek medical attention right away.

2) Symptoms of asbestos exposure:

• Large mass confined to the abdomen
• Swelling and pain in the abdomen
• Pain under the rib cage or chest wall
• Frequent coughing
• Anemia
• Fatigue
• Wheezing
• Hoarseness
• Fluid build-up around the lung known as pleural effusion
• Shortness of breath
• Unexplained weight loss

3) Workers who are at risk of developing the symptoms from asbestos poisoning include:

• Pipe fitters
• Shipyard workers
• Steamfitters
• Power plant workers
• Electricians
• Steel mill workers
• Demolition workers
• Railroad workers
• Drywall, painters, or plasterers
• Plumbers
• Maintenance workers
• School teachers

4) Most common places to get exposed to asbestos:

Building exterior:

• Brick and block mortar
• Building overhangs sprayed with asbestos thermal spray
• Cement siding and roofing
• Stucco

Unbound or loose building products:

• Spray insulation
• Insulating cement
• Insulation block
• Textiles

Flooring:

• Vinyl flooring with asbestos backing
• Vinyl tile with asbestos backing
• Leveling compound for floors

Walls:

• Thermal spray
• Finishes
• Drywall, plaster, or joint compound

Pipes:

• Hot water or steam piping insulation
• Gaskets for pipe joints
• Water supply piping
• Drains pipes
• Outside gutters

Ceilings:

• Cement ceiling tiles
• Drywall, plaster, and joint compound
• Acoustic covering for ceilings

Other areas that provide service:

• Insulated pipes or ducts in crawl spaces
• Insulation of popes, ducts, flooring, walls, and ceilings in machine rooms
• Boiler room pipes, boilers, vessels, incinerators, flooring, ceilings, duct work, and walls
• Insulated pips, ducts, chiller, floors, ceiling, and walls of fan rooms
• Light fixture backing
• Welding screens and blackest
• Wire insulation
• Panels on heating cabinets
• Fire stop flaps and dampers
• Emergency generators
• Duct tap
• Brake shoes for elevators

The use of asbestos was banned in the early 1970’s, but it has now come to light that up until the late 1970’s the use of asbestos was still going on in some household appliances such as blow dryers or curling irons that used the asbestos for insulation. Any damage to those household appliances resulted in asbestos poisoning without the person realizing it. Even though the use of asbestos has been banned, the exposure will continue until all the older buildings and products have been completely cleared of asbestos.