Ouch! Help if you can...

[OuTpaTienT]

I helped a friend with a job today and it involved handling lots of fiberglass insulation. Old, cruddy, disintegrating fiberglass insulation which made a lot of fiberglass dust. I managed to get pretty well coated in the stuff and am paying the price right now. It's mostly on my arms but also my face/neck and down the back of my shirt.

And I thought I was so smart and well prepared by having work gloves at the ready and using them to handle this stuff. Geeez, I'm sure it wasn't healthy breathing that crap into my lungs either.

Anyway, is there any way to make this stop? It has progressed from an itchy irritating feeling to an unpleasant constant dull tingling pain to the current state..which isn't so bad, as long as nothing touches by skin. When it is touched it feels like there are thousands of little slivers in my skin…and technically, I guess there are thousands of slivers. Any tips or old wives tales on how to remedy this?

I showered soon as I got home. Initially that wasn't a pleasant experience either, but it seems to have helped a little.

As if the fiberglass treatment wasn't enough, I also managed to get pretty well covered in tiny aluminum shards…plus just a slight sunburn to top it all off. Talk about an uncomfortable, agonizing, and just plain crappy sensation…that was me today.

The sunburn is very mild and not enough to worry about, but it is no doubt intensifying the fiberglass pain. The aluminum shards were only a discomfort for short time. They all came off with the shower. (You may wonder how one gets covered with aluminum debris in the first place? It came from cutting through the ceiling of a patio room with a Skill saw held over my head…plus I'm a lefty and naturally hold all my tools "wrong". )

Any ideas or thoughts on how to alleviate this fiberglass burn, please share. Otherwise I guess I just have to wait it out, huh? How long will that be?

[super gerbil]

take a long bath??

[Renesis]

When you shower, make sure you lean over to wash your hair so that you don't have particles being rinsed down your body. Use hair shampoo to scrub your body with, as well.

Other than spending a lot of time in the shower to rid yourself of any particles, I don't think there really is much you can do (out of the way of miscellaneous creams or balms) to curb the irritated skin.

Another thing -- not only should you wash the clothes you were wearing TWICE, but after you're done washing them, run an empty load through the washing machine so that you don't get particles in other wash cycles...

-R

[sharder8]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What he Renesis said!


When I worked with insulating, those were the things I did! I liked taking L-O-N-N-G hot showers! But, I didn't have to deal with sun burn either!

Harder

[OuTpaTienT]

Originally posted by Renesis
When you shower, make sure you lean over to wash your hair so that you don't have particles being rinsed down your body. Use hair shampoo to scrub your body with, as well.

Other than spending a lot of time in the shower to rid yourself of any particles, I don't think there really is much you can do (out of the way of miscellaneous creams or balms) to curb the irritated skin.

Another thing -- not only should you wash the clothes you were wearing TWICE, but after you're done washing them, run an empty load through the washing machine so that you don't get particles in other wash cycles...

-R

Ah! Good thinking. I am just about to wash those clothes too. Thanks.

[BettaBuy]

"Some contractors swear by cold showers, which close the skin's pores and allow the fiberglass to be washed off more readily."






from http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gott120299.asp

[nochay]

yes. A hot shower is your worst enemy. Opens your pores, and allows them in. cold shower!

Dane

[Gomer]

Wrap yourself in duct tape and have someone pull it off. Just do it quick like a bandaid right? Won't hurt a bit =)

[Martoch]

Honestly, OuT, there's not a lot that you can do. I often install new telephone/LAN lines in old Air Force buildings...a few years back many which contained asbestos/fiberglass insulation. If I remember correctly, our old "trick" was to wipe baby oil all over the infected areas. (take a long, hot bath first to open up your pores) Gently massaging the skin with baby oil helped to loosen up/remove the particles, plus it would help alleviate the agonizing uncomfortable feeling you are experiencing.

We are no longer "allowed" to open ceiling tiles unless we know for sure that the base bioenvironmental office has had all of the asbestos removed.

Best of luck to ya my friend...

Mike

[M_Six]

I worked for years for an insulation supply company. We would make insulation for large metal buildings using huge rolls of raw fiberglass batting. I would be covered in it day after day. Not fun.

I found cold showers followed by lots of talcum powder helped. Avoid nylon and silk clothes. Stick to cotton. But in the end, only time will rid you of the worst slivers.

If you think fiberglass is bad, try messing with horsehair or mineral wool insulation. I had to transfer an entire trailer load once in July. The newbie I was working with was trying to impress the boss, so he was throwing these large bundles of the stuff and making a fog of fiber dust inside the trailer. I had to leave after we were done because I couldn't see or breathe any more.