wood allergy

[vavet]

So apparently I've developed a wood allergy.

My first hint was last year. I was out in my yard with my chainsaw cleaning up some deadwood to haul away. I developed a sinus infection for a few days. My wife was just recovering from a cold, so I figured I picked it up from her. Hindsight is 20/20.

A few weeks ago, I was doing something at work that had me in an awkward "laying on my belly" position with a belt sander about 10 inches away and underneath the structure I was laying on. I sanded away quite a bit of material from a 2x4. That night, I had a sore throat, which continued for a few days.

Last week, I was cutting up some LSL at work on 2 consecutive days. I wore a dust mask the first day and a respirator the second day (a lot more cutting). I've been a bit hoarse and sniffly the last few days.

I think on this last occasion, even though I did what I could to protect myself, the dust was still on my clothes, which I wore the rest of the day. That probably did not help.

I just need to remember to be vigilant when cutting/sanding wood that I need to protect myself during and after the actual operation.

It's unfortunate, but I know allergies can develop at any time.

 

[kwschumm]

Out of nowhere my wife developed a tomato allergy which causes a red rash around her mouth. It's so bad that once she just touched a pizza box and her mouth broke out. She's eaten tomatoes her whole life without any problems until now. She's seeing a doctor about some desensitization treatment. Allergies are weird.

 

[Flail]

You may find your allergic reactions are more common with aromatic and rot resistant woods such as cedar, redwood, mahogany, teak and does not happen with others. Many times a simple n-95 mask will be sufficient along with vacuuming self off after contact. Another good reason to have a spare set of clothes and a shower in the shop.

 

[rsanter]

I have been doing woodworking for years. I am specifically allergic to mahogany. other woods used to not bother me but over time they do a little bit

a friend of mine that is a big time woodworker cant do it anymore without a filtered fancy respirator face shield thing.

I have been told that exposure over time to sawdust can cause people to develop wood alergies

 

[tarbellb]

My good friends dad was a school teacher for 30+ years, working on a chalkboard everyday..... ended up becoming allergic to chalk.

Switched everything over to dry erase for the last few years of his career.

Exposure to anything like that for long enough can/will affect someone.

 

[tym]

+1 on the N95 respirator. Cheap insurance to protect those lungs!

 

[AMCguy]

In the `80s I worked in the cedar shake and shingle mills. For six and a half years I never had a problem with the dust. In fact I loved the smell. One day I hit the floor. They thought I was having a heart attack. It turned out I was having a massive asthma attack. Got an ambulance ride to the hospital where they put me on Ventolin. I felt great within a few minutes. Went back to work and immediately had another asthma attack. I tried every kind of mask and respirator nothing kept me from having an attack. Was going through inhalers like crazy.

Ended up with two paid weeks off work participating in a respiratory research program. At the end I got to go back to work with a $2,000 battery powered filtered air helmet. It was great but without my helmet on the smell of the dust on my clothes would kill me if I didn't have an inhaler. Eventually the Workers Compensation Board said I better find another line of work.

These days, red cedar asthma is a recognized industrial disease.

 

[matt_i]

I can feel it creeping up on me at times, more of an irritation than anything else. Although I love the smell of sawn oak it seems to be worse than the SPF. One of those hanging air-filters seems to do a nice job of taking out a lot of fines that hang in the air and can't be culled with tube-based dust collection.

 

[Patrobot]

That's funny, I was going to say that the very strong and distinct scent of cut oak is overwhelming. I have had clothing smell like oak for 4x wash cycles & it irritates my skin if I'm not good about scrubbing it off with lots of soap.

 

[MushCreek]

I thought I was developing a wood allergy while building our house, but it turned out to be the glue in the plywood and MDF. I was cutting tons of the stuff for cabinets and homemade trim. An N95 mask cleared it up.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Sorry to hear about this, a wood allergy would **** for me.


have you considered keeping a bottle of Benadryl nearby ?

 

[PECVD2]

Cedar is my nemesis as well. I would have died in that cedar shake factory AMCGuy worked in.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Wow, I've never heard of this!

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

Cedar is my nemesis as well. I would have died in that cedar shake factory AMCGuy worked in.

One of my customers father died after working all day, installing western red cedar in a snow hut. He never knew that he was allergic to it. He had told his wife (whom was also working with him) that he didn't feel well and went out to his car to lay down for awhile. After some time had passed, his wife went to check on him and found him unresponsive.

I find it very odd that as a species, we are all basically made the same, but yet some folks can be allergic to things that don't faze the rest of us.

 

[Firebrick43]

Black walnut has some bad natural chemicals in it to. Never use walnut shavings/dust for animal bedding. It will kill them.

 

[PelicanPines]

I turned 53 a bunch of years ago... when i was 52... i was NOT allergic to seafood... then ****... ended up in the hospital 3 different times in anaphalaxis (sp)... took a year to get them to pay for the special blood test to identify which type of fish was causing it.

FYI... i live in a harbor town... and used to eat fish 3 times a week (minimum)...

Now... I'm 58... had to have one of those tests again... now I'm allergic to C O R N ... do you have any idea how much stuff has C O R N in it... even corn OIL bothers me. Thankfully it's a relatively mild reaction that can be controlled with nasal sprays and a daily allergy pill

BUT WTF... turn 50 and you become allergic to stuff you never had an issue with.

 

[MushCreek]

Some exotic tropical woods are outright toxic. Special precautions have to be taken by everyone who works with it.

 

[Jon_E]

God I hope that never happens to me. All of my hobbies revolve around wood and wood products - saw-milling, firewood production, woodworking, turning. I built my garage specifically for that. I'd have to do something unpleasant if I was allergic to wood, like play golf or go fishing or something. Ugh.

 

[johnnyradiant]

God I hope that never happens to me. All of my hobbies revolve around wood and wood products - saw-milling, firewood production, woodworking, turning. I built my garage specifically for that. I'd have to do something unpleasant if I was allergic to wood, like play golf or go fishing or something. Ugh.

One of the best things you can do is show your self respect and take precautions like wearing a mask and gloves and filtering / changing working air. As mentioned some woods are more reactive than others. Do a bit of research on wood allergies and treat the prone woods with extra caution if they can't be avoided for your project.

 

[onewheat]

My wife has developed an allergy to wood too - it seems to have developed after marriage and gets worse every year.

 

[Toolfool]

My wife has developed an allergy to wood too - it seems to have developed after marriage and gets worse every year.

But that's OK since the supply is constantly diminishing.

Had to do it.
Kidding aside, when I moved from NY to Washington I found I was getting sick on a regular basis. Wanted to get a dog, which I knew I was allergic to, so went to see an allergist. Found out my "sicknesses" were due to western red cedar. 11 years of allergy desensitizing treatments have not helped. Cedar dust sends me right into asthmatic breathing and clogs my nose and sinuses. I quit doing siding and decks.

 

[coljar]

My wife has developed an allergy to wood too - it seems to have developed after marriage and gets worse every year.

Ha Ha You beat me to it.

Seriously, a friend of my wife was a horse trainer and developed an severe allergy to wood dust. They had both live on a farm their whole lives, but sold the farm and moved to a housing development in Florida.

 

[isb cornbinder]

My wife has developed an allergy to wood too - it seems to have developed after marriage and gets worse every year.

I do understand. We have been married for 40 years, now. The first 20 years or so the wood did not bother her.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Mrs. LS6 gets a "wood allergy" every once in a while...

Tommy

 

[Northislander]

I do a lot of woodworking and sawmilling in my free time. About 10 years ago i started to have a reaction to something. The reaction consisted of something swelling up a thumb a toe my tongue yes even woody sometimes. The reactions were steadily getting worse. I thought i had it nailed down to wood dust so i bought a supplied air respiration system. Always wore long sleeves and washed off thoroughly after woodworking. Still was having reactions more severe and more frequent in the end it turned out to be propylene glycol that i am allergic to. It is an ingrediant in shampoos, soaps, cough drops, chapstik and the one thing that i was exposing myself to the most was the "scrubs in a bucket" that i kept at every job site to clean up right away to get that wood dust off me.

 

[Sawdustmaker]

I always wear a respirator and hearing protection when doing any kind of woodworking. After years of enjoying garlic in food my wife has developed a garlic allergy. Just inhaling the fumes from garlic being cooked can cause a reaction. Makes eating out a chore and always having to read labels a pain. Also makes waiters nervous.

 

[unslow1]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to suddenly develop allergies. Never really had much affect me. A couple of years ago I started having a swollen throat, headaches and trouble breathing. Now I have to take a bunch of meds and carry an inhaler. It ***** because I'm tired all the time and this stuff is pricey.