Pesticides Linked to RA, Lupus Risk

[stikker]

Medical News: Pesticides Linked to RA, Lupus Risk - in Rheumatology, Arthritis from MedPage Today (http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/PreventiveCare/24625)

This s not the first article I have read about chmcal exposures. I am exposed to chemcals at work. At lot of them are BADDD. Organic solvents(xylene, phenol, chloroform). I would hate to think I got ths because of my work. I like my job but not enough to gve up my health.
It makes me wonder. How many other people have exposure to pesticides/chemicals???

[Brooke]

I lived in an apartment with my husband when we were in college, in the bathroom there was lots of mold under the tub/shower, they replaced the tub but did nothing about the mold. That is when my symptoms all started.

[drz]

I think exposure to toxins probably contributed to my Wegener's. I worked in old building next to a city garbage burner which created lots of toxins. Many of my co-workers got cancer, Wegner's disease, multiple sclerosis and lots of other weird diseases that are supposed to be rare. We also have a large coal burning power plant in town that poisons our air and water. There is warning advisory to not eat fish in our area lakes because of mercury contamination and that is source of our drinking water. Farmers spread poisons on their fields and the run off goes into our lakes and rivers where we get our drinking water. Every day we read about another health problem cause by our destruction of our earth. Today it was how the oil and gas companies have destroyed drinking water in 19 states by a process called fracking. The video showed a person lighting his tap water and it exploded from the kerosene or whatever flammable substance the gas company put into their drinking water. Is there any hope for our future?

[stikker]

I'm not sure there is hope. It makes me glad I don't have kids.
We have destroyed ths planet. We should start looking for a new one soon. Maybe we can leave the planet killers here?

[Geoff]

Wow Stikker, it sounds like a pilot for a new TV series! As long as I get a bright shiny phaser and can sit on the flight deck you can count me in. Beam Me Up!!!

[Sangye]

stikker, can you work from home with your job? If your Wegs was caused by toxins it's going to be hard to get well with continued exposure. Also, it's really not good to be exposed to toxins like that with your treatment. Our livers are doing triple overtime with the drugs we're on.

I believe my Wegs was caused from toxic exposure. I'd had lots of exposure in the past, but when I was dx'ed I was living in a new manufactured home that reeked of chemicals. After living there for 5 months, my otherwise healthy dog developed an unknown, fatal autoimmune disease that looks exactly like Wegs. Two years later I got my first symptoms.

[ScreaminMeanie]

Oh my gosh. I grew up in Florida and my parents had a big, almost 1-acre garden that they routinely doused with pesticides. I picked and peeled, or shelled, and ate those vegetables for 14-15 years. Once I got my own place, no garden, but I had indoor pets. The pets got taken to the vet twice a year for a flea bath. On those days, I would also bomb the house. In early years I used the nasty stuff. In later years, it was the permethrin-based stuff (that comes from marigolds). I don't know how bad that is in comparison.

My first flare started while I was taking a golf class. On a big golf course. Golf courses are some of the most pesticide/herbicide laden spots in the world. Since I had also just treated a big weed patch in my yard with Roundup, I've long suspected a herbicide connection. But I never really thought about all of my repeated exposures to pesticides. EVERYBODY in Florida with pets treated their houses regularly. You had to, or be overrun with fleas. I noticed in later years (post-first WG dx) that being in a house that had been treated with anything but the permethrin-based pesticides would trigger an almost instantaneous sinus infection.

OK, so now I'm away from all of that, but I live next to a sod farm! I don't think they use pesticides (very few bugs here compared to Florida!), but I know they use a lot of fertilizer and herbicides. I have talked to them about my "allergies" and they have agreed to only apply the herbicides on weekdays between 8-5, the hours that I'm away from home.

One other thought: Of the four cats I had while I still lived in Florida, three died fairly young - ages 10-12. One of kidney failure, the other three of intestinal lymphosarcomas. What are the chances of that? (The fourth lived to be 17 and dropped dead of a heart attack.)

Makes me wanna re-think where I live. Too bad I own, not rent. In this economy it would be a beeyotch to sell my house........

[stikker]

I work in a Molecular doing DNA testing for cancer. I can't work from home. I HAVE TO WORK. There is no choice there. I'm between a rock and a hard place. I need insurance so I work and expose myself on a regular basis. Thats probably why I've flared in my first year.

[Sangye]

Don't you use those chemicals under fume hoods?? Make sure your lab gets the fume hoods checked on schedule. I worked as a chemist in my early 20's and found out (after a year) the hoods weren't even working. I'd been exposed to everything from teratogens on down. :sad: