| I just found your site. I was a EVOS worker on
Uganic Island worked for VECO. I was a fisherman and worked clean up for
7 weeks 12 hrs a day 6 days a week. I would have worked for 8 weeks however I was so sick one week I thought I would die. I had a terrible raspy cough for a couple weeks ( I was coughing up blood) then one morning I started puking I puked for hours and then my lungs hurt so bad I could only breath laying on my side. I laid in my tent cabin for at least 3 days wondering if I would make it through the night. I went to the clinic in Larson bay, and they could find nothing wrong. I had a miserable winter the next winter GI problems and fatigue. Seemed to get better, then in 1997 I was terribly bad and have had diarrhea since then, headaches, joint pain , muscle twitching, eyesight deterioration, abdominal pain, muscle spasms, depression, irritability, short temper, and I feel horrible about it it bothers me terribly. tinnitus. and I am sure I have forgotten many other symptoms. But the drs. cannot find anything real bad, my blood tests are in the normal range for everything. I would really like to find some answers and see if I can get some help. life can get pretty hard for me at times! Matt S We have recently left AK I lived there most of my life, but just moved out recently Thanks you for your help |
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| The chemical family that you have to watch out
for is the glycol ethers. (alcohol chemical family). I suspect you have
had new exposures in 97 based on the symptoms. What was different before
the diarrhea etc started up? You may likely find the glycol ether such
as the one most often found: 2-butoxyethanol. It is in carpet cleaning
solutions, in Simple Green, paint, etc The
reason docs cannot find the fatigue is because multiple autoimmune
issues start up and the 'numbers' they rely on don't mean what they
think they do. |
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| I spent 1.5 years in the Philippines working
in a rural village in the jungle from 95-97 I had malaria 3 times
measles, and some kind of intestinal thing, that was never identified.
The diarrhea started early 97 before I came home, then intensified was
terrible I lost about 20-30 lbs in late 97 early 98 back here in the
states, took anti Guardia meds ( flagel) and helped about 50% Began
drinking raw goats milk, and slowly improved over 10 years or so. still
back and forth between constipation and diarrhea, then moved out of AK
in 08, and was in the hospital for severe exhaustion and dehydration,
had bad diarrhea and vomiting. last fall found a wheat intolerance went
off wheat and have found improvement. I was always very healthy until summer of 89, seems from there a cascading number of problems have slowly developed, then after the Philippines worsened slowly recover some, then after the move got worse again, and am now kind of better, but not really. I seem to cycle where I get better for a bit then crash again. it has been very frustrating. I hope that I can find some kind of answers, I think The EVOS is a key component in this whole experience, I think there may be other factors, but I think this was where it started. I thanks you very much for your help. I have felt rather alone and sometimes wonder if it is all in my head! I think the Drs. may start to think that I am some kind of Hypochondriac, but I am sick, I have tried to just push through it, and have for years pushed through it, but have come to the point that now every time I push through it I crash, I end up in a fetal position with extreme nausea and extreme headaches. I do have an alternative Dr. that is good and is helping me, but insurance does not pay for her and so it is out of pocket, and I am struggling financially. I am seeing a regular Dr. and that is covered by insurance, so I would like to see if I can help her with info re this issue. I will print off the your email and take it in on my next visit. thank you again Matt s |
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You are welcome. If your doctor is a humble
woman, you may find her receptive to new views of medicine. But, truly,
I do believe the flu symptoms that are blamed on a virus are this
chemical's flu.
Check all your symptoms to what
might be autoimmune issues |
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| The one thing I was wondering is where we where
working I do not recall the use of any solvents. I think it was mostly
exposure to the crude oil. does the crud have the glycol ether compounds
in it, or is that only the solvents? We mostly wiped rocks and shoveled up clumps of seaweed mixed with tar and crude oil sludge. some of that was buried and starting to decompose. I remember the weather was particularly hot that summer on Kodiak and we where sweltering in the rain gear, we also shoveled up clumps of tar on the beachand picked up tar balls. There where also oil slicks on the water and we did handle material used to absorb the oil on the water. The oil on the beach was not as thick as in PWS, but it was surely there. I have definitely had the Chronic fatigue since that time, and bowl distress, it has just increased over the years. the first 10+ years I was able to push through it. I grew up spending much time at our cabin in the bush near Talkeetna and learned how to push through the exhaustion and fatigue when you where in an emergency. but it has come to the point that the harder I push through the sicker I get, I can no longer just push through it. How long does these vapors stay in your breath? (Vapors of the chemical can be in your respiration to get into the eyes) I certainly have noticed a heightened sensitivity to many many
chemicals. I was also a plumber in the early 2000's in Palmer Wasilla
area and the glue would make me terribly sick, everyone else did not
seem to be bothered by it. |
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| What months did you work? The chemicals were also sprayed from airplanes ... COREXIT which is either 38% or 60% approximately of 2-butoxyethanol This was done before the actual beach cleanup So, no, I don't think it was the work you were doing directly, unless you were working August and on Then you would run in to many people directly harmed, and if you were around them too much, you could receive 2nd hand solvent exposure to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (2-butoxyethanol) from them Don't know how long it can be in one's respiration Look at it like this, just as a trooper can test one's breath for drinking alcohol (ethanol) so, too, can this be going on with more complex alcohols High level glycol ethers would be in the plumbing glue Look for what is different IMMEDIATELY before symptoms start up, and you should find some type of glycol ether Corexit was horribly used in excess in gulf of Mexico oil cleanup What Denny Kelso said in 1989 about use of dispersants www.valdezlink.com/re/gulf/dennykelso.htm |
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| I think I was there parts of July, August, and
came home early to mid September if my memory serves me correctly. I got
home a couple weeks before college started which started in late Sept. I
know that it was Sept when we left and headed home, and had worked for 8
weeks, we may have been there for a couple weeks or a month before we
started working, we thought we would be able to fish, but they never
opened the fishery and so we then where hired to work on oil cleanup. We where on a very isolated beach with just my brother myself and the family that owned the fish site, except for 3 or 4 days that clean up crew visited our site and we worked with them for a couple of days I think. But we hauled plastic bags of the cleaned up stuff out to an anchored skiff that the tender picked up. the bags where not sealed they where open and being in the bags and sitting in the sun I am sure there were gases from the crude after it had cooked in the bags. The smell was strong in the skiff as we transported the bags of stuff. I cannot remember when I got terribly sick in relation to the visit of the cleanup crew, it may indeed have been after they where there. I'm sure the EVOS is where this all started for me, I can imagine there has been further exposure as time has gone on, but the picture is becoming more clear as I understand this Matt |
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| You were most definitely
there during the most hazardous part of the EVOS cleanup Is this OK? http://www.valdezlink.com/re/evosworker.htm Was the cleanup group doing any spraying on the beaches? How is your brother doing? Two Barge Workers * <---link December 4, 2011 |