Moms dealing with elevated lead levels - Page 28

[GooeyRN]

Yes, lead SUCKS. I hate it. The most important thing is keeping your kid healthy. It just really sucks that you may never be able to sell your house if you NEED to relocate. I freaking hate lead. Look a few pages back and see milkmommies story. She just bought her house here by me a few years ago. It sucks!!!!! You spend all your money to get a house, then surprise, your kids are sick from the lead and you cant afford to move. And there is not much you can do.

[fancyoats]

well the health department called me back and apparently we are not eligible for a lead inspection from the health department unless she gets two blood level readings higher than 15. the fellow was super nice and talked with me for 40 minutes. most of the information he gave me was not new, however....and he said that if we were to find a private contractor to perform the inspection, they would likely just tell me to do the same exact things that he was telling me (clean with wet rags, change out the water in the bucket frequently, etc) especially since all the paint is intact, and the obvious known source (refrigerator) had already been removed.

so we are back where we started, kinda.

now all i have to figure out is how the heck am i going to clean the house while taking care of a crawling/almost-walking 11 month old?

[superfastreader]

subbing--11 at 12mo :

[fancyoats]

we just got the results of the retest they did at dd's 12 month visit.........her lead level is down to a 7!!!! down 10 points in 2 months!! hooray!! ::::::::::

i feel like a ten ton weight has been lifted.....what a great thing to be thankful for this thanksgiving

[GooeyRN]

Originally Posted by fancyoats

we just got the results of the retest they did at dd's 12 month visit.........her lead level is down to a 7!!!! down 10 points in 2 months!! hooray!! ::::::::::

i feel like a ten ton weight has been lifted.....what a great thing to be thankful for this thanksgiving

:

[yaM yaM]

to all the mamas & babes dealing with high lead levels.


I am confused about lead levels and wonder if anyone can lead me to a resource or two. I had my & my children's blood tested for lead back when the wooden toy paint stories were in the news (plus we live in an old house). My kids tested low, fortunately, but my doctor said that my level was "on the high side" and said it was 2.1.

Now I'm learning that "high" lead levels are much higher than 2.1 and I feel confused by the doctor's response. I can't seem to find any online charts about what is considered average and I have found an article that talks about how people with lead levels higher than 2.0 tend to develop heart issues, etc. later in life.

[AnoriensMom]

Testing at 2.1 does not seem high at all to me.

My daughter's first test results were 31. I know the state where we were living at the time (MD), did not provide any kind of assistance for anything under 10. And I thought I read somewhere that it is nearly impossible now to get a zero lead test result, because lead has been in so much stuff for so long. With my second child, we had already moved out of that horrible house before I was even pregnant, and his 12 month lead results just came back at 2 (or was it 3?) and the doctor didn't even bat an eye.

That seems strange to me that your doctor would be alarmed. He's not prescribing chelation is he!!!
You said your kids tested low, but you were high at 2.1. What were their results? And I am surprised that you found something saying that people develop health problems with lead levels over 2. I think they need to be much much higher than that.
So far with my daughter (now 5 yo !!) everything seems to be good.

Hope this helps.

[abemom2]

What is High lead in Hair Tests?

I have an appointment in 2 months with the doctor, and I'm going to ask him to test for lead for all my kids. None of my kids had it yet, and I never realized it was so widespread. In Canada......

However, my oldest had a hair test done reccently, and the lead came out to 0.93. The range is under 1. Is this considered high?

(I need to decide how to chelate- through DMSA, or homeopathhy.... because he is somewhat Mercury toxic. High Arsenic, Silver; medium aluminum, lead, antimony, tin.)

Should I be very worried already?

Thanks, Ana

[yaM yaM]

Espresso ~ what were you about to post? I am not understanding your response.


AnoriensMom, thanks for your feedback. I agree with you and wonder what they were talking about at the doctor's office. I am even wondering if they even know what they were talking about as it would not be the first occurrence of them giving me erroneous information.

My kids tested at a level that was too low to detect, according to the doctor's reading, and they said that that means they are considered low.

[abemom2]

Anyone know about the levels of lead in regard to the hair test?

Thanks, Ana

[staceychev]

I don't know about the hair test for lead. I've read some varying things on the 'net about it. There is definitely controversy about whether it's good for lead or not (while acknowledging that it's good for other analyses). Personally, I'd do a blood test.

[AnoriensMom]

We never had hair tests done...

[berkley]

I feel better than I did last night, after receiving a certified envelope from the DOH yesterday afternoon. DS (12.5mo) had a level of 10 last week.

We moved in last November after having done half the renovations in the house, did some more while living here... never cleaned like they recommend doing. Never knew we should. You just don't realize how it can end up. The pediatrician wasn't even pushing for screening but I knew we were high-risk... but no one (not even in NURSING SCHOOL!!) tells you what that means, or how to combat lead exposure.

And here I am thinking I'm being a good mom by not washing his hands all the time, letting his immune system develop, not being neurotic about cleaning...

Well now. The house is getting cleaned from top to bottom, we bought a HEPA vacuum, we're wet-mopping like crazy. We'll be changing our methods of renovation (and perhaps leave while renovations occur).

I don't know if we qualify for NY state assistance/loans/etc for lead removal, and can't find any information about it online, but I know low-income folks can qualify for it. We did a couple home tests of surfaces and found that paint we thought was OK ISN'T!!! And paint we were concerned about might not be a problem... a decent amount of peeling or chipped paint, didn't realize the dust was probably more of a problem... carpet we'd only used an awful vacuum on... ugh

We bought the house from my FIL who said he "painted over all the lead" but it appears he may have painted it over WITH LEAD PAINT :: :cry because he probably had some lying around. WTF. DH doesn't want to leave the city (upstate NY), can't afford to leave, can't afford to stay in our home. Don't know how much it's going to cost to cover over it or remove it, don't even know the hot areas. Scary to know it could be ONE location. And we didn't test for lead before moving in, dumb us. And didn't research it. FIL felt sick last night that his grandson might be in danger, but today he went on and on to me about how there's always "something else" that's a danger, yadda yadda yadda. : like cigarettes (he's 83 y/o, but he QUIT smoking because he knew it was a health risk! All the chemicals and stuff he says, "I'm still here and I'm FINE!!!"

So we're making sure diet stuff is good, we've plastic-ed off unfinished areas full of construction dust, we are changing plans for re-doing the kitchen.

But man. And should DS and I be gone while we decontaminate?

Thanks for being a place to vent. I've had a profile here at MDC for over a year, but never posted. But I need it now.

[staceychev]

Hugs to you. I know that sick feeling in your stomach, the guilt that you could've done something. You can't beat yourself up about it. You're doing great.

About being out of there: when Lucy had her lead poisoning, the doctor told me that, depending on what the county lead inspector said, we might have to be out of the house during the course of her treatment. There was no renovation going on in the house at the time, so that wasn't a worry. But, we were renovating another house and had plans to move that month which we pushed off for six months just to be safe. My feeling is that, yes, you should be gone during contamination.

[berkley]

Stacey, thanks.

things are going OK here - DS and I have been out of the house since Sunday night, DH has been home and working, as well as having 2 folks working full-time on cleaning and lead-elimination rather than renovation I'm glad it's in progress - all carpet should be gone by now, and most o the rooms have been cleaned using the post-construction protocols (though secondary bedrooms upstairs haven't been cleaned yet).

The goal is to get lead encapsulated or removed in a couple important rooms before we move back. Rough times. I miss home. Poor DS's world has been turned upside down (though he is loving being around other kids, his schedule is all off and he's not sleeping properly - just now getting close to his normal nap schedule and getting to bed earlier than 10pm!). And in other ways, it's really going fine. just miss home, y'know?

[staceychev]

Well, hang in there Sylva. Ezra is about the same age Lucy was when she was diagnosed. It's a monumental thing, but it'll end!

[letniaLynne]

DD2 Tested 17 for lead. Anyone else dealing with this?

Hi Galls,

Just found this thread:
My DD2 who will be a year tomorrow has tested high for lead. We had an inspection done this week also by a certified lead team (they brought that paint testing gun and took dust, dirt and water samples). It looks like it is from our chipping paint in little places all though out the house and possibly a few door inside that stick causing lead dust. Anyone else dealt with this by just spot touching the paint even though it will look horrible I just don't think we have the time or money to paint everything in total just the spots that are chipping? we will have a pocadotted house for awhile!!:

[Debobu]

Hi All,

Just fond this thread too.

I am waiting to get back results for my son's lead test and I am soooo scared I am llterally sick to my stomach.

We live in an old house with lead trim also and we decided to have 2 "clean areas" where my DS crawls/plays and we wear slippers that are only in those rooms so we don't track any paint chips (although paint is in ok condition).
Monday we decided to do a home test on the old tub where DS bathes and it came back positive. They had told me about the lead in the tub many yrs ago but it didn’t really register that it would be a problem! My DH and I discussed this months ago but it just didn’t register or occur to us about lead in tub going to water to toys to mouth and so on…..
We were so focused on the paint we didn’t think about this (even though I am pretty obsessive about these things) and now I feel awful and stupid. I am always an “on it” kind of person when it comes to safety and I feel sooo guilty and sad I don’t know what to do with myself. : (

Don’t really know what to do with myself now-feeling paralized!!!!!

[staceychev]

I feel terrible for you, Debobu! I didn't have to wait for my daughter's first lead test (because it was routine, and we had no inkling she'd have lead poisoning), but each subsequent one, especially the ones right after her chelation treatment, were terrible. When do you expect the results back?

Keep us posted!

[Debobu]

Thanks for your concern....Tomorrow or Friday we should know.
Hoping my breast milk gave him some protection....