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Polyurethane glue reaction

| Posted in General Discussion on December 1, 2001 11:56am

*
Tonight I used two bottles of a moisture-curing polyurethane glue (first time) to glue-up two garden gates. I noticed a headache, but then my wife came out and encouraged me to look in a mirror. I was beet red, (face and arms) and a rash was developing on my neck and sides.

The bottle said “if rash or breathing difficulty occurs, call a physician immediately. . . .

I didn’t, but opened the doors and windows to the shop (it’s 70 degrees in Atlanta now) and slowly resumed my normal appearance – still got the head though!

Sound familiar? Is this a real problem or an interesting phenomenon?

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Replies

  1. Rich_Watkins | Nov 28, 2001 08:25am | #1

    *
    Was that anthrax brand adhesive?

    1. nathan_wegemer | Nov 28, 2001 09:40am | #2

      *If you can still read this, I'd call a physician immediately. In your case, it sounds like a real problem, but from my side of the continent, an interesting phenomena...

      1. Phill_Giles | Nov 28, 2001 09:48am | #3

        *It happens. I've also seen someone nearly asphyxiate while standing near where they were mixing some thinset. No matter what you're using, somebody's bound to be alergic to it.

        1. Thaddeus_Raven | Nov 28, 2001 08:01pm | #4

          *Go to an allergist and find out. Better to know for certain than to have a doctor kill you by putting latex gloves in a wound then using glue sutures and giving you anaphylactic shock. When I was in preschool we'd eat peanut butter by the quart pail. Now my son's kindergarten has segregated cafeteria tables that are peanut free. I was visiting a shop where some exotic wood from Burma was going through the planer and I developed a contact rash just like poison ivy. Yet I've never had a problem with Gorilla Glue etc. Find out because if this first episode was a sensitising event then the next time may be a hospital run.

          1. Forrest_McCanless | Nov 29, 2001 08:35am | #5

            *Well, tonight I made the crowns that go over the gates - used a different brand of glue - the expensive one! I opened up the doors, but my arms turned red pretty quick, but no headache and not so much red in my face - kinda pink, ya know.So, basically, I didn't die. I think years of using the Great Stuff foam may have sensitized me - I think it's also polyU.Love the glue, though. I trimmed out the door arches today - (5) 5/8" layers of yellow pine, segmented into a semicircle. My trim scrap, as thin as 3/16 at some points, looks like art, and is stronger than you would believe. I like the gap-filling.

          2. Bill_Brennen | Dec 01, 2001 11:08am | #6

            *Bhopal, India. Methyl isocyanate. Related chemistry to PU glues, foams. Be careful.Bill

          3. FredB | Dec 01, 2001 11:55pm | #7

            *Don't be in denial. You had a significant allergic reaction, or at least from your post that is what it appears to be. Walk, don't run, to your Doc. Give him the story and the bottle you were using. If you can get the MSDS in advance to give him too that would save you some money and him some time.Above all don't use the stuff again until you have had competent, Not Breaktime, medical advise. You might luck out. Or, it might bring on severe anaphlaxis. At this point no one knows for sure what happened. But believe me you don't want anaphlaxis!

  2. Forrest_McCanless | Dec 01, 2001 11:56pm | #8

    *
    Tonight I used two bottles of a moisture-curing polyurethane glue (first time) to glue-up two garden gates. I noticed a headache, but then my wife came out and encouraged me to look in a mirror. I was beet red, (face and arms) and a rash was developing on my neck and sides.

    The bottle said "if rash or breathing difficulty occurs, call a physician immediately. . . .

    I didn't, but opened the doors and windows to the shop (it's 70 degrees in Atlanta now) and slowly resumed my normal appearance - still got the head though!

    Sound familiar? Is this a real problem or an interesting phenomenon?

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