For the love of god, don't sniff anything!!! ?

dorsetladette

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The words my manager said as I left the office an hour ago.

I'm currently sat in A&E waiting to be seen. Yesterday i arrived at the horses to find a 25litre container of liquid outside my feed room. Not knowing what it was and the label being unreadable I opened the lid (thinking it might be cattle fly repellent stuff) to have a sniff. It didn't smell of anything, so I had a bigger sniff (just to be sure). Still couldn't smell anything but the pain and burn in the inside of my nose hit me. My eyes were streaming and i felt sick. This passed after about 10 mins. Sorted myself out and then found the label on the back. Its formalin 40!!! Basically formaldehyde!! Its used as a foot bath for sheep if diluted at a ratio of 1:19 with water. So I hid it out of the way of any children and got on with jobs. Found out wear it came from and declined the gift and asked them to take it back. And that was that. Went home with a bit of a head ache but put it down to weather. Head ache still this morning getting gradually worse and my nose is really stinging, the smell of the epoxy at work really hurts.

So anyway, a work of warning to all! Don't sniff stuff in containers left by good intentioned friends, just don't sniff anything! ??
 

PurBee

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So the verdict after ecg, chest xray and various consultants having a chat/chuckle is formaldehyde gas poisoning. Apparently really common in med students when dissecting bodies. So just rest and I should be ok in a few days.

All that from doing 'the sniff test'

crikey - you would think theyd add a disgusting odour to formaldehyde to put people off sniffing it closely, if its that odourless, like they do with gas. Then folk, like you, wouldnt go in deeper for an extra big sniff!

I hope you recover quickly. Did they give any tips on helping it pass quicker…drink more water or something?
 

ycbm

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How on earth could you not smell formaldehyde, though?! Have you had Covid-19 recently?

I hope you're OK.
.
 

dorsetladette

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The scary thing is farmers can buy as much of this stuff as they like without a chemical licence or vet prescription. The doctors said farmers drink the stuff to commit suicide.
 

PurBee

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It stinks!
.

Oh…i didnt realise!

Does it have to make contact with air/oxygen to smell? Daft question but it didn't smell and then it did ?‍♀️

Maybe you have that condition , forget its name - my friends mum had it…she couldnt smell anything….i baked a cake and asked her mum if she liked it, friend told me she cant taste it because she’s got no sense of smell. Maybe you have a mild version of that?
 

dorsetladette

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Oh…i didnt realise!



Maybe you have that condition , forget its name - my friends mum had it…she couldnt smell anything….i baked a cake and asked her mum if she liked it, friend told me she cant taste it because she’s got no sense of smell. Maybe you have a mild version of that?

Could have as I often can't smell smells straight away. Who knows ?‍♀️
 
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