Three words: excessive bleach inhalation. Last night was the first time that I decided to use straight bleach to clean the bathrooms. With a ten year old boy and his friends, the bathroom can get some funky odors. So, to try to combat the funk and odors, I had decided to use bleach, once a month, to clean and disinfect. I had made up my mind to do all three bathrooms this way. Bleach has been used to clean and disinfect for decades, so there shouldn't be any harm in using it right? Wrong! Only if you use it in a correct manner. I should have done some research on concocting the correct mixture for the bleach cleaner, but being a tired person that I was, I decided to just go 50% water and 50% bleach in a spray bottle. Boy... let me tell you, that was the incorrect amount to use!
In the first bathroom, I started spraying along and wiping down, rinsing out the towel and wiping down some more when I noticed that my eyes were starting to burn. My thought was, wow, I better turn on the fan and maybe dilute the solution with a bit more water! So, I filled the spray bottle up with as much water as was sprayed out. It wasn't enough. I had gloves on but was barefoot. By the time, I worked on the floor, my feet were starting to burn a bit. Nice!
Moving on to the second bathroom, the biggest bathroom, I sprayed the entire bathtub, sink and toilet. I opened the small window and had the fan on. The fumes were extreme! Worked on those as quickly as I could because by this time, I was overwhelmed by the smell of bleach. Believe me, I was working as quickly as I could. By the time I was done with the floors, I could feel some burning of my nostrils and throat.
The third and final bathroom is a half bath with only a sink and a toilet. The funkiest one of the house. Again, turned on the fan and sprayed around the toilet like a mad woman. Nigel had already cleaned the sink as one of his chores so I wasn't so concerned about it giving my increasingly irritated state. I rushed through and got it done and went to take a rest on the couch for a couple minutes before attempting to tackle the nightly dinner dishes.
While resting, I felt a need to do some research on bleach fumes, so I turned on the laptop and started typing. My exposure to the bleach lasted about an hour. My symptoms from the exposure were nostrils and throat burning, throat felt a little bit swollen and my sense of smell was off. Although, I could smell the funky smell of fish that I had worked on earlier! Darn! Anyways, I looked on the internet and found out that bleach inhalation can be quite dangerous if you do not use a mask. Also, bleach residue can stay on your hands and give off fumes for however long that it is on your skin. If you ever get bleach on your hands (diluted or not), you will feel some slippery feeling on your skin. Wash it off! Might need to work on it for a little bit. Says that lemon or vinegar can help remove the bleach from the skin. As I read on, bleach inhalation causes severe internal damage as well as deterioration to the esophagus lining and lungs, scarring of the respiratory tract and in some cases death!!! Yikes-a-roni! At this point, I thought to contact the advice nurse at eleven o'clock. As I was on hold for the nurse, my thoughts were: You're a freaking dork... what the heck were you thinking... moron!
Nurse asked the preliminary and customary questions and followed-up with the physician on call. Due to my symptoms, they didn't think that it was bad enough for a visit to the emergency room. I was relieved. Their advice was for me to get some fresh air and air out the areas with bleach. However, I was not about to hang out in front of my window or sit in the backyard or porch at eleven in the evening. The weather has been awesome, but I have an even bigger fear of mosquitoes! LOL! No, but seriously, I just thanked my lucky stars and went on with my business. My symptoms subsided a bit as I turned in for the night, but I still feel some after effects at 10:36 this morning. Nose still not working right and throat feels a little bit irritated but not too bad.
Here are some precautions when working with bleach:
1. Use in a well-ventilated area.
2. Wear a surgical mask and gloves.
3. Wear shoes ( I'll remember that one next time!)
4. And if you exhibit any of my symptoms, STOP! (I'm such a dork!) Other symptoms include, coughing, wheezing, nausea, shortness of breath and chest pain.
Oh... I wonder if any of you might know the answer to this question. Does excessive bleach inhalation do anything to breast milk? The doctor and nurse had no idea. Just curious.
Ok... remember, don't be a dork like me... clean carefully!
