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Diabetes Complications and other Conditions Other Conditions
21

Thanks Natalie.

Both my son and I were tested. His came back at 3.6. I do not have my results yet.

If you impute the 1/2 life of lead twice, my son’s lead level should have been in excess of 15 just over 4 years ago. Enough for it to be poisoning, but not necessarily high enough to show immediate symptoms.

According to the EPA, any building made before 1940 is presumed to contain lead unless proven otherwise. The lead paint they used back then had as much as 50% lead in the paint. Some paints even had arsenic added as well.

I am trying my best to get some government agency to come out and officially test for lead. It is a huge struggle to get them to do anything. They would rather protect the landlord due to revenue collected in the form of taxes than to protect an innocent child.

It’s supposed to be ‘lead poisoning prevention’. Where is the prevention??

Once lead is confirmed and not presumed, then I can go to court regarding the damage to my son’s health.

Even if the premises were entirely free of lead, my landlord still must repair the peeling paint, which he had 10 years to do and hasn’t even started it.

None of this addresses the loose asbestos in the building. Or the roof leaks. Or the chimney that is due to fall over right on top of where I sleep. Or any number of the other 20ish problems with the premises.

I rent from a slumlord and can’t afford to move. I can’t move anyway until the EPA finishes their investigation.

What might motivate my landlord to get off his lazy cheap butt is for child protective services to get involved. If they make me remove my son from the premises because of hazards (endangerment) then we go to court asap. If they don’t make me remove my son then they will at least have an official document stating the condition of the premises. Again, that can be used in court as well.

All this stress is jacking up my blood sugars far higher than I usually have.

I had to up my insulin 33% this morning and my blood sugars were still 60 points higher than they should be.

I am having heart palpitations, can’t sleep, depressed, etc over all this.
If I lose this battle, we are screwed. No future landlord will want to rent to us so we would be stuck in slummy rental units forever.

A bleak outlook indeed.

About lead based paints - they are illegal after 1978 for both indoor use and outdoor use.

The pictures I uploaded are just a few of them bad places.
I have indoor one’s as well.

Interesting that the health department sent their ‘people’ to investigate for rehab work, walked right past the peeling paint and didn’t say a word.

That is not right. So I notified the State Health Department about this. They are a little interested in what happens. At least they didn’t shun my complaints like the other departments.

Why does it have to be so hard to live in a clean, safe, and sanitary place? Why is it so hard to get the agencies to cooperate with safety and health issues? Why is it so hard to get justice for my little boy?

He is the one who is suffering.

Even if lead killed me today, at least I had a somewhat full life. My son is just starting out with his.

Painting over existing lead paint with regular paint is an unapproved encapsulating material. The EPA has specifications as to what is useable.

Have to run for now. Very tired here.

22

I have type II, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, GERD, and arthritis. At least that’s all I can remember right now.

23

Zolar1, are you able to afford this so you can send the EPA some unofficial lead tests?

http://www.leadinspector.com/

Also, note that lack of sleep often raises your blood glucose.

24

I could afford the small test kit, but have no way to order anything online. No CC, checking, etc. I go through life paying cash only.

As long as the test kit doesn’t require removal of samples it should be OK.

Initially, the epa will be checking his paperwork for compliance. Since we never signed anything, he is automatically guilty of federal law. Whether or not they punish him is another matter.

I am finding out that this issue is a touchy subject and that no one wants to do what is right and proper.

I feel they should throw he book at him. Slumlords deserve the harshest punishments. You guys still haven’t see the other pictures or any of the other problems.

25

Zolar1,

I’ve seen enough asbestos and leaking roof problems already that, I’m not particularly interested in looking at pictures of more.

Looks like you can only get the test kit if it’s also sold in your area.

26

Just got my lead test results back today. Came back at 2.1 .

My son’s was 3.6 . No telling what it was 4-6 years ago. But I am quite sure it was more than 3.6, probably 15 to 25 I estimate.

For some reason I am in a lot of whole body pain today. I’m racking my brains on the cause(s). And seeing a doctor is a bit of an expense.

27

Zolar1,

I was more concerned with the landlord going to prison and halting any repairs on the property. You haven’t mentioned any reason why you should go to prison also.

As for samples, has enough of the paint flaked and fallen to be suitable samples?

You might consider testing the tap water also if you get a test kit that can test water.

You may also want to consider a test for arsenic.

http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/618602/main.html?ic=506016

http://www.essortment.com/arsenic-poisoning-symptoms-treatments-63413.html

28

Zolar1,

Scroll down here for some information about whole body pain.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/body_pain.htm

29

Sorry, It was a typo. Instead of ‘we’ it should be ‘he’.

Someone will abate the problem whether it is my landlord or someone else. If he went to prison then his wife or son would take over and follow the court order that will be made.

If someone bashed your kid in the head and caused permanent damage, all the while robbing you, what justice would you want? Lead poisoning is like that. A serious injury leaving lifelong permanent damage.

If your son was poisoned by an unscrupulous slumlord, what justice would you want him to receive? Should the landlord just be given a slap on wrist and told ‘now don’t do that again’ or be given the maximum punishment?

How about this: if your landlord shot your kid, then what justice would you want? Ignoring obvious lead poisoning sources is like playing Russian roulette. Eventually someone will get hurt. My son just happened to be the one.

Let him go to prison for life. It may not help my son but it will send a clear message to other slumlords as to what will happen if they risk seriously injuring an innocent child.

My wife is deeply hurt (emotionally) that our son is permanently handicapped because of something that was entirely preventable.
And I not only am hurt, I am quite mad about the whole thing.

It seems that the government is only there to protect the landlord, not the children - or they would have sent someone out to address the problems. There is no prevention in the lead prevention programs. Only prevent others from getting sick after the fact.

Each day that goes past and my landlord ignores the problems is another day of Russian roulette.

30

Hello, Pinkyspurse! I’m new here but old on other sites! :slight_smile:

How are you doing, my friend?

31

Zolar1,

I just looked toxic tort and found this web page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_tort

It suggests that you should also check your area for mold. If you find any add that to the list of items you report to the EPA.

Also, I suspect that you are now familiar enough with toxic torts to decide if lead poisoning should be added to their list, and possibly even do the adding.

32

I sent the EPA pictures of just about everything, including one picture of black mold in a corner of an unoccupied apartment.

Due to the high volume of complaints the epa gets, it can take months for them to do anything.

Also, they told us they usually do not provide information about an investigation into title 1018 violations.

I am quite sure that they take our requests as a potential for a lawsuit.
Doesn’t matter. He never did the paperwork, the place is not habitable, and my son was exposed to lead.

If we get enough information then we can sue our landlord. Maybe our son will get money for a lifelong treatment of medical problems.

The health department still refuses to come check for lead.

We contacted a lawyer that handles these problems nation wide. Have to see if he wants to take the case or not.

33

We received an email from the state health department. It seems that they cannot force the local health department to do anything unless a child under 6 has documented lead poisoning.

My 8 year old son is now screwed for life…

34

Do any of your neighbors have children under 6 that would be worth testing for lead poisoning? If they have it, would that be enough to force the local health department to do something for your child also?

Does that stop the state health department and the EPA from doing anything?

35

Out of all our landlord’s buildings, we are the only family.

The state will not do anything either.

Who knows what the EPA is going to do. I suspect a mere slap on the wrist for my landlord.

I hate ‘Teflon’ landlords. Surely there has to be some justice in this world.

I may still have one or two cards left to play yet.
If I can get just one of them to stick, then my landlord can be held accountable.

It’s pretty much a waiting game now.

36

Ok, so I’m going to start dividing the forum into categories. This is a little difficult since most diseases fall into more than one category, so I’ll try to make it as simple as possible.

1 Like
37

I think I’m done with the discussion categories. Let me know what you think under Feedback/Suggestions!

38

I’m a type 1 diabetic and colon cancer survivor. It is a goal of mine to encourage others to live healthy, active lifestyles despite living with chronic disease. I want to reach new limits and redefine what it means to be a person living with diabetes, cancer or other illnesses.

39

Thanks for the invite Pinky. I will be back later to tell u guys more. Drs appotiments all day today what can I say???

40

Saw my endo yesterday. My A1C went up to 5.7 . My blood pressure shot up from normal to 142, my cholesterol is sky high now, and I am having more chest pains than usual.

Doc upped my insulin from around 15-20 units to a whopping 140 units per day. I had to ask her for cholesterol meds (statins).

I have to see another doc for diagnosis on rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.

My diabetes status has been downgraded from just a type 2 to a type 2 with complications.

Falling apart here…