Increased solvent sensitivity?

[MyFinalRest]

I'm no "huffer" mind you and never have and never, never will. I do and have very much more in the past worked with organic solvents that release harmful vapors, i.e paint, stains, mineral spirits, and PVC pipe welding cement and in the past, irresponsibly--little ventilation and lots of skin contact too. Instead of becoming increasingly tolerant of the substances effects I notice that I'm getting very sensitive to these things. Even when I work outside with the substances I can get light headed and generally feel ill if I start breathing them in. I feel better after I get away from it. So what is the mechanism for increasing sensitivity? Is this sensitivity a sign of physical damage to neurons? I've read about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and most report this occuring after being exposed. It makes no sense unless actual nerve damage is occuring or liver and kidney damage is occuring therby interfering with the metabolism of these substances. Otherwise wouldn't your body become tolerant just like a heavy drinker who needs more beer to feel a buzz? Let me know what you think.
Any other solvent stories, including "huffers" welcome too.

 

[sekio]

It's normal negative association being done by your brain, your nerves are fine.

Welding a pvc pipe --> "Hmm, what a funny smell, I probably shouldn't breathe it though" --> you begin to dislike the smell of burning plastic. It could also just be a developed sensitivity - some people are really good at correlating stimuli and "irreversable damage" so they start avoiding it.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is the biggest crock of shit, special-snowflake, "feel-good" diagnosis you could ever give someone. I'm amazed people even use it as a diagnosis if double blind tests show that it's a crock of shit 99% of the time. Unlesss you are breathing an atmosphere of saturated toluene or something for a good 20 minutes, I'd write them off as normal psychosomatic reactions. (In layman's terms, your instinct for self-preservation is kicking in)

The normal response that e.g. synthetic chemists get is that they just lose their sense of smell after working with so much solvent.

 

[MyFinalRest]

I no doubt agree with you, MCS is very flakey. When you "weld" a PVC pipe you don't actually burn and melt it, you use a ketone based "primer" to de gloss and soften the pipe and fitting and then apply a tetrahydrofuran-PVC resin mix cement to bond (sort of melt too) together the stuff. The primer fumes are really noxious, like acetone X10. I am still wary about chemicals and one hit from LSD can illustrate the power of "matter over mind." I think I'll invest in an organic vapor proof respirator until I get into some cleaner work. I got a fucking B.A. for fuck's sake!
Sometimes I have worked in crawlspaced that had blocked vents using shit like this for hours at a time. It very well could be a psy-smtc reaction because the shit is very offensive to be around even if it's not causing harm. I guess working next to a big steaming pile of dog shit would make you feel pretty shitty too even though it wasn't causing any damage.

 

[sekio]

I can imagine most of those solvents smelling pretty nasty but I don't think that e.g. overexposure to methyl ethyl ketone or THF is going to cause permanent damage aside from smelling like solvents after work.
The worst offenders are toluene, benzene, hexane. Stuff with toxic degradation products.
A vapour proof respirator is an excellent idea - it should even say on the MSDS (which I hope you're reading) that it's a good idea to wear one.

 

[MyFinalRest]

Yeah I wiki'ed the solvents and they are considered to have moderately low toxicities. hmmm, didn't know that toulene was that snasty, thanks. Toulene is in lots of stuff unfortunately. Yeah all the products make sure to carry warning labels and advise of respiration equipment, but nobody hardly wears one, but I will gladly. Is it considered unmanly to avoid breathing in that shit all your life and then get cancer and the shakes?
Thanks again sekio.