David Walters

I was talking to a friend who is an anaesthetist about my experience of cyanide poisoning after my Dremel VAPORISED SOME HARD CYANO. The bags under my eyes and my ears turned bright red due to my blood becoming super oxygenated. The ability of my cells to absorb oxygen was impeded by the cyanide. He said I was lucky not to have had a heart attack!  Cyano fumes are nasty. But if you heat up HARD SET CYANO it breaks down, and can release cyanide. Which is even nastier!  

Bung it over here!

Having been to the seaside, I can tell you  there are quite enough Seagulls. With an Extra 300 there would be too many.

I was talking to a friend who is a qualified chemist. From my recollection of what he said, the cyanide in liquid and set cyano is bound in and stable, i.e. safe. When it is a liquid, it in a monomer. When exposed to moisture or kicker, it becomes a polymer, i.e. a long chain. These link together, causing the glue to set solid. But he says he always wondered what would happen if the set glue broke down, e.g. when heated. He says that a cocktail of all sorts of nasty things – including cyanide – could be released. So if you have to drill or cut through the stuff, my advice is wait for a strong breeze, and do it outside! Here is the beatiful Lazy Bee. Who would believe it could gas you with cyanide?!

Hi folks, Thanks for the interesting input on my cyano letter. I have been on hols for a week, and have only just caught up. I would just like to emphasise that AT THE TIME, I WAS NOT USING CYANO. I was using a Dremel to bore through some hard bits, which happened to be previously hardened cyano, causing fumes to come off the work. I didn't have fume extraction set up, as I didn't think I would need it. But I will deffo be more careful in future. Also I have given some thought to my reaction to seeing the bright red bags under my eyes. I just thought "Wow", and went to bed. I didn't shout to my wife who was downstairs. She happens to be a nurse. I think normally, I would have called her. But I didn't. So I think it possible I was acting irrationally, affected by the fumes.

In the interests of research, I am wiling to repeat some aspects of that evening's activities, and will accept test samples of fine Rioja, available at Harrods, sent to me via the editor.

Yep, I'm fine now!

Dave the Cyano kid here. I'm fine now, and felt OK at the time. The red bags under my eyes and bright red ears, ha disappeared by the morning. Maybe cyanide woks a bit like the litmus test. Red=alive. Blue=dead. The blue comment is interesting, as the word cyan apparently comes from the greek wird for blue.  And someone is said to be cyanosed if the have a blue discoloration of the skin, caused by a deficiency of oxygen in the blood. But I was RED. Shocking red! Something weird was going on!  Have a look at http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/doctrine/army/mmcch/Cyanide.htm[i][u] [/u][/i] It says:-  Physical Findings: Physical findings are few and non-specific. The two that are said to be characteristic are in fact not always observed. The first is severe respiratory distress in an acyanotic individual. When seen, "cherry-red" skin suggests either circulating carboxyhemoglobin from carbon monoxide poisoning or a high venous oxygen content from failure of extraction of oxygen by tissues poisoned by cyanide or hydrogen sulfide. However, cyanide victims may have normal appearing skin and may even be cyanotic, although cyanosis is not classically associated with cyanide poisoning.