Fear of asbestos

[Puddleduck]

I have always had a fear of asbestos from a young age, I think it stems from a talcum powder contamination in the 1970’s when we were young children, my mum got stressed by the news reports and washed down everything.
Anyway my partner has been decorating our utility room over the last few days and the first day there was a fair amount of dust, I am freaking as he removed a few floor tiles and I know they did contain asbestos in the past , although as house was built 1983 it is less likely to, my partner has been very care about damp dusting mopping up afterwards. He has tried to reassure me and say that tiles weren’t fibrous like or dusty but the dust was just general DIY dust.
I am in a state today thinking how best to clean house as I am terrified it’s all over house although I wet mopped laminate floors again last night, there is carpet in dining room, stairs and upstairs and I don’t know if ok to vacuum.
I have children in house and particularly worried as one of them does have aspergillus allergy, had a really worrying time with him as the paediatrician was thinking he had cystic fibrosis last year, fortunately his tests show he is a carrier.Since Thursday when DIY started I am finding it difficult to eat, sleep is disturbed and I feel very shaky.
I looked at getting doctors appointment but there are only telephone ones and they are not for a couple of weeks.

[Fishmanpa]

I know your anxiety won't allow you believe it, but even in the off chance a tile may have contained some asbestos, there's no way there would be enough to contaminate a room no less an entire home to the point of causing a problem :shrug: To go to the doctor over this is an exercise in futility and waste of money.

Positive thoughts

[Puddleduck]

It crossed my mind to go to the doctors but In all honesty I wouldn’t have booked an appointment even if there was any available as I would rather it went to someone more in need of it.

[unsure_about_this]

Hi I know what you mean about doctors appointments, I had one a few weeks ago a phone call via telephone, does the doctor pratice you attend you can book appointments via the internet so you can see the doctor, so you can get pass the gatekeepers reception staff.

I first heard about asbestos back in 2002/2003 which were not allowed in the training provider for a few weeks due to asbestos was found in the roofing, the training asssesor should have not mention cancer. I think it was due to health and safety as well where we could not attend, so we ended up at the companies where we were doing our placements, this please others and others did not like it. I was on the fence, I prefer to have been given to work from NVQ question book to do at home.

[Puddleduck]

Anybody else who can talk me down from the anxiety related to asbestos, I have five years of worry dealing with serious issues with my children, husband, elderly parents and feel that is why I have crumbled and getting in such a state.

[lofwyr]

The other thing to remember about asbestos is that as dangerous as it was to a whole population when numbers are taken in aggregate, to the individual the danger risk is still quite low. The press and legal teams have done a lot to make the danger much more dramatic than it really is. I know people who worked directly with it for decades who are fine.

I am not saying one should avoid exposure--that goes without saying. But I am saying a lot of the time the exposure that has caused illness is long term and systemic. Brief exposure, while it should be avoided, is not particularly a huge increase in danger.

[hope_girl]

I can so relate to your fear! Being a parent makes the anxiety worse because you feel responsible for your children's safety. I have found that my health worries are really just me trying to control the future. The more reassurance you seek, the more you reinforce the fear. At least, that's been my experience.

That said, it is important to activate the logical part of your mind. This is the part that says things like; The probability of X happening is so low.. This is irrational... Because once you can start thinking those thoughts you can help calm that irrational, out of control fear.

I was certain our popcorn ceilings were asbestos. My kids would throw balls up and hit the ceiling and make it "snow". I was petrified. We wanted to have them removed, so I had them tested. I was absolutely certain they would contain it because my house was built before the ban on asbestos. BUT, they came back as having zero asbestos. I spent all that time worrying over nothing. Isn't that the case though 98% of the time?

I poured over the internet and I remember finding out that you can even EAT asbestos. It's inhaling it as it falls that is harmful. But even that takes a lot of exposure. Not a small DIY project. This is not doctor worthy. There are people who for a living scrape popcorn ceilings, knock out walls in old homes, etc, etc. Unless you're having a dust cloud of stuff all around you because of constantly knocking out walls, you're fine.

Try and deal with the anxiety though. Bc that's what the real issue here. It's not really about the asbestos. :hugs: