Editor’s Note: Andrew's story came to us recently, and he offered to let us publish it, so that others could benefit from what happened. He believes that exposure to wet CCA wood may have contributed to some serious negative health problems that he has had over the past two years. Handling wet CCA wood is one exposure pathway that has never been explored fully by the government agencies, in spite of the fact that the CCA formula is water soluble and many CCA victims, including this author, believe they were injured while handling wet CCA wood. Andrew is one of those consumers who is just now beginning to connect the dots between the arsenic in the wood and the mysterious symptoms he has experienced.

The account that follows is presented with minimal editing. We will continue to update this story as it progresses.
============================================================================================


November 29, 2003

I had just recently heard about the potential problems with CCA treated lumber, and as I researched it, things have started coming together over health problems I have recently experienced. I was a healthy, 46 year old male.

In the summer of 2002, I purchased CCA treated lumber from a major home improvement store. I recall the lumber being very heavy and wet. No precautions were given on the use of this lumber. I handled it with my bare hands, and sawed the wood in my garage during several home projects over a two month period.

I soon began to feel dizzy and nauseous with exertion, and my wife pleaded with me to see my doctor. At my doctor's appointment, my EKG was suddenly so abnormal that my doctor put me in a wheel chair and ran me across the street to the hospital, where I spent the next three days undergoing tests. My EKG had been normal three months earlier. Angiograms, ultrasounds, MRI's etc. revealed nothing, and the head of cardiology at Northwestern Hospital released me, scratching his head and assuming it was some type of aortic spasm. He put me on medication and my EKG returned to normal several months later.

Later, I got a call from my doctor and was told that some "suspicious" cells were found in my urine and he ordered a bladder biopsy (not fun) which showed normal. Also during this time, I would occasionally get tremors in my hands, swelling and itching for no apparent reason, and developed constant anxiety which was so bad that I could hardly do my job of 24 years. It's a little better [now], but I'm still under treatment for "General Anxiety Disorder". I've also developed small wart-like bumps on the palms of my hands [Editor's note: possibly hyperkeratosis, which can occur with arsenic poisoning].

Some of my symptoms sound like [there may be] a CCA connection, and the onset of everything at once is suspicious. I plan to discuss this further with my doctor.

Please feel free to share my story on the website. Feel free also to share my real name and e-mail address with the readers. I'd be happy to share any info with others if it helps.

Thanks,

Andrew Wegmann
Beecher, IL
email: aw924@msn.com