Can inhaling propane gas cause permanent damage? poisoning? Posted: 12-13-07 06:01am
Hello Doc. (hope this is the right
category)
The deal is: I was at a relatives house a
couple of days ago and he had an indoor
gas heater. Im not sure if the gas used by
the heater was propane or butane, but it
was an orange type of looking cylinder
(inside of the gas heater)
I stayed there for 3 hours, while it
slightly smelled like gas. I told him to
shut the heater off after 1 hour, but that
smell still remained.
Im wondering, could this have PERMANENTLY
damaged any of my organs/nerves/etc?
Heart/respiratory system? (considering I
inhaled one of those gases possibly
leaking from a gas heater for 3 hours).
Symptoms I cant really think of, no other
than the feeling of feeling a little
"detached" after I talked to some people
afterwards. But this might not be
necessarily related to the gas.
Please, do I have anything to fear? Could
it affect my athletic abilities? And
lastly can it cause cancer in the long
term: could this incident have
consequences many years from now?
No need to worry. You were exposed to
small quantities of propane/butane gas for
3 hours. This type of environmental
exposure is not enough to harm your body
permanently. Gases like propane and butane
can cause poisoning... but given your
symptoms (feeling a little "detached") it
doesn’t seem likely to me that you were
poisoned.
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