Unsteady Hands

[DUNBAR]

:scratchhead:

When I was young, 16 and just starting to work with my elders in the plumbing business, I used to watch and study the teachers of the trade and how to do things.


Since I started out as a pipe and fitting go getter, pipe cleaner and pipe cutter, I watched those who taught me this great trade and what it is all about.

I used to see that in the older workers that their hands would shake when working. This used to bother me because at the time I could use my hands with much finesse and be steady in all ways.

Not no more. My hands have been starting to shake more and more as I use them and it's becoming embarrassing. I catch myself sliding my hands into motion before holding them in a way where it is more noticeable.

Was just curious if anyone else with their age increase if they happen to see this as a problem or nuisance. This has been extremely gradual and when I see others with this problem, I see it instantly and know what it's like, unfortunately.


I would say from a medical point of view that it's the slow degradation or breakdown of the nerve endings in my hands that's causing this.

Plumbing is hard on the hands, drain cleaning is especially when dealing with the smaller cables. :scratchhead:

[Frankiarmz]

I've got the same thing after years of hard work and punching things, but doctor told me it has more to do with the nervous system. He said cutout the coffee, tea and alcohol. You need to take some time to calm down and give your nerves a rest. Smoking causes damage too! Only way to know if this will calm the shaking hands is to cut back or cut out these things, easier said than done.

[OkieBill]

Old Master plumber in Texas used to tell me when I was a youngster that I should always wear my rubber (latex gloves) when working with PVC / CPVC primers and cements otherwise I would get the shakes like him...

Years later he was diagnosed with Parkensons...

I always wondered if there was some truth to his advice or that the chemicals in some way contributed to his Parkensons.

Make sure and have a regular Doctors check-up Dunbar and let him know your concern.

[Tyman]

Odd that you brought this up, I just noticed my bosses hands shaking the other day. It did make me wonder if my hands would do that someday.

[TOPDAWG]

Old Master plumber in Texas used to tell me when I was a youngster that I should always wear my rubber (latex gloves) when working with PVC / CPVC primers and cements otherwise I would get the shakes like him...

Years later he was diagnosed with Parkensons...

I always wondered if there was some truth to his advice or that the chemicals in some way contributed to his Parkensons.

Make sure and have a regular Doctors check-up Dunbar and let him know your concern.
You also have to worry about inhaling the fumes of many different chemicals,Try to read the MSDS sheets on all the stuff we work with on a daily basis, I'm surprised we as plumbers don't have more problems with are health.

[NHMaster3015]

I dunno. Seen a lot of guys with shakey hands over the years. I play pool with a guy that shakes so bad it's a wonder he can even hold the cue, but he's not a bad player. I'm 53 and my hands are solid as a rock. I think if I had that problem though I'd see a doc and have it checked out.

[aero1]

i agree better safe than sorry.

[ToUtahNow]

I never had a problem with my hands but I did with my elbows when I was in my mid 30s. The doctor said I had to lay off the big stuff because my elbows were shot. I also found working overhead had become very hard. I laid off as much as I could and started using my end wrenches and offset wrench a little more and larger aluminum wrenches for smaller work. Within a couple of years my elbows were back to normal.

One thing is for sure when you are workin g with your body your body will take a toll.

Mark

Mark

[gear junkie]

Not saying this applies to you but everybody I met with shaking hands hands had either a disease like parkinson's or they were alcoholics whose hands stopped shaking when they were drunk.

[plumberscrack]

My wife mentioned someone odd to me the other day about my hands.

Besides the fact they look 20 years older than the rest of me. When I sleep my hands are always clinched.

Not tight like a fist but still closed. They didn't used to do that.

I also get hand cramps now right in the center of my palm. What's that about?

Sucks getting old :mad:

[Drain Medic]

I know from holding cables and hoses for the last 14yrs. that i have problems with carpel tunnel syndrome. My hands kill me at night to were i cant even open or close them. I have to soak them in hot water every once in awhile.

No problems with shaking hands...yet. Just bad knees and a bad back.

[PLUMBER RICK]

typically when i break concrete all day, i will get a cramp in my forearms that cause my arms to seize/ cramp up and lock.

drain cleaning is ok, until i have to pull jetter hose all day long.

rick.

[Gene Bickford]

I know from holding cables and hoses for the last 14yrs. that i have problems with carpel tunnel syndrome. My hands kill me at night to were i cant even open or close them. I have to soak them in hot water every once in awhile.

No problems with shaking hands...yet. Just bad knees and a bad back.
You should try one of those wax machines, 10 X's better then the hot water.

[DUNBAR]

Not saying this applies to you but everybody I met with shaking hands hands had either a disease like parkinson's or they were alcoholics whose hands stopped shaking when they were drunk.



Me? I don't have no drinkin' problem! 2908



The shaking isn't real bad in the mornings, it's after a day's work where I've been doing a lot of work involving 1/2" copper pipe or the like, tightening up items with smaller wrenches.

I've been using those Auto-Cutters in 1/2" and 3/4", I hate to say this but I've pretty much quit using my ridgid mini-cutters. So much easier on the hands and less cramping. I can get those auto-cutters practically anywhere.

Bought a set when they first came out and that was years ago, they got rusted up and quit using them. Sometimes I move away from using good tools for no rhyme or reason why.

[Herk]

As I approach 60 (in August), I find myself thinking how lucky I am that I'm in such good shape. Sure, I have pains, which I've simply gotten used to. I have a lot of pain in hand joints, moreso after I work with channelocks all day.

I've injured my back, too, but healed pretty well from it, and the symptoms seem to be reduced every year.

I don't have the stamina i used to have. But I still do pretty well. I still take stairs two at a time. If I work on a ladder, my feet will hurt the next day.

Shaking could be as simple as a need for calcium. Or it could be too much caffeine. Right now, I'm steady as a rock after the morning mocha. And good-looking too!

[gear junkie]

Did you guys see the latest issue of Cleaner? Solo plumber still running his business at 84.

[libbyloulou]

Do you also get "white finger" ? big claim in the uk, vibration.

[SlimTim]

My dad who roughed in several floors of the Baptist hospital here in the 1950's has had "white finger", throat cancer and other ailments that he attributes to all the lead he used to wipe and pour and test with his bare finger to see if it was hot enough (ok, maybe you can add early brain damage to that)

I started reading this thread because just today someone commented on how my hand shakes. It always has. And both of my brothers as well. He called it "familial tremors"
I always thought it was low blood sugar (that would always justify another doughnut)

[HVAC HAWK]

to much coffee that will make your hands shake :eek:

i get cramps in my hands when i work with copper for a couple days ,its from all the cleaning . then i get tennis elbow when doing that and working with pipe wrenches a lot .

[libbyloulou]

What's the average age of you guys?

[plumberscrack]

What's the average age of you guys?

^^^^^^^^-------How old do I look?

I firmly believe that for every 5 years of plumbing you lose 1 year off your life expectancy

[DUNBAR]

What's the average age of you guys?


I'm heading towards 40 but I already know that I need to move out of the "hands on" of the business, fast.




I firmly believe that for every 5 years of plumbing you lose 1 year off your life expectancy


Between physical duration, chemical exposure and enviornmental hazards, I wouldn't doubt that for a second.

Any time you start busting into a plaster wall, that's possible asbestos exposure.

Any time you are working with glue and cleaner dealing with plastic pipe, your dealing with harsh chemicals that affect the nervous system.

Any time you deal with sewerage or human byproducts, you're being exposed to the nastiest of nasty, all of it just being one cut/puncture/tear in the skin away from doomsday when it comes to harmful bacteria, disease.

Any time you are working with the tools of the trade, most of the items we use are heavy, cumbersome and difficult to use at times that provide hidden dangers in the everyday work schedule.

Any time you are dealing with the products that are used everyday in the profession of plumbing, a good deal of the products are heavy, awkward to move or carry and most times consider a second set of hands. This is where those who work for themselves and employees of plumbing companies get forced into doing things outside a normal parameter that sets up the potential risk of injury.


I sound like I'm trying to talk myself out of a job but I'm really not. :joyful:I'm just aware that I'm on borrowed time with being out in the field. I know it, my customers know it, all my friends and acquaintences and business friends know it. Being a hero sayin' "I can do it" isn't what it is all cracked up to be. At some point I have to use my head the same way it got me to where I'm at today and realize that no one pulls away from this profession without war scars and battle injuries.

I think my first employee I'm going to use as a punching bag. Make him proud and make him big and strong like I once was. :wave2:

[gear junkie]

Steve, how do you manage to maintain such an optimistic attitude?

[DUNBAR]

Steve, how do you manage to maintain such an optimistic attitude?


No matter what life's hardships get in the way, only myself has the ability to reach the goals I'm after. No one is going to hand it to me, nobody is going to die and leave me a fortune (I checked the entire family tree) and I have no desire to stop even when the tires fall off.


Being kicked out of the union illegally with not one plumber within a 3 state area willing to hire you was the birth to do what no one else will do for me, and that's to accomplish what I've always wanted; Independent thinking which spawns personal success. I don't mind being the poster child for obesity and poor health when I get to go where I'm destined to be. That place might be very insignificant to some but not to me. None of what I'm writing involves lavish living, luxury homes, tons of materialistic items. I want financial security till my ending....that's it.

[westcoastplumber]

No matter what life's hardships get in the way, only myself has the ability to reach the goals I'm after. No one is going to hand it to me, nobody is going to die and leave me a fortune (I checked the entire family tree) and I have no desire to stop even when the tires fall off.


Being kicked out of the union illegally with not one plumber within a 3 state area willing to hire you was the birth to do what no one else will do for me, and that's to accomplish what I've always wanted; Independent thinking which spawns personal success. I don't mind being the poster child for obesity and poor health when I get to go where I'm destined to be. That place might be very insignificant to some but not to me. None of what I'm writing involves lavish living, luxury homes, tons of materialistic items. I want financial security till my ending....that's it.




now that is very well put.:way-to-go: