Jump to content

Got electrocuted on stage earlier, I'm probably fine right?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

While I was clearing my stuff off the stage I went to unplug something from a power strip thing when I guess I did something stupid and shocked myself, getting a decent burn on my finger. What I'm wondering is that if I'm not dead already I probably have nothing to worry about at this point right? I've never been electrocuted before and kindof have an irrational fear of it, so I figured I'd ask anyway to be sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

lemme guess:
you got your fingers across the hot/neutral prongs of the power cord? If so, you'll be fine once the scorch heals.

If you got it in one hand and out the other, then you coulda done a little more serious damage....but if you're around to talk about it, you're likely gonna be just fine.

If you wanna swap stories, I could tell my "got accidentally defib'd" cautionary tale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

lemme guess:

you got your fingers across the hot/neutral prongs of the power cord? If so, you'll be fine once the scorch heals.


If you got it in one hand and out the other, then you coulda done a little more serious damage....but if you're around to talk about it, you're likely gonna be just fine.


If you wanna swap stories, I could tell my "got accidentally defib'd" cautionary tale.

 

That could be it I suppose. I was in business mode at the time though and wasn't really paying attention so I really cant say for sure. I did just feel it in my one hand though so I'm guessing it didn't really go through me or anything. That sounds like a crazy story though, do tell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That sounds like a crazy story though, do tell.

 

 

 

In '82 I worked for the company that got the first AED (automaic defibrillator) through FDA approval.

 

Did some engineering, but mostly tech-work in manufacturing. I was the designated "un{censored} this {censored}ed up unit" guy, and worked many Saturday's on units that the regular techs could not figure out. This particular unit was known to have been wired up horribly wrong in the high voltage section (just basically a defib cap, a HUGE foilcoil for wave shaping, the HV supply, a massive 16 KV relay, a dummy load that should have been across the cap when the relay was at rest, and a 1000:1 divider so mear mortal DMMs could look at the HV cap (5 Kv lives there, when charged). Well, this unit would whine horribly when it charged and could never deliver the 400 Joule charge properly....and smelt of ozone. So it was put in my pile where I dug into it on a Saturday when there was only me and the janitor inthe building. So I start hanging my meter on the 1000:1 divider...looks to be 0.0V...good. So i start tracing out all the wiring which, back in '82, only came in one color : white. No color-coded, highly flexible 6Kv-rated wire yet available. Being a good, safe employee, I use only one hand to trace the wires, and have my other hand 3 feet away on a rubber antistatic mat. Anyway, so I trace wires from the high voltage Supply to the first relay to the cap and.....PHHHHZAP! a brilliant blue arc reaches out from one of the Cap terminals, jumps a half inch and hits my fingertip. The only things I remember from there was seeing the ceiling roll past me, over my head, and a strange sensation like my shouldblades slapped together. (I gueass about) 5 minutes later, the face of the janitor peers down at me thru the fog and says "well, I guess he's gonna be ok...." . I slowly come to and drag my ass into the local Urgent Care facility and tell my story. Once the Doc verified I was alivehe starts asking all these questions like "what did you feel?" and "do you remember any pain?" and stuff like that. I asked him why, and he said "well, you're one of the few people who's ever been defibrillated who might remeber what it was like...you see, everyone else who gets that shock is dead."

 

 

...makes you kinda think.

 

Anyway, he said my shoulder blades probably DID meet somewhere behind my back, due to the massive shock and the ultimate muscle contraction it causes....and oh yeah....my ribs ached for weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

In '82 I worked for the company that got the first AED (automaic defibrillator) through FDA approval.


Did some engineering, but mostly tech-work in manufacturing. I was the designated "un{censored} this {censored}ed up unit" guy, and worked many Saturday's on units that the regular techs could not figure out. This particular unit was known to have been wired up horribly wrong in the high voltage section (just basically a defib cap, a HUGE foilcoil for wave shaping, the HV supply, a massive 16 KV relay, a dummy load that should have been across the cap when the relay was at rest, and a 1000:1 divider so mear mortal DMMs could look at the HV cap (5 Kv lives there, when charged). Well, this unit would whine horribly when it charged and could never deliver the 400 Joule charge properly....and smelt of ozone. So it was put in my pile where I dug into it on a Saturday when there was only me and the janitor inthe building. So I start hanging my meter on the 1000:1 divider...looks to be 0.0V...good. So i start tracing out all the wiring which, back in '82, only came in one color : white. No color-coded, highly flexible 6Kv-rated wire yet available. Being a good, safe employee, I use only one hand to trace the wires, and have my other hand 3 feet away on a rubber antistatic mat. Anyway, so I trace wires from the high voltage Supply to the first relay to the cap and.....PHHHHZAP! a brilliant blue arc reaches out from one of the Cap terminals, jumps a half inch and hits my fingertip. The only things I remember from there was seeing the ceiling roll past me, over my head, and a strange sensation like my shouldblades slapped together. (I gueass about) 5 minutes later, the face of the janitor peers down at me thru the fog and says "well, I guess he's gonna be ok...." . I slowly come to and drag my ass into the local Urgent Care facility and tell my story. Once the Doc verified I was alivehe starts asking all these questions like "what did you feel?" and "do you remember any pain?" and stuff like that. I asked him why, and he said "well, you're one of the few people who's ever been defibrillated who might remeber what it was like...you see, everyone else who gets that shock is dead."



...makes you kinda think.


Anyway, he said my shoulder blades probably DID meet somewhere behind my back, due to the massive shock and the ultimate muscle contraction it causes....and oh yeah....my ribs ached for weeks.

 

 

Damn man that's crazy. The doctor's right though, I can't say I know many people who have been defibed consciously before. That's some pretty serious bragging rights right there but I bet is was frighting as hell when it happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

You haven't lived until you've been hung-up in a T-bar ceiling with 277v going through your flailing carcass.

 

 

Then I'd rather call my life dull, if you excuse me. That doesn't sound like my favourite afternoon delight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You haven't lived until you've been hung-up in a T-bar ceiling with 277v going through your flailing carcass.

 

 

my uncle is an industrial electrician and has been hit twice and hospitolized for extensive periods of time. it shot out his hands and feet if I'm not mistaken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Even just reading about this, I'm having a hundred thoughts race through my mind. I can't even imagine how hard this must be for you, and I'm very sorry. You truly are a brave soul. Live those last hours to the fullest. My mojo will be with you, friend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I work with electricity. We used to let it slide when one of us got shocked, but now we're supposed to go to the hospital. Apparently it can screw with your heart rhythm.

 

 

He couldn't keep a beat before... now his timing is bang on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

At some point in the next week if you feel slight indigestion then that's the dead burned intestine starting to mortify as it blocks your arteries and starves your brain of blood. At that point, I'd stop worrying because it won't do you any good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

concentration, rumination and intentional thinking, all rely on electrical activity in the brain cells. basically you've fried your brain, you may have small to severe memory loss and propable brain damage as well as early dementia and alzheimer's developement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...