Breathing Difficulty After Using Solder Paste

I've been doing a fair bit of soldering LEDs to aluminium PCBs lately. I'm doing it a fairly "dodgy" way, using an electric frying pan to heat the PCBs, melt the solder paste and the job's done.
I have an electric fan set up to blow the fumes away, but I've been having random bouts of feeling like I'm not breathing as easily as normal.
At first I thought it may have been because of my lack of fitness, but when I thought about it I realised I've been doing more for my fitness over the last few weeks (push-ups, weights, etc) than what I was doing a few months ago, and I never had any problems back then, so now I'm starting to think the fumes from the solder paste may have affected me.

I'm thinking about seeing a doctor, but I don't really know how serious it is, since I'm not having any real "attacks". I can just be sitting there and all of a sudden it feels like I'm short of breath.

Does anyone here know anything about how the fumes affect your respiratory system?

Once, I remember, after hours of soldering in an enclosed space, I had the feeling that it was difficult to achieve a maximum air intake to my lungs, as if I had a limiter on, or something.
I had the same feeling, but many times worse, when I had a tiny breath of the fumes from a safety match flame strike. That was awesome, I really couldnt breathe then. A breath felt like pop-soda(?) in my bronchus.
Once I was cleaning my bathroom with something called "Ciff", a strong anti-everything cleaner. After three hours of cleaning, I felt a strange bubbly feeling in my lungs when I bent down. Had some whistling happening when I blew out lots of air, again, like a limiting factor. That was water in my lungs. A reaction to chemical polluting.
Shortness of air is definitely a reaction to toxic fumes, quite natural, since your body does not want to inhale the gases. I dunno though if it is permanent damage or not. I healed from all the instances.

Regards,
Hamlet

Don’t think, just go and see a doctor. Get any help. Do not wait until you have any real “attacks”.

what is the composition of the solder paste and flux ?
the physical exertion can be affecting you too .
there is another angle to think about ... have you been under any mental stress over a length of time ? a mild "anxiety attack" can have similar symptoms .
you could have a problem that is unrelated to any of the above .

by all means , go to a doc .

ps ... hamlet , god help ya if you got a whiff of ammonia !

Hell ye, ammonia I got a small bottle of it, rather diluted by now.
I used to take a sniff of that when studying during the night. Dunno how strong that stuff can get.

Regards,
Hamlet

It's not stress. I'm fairly relaxed at the moment. No tight schedules at work or relationship problems or anything like that.
I just found it strange that at the time when I was soldering I didn't feel any different but later on the breathing thing started.


The solder paste was 63% Tin, 37% Lead combination, with 9.5% flux. Not exactly sure how the flux percentage thing works.

EDIT: The fumes have nothing to do with lead, right? I've been told it is just the flux burning off.

a similar thing happened to me one time when i was soldering. i spent about three hours of on/off soldering, and breathed in the fumes quite badly a few times. i stopped soldering at about 9PM, and remember the rest of the evening having a funny tight feeling in my chest/throat. the next day it had gone though.

i had a similar thing when i was burning a lot of paper covered in very plastic-like glossy ink. it was making thick grey smoke that was very noticable in the firelight despite it being pitch black outside. i was leaning over the it quite a bit to stoke it up and poke it with a stick, so i breathed in quite a lot. i could also taste the putrid plastic smoke smell in my mouth for hours afterwards. again, it was gone the next day.

how long have you had this for?

in my line of work I use more lead than anyone here by a very wide margin.
lead by itself isnt nearly as bad as the safety nazis report it to be. what can get you are the lead compounds where this element is concerned.
You are likely running into an issue with large quantities of flux fumes.
In my case durring large melts of lead, I walk away and just let it burn off whatever is in it and then clear the dross when the smoke stops.
since you do not have this luxury I recommend one of these.

http://www.grizzlyimports.com/products/Hal...nic-Vapor/G7870

i don't think lead is to blame as i got it with lead-free solder.

also, lead poisoning is generally something that happens in the long term, not something that comes on just after stopping soldering. unless of course, you inhaled virtually pure-lead air, but you wouldn't definately know if you did

you are correct that lead is a cumulative sort of thing.
Its almost a noble element which makes it hard for the body to purge.
as a result, it can build up. its usually not a fast acting toxin unless delivered to the vital organs with a firearm. So, we look to faster acting agents in cases like these, which are usually chemical in nature, like the flux

Soldering fumes contain very little, if any, lead. Most likely you are experiencing an minor asthma attack, brought on by the flux fumes. If the condition persists for more than a day, or if breathing becomes difficult, then seek medical attention.
You should also take additional steps to limit fume exposure, like doing the work outside, or before a window with a decent fan in it.

More info: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=metal+...etal+fume+fever

I called up a poisoning information centre, and they told me to take it easy, stay away from the fumes for a while, and if my problem persists, to see a doctor and possibly get a chest x-ray.

Thanks for the advice guys.

it seems like you are sensitive to the flux or a component thereof .

with the electronic solders , rosin is a main constituent .
some use an "activated flux" , these use a small amount of various chemicals ... ammonium chloride is one that comes to mind .
there are some that use an organic flux that is water soluble .

like eric and a few others here , i have been soldering for maaannnny years and have not experienced any deleterious effects from the fumes .
a large portion of that time was daily exposure for a minimum of 8 hours .