Breathed in plastic

[ParanoidPlastic]

Hello. I had just finished making myself some lunch, and had moved the skillet off of it's burner and turned it off. Being stupid and tired, a few moments later as I was cleaning stuff up while I let my meal cool, I had forgotten the burner itself hadn't cooled and moved a plastic bag of cheese onto it. A split second later I realized my mistake, yanking the bag off. But it was too late. It had been broken open, all the cheese covering the stove top on top of a little bit of the bags plastic. A bit of cloudy white smoke came off of the pile as I quickly worked it clean it all up.

I got as much as I could, and about a minute later opened one window and activated the ceiling fan before sitting down and eating my meal. At the dining table. In the kitchen. After finishing my meal, I went to my computer to figure out how to clean up plastic and such, where I saw something that made me freeze. Burnt plastic causing a quick death, cancer, etc. I went into a panic. I had already known that burnt plastic could cause all this, but for some reason it hadn't entered my mind. I instantly went into a frenzy search on the topic, some people saying you'd be fine, others not so much. Eventually I ran from my chair and opened all my windows, turned on the stove fan(Which I should have done in the first place) and ran outside to my back porch and began breathing in as much fresh, clean air as I could.

I called my mother, a nurse and told her all this, where she instantly wrote me off despite how much of a panic I am and the fact that burnt plastic is bad for you. She hung up on me, and I'm stuck in the house worried sick.

Now, I don't know how much is required to breath in, but I'm guessing I breathed in a lot due to the amount of time I was exposed and how long it took me to realize my mistake of breathing it in. Though the amount of plastic actually burnt was pretty small... a pretty small section of a rather thin bag of cheese. Though I doubt that matters.

It's been about an hour since first breathing it in, and I have no burning sensation in my lungs, I'm not wheezing, not dizzy. All side effects people listed... the worst I have actually is a knot in my stomach and uneasy feeling due to the panic I'm feeling at the moment because all of this. So, please. Someone? Some help please?

[cheshchesh819]

leave it to cool it should just peel off,if it dont leave it to the pros lol.

[ParanoidPlastic]

...hmmm. Alright. Like usual, I'm still a bit worried, but the two of you have actually calmed me down quite a bit. Much thanks to you both. At the very least that annoying knot feeling in my stomach has subsided. And my apologies to you Chesh for having to experience something like that.

Heh. Now I just gotta deal with managing to clean burnt plastic off the stove top.

[cheshchesh819]

i have been in a house fire where not only plastic was burning but alot of other toxic and non toxic things burnt,i was in it for almost 40 mins before fire brigade came and i am still here to tell the tale,you have nothing at all to worry about

[Londres70]

I could smell the fumes from the burning plastic, removed from the heat and ventilated the room.  I can't remember how long I stood there smell the fumes, etc.  

I would not worry about it.  

[ParanoidPlastic]

I'm inclined to believe you... but I'm a very paranoid person, as my name suggests.

So a lot of stuff? But see, the question there is, did you stand there right in front of the smoke for a minute or so, occasionally breathing it in? And then, to top it all off, continue to stay in the room eating before ventilating?

Like I said. The only thing I'm feeling at the moment is a slight tightness and such in my stomach which I normally get when I worry/panic, so maybe that's a good sign... I dunno...

[Londres70]

I have burned ALOT of plastic stuff in my life by accident.  From personal experience and as a medical professional I would NOT worry about this at all.