How harmful can paint fumes be to ones lungs?

[DHorse]

To start with, before I started my job I was healthy, everyday I would either go running or bike over 20 miles, or would workout inside if it was raining.

In April of 2014, I started working as a painter for a local company until November of 2016, I stopped working because I would have coughing fits and not being able to breathe any time I was around paint fumes, still having issues around paint fumes. I'm currently dealing with Workers comp over this matter.

I mainly worked inside of a modified garage. My job consisted of scraping lead based paint, sanding wood/filler/primer/paint and priming/painting. I used Oil and Latex based primers and paints, stains and polyurethane along with Paint Thinner. I would describe my workplace enviroment as dusty and paint fume heavy. During the summer I would open a door and turn a fan on, on cold or rainy days I couldn't, so there was no ventilation. Towards the end, I bought a respirator, I later found out it didn't filter paint fumes.

I worked mainly with Latex Based Paints, but in the last few months I worked there, I was around Oil Based Primer all the time, which is what I blame for my breathing issues.

When I was around paint fumes, I'd feel like my lungs were burning, shortness of breath, coughing fits, coughing up specks of blood, low grade fever and fatuige, also my White Blood Cell count was climbing up to 10.5, since I've been away from work, its down to 8.6. If I'm around paint fumes now, I have the same symptoms except for the specks of blood.

I've done a PFT and a Methacholine Challenge which they stopped at the fourth level and it felt like I was around paint fumes again. My PCP has diagnosed me with Bronchospastic Airway Disease, Allergic Rhinitis and Mild Intermittent Asthma.