Ever received a severe electric shock?

[AustinTink]

My son was shocked yesterday. Wet hands... plugging in his charger... jolts all the way up his arm. It shook him. I called the doctor and we ended up in the ER. It was so scary. But the ER doc says it's much more common than you'd think. He seems fine today, just tired. We had quite the day yesterday.

 

[Jennasis]

Many many times. Probably explains a lot!

 

[DawnCt1]

I have received numerous electric shocks, but I have never been electrocuted.

 

[RadioNate]

yep - it is my earliest memory. My parents were taking down my crib and I stuck the screwdriver in the outlet my dad KICKED me to get me to drop the screwdriver.

I swear it is because I was shocked that I remember!

 

[DrCavin]

More times than I can remember... Electric fences seem to give the biggest jolt

 

[rowbear]

You must be unusual if you have not had a few shocks before now. I have gotten bit a few times. Not exactly a comfortable experience but you can just walk it off most of the time,

 

[legalsea]

As a matter of fact, I am being electrocuted as I write (so forgive any mispellings).

For reasons unknown there is a puddle of water under my desk (probably from the rain we had last month). I am in my bare feet (my wife hid all my shoes last night, for some playful reason). Before I sat down I noticed that my keyboard was plugged directly into an electrical outlet, which I thought odd. However, my wife told me that it will speed up my typing. So, I sat down, immersing my feet in the water. I then began to receive a series of electric jolts as I typed.

I do look somewhat humorous with my hair standing straight up on my head. Nevertheless, my wife looked a little disappointed when I stated that the electrical shocks I was receiving was not speeding up my typing at all, but actually somewhat hindered it.

Ah, my wife said that my bath is drawn and ready for me, and that I will be able to enjoy fresh toast straight out of the toaster while bathing. How thoughtful of her! I shall check back in later.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

yes, I have. The best one was probably when I was young. Standing barefoot on a very damp concrete floor trying to plug in a light in the dark. That one left me with a very tingly arm for a couple of days if I remember right. Don't think I told my parents either.

 

[rowbear]

Just so you understand his wet hands were not the cause of the shock. He had to be grounded in some way. Electricity will only travel to the ground so while the water may have given it a path to your son it had to go back out somewhere. If it did not have a path to ground it would not have shocked him at all. I can touch a live wire all day wearing tennis shoes if I avoid touching anything metal that leads to ground.


The reason why this is important is so you can identify shocks that are more dangerous than others. For instance if your son had the elbow of the hand plugging in the charger touching a sink or something metal the electricity would have come in through his hand and out of his elbow. Shocks that have a chance to travel across the heart are also usually not fatal but obviously much more dangerous and potentially worth a trip to the ER regardless.

He would have known if he felt it in his other arm or in his feet because it hurts all the way. If he only felt it in his arm it probably exited before reaching his main body cavity.

When in doubt call a doctor though.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

Dad was in construction and our garage were full of power tools. I was walking by him one day in a wet bathing suit and Dad said hand me the power saw. Well, I put my hand on the handle and started buzzing. I stopped, weakened. He told me again to pick it up and I had the same experience. I didn't tell him but just wandered off, shocked.

 

[java]

I was shocked when I was about 11 on vacation- plugged in a blowdryer- and I guess had my finger on the metal of the plug as it went in. Scared the bleep out of me. And it made my arm shake. I was alone and didn't mention it to anyone. (probably not smart)

 

[AndreaDM]

Once in grade school I was at the end of the year picnic with my family (small private school). Anyway, a downpour ended the picnic and my mother had me run down to the school kitchen in the basement to get her dish out of the fridge. I was barefoot and wet, grabbed ahold of a very old fridge and felt the shock of my life! It was so hard that it imobilized me, I couldn't move, couldn't let go of the door. I *think* I yelled, don't remember, but one of the fathers walked into the kitchen and knocked me loose (he was wearing rubber soled boots). I ran to the car crying and didn't open a fridge (even our new one at home, lol) for months! Maybe I need a good fridge shock now, might lose a few pounds!

 

[Ephany]

At least twice I can recall, once my hand got caught on an electric barbed wire fence and once doing maintenance after I had been told the power was off (this is why you always check if it's off yourself and don't rely on anyone else). Both times hurt quite a bit and my arm was numb afterwards; it's not an experience I'll try to repeat.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

When I was younger my parents used oil lamps to cut back on the electric bills. Well I had gotten out of the tub and grabbed a bedside lamp to plug in. Well I was standing there damp from my bath,plugging in this lamp and I got the shock of my life.

I knew I was being shocked but couldn't do a darn thing-I just stood there with a tight grip on the lamp,staring straight ahead,shaking from head to toe. My mom ran up to me and yanked the lamp out of my hand. I was wobbly for about a good half an hour afterwards. It took the longest time for me to be able to plug anything in and when I did I cringed.

 

[Meriweather]

Used to get shocked quite often as a child, not sure why, probably because things weren't as safe then
DH has gotten more than you want to count (electrical engineer )

 

[Shmily1]

DD18 and I were sitting on a chair in the living room on her Easter Sunday 13th b-day. We had no chance of rain that day, but we got some rain anyway. She was sitting in my lap and a lightning bolt hit a tree outside our house then bounced in the window and hit me in the shoulder. She was shocked by it too, but the blue sparks were coming from my fingers. We were both really stunned and our "guts" were all hurting and sore feeling. The DR said to go to the hospital if we noticed anything unusual with our speech or our heart rate.

It's definitely something you won't forget!!

 

[ntsammy5]

From Wiki:

Electrocution is also frequently used incorrectly to refer to any electric shock received. However, non-fatal exposure to electricity is referred to as electric shock.

Since electrrocution is fatal it can only happen to you once (unless you're a cat). I think you are talking about being shcoked - and yes I have, more times than I can remember.

 

[phamton]

I have received numerous electric shocks, but I have never been electrocuted.

That's what I was going to say. Electrocution means to kill by electric shock. Since I'm still here I haven't been electrocuted yet.

I've been shocked numerous times mostly by electric fences but a few times by appliances (refrigerator and hairdryer) but my worse shock was once when I was child and spraying the water hose onto our brick house. I hit an outdoor outlet (plug) with the water and got shocked bad enough that it knocked me to the ground. This was many years ago though so I'm assuming that outdoor plugs are safer now.

My best friend's mother was hit by lightning (not a direct hit but close enough to knock her out.) Her mother claimed that the lightning was so bright that it gave her cataracts. She did have cataract surgery a year later but I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence or not.

ETA: I see ntsammy5 already mentioned that electrocution meant death. I'm just a slow typist.

 

[rowbear]

I thought about correcting the electrocution but it seemed obvious that everyone knew what was meant.

 

[phoenx79]

I have been working with electronics for a long enough time that I have been shocked several time. I am currently an instructor for the military and I teach electronics maintenance. Before instructing, I was enlisted in the Navy and worked on electronics for the 10 years I was in. The equipment always had to be on to make sure it was working right when signal tracing, so this is actually something I am all to familiar with. I have to make sure that my students don't do anything stupid on energized equipment. Luckily we have emergency cut-outs for our gear. Unluckily, all importan gear has an Uninterruptible Power Supply attached, so cut-outs don't work too well.