Be Excellent To Each Other

I've always seemed to suffer/spread more than my fair share of electric shocks, but since I've been pregnant, and as that progresses, they are getting more and more frequent and stronger.

No matter what I'm wearing/doing, whether I'm in jeans and tshirt or a dress, regardless of shoes, indoors or out, between four and six times a day I get (or usually pass between myself and others) electric shocks.

They are always strong enough to give off and sudie whip cracking noise, and if against a dark background (workmate's long dark hair, a black chair) there is a visible flash.

It's usually mid afternoon, and will happen a number of times within a minute or two, but yesterday was later, when I was outside with Russell and made him cry out lots of big swear words. The first three shocks were just myself and the shopping I was carrying, then the last one hit Russell.

So, why do I get them so much more than, say, other people in the office? And why have they got so strong and frequent now I'm pregnant?

Easy one. It's obvious - you're going to give birth to a Marvel-type superhero with some electrical-type superpowers. Possibly one of the Lego ones, but good news either way. I look forward to seeing the three of you on the BBC. You can put a vote thread up here for a suitable name. Congrats to you both, by the way, I have the horrible feeling I forgot to offer mine at the time.

You didn't buy a job lot of polyester maternity clothes did you?

No, I can't stand polyester clothes, and I mostly wear jeans to work with a cotton top. I've got a couple of maternity dresses but they are 100% cotton.

Thanks MrC, both for your congrats and the awesome suggestions which I can tell are pure Science. I think the name has been decided by Grim... and others as Little Matt Beex Richard Gaywood Codd.


Hmm... Tried to post but some page SQL error, I think because two sheep had somehow found their way in.

Edit: sheep smily things; they came out of my phone.

Glad you recognised real science over Zoidberg's polyester guff. (I think I'm safe here as long as Lave or any actual scientists don't notice this thread). If you're going to make the name that long, there must be room for an Electra or something similar in there somewhere (even if if only turns out to be one of the more minor superpowers, such as the ability to fully charge your ipod in 20 seconds).

Are you wearing different shoes? Also, as we come into spring the weather's been a lot drier recently, which will contribute.

I get a lot of static shocks in work. For those who don't know, you can earth yourself painlessly when you reach out for a metal doorhandle or other conductive surface. The trick is to make contact not with a finger tip – which is a tiny area full of nerve endings – but with, say, the back of your hand. If you bump your knuckles against the metal before grabbing it you won't feel the shock at all.

No, I've got no new shoes and I'm wearing different shoes each day.

And it's not just at work, indoors or out it happens, and not metal things. It can be anything I touch.

And it's been happening since about February. I get what you say about the weather, but it's not been that dry for that long, and it's only me it's affecting.

Stop wearing shoes or only walk on natural floorings.

Donate your body to Mr Kissyfurs mad scientist and get his self generating electric doohickey going

Another way is to use a key or something. No zaps for your hand that way. You sometimes can even see the key zap the radiator or whatever. (I guess it depends on what your key is made of? I've had some keys completely fail to ground me before)

Yep. The lifts at my old office gave me a shock every single day without fail, until I worked out the old knuckle trick.

I'm not really sure how using the back of my hand for things or poking everything with a key is really going to help here, to be honest.

Firstly, I type badly enough as it is, without mashing at the keys with my knuckles, and as it happens at just any point, I can't use the back of my hand to touch EVERYTHING , as I'd get even less work done. Pen = shock, chair = shock, colleague = shock, wall = shock, lunch bag = shock, table = shock, picnic bench = shock, mattress = shock.

I used to suffer from this when I had long hair. My hair was very fine, so static was a major PITA. I used to get massive quite painful shocks when getting in and out of the car. I did as suggested and used my palms to take the shock.

Now I have a couple of eggs in the nest as my brother would say it's not been an issue.

Being pregnant could mean that your levels of water retention are higher than normal, and water is conductive. That's about the only reason I could possibly think of that could make it worse.

Let's not forget Russ's animal magnetism. That's surely a contributing factor.

You can come again, thank you.

Is Angel Delight a ferromagnetic fluid? That might explain Russ' inability to separate it properly...

You get a static shock OFF YOUR KEYBOARD and WALLS?

Wow.

The one that got me as well was from a mattress in a plastic wrap.

Kinky boy.

I get shocks from walls. Not my keyboard, though.

Yes, I was putting some posters up the other day and got a couple of shocks off of the wall, and I get them sitting at my desk (using keyboard, picking up pens, etc) quite often. That's what I mean about not really being able to stop it by using the back of my hand, or a key, etc.

It's not metal things, it's just... everything.

When Russell got the shock the other day he got it off of me (I was holding a mattress, but I guess that's a more normal thing to get a shock from) but it has been the third in about five seconds. The first two were just me and whatever I had come into contact with, Russell just wandered too near and caught the third.

If you Google "static shocks pregnancy" you get a shitload of hits and forum threads about it so it seems to be quite common.

Well, that's good in that I don't feel quite so much like everyone will assume I am making it up or imagining it at least. It doesn't affect me so much that it's an annoyance, though it can sting a little every time it happens and makes people stare when I jump or make a noise, but it just seemed so odd to be happening every single day for the past few months, and the only thing I can think of that has changed is being pregnant.

If you spend a lot of time in the same spot at work then you could try an anti-static wrist strap at your desk. Not much use if you're always moving round though.

I do try to move around as much as I can, because I'm supposed to, but to be fair in getting less and less willing to every time I get my tummy stuck under my desk. Obviously I have to get up to wee every 4 minutes, though.

It's not something that upsets me, I just wanted to be SCIENCED because it's weird.

You don't have to touch everything with your knuckles all of the tkme; just the first time you touch it. Like you tap it with a knuckle, it gets rid of the static, then you can grab it or sit on it or whatever.

FTFY.

I am fairly sure I was extra static-y when I was pregnant but I'm very static-y anyway...

Maybe you're just from a family full of eccentrics?

That's because the Illuminati are using electrickery to mind control babies before they're even born.