Take precautions to avoid poison exposure

Last year, the 57 poi­son con­trol cen­ters in the United States received 2.4 mil­lion calls about poi­son expo­sures. More than 90 per­cent of those occurred in the home and slightly more than half were among chil­dren under the age of 6.

Many involved every­day items such as clean­ing sup­plies, pes­ti­cides, cos­met­ics and per­sonal care items; oth­ers were related to the abuse and mis­use of drugs.

We’ve seen young chil­dren in our emer­gency depart­ment who have swal­lowed coins, bat­ter­ies and ther­mome­ters, among other items. House­hold prod­ucts that often appear innocu­ous actu­ally con­tain dan­ger­ous chem­i­cals. Chil­dren espe­cially are attracted to tablet deter­gents because they resem­ble big pieces of candy.

Prob­lems we see among ado­les­cents include the inhala­tion of sub­stances such paint and glue, and — as they get older — the abuse of pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions found in the house. This is why we always advise par­ents to take reg­u­lar inven­to­ries of the family’s pre­scribed med­ica­tions. Emer­gency depart­ments treat­ing a drug expo­sure will want to know what med­ica­tions were in the home.

Largely due to pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion mis­use and abuse, deaths from unin­ten­tional poi­son expo­sure have been ris­ing since 1992. Eighty-seven peo­ple die every day from unin­ten­tional expo­sure and another 2,277 are treated in emer­gency depart­ments, accord­ing to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Control.

National Poi­son Pre­ven­tion Month in March is intended to raise aware­ness about this often over­looked and largely pre­ventable problem.

Rec­og­niz­ing symp­toms helps ensure rapid treat­ment. Symp­toms can include nausea/vomiting, severe throat pain, dif­fi­culty breath­ing, behav­ioral changes, unusual drool­ing, rapid heart rate, con­vul­sions and burns around the mouth. Look for any evi­dence of expo­sure, such as spills, stains, smells and empty bot­tles or other containers.

If the per­son is uncon­scious, strug­gling to breathe, uncon­trol­lably hyper­ac­tive or hav­ing seizures, imme­di­ately call 911.

While wait­ing for help to arrive, get the per­son some fresh air (if he or she has been exposed to car­bon monox­ide or other toxic fumes), remove exposed cloth­ing, flush the eyes or skin with cool or luke­warm water, fol­low the instruc­tions on the prod­uct label for acci­den­tal poi­son­ing, and remove any toxic sub­stance remain­ing in the mouth.

Do not, under any cir­cum­stance, give the indi­vid­ual ipecac syrup to induce vomiting.

Most expo­sures can be treated on site with phone guid­ance from experts at the Cen­tral Ohio Poi­son Cen­ter (1–800-222‑1222). The cen­ter will want to know the age and weight of the indi­vid­ual, the symp­toms he or she is expe­ri­enc­ing and any infor­ma­tion you have about the poi­son. If pos­si­ble, have the empty con­tainer or pill bot­tle in hand when you call.

Of course, the best med­i­cine is prevention.

For med­ica­tions, always fol­low the instruc­tions on the label, con­sult your physi­cian or phar­ma­cist about inter­ac­tions with other med­ica­tions, dis­card after the expi­ra­tion date, and never share pre­scrip­tion drugs.

For house­hold and chem­i­cal prod­ucts, store in a sep­a­rate safe place; keep in orig­i­nal con­tain­ers; never mix with other prod­ucts; ven­ti­late rooms where in use; direct any sprays away from face; wear pro­tec­tive cloth­ing; dis­card out­dated prod­ucts; and stay away from recently sprayed areas.

Also, make sure gas appli­ances are vented to the out­doors, have them checked annu­ally for car­bon monox­ide leaks and buy a car­bon monox­ide detec­tor for home.

Dr. David Wat­son is med­ical direc­tor of the Emer­gency Depart­ment at Ohio­Health Grady Memo­r­ial Hospital.

Posted by Grady Memorial Hospital on Mar 13 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.