Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - If you've been bitten by a brown recluse spider,

  • the first thing I can tell you, keep the spider.

  • Hi, I'm Anne Chappelle.

  • I'm a board certified toxicologist,

  • and this is Poison Support.

  • [gentle music]

  • Jehovah's witness, Jehovah's Thickness asks,

  • so can you really poison people by putting eye drops

  • in their food?

  • I'm asking for a friend.

  • Actually you can.

  • There have been several high profile cases where a spouse

  • has been accused of murder for putting Visine drops

  • into their partner's beverages and food.

  • The active ingredient in Visine

  • causes your blood vessels to constrict.

  • It works great on your eyes getting the red out.

  • The problem is that when you ingest it

  • and you ingest enough of it,

  • it can cause your other blood vessels to also constrict.

  • And when those constrict you can cut off blood supply

  • to different parts of your body

  • and have some overt toxicity.

  • It's been shown that only a quarter teaspoon

  • ingested by a child can actually cause significant toxicity.

  • So you need to be very careful in where you keep your Visine

  • or other similar eyedrops.

  • Next up, we have a question from Benjamin Sano.

  • Poison gas, how does that work?

  • Well, first you go to Taco Bell.

  • Just kidding.

  • Certain poison gases when you breathe them in,

  • they immediately destroy the lining of your lung.

  • And so if you don't have a good lung lining,

  • well then you really can't oxygenate your blood

  • and then you can die.

  • Poison gases can also work by interacting with the cells

  • within your body and stop them from being able

  • to produce energy.

  • That's a really big deal when it comes to

  • your heart and your brain.

  • One of the most common poisonous gases

  • is actually carbon monoxide.

  • Carbon monoxide poisoning often manifests as sleepiness,

  • and unfortunately carbon monoxide is tasteless, odorless.

  • And so you often won't be able to tell

  • if you've been exposed to carbon monoxide.

  • That's why those carbon monoxide detectors that you can get

  • at your local big box store are so important.

  • From Tatum Flynn.

  • Can you get lead poisoning from stabbing yourself really

  • hard with a sharp pencil?

  • Asking for an idiot.

  • No, no you can't.

  • No way.

  • Never, no how.

  • You know why?

  • Pencils don't contain lead.

  • Pencils actually contain a mix of graphite and clay,

  • which is considered non-toxic.

  • We have a question now from Brendon FlyEaglesFly.

  • Did you know that toothpaste can kill you

  • because it's a poison if you eat the whole bottle at once?

  • It even says use more for brushing than eating.

  • Yes.

  • Why yes I did.

  • Fluoride when brushed on the teeth helps protect the enamel.

  • And so it's very good for your teeth, but again,

  • it's not very good to ingest

  • because the fluoride is a lot like calcium.

  • So if you have too much fluoride in your body,

  • it displaces the calcium.

  • Why is that important?

  • Calcium is in your bones.

  • So your bones aren't as strong

  • as well as calcium is important in a number of different

  • metabolic reactions that keep your body healthy.

  • If you did eat an entire thing of toothpaste,

  • that's something you really should call

  • poison control about.

  • That fluoride in your body could escalate to the point where

  • you have seizures, convulsions, death.

  • So please take it seriously.

  • Don't eat your toothpaste.

  • Please spit.

  • We have a question from Emily.

  • Can you die of food poisoning?

  • Absolutely you can die of food poisoning.

  • Food poisoning is actually one of the most common poisonings

  • that happens in the United States.

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control

  • one in six Americans suffer from some form

  • of food poisoning every year,

  • 128,000 Americans end up going to the hospital

  • for food poisoning.

  • And about 3,000 people die every year of food poisoning.

  • The biggest problem with food poisoning is dehydration.

  • If you have several days of diarrhea,

  • you really need to make sure that you stay hydrated.

  • Sometimes food poisoning can be very difficult to diagnose

  • because you end up getting a delay between when you actually

  • ate the food and actually when you became ill.

  • Usually it is a delay of six to 12 hours for that toxin

  • to start acting on your intestines

  • and in your body to produce adverse health effects.

  • Wife of Chadwick asks can you overdose on vitamins?

  • Because those gummies are yummy and I keep popping them.

  • Yes, you can.

  • However, there is not always an adverse effect.

  • Many of the gummy vitamins are water-soluble vitamins,

  • which means that they don't get built up in your system.

  • So if you've ever taken too many gummies or vitamins

  • and you've got kind of bright colored pee well,

  • you've overdosed just a bit.

  • The problem is when you end up overdosing

  • on some of these fat-soluble vitamins,

  • such as vitamin D, vitamin E, some of the Bs as well.

  • Those like to sequester into your fat.

  • And so they're harder to get rid of out of your body.

  • Iron supplements can be also formulated into gummy vitamins.

  • And those are actually very dangerous,

  • especially for children to have an iron overdose.

  • And so in all of these cases if you suspect that there is

  • unintended ingestion of these kinds of vitamins,

  • it's important to run it by your poison control center,

  • especially if it's a child.

  • So this one is from David Acosta.

  • Yo, I never had to call poison control at this point

  • in my life.

  • How does it work?

  • Is there like a code system, press one for rat poison,

  • press two for cyanide?

  • Do I need a subscription?

  • Is there a free trial?

  • You know what, nevermind.

  • Well, it's really important that you know

  • that the first step in suspected poisoning

  • is actually calling poison control.

  • That's 1-800-222-1222.

  • It's a national toll free number staffed 24/7.

  • Now you may think that there are some times

  • when you need to call 911, or should I call poison control?

  • Well, if the person is having an extreme medical emergency

  • right in front of you dial 911.

  • If you're not sure, still call 911,

  • especially if they're a child

  • and then call poison control to follow up.

  • Leonel asks a very important question.

  • Wait, wait, wait, how do poison antidotes work?

  • So there's a number of different kinds of antidotes.

  • First of all there's the kind that actually just trap

  • or absorb the chemical.

  • There are some that actually go after

  • and neutralize the chemical itself.

  • Those are things like the antivenoms.

  • Another one is that it actually inhibits the chemical

  • at the site of the organ or toxicity.

  • Here's a good example of an antidote

  • for a chemical overdose, opiates.

  • You get too much oxycodone in your body

  • and they give you the Naloxone spray.

  • That actually gets into your body

  • and that displaces the oxycodone from the sites

  • where it activates.

  • That's why you see such an immediate reversal

  • after a Naloxone dose.

  • Poison control and regional trauma centers often have

  • antivenoms for the things that are local

  • to that particular area.

  • But if you happen to be in Northern Ontario,

  • where there are no rattlesnakes,

  • there's probably no antivenom.

  • So be careful where you decide to get bit.

  • Ivves asks, how do we measure toxicity?

  • One of the most common ways to measure toxicity

  • is a test called an LD50 test, lethal dose 50.

  • It means you give a dose to an animal and you find out what

  • the dose is that kills 50% of those animals.

  • I know that sounds pretty barbaric,

  • but it is a way to analyze and figure out what the inherent

  • toxicity of that substance happens to be.

  • OneRaisedBrow asks did you know that activated charcoal

  • can absorb poison?

  • It's actually been used for hundreds and hundreds of years

  • to absorb different toxicants.

  • Activated charcoal works by actually physically binding

  • that substance to itself in the digestive tract

  • and traps it so that it is eliminated

  • through either the feces or if it is flushed out

  • of the stomach.

  • One of the things they like about activated charcoal is that

  • it acts on all kinds of different poisons and toxicants.

  • So you don't necessarily have to know what the person

  • was exposed to to be able to use it and potentially help

  • eliminate any of these adverse reactions.

  • If you've already got something in your body,

  • activated charcoal isn't gonna pull that toxicant out

  • of your cells and out of your body.

  • The activated charcoal is really gonna focus on something

  • that is in your intestinal tract, your GI tract,

  • but it's really not meant to cleanse any other part

  • of your body.

  • Angwin, anyone know what to do if you feel like

  • you've been poisoned 24/7?

  • Go to the doctor.

  • If you feel awful for several days or several weeks,

  • keep a diary of some of your symptoms.

  • What have you been eating?

  • Where have you been going?

  • What is your work environment like?

  • That way you're able to give the doctor

  • or nurse practitioner something to go on.

  • Here's a question from Kerry Syndram.

  • If you ever accidentally swallow a poison,

  • don't make yourself throw up,

  • drink as much water or milk as you can.

  • I just saved your life.

  • Not necessarily Kerry.

  • Chemical agents have different hazardous properties.

  • For example, bleach is a very caustic agent,

  • which means it can burn you.

  • If you drank milk or water,

  • you would think that that might dilute what you're having,

  • but not necessarily.

  • Sometimes the water or the milk can make it worse.

  • In addition, if that makes you feel worse

  • and you accidentally throw up,

  • there's a condition called aspiration pneumonitis,

  • which is essentially you inhale your vomit.

  • Imagine how much worse it is if you inhaled vomit

  • that was full of bleach,

  • that would also damage your lungs.

  • So don't just assume that water or milk is the appropriate

  • treatment for an overdose or exposure to any kind of poison.

  • Shoulda Retired says hey toxicology Twitter,

  • @ScreamingMD, @RyanMarino,

  • what's the Dapsone dose for a brown recluse bite?

  • A brown recluse spider is a kind of spider that causes

  • in some cases a necrotizing wound.

  • That means all of the skin cells are dying.

  • If you've been bitten by a brown recluse spider,

  • the first thing I can tell you keep the spider.

  • Even if you smash it, put it into a little jar so that if

  • you get some kind of necrotizing wound,

  • it's like a gross pussy painful spot,

  • you can tell the doctor so that they can

  • treat you appropriately.

  • The question was for this one is Dapsone treatment.

  • Dapsone is an antibiotic often given to leprosy patients.

  • So you might think is that really appropriate

  • for a brown recluse spider bite?

  • There's a number of research papers that have compared

  • treatment for brown recluse spider bites,

  • between the different standard of care,

  • the antibiotics and such with adding Dapsone.

  • And the evidence is mixed.

  • I have a question here from Anna7,

  • what the [bleep] is syrup of ipecac?

  • Syrup of ipecac is a syrup that is made from

  • the dried root of a South American plant.

  • It is used in the emergency room to make you vomit.

  • That's what it does.

  • If you're going to use syrup of ipecac,

  • you really should call poison control first

  • to make sure that you should be up chucking

  • what you ingested.

  • Because sometimes if things are really caustic, corrosive,

  • things like battery acid, Draino, bleach,

  • that can cause more damage on the way back up.

  • The problem with syrup of ipecac also is that it has been

  • abused for many years by people that didn't know how to make

  • themselves throw up, but they wanted to lose weight.

  • One of the most famous deaths related to syrup of ipecac

  • was actually Karen Carpenter in 1983.

  • She had severe anorexia and kept taking syrup of ipecac

  • to make her vomit.

  • Over time syrup of ipecac damaged her heart.

  • So it caused her to have a heart attack and die.

  • A question from Andrew King.

  • Poinsettia cupcakes but no Yule logs,

  • wait aren't poinsettias poisonous?

  • That is actually a bit of a myth.

  • If you eat a significant number of poinsettia leaves,

  • you might become a little nauseous

  • or you might be able to reach a potentially toxic dose.

  • A child weighing 50 pounds has to eat 500 poinsettia leaves

  • to actually reach a dose that would result

  • in significant toxicity.

  • Zoe is just kitten around.

  • I want to at the very least learn how to tell

  • a poison mushroom apart from an edible one.

  • Here is a really easy way to tell them apart.

  • If it's at a grocery store, you can eat it.

  • You need to be very careful about foraging

  • for your own mushrooms,

  • because it is very difficult to tell a poisonous mushroom

  • apart from an edible mushroom.

  • Because there's only about 100 poisonous mushrooms out of

  • all the mushrooms that are out there

  • what are the chances that you actually picked

  • a poisonous one?

  • Do you really want to find out?

  • Every year there are about 6,000 mushroom poisonings

  • reported to the CDC.

  • Half of those are from ingestions from children.

  • So please help educate your children

  • not eat random mushrooms in your backyard.

  • Alright, that's all the questions.

  • I had a really good time today

  • and I hope we can do it again sometime.

- If you've been bitten by a brown recluse spider,

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it