Poisoning is injury or death due to swallowing, inhaling, touching or injecting various drugs, chemicals, venoms or gases. Many substances — such as drugs and carbon monoxide — are poisonous only in higher concentrations or dosages. And others — such as cleaners — are dangerous only if ingested. Children are particularly sensitive to even small amounts of certain drugs and chemicals.
How you treat someone who may have been poisoned depends on:
If you are concerned about possible poisoning, call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 in the United States or your regional poison control center. Poison control centers are excellent resources for poisoning information and, in many situations, may advise that in-home observation is all that's needed.
Poisoning signs and symptoms can mimic other conditions, such as seizure, alcohol intoxication, stroke and insulin reaction. Signs and symptoms of poisoning may include:
If you suspect poisoning, be alert for clues such as empty pill bottles or packages, scattered pills, and burns, stains and odors on the person or nearby objects. With a child, consider the possibility that he or she may have applied medicated patches or swallowed a button battery.
Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately if the person is:
Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 in the United States or your regional poison control center in the following situations:
Be ready to describe the person's symptoms, age, weight, other medications he or she is taking, and any information you have about the poison. Try to determine the amount ingested and how long since the person was exposed to it. If possible, have on hand the pill bottle, medication package or other suspect container so you can refer to its label when speaking with the poison control center.
Take the following actions until help arrives:
Syrup of ipecac. Don't give syrup of ipecac or do anything to induce vomiting. Expert groups, including the American Association of Poison Control Centers and the American Academy of Pediatrics, no longer endorse using ipecac in children or adults who have taken pills or other potentially poisonous substances. No good evidence proves its effectiveness, and it often can do more harm than good.
If you still have old bottles of syrup of ipecac in your home, throw them away.
Button batteries. The small, flat batteries used in watches and other electronics — particularly the larger, nickel-sized ones — are especially dangerous to small children. A battery stuck in the esophagus can cause severe burns in as little as 2 hours.
If you suspect that a child has swallowed one of these batteries, immediately take him or her for an emergency X-ray to determine its location. If the battery is in the esophagus, it will have to be removed. If it has passed into the stomach, it's usually safe to allow it to pass on through the intestinal tract.
© 1998-2021 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved.
Terms of Use