Medical Notes

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

Medical Notes

BE PREPARED FOR POISON ACCIDENTS

, TAKE PROMPT ACTION SOME RELIABLE DIRECTIONS All cases of poisoning should be treated promptly. Send an urgent message- for the doctor, telling him that' it is a case of poisoning, and naming the poison if it is known. Save any vomited matter, and bottles or tumblers which contain remains -of the poison. 1., If the lips and mouth are not burnt, give an emetic and tickle the throat with the finger or with a feather. Repeat the emetic if necessary. The patient must be made to vomit. 2. If the poison is known, givo the antidote. 3. Treat the symptoms. For shock or collapse, give stimulants and warmth; If the breathing stops, employ artificial respiration. If the patient is drowsy, keep him awake. Soothe the throat, stomach, and bowel by giving raw eggs beaten in milk, raw white of eggs, arrowroot, or flour and water.

I'ho commoner poisons, including those most likely to be accidentally taken by children, are given below, with the correct treatment. Aconite:—Found in liniments, otc. Give emetics, then stimulants, and keep patient lying down. Give artificial respiration if necessary, and put > hotwater bottles to the feet and legs, and a nuistard poultice over the heart. Alkalis (caustic soda, caustic potash, ammonia, etc.): —Do not give emetics. Give two or three tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, vinegar, or limejuice in water, or olive or salad oil. Later, give raw egg and milk or flour, and water or gruel. .

Arsenic (as in weed-killer, rat poison, etc.):—Give emetic; then half a pint of olive oil, milk, and stimulants (tea, coffee).

Belladonna (deadly nightshade, in medical plasters, etc.): —Give emetic, 2nd after it. has acted, give brandy or other stimulant, and half a pint of hot, strong coffee. Apply warmth to the feet

and legs, and give artificial respiration, 'if necessary. Corrosive Acids: —(1) Mineral acids (spirits of salt, oil of vitriol, etc.). Do not give emetics. Give warm water, and magnesia, chalk in milk, whiting or wall piaster; and later, arrowroot, milk and raw egg, olive oil or thick gruel. Treat as for burning of throat if symptoms of choking develop. (2) Carbolic Acid and Lysol: —Do not give emetics. Give a tablespoonful of epsom salts in a tumblerful of warm water or milk. Later, give large quantities of raw white of egg mixed with water, milk, olive oil (40z.), or castor oil (loz.), and treat as for shock. (3) Oxalic Acid (salts of lemon or salts of sorrel): —Give a tablespoonful of chalk or •whitening or wall plaster in a cupful of water* Later, give gruel or linseed tea, then castor oil (two tablespoonfuls). Food Poisoning (mussels, bad fish, or meat, infected ice cream): —Give emetics, then stimulants and warmth (warm blankets, hot-water bottles), and a dose of castor oil. Fungi (toadstools, poisonous mushrooms) : —Give emetics and stimulants freely. Put hot flannels on the abdomen, and hot-water bottles to the feet and legs. Later, when all vomiting has ceased, give castor oil. Lead (paint, cosmetics, sugar of lead, hair dyes):—Give an emetic, and after vomiting has occurred, give epsom salts (a tablespoonful in a tumbler of water), then give white of egg, milk, gruel, etc., and treat the shock.

Phosphorus (yellow match heads, rat poisons, and vermin killers): —Give emetics until vomiting occurs; then give epsom salts (a tablespoonful in a tumbler of water), followed by stimulants if required. Do not give fats or oils.

Prussic Acid (occurs in oil of almonds, almond flavourings, laurel water, and potassium cyanide):—Dash cold water over tlie head and chest, and, if the patient can swallow, give stimulants freely. Give emetics —if the patient is able to swallow. Employ artificial respiration while some one else rubs tho limbs. If further help is available, douche tho patient with hot and cold water alternately, and hold ammonia or smelling salts to the nose. Most cases recover if Jife can be maintained for about half an hour. Prussic acid is tho quickest acting of all poisons, and provided the person has had a sufficiently large dose, tlicy are dead within a few seconds. It is only in cases where the. dose taken has been yery small that any first-aid treatment can hope to be of any use. Strychnine (vermin killers, certain tonics): —Give emetic first; then give very strong tea followed immediately by another emetic. The tannin of tho tea forms an insoluble salt of strychnine; but as this, if? at once acted upon by the gastric juice in the stomach, releasing strychnine again, the insoluble salt must be removed without delay by causing vomiting. Do not attempt to restrain the convulsions. Artificial respiration may be necessary at a later stage, but the doctor will control the convulsions with chloroform.