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Writing Research: Poisons |
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NOTE: I’m using this medical research about poisons as a general reference for when I need to make a character suffer (or die) from it. It’s also useful for a medical professional or a ‘healer’ character because they should know the signs, symptoms and treatments.
Introduction:
For as long as people have interacted with plants, animals, and minerals, poison has been a part of our history. It was used by ancient tribes and civilizations as a hunting tool to quicken and ensure the death of their prey or enemies. This use of poison grew more advanced, and many of these ancient peoples began forging weapons designed specifically for poison enhancement.
Later in history, particularly at the time of the Roman Empire, one of the more prevalent uses was assassination. Poisonings were a common occurrence, usually executed at the dinner table or in drinks and are frequently mentioned in Roman literature.
Poisons have been used for many purposes, most commonly as weapons, anti-venoms, and medicines. Poison has allowed much progress in branches, toxicology, and technology, among other sciences.
What is Poison?:
Poison is any substance that is harmful to your body, such as arsenic compounds, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid) and strychnine. There are many different types of poison. Poisonous substances can be products you have in your house. Medicines that aren’t taken as directed can be harmful. Poisoning can even be an accident or a planned action. And there are several ways you can be exposed to poison.
You might swallow it, inhale it, inject it, or absorb it through your skin. The speed with which a poison can act is dependent on the pathway it takes into the body.
The pathways are listed below from fastest to slowest:
Intravenous (into a vein) injection > inhalation > intraperitoneal (into the body) injection > intramuscular (into the muscle) injection> ingestion > topical (onto the skin) absorption
The damaging effects of poison can also range from short-term illness to brain damage, coma, and death. That’s because it is dependent upon getting the concentration of active compound at the target site for enough time. Not all target organs are affected equally either. Those organs like the liver, kidneys and lungs have very high blood flow and are therefore more susceptible.
Signs and Symptoms:
Poisoning signs and symptoms can vary depending on the type and other factors. Some can even mimic other conditions, such as seizure, alcohol intoxication, stroke and insulin reaction. But there are a few common symptoms to be aware of:
Dizziness
Disorientation or Confusion
Nausea
Vomiting
Trouble breathing
Pain
Headaches
Feeling faint
Other associated signs and symptoms may include:
Some poisons enlarge the pupils, while others shrink them.
Some result in excessive drooling, while others dry the mouth and skin.
Some speed the heart, while others slow the heart.
Some increase the breathing rate, while others slow it.
Some cause pain, while others are painless.
Some cause hyperactivity, while others cause drowsiness. Confusion is often seen with these symptoms.
When the cause of the poisoning is unknown:
A big part of figuring out what type of poisoning has occurred is connecting the signs and symptoms to each other, and to additional available information.
Two different poisons, for example, may make the heart beat quickly. However, only one of them may cause the skin and mouth to be very dry. This simple distinction may help narrow the possibilities.
If more than one person has the same signs and symptoms, and they have a common exposure source, such as contaminated food, water, or workplace environment, then poisoning would be suspected.
When two or more poisons act together, they may cause signs and symptoms not typical of any single poison.
Investigations may include blood tests and an electrocardiogram (ECG). An ECG is an electrical recording of the heart to check that it’s functioning properly.
A blood test can be used to check the levels of chemicals and glucose in the blood. They may be used to perform a toxicology screen (tests to find out how many drugs or how much medicine a person has taken), and a liver function test, which indicates how damaged the liver is.
Who’s Most At Risk?:
People of any age can become ill if they come into contact with certain medicines, household pesticides, chemicals, cosmetics, or plants. But children in particular face a greater risk for unintentional poisoning death and exposure than adults. This is not only because they are smaller, but also because they have faster metabolic rates. They are less able physically to handle toxic chemicals.
Treatment Options:
Treatment depends on the person’s symptoms, their age, and whether you know the type and amount of the substance that caused poisoning. Whichever ot is the main goal is to get rid of the unabsorbed poison before it can do any harm.
If the person is unconscious, the doctor will put a flexible, soft, plastic tube into the windpipe to protect the person from suffocating in his or her own vomit and to provide artificial breathing (intubation).
Once the poison has moved past the stomach, other methods are needed.
Activated charcoal is a fine, odorless, black powder often used in emergency rooms to treat overdoses and oral poisonings such as phenobarbital and carbamazepine. It works by binding (adsorbing) chemicals, thus reducing their toxicity (poisonous nature), through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which includes the stomach and intestines. This is so that the poison cannot get absorbed into the bloodstream.
However, activated charcoal is not effective for a number of poisonings such as: strong acids or bases, iron, lithium, arsenic, methanol, ethanol or ethylene glycol.
Activated charcoal is often given after the stomach is pumped (gastric lavage).
Gastric lavage is only effective immediately after swallowing a toxic substance (within about one-half hour) and does not have effects that reach beyond the stomach as activated charcoal does.
Whole bowel irrigation requires drinking a large quantity of a fluid called Golytely. This flushes the entire gastrointestinal tract before the poison gets absorbed.
Antidotes:
Some, but not all, types of poisons have antidotes that reverse the effects of the poison or prevent the poison from working.
Atropine is an antidote for certain nerve gases and insecticides. During Operation Desert Storm, all military personnel were issued atropine injectors when it was feared that the enemy would use nerve gas.
A common antidote is N-acetylcysteine (Mucomyst), which is used to neutralize acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdoses. Acetaminophen, in normal doses, is one of the safest medications known, but after a massive overdose, the liver is damaged, and hepatitis and liver failure develop. Mucomyst works as an antidote by bolstering the body’s natural detoxification abilities when they are overwhelmed.
Dimaval is a chelating agent used as an antidote for acute poisoning by certain heavy metals, arsenic, mercury, gold, bismuth, antimony and possibly thallium. As well as acute lead poisoning in combination with edetate calcium disodium.
When it comes to iron poisoning Deferoxamine is the antidote because it acts by binding free iron in the bloodstream and enhancing its elimination in the urine.
Hydroxocobalamin (Cyanokit) and sodium thiosulfate and sodium nitrite (Nithiodote). Both are given intravenously and are used as an antidotes for cyanide toxicity because it forms cyanocobalamin, a non-toxic metabolite that is easily excreted through the kidneys.
It may also be possible to reverse the harmful effect of a drug even if no antidote exists.
If a person with diabetes takes too much insulin, a dangerously low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) will cause weakness, unconsciousness, and eventually death. Sugar given by mouth or IV is an effective treatment until the insulin wears off.
When the poison is a heavy metal, such as lead, special medicines (chelators) bind the poison in the bloodstream and cause it to be eliminated in the urine.
Another “binder” is sodium polystyrene sulfonate (Kayexalate), which can absorb potassium and other electrolytes from the bloodstream.
If a person has been bitten by a poisonous snake, and antivenin may be used to counteract the toxins.
Sources & Further information:
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 DamnBlackHeart · Tue Mar 22, 2022 @ 02:06am · 0 Comments |
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