Tag Archives: Poison control center

Straight, No Chaser: First Steps to Take If Someone Gets Poisoned

March 21, 2016Skin/Dermatology, Health Prevention, Toxicology/DrugsStraight No Chaser, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Sterling Medical Advice, Poison Help Line, Poison control center, Behind the Curtain, Activated CharcoalJeffrey Sterling, MD

How would you respond if you or someone in your home became a victim of an accidental poisoning? What if you stumbled across a family member who intentionally swallowed a bunch of pills? Would you know what to do or who to call? As part of Patient Safety Awareness Week and National Poison Prevention Week, this Straight, No Chaser addresses very basic first steps you should take in a poisoning emergency.
In a prior post, we addressed items you should have in your medicine cabinet. For this conversation, lets focus on two of those things: activated charcoal, which can be used to absorb certain poisons from your digestive system, and the number to the Poison Help line. Let’s just consider these two things as things it’s more important to have and not need than to need and not have. These two items generally are involved in the answers to immediate questions you will face.

What should you do if someone has ingested a poison?
If there are any signs of mental status changes or other life threatening considerations, you have a decision to make: is your quickest path to the local emergency room (not urgent care) your car or an ambulance? I generally suggest if you can get to an emergency room in the time it will take an ambulance to arrive to your home, then do so. If that’s not the case, the additional care you will receive when the ambulance arrives will make calling the ambulance a better decision. Once that choice has been made, then call the Poison Help line at 800-222-1222. No matter where you are within the U.S., you will be routed to your local poison center. At that point, you will be in the hands of professionals and instructed appropriately on additional next steps.
What should you do if someone has poison in the eyes?
Regardless of the source, you should rinse the eyes with running water for approximately 15-20 minutes, and while doing this, have someone call an ambulance or the Poison Help line as discussed above (800-222-1222).

What should you do if someone has poison on the skin?
Before you help such a person, if at all possible, put on gloves to prevent yourself from become contaminated. Remove any clothing that has been touched by the person. Rinse the skin with running water for approximately 15-20 minutes, and while doing this, have someone call an ambulance or the Poison Help line as discussed above (800-222-1222).

If someone has been poisoned, should I give activated charcoal as a preventive step?
Activated charcoal is very good in certain situations, but it is not a cure-all. The time you’d be spending attempting to swallow it would be better spend talking with paramedics or the poison helpline team. Once you’ve discussed the specifics of the poison, the decision may be made to give the activated charcoal prior to arrival by the ambulance or prior to arrival at the emergency room. Certainly if someone has blacked out, you don’t want to try to shove activated charcoal down someone’s throat. The risk of this black, gooey substance going down the wrong tube and ending up in the lungs isn’t a risk worth taking in a person having difficulty with consciousness. Don’t worry, there’s likely time for activated charcoal to work well when it’s indicated. You should just be sure in advance.
Again, remember the Poison Help line number is 800-222-1222, and protect your home environment. Don’t make it easy for toddlers, teens and those with suicidal inclinations to have access to potentially deadly medicines.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: What Should NOT Be in Your Medicine Cabinet

March 19, 2016General Health and Wellness844-SMA-TALK, American Academy of Pediatrics, Straight No Chaser, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Sterling Medical Advice, Poison control center, medicine, jeffreysterlingbooks.com, Common cold, Behind the CurtainJeffrey Sterling, MD

In the previous Straight, No Chaser, we discussed the ideal use of your medicine cabinets to prepare for life’s nagging aches and pain. However, has it ever occurred to you that many people run straight to the medicine cabinet to do harm to themselves or others? I want you to know the harder the effort is to obtain items to hurt oneself, the less likely one is to follow through on the notion. On a related note, there’s a quick not-so-fun-but-interesting fact regarding one of the differences between America and say, certain European countries that has to do with the oversized influence of corporations in the States. Why am I talking about that on a medical blog? Read on. If you can’t tell where I’m going with this, you’ll get it pretty quickly.

Here’s my top five items I want you to take out your medicine cabinets and lock up.

1. Any jumbo sized container of any medication. Think about two of the most common over the counter (OTC) medications used for suicide attempts: acetaminophen (Tylenol) and salicylate (aspirin). One thing they have in common is you can buy what amounts to a tub-full of it at your local superstore in the United States. They should call these things ‘suicide quantities’, because often those in the midst of a suicide attempt will grab and swallow whatever is convenient. Many different medications will hurt you if you take enough; Tylenol and aspirin certainly fit that bill. Observing that (and additional considerations after the deaths due to the lacing of Tylenol with cyanide back in 1983), the Brits decided to not only pass a law limiting quantities, but certain medications that are high-frequency and high-risk for suicide use are now mandatorily dispensed in those annoying containers that you have to pop through the plastic container. Needless to say, observed suicide rates by medication rates plummeted as a result. Wonder why that hasn’t been implemented in the good ol’ USA?
2. Have teens in your house? Lock up the Robitussin and NyQuil. Dextromethorphan is the active ingredient in over 100 OTC cold and cough preparations. Teens use these to get high, folks. To make matters worse, they are addictive, and if taken with alcohol or other drugs, they can kill you. Then there’s “purple drank” (yes, that’s how it’s spelled), in which these cough syrups containing codeine and promethazine (Benadryl) are mixed with drinks such as Sprite or Mountain Dew.
3. Have any sexual performance medications? This is part of a category of medicines called ‘medicines that can kill someone with just one pill’. That usually refers to kids or the elderly, but remember that those sexual enhancement drugs are medicines that lower your blood pressure. In the wrong person and in the wrong dose, taking such medicine – whether intentionally or accidentally – could be the last thing someone does.

3. Any narcotic. Need I say more? Remember, you do have people rummaging through your cabinets on occasion!
4. Any sharps. That includes sewing pins, needles, etc.
5. Any medication with an expiration date. The medication date actually is more of a ‘freshness’ consideration than a danger warning. However, in the wrong patient, a medicine that has less than the 100% guarantee of its needed strength that the expiration date represents could be fatal. Play it safe and get a new prescription.
There’s a lot more that could be added to this list, but I like keeping things manageable for you. Please childproof all your cabinets, and use childproof caps on your medications.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: What Should Be in Your Medicine Cabinet

March 18, 2016Health Prevention, General Health and Wellness, DetoxificationEmergency department, Straight No Chaser, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Sterling Medical Advice, Poison control center, medicine, Medical Specialties, health, Common cold, Behind the Curtain, Aspirin, American Academy of Pediatrics, 844-SMA-TALKJeffrey Sterling, MD

You’ve all done it. I’ve caught a few of you doing it. Why do you rummage through someone’s else’s medicine cabinet? Are newer homes even built with medicine cabinets anymore? Oh well… Today, Straight, No Chaser tackles a simple but important question in an ongoing effort to better empower you. For starters, here’s hoping your cabinet doesn’t resemble any of these pictured, but there is a role for medicines in your medicine cabinet.

1. What should be in your medicine cabinet? Here’s my top five and why.

Aspirin (324 mg).

On the day you’re having a heart attack, you’ll want this available to pop in your mouth on the way to the hospital. Of all the intervention done in treating heart attacks, none is better than simply taking an aspirin. It offers a 23% reduction in mortality (death rates) due to a heart attack all by itself.

Activated charcoal.

This one may surprise you. Talk to your physician or pharmacist about this. If someone in your family ever overdoses on a medicine, odds are this is the first medication you’d be given in the emergency room. The sooner it’s onboard, the sooner it can begin detoxifying whatever you took. That said, there are some medications and circumstances when you shouldn’t take it, so get familiar with it by talking with your physician.

Antiseptics such as triple antibiotic ointment for cuts, scratches and minor burns.

It should be embarrassing for you to spend $1000 going to an emergency room when you could have addressed the problem at home. I guess I should include bandages here as well.

A variety pack for colds, including antihistamines (like diphenhydramine, aka benadryl) and cough preparations.

As a general rule, give yourself 3-5 days of using OTC preparations for a cold to see if it works or goes away. If not, then it’s certainly appropriate to get additional medical care. I guess I can lump a thermometer in this bullet point.

The fifth item would be this number: 800-222-1222, which is number to the national poison control center.

Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: What Should NOT Be in Your Medicine Cabinet

June 16, 2015General Health and WellnessStraight No Chaser, 844-SMA-TALK, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Sterling Medical Advice, Poison control center, medicine, jeffreysterlingbooks.com, Common cold, Behind the Curtain, American Academy of PediatricsJeffrey Sterling, MD

Here’s my top five items I want you to take out your medicine cabinets and lock up.

1. Any jumbo sized container of any medication. Think about two of the most common over the counter (OTC) medications used for suicide attempts: acetaminophen (Tylenol) and salicylate (aspirin). One thing they have in common is you can buy what amounts to a tub-full of it at your local superstore in the United States. They should call these things ‘suicide quantities’, because often those in the midst of a suicide attempt will grab and swallow whatever is convenient. Many different medications will hurt you if you take enough; Tylenol and aspirin certainly fit that bill. Observing that (and additional considerations after the deaths due to the lacing of Tylenol with cyanide back in 1983), the Brits decided to not only pass a law limiting quantities, but certain medications that are high-frequency and high-risk for suicide use are now mandatorily dispensed in those annoying containers that you have to pop through the plastic container. Needless to say, observed suicide rates by medication rates plummeted as a result. Wonder why that hasn’t been implemented in the good ol’ USA?
2. Have teens in your house? Lock up the Robitussin and NyQuil. Dextromethorphan is the active ingredient in over 100 OTC cold and cough preparations. Teens use these to get high, folks. To make matters worse, they are addictive, and if taken with alcohol or other drugs, they can kill you. Then there’s ‘purple drank’ (yes, that’s how it’s spelled), in which these cough syrups containing codeine and promethazine (Benadryl) are mixed with drinks such as Sprite or Mountain Dew.
3. Have any sexual performance medications? This is part of a category of medicines called ‘medicines that can kill someone with just one pill’. That usually refers to kids or the elderly, but remember that those sexual enhancement drugs are medicines that lower your blood pressure. In the wrong person and in the wrong dose, taking such medicine – whether intentionally or accidentally – could be the last thing someone does.

3. Any narcotic. Need I say more? Remember, you do have people rummaging through your cabinets on occasion!
4. Any sharps. That includes sewing pins, needles, etc.
5. Any medication with an expiration date. The medication date actually is more of a ‘freshness’ consideration than a danger warning. However, in the wrong patient, a medicine that has less than the 100% guarantee of its needed strength that the expiration date represents could be fatal. Play it safe and get a new prescription.
There’s a lot more that could be added to this list, but I like keeping things manageable for you. Please childproof all your cabinets, and use childproof caps on your medications.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd. Preorder your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com.
Copyright © 2015 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: What Should Be in Your Medicine Cabinet

June 15, 2015Health Prevention, General Health and Wellness, DetoxificationEmergency department, Common cold, Behind the Curtain, Aspirin, American Academy of Pediatrics, 844-SMA-TALK, health, United States, Straight No Chaser, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Sterling Medical Advice, Poison control center, medicine, Medical SpecialtiesJeffrey Sterling, MD

Aspirin (324 mg).

Activated charcoal.

Antiseptics such as triple antibiotic ointment for cuts, scratches and minor burns.

It should be embarrassing for you to spend $1000 going to an emergency room when you could have addressed the problem at home. I guess I should include bandages here as well.

A variety pack for colds, including antihistamines (like diphenhydramine, aka benadryl) and cough preparations.

The fifth item would be this number: 800-222-1222, which is number to the national poison control center.

They will address your concerns, route you to your local poison center, advise you on the appropriate use of activated charcoal and help coordinate your care when you go to your emergency department.
Be smart about the items in your home in general and in your medicine cabinet in particular. We’ll continue the theme with the next Straight, No Chaser.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd. Preorder your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com.

Straight, No Chaser: What Should Be in Your Medicine Cabinet

October 3, 2013Toxicology/DrugsUnited States, Poison control center, medicine, Medical Specialties, health, Emergency department, Common cold, Aspirin, American Academy of PediatricsJeffrey Sterling, MD

Aspirin (324 mg). On the day you’re having a heart attack, you’ll want this available to pop in your mouth on the way to the hospital. Of all the intervention done in treating heart attacks, none is better than simply taking an aspirin. It offers a 23% reduction in mortality due to a heart attack by itself.
Activated charcoal. This one may surprise you. Talk to your physician or pharmacist about this. If someone in your family ever overdoses on a medicine, odds are this is the first medication you’d be given in the emergency room. The sooner it’s onboard, the sooner it can begin detoxifying whatever you took. That said, there are some medications and circumstances when you shouldn’t take it, so get familiar with it by talking with your physician.
Antiseptics such as triple antibiotic ointment for cuts, scratches and minor burns. It should be embarrassing for you to spend $1000 going to an emergency room when you could have addressed the problem at home. I guess I should include bandages here as well.
A variety pack for colds, including antihistamines (like diphenhydramine, aka benadryl) and cough preparations. As a general rule, give yourself 3-5 days of using OTC preparations for a cold to see if it works or goes away. If not, then it’s certainly appropriate to get additional medical care. I guess I can lump a thermometer in this bullet point.
The fifth item would be this number: 800-222-1222, which is number to the national poison control center. They will address your concerns, route you to your local poison center and help coordinate your care when you go to your emergency department.