South Carolina Poison Control Center 1-800-922-1117
What are the common household poisons?
There are many possible poisons in the home other than the widely known cleaning agents and medications. Essentially, anything that can be swallowed should be kept out of your child’s reach. If your child has swallowed anything that may be suspect or had eye or skin exposure to dangerous chemicals, call the poison control center now.
Keep in mind that most poisonings occur because of a child’s normal curiosity of pleasant looking, smelling, and tasting objects as well as the child’s desire to imitate adults. Never store dangerous chemicals in containers that may be mistaken for something harmless such as a two liter soda bottle.
THE BEST TREATMENT FOR POISONING IS PREVENTION! The following is a list of common poisoning items and their side effects:
Colognes and perfumes
The most common poisoning agent of household objects. Children may become drunk, drowsy, and vomit from the alcohol that is in colognes and perfumes. These liquids may also get splashed in the eye causing irritation as children pretend to use cologne like an adult.
Mouthwash
Many mouthwashes contain a high content of alcohol (some up to 17%) as well as fluoride. Children see adults using these colorful, pleasant tasting and smelling mouthwashes. Yet, a toddler could die from alcohol poisoning if he drank a whole bottle of mouthwash. If your child gets into alcohol containing mouthwash, call Poison Control immediately.
Bleach
Can be swallowed by children during laundry chores or directly from the bottle. Bleach can irritate and burn the throat, mouth, and lungs. Fumes from bleach can also be poisonous, especially when bleach is used with ammonia, another common cleaning agent. Never use bleach and ammonia together as they create very poisonous fumes.
Lye or Drain cleaner
This is a severe and potentially life threatening ingestion. Take your child to an emergency room for evaluation immediately.
Ammonia
Fumes can be poisonous. Always be sure to use ammonia in a well-ventilated room. Never mix bleach and ammonia because the combined fumes are more poisonous than each fume separately. Be sure to check the labels on cleaning products as they may contain one or the other. Swallowing ammonia may cause mouth and stomach irritation, nausea, and vomitting. Breathing in ammonia fumes may lead to lightheadedness, dizziness, and excessive activity.
Housepaint
May be swallowed and cause nausea, vomitting, and drowsiness. Paint chips or paint dust in window sills or door frames often end up in the mouths of children. Paint from before 1976 has a good chance of containing lead which may cause lead poisoning in your child.
Gasoline
Often swallowed during siphoning of fuel, for example from the lawnmower at the end of the season. Gas can also be swallowed if it is stored in an improper container such as a beverage container. If swallowed, gas may cause nausea, vomiting, and coughing. Do not use mouth suction to siphon gasoline.
Mothballs
Often eaten during the spring and summer months when wool clothing is stored for the season. Mothballs are easily mistaken for candy. Side effects may include nausea, vomitting, excessive activity, drowsiness, and coma.
Mercury in thermometers
Can be swallowed from a broken thermometer. The amount of mercury in a thermometer is not enough to cause serious health problems, but the shards of broken glass can be very dangerous. Look for large cuts in the mouth and remove glass shards. Then call our office now.
Alcohol poisoning
Typically occurs in adolescents and adults. Alcohol and many medications in particular can be a dangerous combination. Overdoses on alcohol may lead to drunkenness, excessive activity, drowsiness, and a comatose state. Never combine alcohol and medications, especially sedatives (e.g. Valium®), antihistamines, isoniazide (INH), and metronidazole (Flagyl®).
Shampoo
Frequently swallowed but is rarely a serious poisoning agent. Shampoo ingestion may cause nausea and vomitting.
Tobacco from cigarettes, cigars, butts, and ashes
Nicotine exposure from these items may lead to nausea, vomitting, headache, and stomach irritation.
What are the symptoms of poisoning?
The symptoms of poisoning depend on what your child has been exposed to. Other than finding an open container next to the child or the substance on the child’s mouth or face, common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, excessive activity, excessive drowsiness, coma, headache, and irritation of the skin or mucous membranes.
Home Treatment
Call the poison control center or our office now if you think your child has taken an inappropriate medication or improper dose.
Home therapy should be instituted only after seeking advice from the poison control center or our office unless your child is at immediate risk of suffering injury.
If there are two people in the home while attempting to contact the poison control center, here are a few common sense guidelines that you may consider.
Swallowed poisons
Medicines - Do not give anything by mouth. Call the poison control center for advice now.Household chemicals - As long as your child is not unconscious, having convulsions, or cannot swallow, give your child a small amount of water and call the poison control center now.
Inhaled poisons
Get your child immediately to fresh air and avoid the poisonous fumes.Open windows and doors to increase ventilation to the area.If your child is not breathing, have someone call the emergency number now (911 in most areas) and begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if you are trained.
Skin exposure
Remove any contaminated clothing from your child and flood skin with water for 10 minutes.If there are burns on the skin, call our office now.If there are no burns on the skin, wash the area gently with soap and water and rinse.
Eye exposure
Flood the eye with lukewarm water (NOT hot water) by pouring from a large glass 2 to 3 inches from the eye.Do this for 15 minutes measured by the clock, and have your child blink her eyes very often during the flushing.Be sure to call the poison control center for advice now.
Using syrup of ipecac
Ipecac is a very effective emetic - swallowing this medicine will usually make your child vomit.Do not use syrup of ipecac unless advised to do so by the poison control center or our office.For children under one or older children and adults, call the poison control center now for the appropriate dosage of ipecac.Give children one year and older one tablespoon or three teaspoons (15 ml) followed by at least one glass of water.It can take some time for the syrup to work. Wait for twenty minutes measured by the clock. If your child has not vomited after 20 minutes, give one and only one more dose. Never give more than two doses of ipecac. If your child has not vomited after another 20 minutes, call the poison control center or our office again for advice now.
Prevention
Keep all posoinous products out of the reach of children.
Avoid using ground-level cabinets such as under the sink for cleaning materials, but if you must, then use cabinet door locks.
Never store poisonous materials in containers that may be mistaken for something harmless such as food jars or soda bottles.
Always supervise children when they are around household chemicals such as bleach, shampoo, etc.
Do not refer to medicines as “candy” as this may lead to accidental swallowing of dangerous medication.
Be very careful in measuring out dosages for children. Check and recheck the dose!
Do not mix medications unless you have consulted our office or the pharmacy about possible interactions, especially medications with alcohol.
Warning signs - Call the poison control center or our office for advice immediately if:
You have any suspicion that your child has come into contact with any medication inappropriately, call the poison control center now.
Your child is having any of the symptoms listed above after possibly having contact with any questionable material, call the poison control center now.
You have any questions about the safety of any plant or material in you home, take this opportunity to see our plant page or call the poison control center for information or a referral now.
You have any questions or concerns, or if you have any doubts about the severity of your child's symptoms, call the poison control center or our office now.
If you go to the emergency room, bring the poison with you.
