Who wants to self-optimize, a whole battery of technical devices are available. Fitness Machines, Sleep Phase Alarm Clock, Smartwatch. All of the pulse, the steps, the rest of the phases is measured and counted–. Also, the diet is designed to help the body. Healthier and better life thanks to natural products. Organic is all the rage. Only the Best should find the way into the stomach. Self-squeezed juices, extra minerals, diet smoothies or currently: a racy, wild garlic Pesto, with self-picked ingredients from the forest. But suddenly it’s not. Diagnosis: Poisoning.
Because: “All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes it that a thing is not a poison,” said the Swiss doctor, Alchemist and philosopher Paracelsus already in 1538. And in the case of some natural product is a vanishingly small dose is enough to immense damage.
We wanted to know what all can go wrong, if you look at what is Good be doing, and to Mrs. Dr. Katharina Hofer asked. She works as a senior physician at the Tox Info Suisse, the official information center for questions about poisoning.
garlic-crime
For lovers of natural products ramsons (wild garlic, Allium ursinum) is in the Trend. So also in the case of a middle aged couple, which picked the Plant regularly to make garlic juice. 09:00, the couple drinks the juice. The man does not drink a little less, because he liked the taste of that day, in a way. Two hours later, the first symptoms: vomiting, cramps, diarrhea. Of a bacterial infection? The Doctors of the woman antibiotics, but her condition deteriorated rapidly. While the physicians feverishly looking for the cause of the problem, the woman’s paralysis and organ failure. Then, finally, the key note of wild garlic and other plants similar to, among others, the autumn Crocus, one of the most poisonous plants in our latitudes. Their consumption can lead in the worst case, to death by the failure of all the institutions, the paralysis of the Respiratory muscles and cardiac arrest. The woman had luck, she has probably taken a smaller amount of to – and has survived. She was able to leave the hospital after 19 days. A further five weeks she had to remain in medical treatment, to recover completely. So beware of the next wild garlic Pesto with self-collected leaves.
reference: Galland-Decker C., Charmoy A., Jolliet P., Spertini, O., Hugli O., Pantet O. (2016): Progressive Organ Failure After Ingestion of Wild Garlic Juice. In: The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 50(1): 55-60. left wild garlic, how to find him in the forest, next to the comparison with those plants, which he sees confusingly similar. Images: Keystone, Tox Info Suisse
caffeine-shock
A 36-year-old athletic man, help on the emergency station is looking, restless, nervous, shaky, Nausea and cold Sweat plagued with the constant feeling, fast breathing – he did not brought up at all. The drug screening is negative. From time to time, he’ll take food supplements to build muscle says, he is in the history. In the Morning he tried a new drug ordered over the Internet, a powdered, pure caffeine product. And so the diagnosis came immediately: caffeine intoxication after ingestion of approximately 5g of pure caffeine – the 25-Times the amount of this product recommended dose. He is then monitored in the ICU. To increased urine excretion, it goes to the young man but quickly better. However, with caffeine is no joke, an Overdose may be seizures, among other things, to hallucinations, seizures, and even cardiac arrhythmias. Severe poisoning are rare. The most common Tox Info Suisse cases of small children, who have taken coffee or energy drinks, which are mostly straightforward to deal with. Serious Overdoses in combination with alcohol and drugs or if the caffeine is ingested in its pure form to increase the performance, like the young man so quickly is not do.
reference: Koster, M., Schmidli M., Hofer, K., Schmitter, T. (2015): Not more than 1/16 of a Teaspoon, otherwise it will be dangerous! In: Swiss Medical Forum, 15(12): 282-284. Pure caffeine powder is white and should be dosed with Caution and taken. Image: istock
glue
gone even Though Dr. Katharina Hofer belongs to already has a lot on the phone in the Tox Info Suisse, there are always cases that will also amaze you. For example, those of a 61-year-old men who complained of abdominal pain. His laboratory values showed no abnormalities. Only an endoscopy brought the reason to be seen: a shining, large stone in the stomach. It was self-expanding spray foam, to seal instead of the window frame, as the giant hard lumps in the stomach of the man blocked. The Patient had confused the spray foam with honey and eaten. The stone had to be removed in a seven-hour surgery.
reference: Girardin M., Giostra E., Dumonceau JM. (2011): Endoscopic removal of a gastric bezoar consisting of self-expanding spray foam used for insulating window frames. In: Endoscopy, 43(2). honey vs building materials. Should not be confused. Images: Pexels, iStock
(editing Tamedia)
Created: 25.04.2019, 20:45 PM
