Some substances should not be removed from the stomach by vomiting because they will cause far more injury or even pneumonia. They burn coming up just as they do in the gut, and further damage will be inflicted to the gastric system, esophagus and throat. When poisoning occurs, syrup of ipecac should never be administered if petroleum distillate products or corrosives have been ingested 1. Gasoline, furniture polish, coal oil, kerosene, fuel oil and paint thinner are examples of petroleum distillates.
Corrosives are either strong acids like toilet bowl cleaner or alkali products such as lye, dishwasher detergent, oven cleaners and drain cleaners. Used correctly, syrup of ipecac can be administered to adults and children 1. However, the product should never be given to children under the age of one year or those who have an unrepaired oral defect; people with heart conditions; women in the final trimester of pregnancy; or to anyone who is sleepy, unconscious, or having seizures.
Never administer syrup of ipecac if corrosives or petroleum distillates are known to have been ingested, or if chemical burns are present on or around the mouth 1. The burns indicate consumption of those caustic substances.
This medication should only be taken as directed. Consuming too much can cause damage to the heart and to other muscles, and can even kill. A bottle of ipecac labeled as being Ipecac Fluidextract or Ipecac Tincture should not be used. These dosage forms are too strong and may cause serious side effects or death. Only ipecac syrup contains the proper strength of ipecac for treating poisonings.
Ordinarily, this medicine should not be used if strychnine, corrosives such as alkalies lye and strong acids, or petroleum distillates such as kerosene, gasoline, coal oil, fuel oil, paint thinner, or cleaning fluid have been swallowed. It may cause seizures, additional injury to the throat, or pneumonia. Ipecac should not be used to cause vomiting as a means of losing weight. If used regularly for this purpose, serious heart problems or even death may occur.
This medicine in amounts of more than 1 ounce is available only with your doctor's prescription. But they often caused problems of their own. For example, too much salt caused sodium poisoning, seizures and even death. Gagging someone often caused throat bleeding and swelling. Also, these home remedies were never reliable enough to be used to treat poisoning. And complicated charts about what remedy went with what poisoning were confusing.
Small brown bottles of ipecac syrup seemed to solve these problems. When given to children or adults, ipecac made most of them throw up within minutes. What we know now: It turns out that a big piece of the picture was missing. Yes, ipecac made people throw up, whether or not they swallowed poison. But did throwing up keep them from actually getting sick from the poison?
After decades of ipecac use for poisoning, researchers looked at all of the evidence about ipecac syrup. They agreed that ipecac syrup reliably caused vomiting. They also agreed that this didn't make any difference! In other words, there was little research to show that people who swallowed ipecac after poisoning did any better than others. There are times when ipecac is unsafe. It shouldn't be given to someone who swallowed chemicals that cause burns on contact or medicines that can cause seizures very quickly.
It can be dangerous to people with some types of medical problems. When such poisoning victims got ipecac anyway, they developed serious complications or even died. More and more people with eating disorders were using ipecac to make themselves throw up. Regular use of ipecac syrup is dangerous; for example, chronic users have died from heart problems. Sometimes people vomiting after ipecac could not keep down other drugs they needed to treat their poisonings.
Based on these facts, pediatricians, poison control experts, and federal regulators re-evaluated the use of ipecac. Follow the links at the end for the fine print.
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