Poisoning refers to damage to the body due to ingestion of toxic substances. They can penetrate through the mouth, respiratory tract, through the skin. There are several types of poisoning. Distinguish: food poisoning, drug, chemical, smoke poisoning and others, as well as alcohol and mushroom poisoning. The latter is allocated in a separate group, because the process of intoxication is different from general food poisoning. When a person consumes a toxic substance or inhales it, almost all body functions suffer. A very dangerous substance is carbon monoxide. First aid in case of poisoning from him is an important skill, any person should understand what actions he needs to do. Most poisoning causes problems with the nervous, digestive and respiratory systems. The consequences can be quite serious, so it is important to start treatment on time. Sometimes it can be fatal, therefore it is very important to provide first aid for poisoning and burns. It is precisely on how timely and correctly it is rendered that a person’s life completely depends.
How to provide first aid?
Emergency assistance must be provided immediately. To begin with, it is necessary to completely eliminate human contact with a toxic substance. Then, using gastric lavage, remove poison from the body. Then you need to maintain and control cardiac and respiratory activity. If necessary, resuscitation should be carried out. The next step is to call a doctor or ambulance. It is important to understand the cause of the poisoning. First aid will then be highly effective.
Food poisoning
Food poisoning is the most common. At the moment, there is practically not a single person who would not experience this condition. The reason for this is the bacterial infection of low-quality products. Symptoms, as a rule, occur within an hour or two after eating. The main indicators are vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Sometimes a person can feel general weakness of the body, and he also has repeated vomiting and diarrhea. Consider what should be the first aid for food poisoning.
Emergency measures
First of all, it is necessary to make the patient a gastric lavage. To do this, a person needs to be given potassium permanganate or about a liter of ordinary water. Next, induce vomiting. To do this, you need to press two fingers on the root of the tongue. At the same time, this should be done until a person begins to release a vomit, consisting of a clear liquid. After the victim, it is necessary to give the adsorbent.
The cheapest and most common that every person has in every home is activated carbon. For 10 kg of a person’s weight, one tablet should be given. Accordingly, if a person weighs 60 kg, then he needs to take 6 tablets. If there is no activated carbon, then Smecta, Lignin and similar preparations are quite suitable.
Sometimes there is no diarrhea, so you have to call it artificially. To do this, you can make an enema or take a salt laxative. You can use “Magnesia”, Karlovy Vary salt and others. When providing first aid for food poisoning, you should warm the victim. You need to wrap it with a blanket, give tea, you can attach a heating pad. In order to replenish the fluid in the body, it is necessary to supply a person with a plentiful drink. It is advisable to use unsweetened tea or salted water.
Mushroom poisoning
If a person has been intoxicated by fungi, then it must be immediately shown to a doctor. First aid for mushroom poisoning will differ from the instructions for food poisoning. This is due to the fact that mushroom poison can cause severe damage to the nervous system. In this case, intoxication, as a rule, does not appear immediately. If you do not catch the patient on time, then this can turn into serious consequences for him.
With first aid for mushroom poisoning, it is necessary to do a rinse, take activated charcoal, apply a heating pad, and provide the patient peace.
Drug poisoning
If a person is poisoned with drugs, then you must definitely call a doctor. Before the ambulance arrives, you should understand how many tablets the victim took and which drug. Symptoms are manifested in each situation differently, since it depends on the properties of the medication that the person took. It can be: vomiting, lethargy, excessive salivation, lethargy, loss of consciousness, convulsions, strange behavior.
If the victim is conscious, then while a person is waiting for the doctor to arrive, first aid is necessary. In case of poisoning by such means, it is similar to those actions that are performed during food intoxication.
When the patient is unconscious, he needs to be put on his side. This will avoid getting the resulting vomit in the throat, a person will not be able to choke on them. You also need to constantly check your pulse and breathing. If they begin to disappear, then you need to do resuscitation.
Acid hazard
It should be noted that acids and alkalis are the strongest poisons. They cause not only toxic effects on the body, but also a local burn. As a rule, poisoning occurs when substances enter the mouth, therefore burns to the mouth and pharynx appear. Sometimes the lips also suffer.
As for first aid for poisoning with substances of this type, you need to do a gastric lavage with clean water. Do not induce vomiting without rinsing, or inactivate acid using alkali. After a person has washed his stomach, it is necessary to give him milk or vegetable oil.
A burn with hydrochloric acid is very common. It is necessary, if such an event occurs, to remove all clothing from the affected area, rinse the area with clean water. The procedure should be done for at least 15 minutes. If the injury begins to burn, then the substance must be washed off until less unpleasant symptoms appear. Then wash the place with soda and soap. After that, a sterile dressing should be applied. It must be completely dry. Rinse affected areas with oils, alcohol or urine.
Volatiles
Poisoning, which occurs due to inhalation of toxic substances, is considered one of the most severe types of intoxication. This is due to the fact that the person primarily affects the respiratory system. So, there are problems with blood, damage to the whole body.
Therefore, the most important point in providing first aid for poisoning of this type is to ensure access to clean air, which is needed to normalize the condition. If the patient is conscious, it is necessary to bring him to an open place, loosen his tight clothes. If possible, rinse your mouth and throat with soda. If a person is unconscious, it must be put on a level place, raise your head slightly and provide an air flow. It is also necessary to check the pulse and breathing and provide first aid if they begin to be disturbed.
Alcohol poisoning
How much a person takes alcohol will depend on many factors: weight, age, gender, genetic predisposition, the amount of alcohol consumed. Directly affects the quality and strength of the drink. In an average of 1-3 hours, alcohol is able to spread evenly in the body. That is why the same volume of alcohol that a person drinks at different times will have a completely different effect on the body.
For example, if an adult male with no pathologies in the middle age category drinks a bottle of vodka in 5 hours, then he will have persistent intoxication. But if he does this in 2 hours, then, probably, acute poisoning will occur. However, it is quite difficult to predict the likelihood of intoxication in different cases, since each person has a completely different process of neutralizing and eliminating alcohol from the body.
If the patient does not drink alcohol-containing drinks on a regular basis, then in order to be poisoned he will have enough accumulation in the blood of about 100 ml of anhydrous alcohol. If you use surrogates, then when taking alcoholic beverages, whose volume is from 30 to 100 ml when converted to pure alcohol, most likely a person will die. Therefore, it is important to be able to provide first aid if alcohol poisoning occurs.
Symptoms of alcohol poisoning
There are three degrees of intoxication: mild, moderate and severe. If we are talking about the first of these, then the person will be excited. His mood decreases, his ability to control himself decreases, his self-esteem rises, discoordination can be observed. In addition, some character traits are hypertrophied in the patient, stinginess or excessive generosity, conflict, a dreary mood, etc. may appear. If, at this stage, you stop taking alcohol, the result will be only a hangover syndrome.
The average degree is characterized by the fact that a person has drowsiness. His ability to navigate in time is impaired, his speech becomes illegible, and brain processes can be disturbed. If a person stops drinking alcohol at this stage, then, as a rule, he gets a deep sleep, sometimes first aid may be needed. With alcohol poisoning of this degree, the condition normalizes over a period of 12 to 24 hours.
In severe poisoning, the body temperature decreases, the functioning of the motor and cardiac system is disrupted, and also a person can lose consciousness. In this case, you need to provide medical care, as this may result in a coma or death.
You can get poisoned not only with ethyl alcohol, but also with others that are used in the production of surrogates. As a rule, methyl or wood alcohol is used for such purposes, the poisoning of which is also quite dangerous.
First aid
If a person has a mild or moderate degree of intoxication, then first aid for poisoning must be done as follows.
A person needs complete peace, it must be laid on his stomach, and his head turned to the side or to one side. This is done so that a person does not suffocate with vomit. Next, you need to do a gastric lavage. It is advisable to use special enterosorbents, which will help to remove alcohol faster. Then you need to take a laxative. In order to bring the victim to life, you need to use ammonia. It is allowed to clarify the mind to drink a special solution: about 10 drops of alcohol in one glass of water.
Chlorine poisoning
Chlorine is a toxic gas that has a metallic taste and pungent odor. It is soluble in water, as well as in many liquids, so it is often used in everyday life. Thanks to him, they disinfect water, bleach things, destroy insects and rodents, use them to create chemical warfare agents, create plastic and metal, use them as food additives, and also make medicines with its help.
In order not to poison, it is necessary to monitor the concentration of chlorine in the room. In a normal room, the indicator should not exceed 0.1 mg per square meter. In production, this indicator increases to unity. As a rule, poisoning occurs due to inhalation of vapors. This substance is especially dangerous for children. Often intoxication leads to death. Therefore, in case of chlorine poisoning, first aid literally determines the victim's further chances of existence.
Symptoms of Chlorine Poisoning
If we consider the types of chlorine intoxication, then there are three types: mild, moderate, severe.
With mild poisoning, symptoms such as burning in the eyes, sneezing and coughing, sore throat, conjunctivitis, and also lacrimation appear. Rhinitis may even begin.
If we are talking about moderate and severe, then their symptoms are almost the same. The voice becomes very hoarse, general weakness appears, pressure decreases, pulse slows down, nausea, headache, cough may appear, moreover, first dry, then wet and with frothy sputum. There are cases of short-term respiratory arrest, depression of consciousness.
In the clinic of moderate and severe stages, several special periods can be distinguished. The first is hidden, it lasts no more than 6 hours. Next comes the period in which pulmonary edema is manifested. This period ends with either a worsening of the condition or recovery.
There are such forms of intoxication that develop in literally 30 minutes. People with this degree of development, as a rule, do not survive. Therefore, it is advisable to be able to provide first aid for chlorine poisoning.
Measures
If a person is poisoned with chlorine, he needs to provide access to pure oxygen, remove tight clothes, rinse his eyes, nose, and rinse his mouth. This is done either under running water, or using drinking soda. Next, you need to give an alkaline drink, it can be mineral water or milk. Do not forget about inhalation, it is advisable to do it with soda. It is necessary to instill olive oil in your eyes, you can use Vaseline. A person needs to ensure complete peace, both emotional and physical. It is necessary to rinse the stomach, but this is done only if a person has been poisoned due to the use of a liquid that contained chlorine. It should be noted that you need to call a doctor in all cases when poisoning with this substance occurred.
Carbon monoxide hazard
Carbon monoxide is a very dangerous substance, so you need to be able to provide first aid in case of poisoning. Gas entering the bloodstream immediately begins to inhibit the active centers of the body, which prevents the formation of hemoglobin. Therefore, a person experiences acute oxygen starvation.
Symptoms of poisoning include pressing headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, sore throat. If the poisoning is moderate, then a person may begin to impaired consciousness or his loss, shortness of breath, hallucinations, discoordination, loss of hearing and vision. Proper first aid for gas poisoning is necessary to get rid of the consequences.
In severe cases, a person's heart rate decreases, involuntary urination, convulsions begins. Often, if you do not provide first aid in time for carbon monoxide poisoning, a person will be in a coma.
In order to provide it, you should unfasten your tight clothes, open all the windows so that fresh air comes in, give the person a caffeinated drink (tea or coffee). Thanks to this, the respiratory system will be activated, and the blood will begin to move faster. If a person is unconscious, you need to bring him to his senses, bring cotton wool soaked in alcohol to his nose. If there is no effect, then rub the limbs, chest and face. If there are all signs of clinical death, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be initiated. The probability of losing a person is quite high, so it is important to understand how first aid is carried out in case of gas poisoning.
Miscarriage of intoxication
Some measures that are necessary in order to improve the patient's condition can lead to additional deterioration. That is why you should know the mistakes that should not be made in first aid. Signs of poisoning should be able to distinguish from each other, as well as know what to do in certain cases.
It is necessary to abandon sparkling water. In pregnant girls, people who are conscious, and if convulsions are observed, vomiting is prohibited. You can not give an antidote yourself. If a person is poisoned with acid, then alkali should not be used as a neutralizer. It is forbidden to give laxatives if a person is poisoned with acid, alkali, chemicals, or even oil refined products.
For any type of poisoning, you need to call an ambulance. As a rule, all patients are hospitalized. An exception are cases when a person has mild food poisoning. It can be cured at home.