accidentally sipped antifreeze
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Took a bit of internet sleuthing, but there does, indeed, appear to be an antidote for ethylene glycol poisoning: fomepizole is its generic term. The drug can correct the acidosis. However, if kidney failure has commenced, dialysis, as co-therapy, will still probably be necessary. Expensive as the drug may be, it's still gotta be cheaper than a kidney transplant.
From what I've seen, while the stuff has toxic effects with respect to several different organs, in higher mamals, the primary danger is destruction of the kidneys, which results in slow, lingering death as the rest of the body stews in a constantly thickening brew of unpurged toxins aggravated by off-balance electrolytes.quote:
Originally posted by Eric Peterman:
Twoo mush anteefriz wil mek yur brian tun too moosh.
No really, if you ingest a lot of ethylene glycol, it will cause brain damage and even death. Gradual (low dose over a long time) poisoning leaves one stupified, the catatonic, then... well, you get the idea.
A little in the mouth is no worry. It's ingestion of quantities of it that's bad news. So if you can read this, you're fine.
I really enjoy this great forum, but I've got to scratch my head at this point as I wonder how many of us oil geniuses are qualified as medical doctors??? I guess cweed that if you haven't started to croak by now, you're probably going to be OK, but personally, I'm going to ante up a co-pay and check with my doc if I ever do this. God gave you one set of kidneys, and replacements don't come easy. Cweed, you still out there. . .
Some folks are less tolerant of the bad stuff in anti-freeze. My uncle's long-time friend almost died after ONE mouthful of anti-freeze with just a little of it being sollowed.
The guy has had severe health problems for years due to his kidneys being damaged.
He just happened to be one of those folks with no tolerance for the stuff.
Wouldn't be nuthin' wrong to have the medicos check you out just to be safe. However, it should have been done immediately after the exposure.
The guy has had severe health problems for years due to his kidneys being damaged.
He just happened to be one of those folks with no tolerance for the stuff.
Wouldn't be nuthin' wrong to have the medicos check you out just to be safe. However, it should have been done immediately after the exposure.
Ya, I look at it that way too, but BCBS doesn't.
About 15 years ago TPA was introduced to treat heart attack pt's. This clott buster was a major advancement in treating MI pt's. You could even carry it in the ambulance and have it infused by the time the pt came to the ER. Only problem was the cost to BCBS was initially $3,000-$4,000 per dose. For many years they refused to pay for, stating that the old way of treating pt's was just as effective. It took several studies to show that the overall outcome to the pt was better and the overall cost to the inuracne company was actually less in the long run.
We do not carry ANTIZOLE (fomepizole). In the 15 years that I have worked here I have had onle ONE call for from the ER.
DON'T drink methanol if you ingest antifreeze! Methanol may prevent your body from metabolizing ethylene or propylene glycol (I don't know) but methanol is highly toxic in it's own right.
If you ingest methanol or ethylene glycol, most likely you will receive an IV with an ethanol drip, the amount of ethanol you receive depending upon the amount of stuff they find in your blood. The ethanol is preferentially worked on by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (sp) in your liver over methanol or ethylene glycol. This gives your body time to expel the unwanted alcohol through your kidneys.
Methanol, when worked on by the liver, forms formaldehyde, bad stuff (liver, kidney, CNS damage, blindness). Ethylene glycol is converted into glycoaldehyde and then eventually into oxalate, which I believe is what causes the crystals in kidneys.
DON'T drink methanol if you ingest antifreeze!
If you ingest methanol or ethylene glycol, most likely you will receive an IV with an ethanol drip, the amount of ethanol you receive depending upon the amount of stuff they find in your blood. The ethanol is preferentially worked on by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (sp) in your liver over methanol or ethylene glycol. This gives your body time to expel the unwanted alcohol through your kidneys.
Methanol, when worked on by the liver, forms formaldehyde, bad stuff (liver, kidney, CNS damage, blindness). Ethylene glycol is converted into glycoaldehyde and then eventually into oxalate, which I believe is what causes the crystals in kidneys.
DON'T drink methanol if you ingest antifreeze!
Humorous, but with a potentially tragic outcome. Don't anyone get the idea that guzzling "Rocky Mountain Cool-Aid", even in quantity, will negate the effects of ethylene glycol or methanol poisoning. With beer's diuretic qualities, that would just load up the pressure on the kidneys when they need it least. I would expect that ethanol therapy would need to be administered as an IV drip and very closely monitored by an acute care medical team.
Getting antifreeze, gasoline, motor oil, etc in your mouth is no big deal as long as none is swallowed and you rinse several times. Back when leaded gas was still the norm, I got many mouthfulls of the stuff from syphoning. We used to even wash paint and grease off our hands with that stuff...lol.
I'm still not sure about the whole "used oil causes cancer" thing. Maybe if you worked in the stuff up to your elbows everyday. But a few minutes a couple times a year during an oil change can't be that bad.
I'm still not sure about the whole "used oil causes cancer" thing. Maybe if you worked in the stuff up to your elbows everyday. But a few minutes a couple times a year during an oil change can't be that bad.
I believe you're right, even though, technically, exposure risk is cumulative. The most important consideration after working with used engine oil is to thoroughly cleanse exposed skin as soon as possible afterword. Also, the carcinogenicity studies are based on animal results - and the critters commonly used are specifically chosen because of their liklihood to develop skin lesions in a worst case scenario.
Hey guys, sorry for not chiming in that im still alive
Here is what i ended up doing, i called the poison control center and was told that swallowing a couple of drops is safe, i was told that once you get into the teaspoon range, thats when you may start getting effects from it, and that yes it affects different people more than others. All in all i seem to be fine, i drank a lot that day (water that is) and drank a beer too just in case hehe, or was that just an excuse to drink eh?
Here is what i ended up doing, i called the poison control center and was told that swallowing a couple of drops is safe, i was told that once you get into the teaspoon range, thats when you may start getting effects from it, and that yes it affects different people more than others. All in all i seem to be fine, i drank a lot that day (water that is) and drank a beer too just in case hehe, or was that just an excuse to drink eh?
I gues that is why they say not to swallow toothpaste, it contains propylene glycol, I just checked on the label.
BTW, Cweed, welcome back from your near death experience ;-)
I can't help you with that but I was putting in a battery and had the caps off cause it was on charge you know.Well I dropped it the acid went in my mouth and eyes.They rushed me to the hospital and flushed me out over and over. I think I know how you feel.
ooof. battery acid in your eyes, that must have been painful! glad you're okay though! I think these kind of things always happen to us car geeks, and some of it can be really bad.. i think the best lesson we can all learn from these things is to be careful, but no matter how much we hear it i know its hard to stop bad habits unless something happens to us to teach us a lesson first hand....
GREAT thread!
When I was a professional mechanic I got spritzed in the mouth wiht every conceivable automotive fluid. Usually just wiped it off and kept going, and washed my mouth off when I got the chance. not IN my mouth mind you, just on the lips enough that I coudl taste it.
I also remember doing the same thing on 8th grade with HCl when we were doing an experiment creating Hydrogen gas with zinc shavings. I remember getting scared at the time but I was even more scared of what my teacher/classmates would say. So I kept my mouth shut and here I am today.
I do have a strong affinity for homestarrunner cartoons some may point to my exposure to hazardous chemicals as a reason for that.
It was Biscuit Dough Hands!
When I was a professional mechanic I got spritzed in the mouth wiht every conceivable automotive fluid. Usually just wiped it off and kept going, and washed my mouth off when I got the chance. not IN my mouth mind you, just on the lips enough that I coudl taste it.
I also remember doing the same thing on 8th grade with HCl when we were doing an experiment creating Hydrogen gas with zinc shavings. I remember getting scared at the time but I was even more scared of what my teacher/classmates would say. So I kept my mouth shut and here I am today.
I do have a strong affinity for homestarrunner cartoons some may point to my exposure to hazardous chemicals as a reason for that.
It was Biscuit Dough Hands!
Actually, propylene glycol is not hazardous (as much as *anything* isn't hazardous).
It is classified as a food additive in fact. However, that doesn't mean that propylene glycol based antifreeze is safe, it isn't -- there's lots of other horrible stuff in all antifreezes, even though pg-based antifreeze is less toxic than eg-based (ethylene glycol).
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts96.html
It is classified as a food additive in fact. However, that doesn't mean that propylene glycol based antifreeze is safe, it isn't -- there's lots of other horrible stuff in all antifreezes, even though pg-based antifreeze is less toxic than eg-based (ethylene glycol).
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts96.html
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