Accidentally ingested surgical spirit

[Haseo]

Was dressing a wound, didnt wash hand, had a layer of it when i ate a snack. Didnt realize till i tasted something bitter but by then i'd swallowed the mouthful of tainted snacks.

Surgical spirit contents:
Methylated spirit 95%
methyl salicytate .5%
diethyl phthalate 2%
castor oil 2.5%

i googled, got a shock, but no idea what to do. Been spitting out the remnants of the taste for a good minute now. Am i gonna go blind/die?

[Untradeable]

INGESTION :
DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING. In case of spontaneous vomiting, be sure that vomit
can freely drain because of danger of suffocation. Only when conscious, rinse mouth
with plenty of water and give plenty of water to drink - (approx 500ml). Keep patient at
rest and obtain medical attention.

Drink alot of water and possibly call a poison control center.

[CrazyForDex]

I'm surprised you consulted Southperry if you were concerned you were going to become ill from ingesting poisonous substances. Poison Control exists for a reason

[Haseo]

No such thing as poison control over here where i live, and im in class right now x_x

[Untradeable]

Tell your instructor then.

[ImagineAll]

Tell your instructor then.

This.

People's lack of common sense amazes me at times.

Disclaimer: This isn't to say your teacher is even going to know what to do, but try exhausting all of the resources at your immediate disposal before inquiring assistance from an online forum centralized around a game aimed at teenagers.

Hope you're alright ~

[hadriel]

Alrite... you ah...

By the sounds of it, you didn't take A MOUTHFUL OF methylated spirit. Your hand was just dirty.

Methylated spirit - a mouthful might not kill you. 2 mouthfuls and you'll start to go blind.
Methyl salicylate - good for headaches, but bad for your stomach lining. Nothing significant.
Diethyl phthalate - not that bad. Your body can handle a bit more than a couple of mgs of it. I wouldn't eat more though. This is partly the cause of the terrible taste.
Castor oil - look this is IN YOUR CANDY.

So you'll live happily ever after. Don't freak out. The only thing that will really kill you is a full bottle of methanol.
And yes, I'm glad you didn't try to vomit it out.

Hadriel

[Shidoshi]

I've heard drinking Ethanol (from alcoholic beverages) helps eliminate Methanol so you don't have any adverse effects.

[Haseo]

I'm fine, didnt have to go to the doctor. Sorry if i bothered anyone.

For the choice of inquiry, i always ask online first, information tends to be tons more reliable than the people around me (who usually just go 'i dunno, derp' to everything and appear to take pride in not knowing anything). I think it's because of an uncomfortably common singaporean kind of thing where knowledge is avoided. Also, i'd prolly be snapped at or be given no end about it from classmates for for interrupting the class. =_=

Anyway, thanks guys.

@shidoshi i saw that on an article when i was looking up antiseptics a while ago. O.o

[Shidoshi]

I've heard it from my Organic Chemistry teacher while we were working on the lab. He said they'd go for beer after work because they were working with Methanol ^^

[Fiel]

I forgot where you live. But if you do live in the United States there's a 24 hour poison control hotline. Considering that ingestion of that could be an emergency (causes you to go blind) those people can help direct you to what to do next on how to quickly resolve the situation.

>> Singapore

Nevermind.

Anyway, you likely won't get much information out of Americans. If we tell you to do something and you get a bad result from it, we can get sued and be held liable for what happens to you. The best thing you're going to get is "Go see your doctor".

[DeanNim]

I forgot where you live. But if you do live in the United States there's a 24 hour poison control hotline. Considering that ingestion of that could be an emergency (causes you to go blind) those people can help direct you to what to do next on how to quickly resolve the situation.

>> Singapore

Nevermind.

Anyway, you likely won't get much information out of Americans. If we tell you to do something and you get a bad result from it, we can get sued and be held liable for what happens to you. The best thing you're going to get is "Go see your doctor".

seeing a doctor would probably have him waiting for hours and he would've died... LOL seriously though, it wasn't a&e worthy, neither was it something to ignore.

[Sarah]

You learned an important lesson today. If you're concerned about something, keep it to yourself. That seems to be Southperry's consensus.




Also wash your hands whenever you handle chemicals.

[hadriel]

The treatment for adulterated alcohol i.e. ethanol tainted with methanol or ethylene glycol, is to flood your guts with pharmaceutical grade ethanol. The basis of the treatment is competitive inhibition, in which there's so much ethanol in your system that the adulterants don't get a chance to get oxidised into toxic stuff (you don't joke with formaldehyde, especially powder-form paraformaldehyde). There was a story (probably real) that a doctor received a patient who drank contaminated wine (probably self-distilled), and he burned half his cellar of red wine to tide him over till the next day, when he could get him to hospital. Kinda wasted. I can buy reagent-grade ethanol at like 20 quid for 1.5L. You don't buy good red wine at 20 quid for a bottle...

Generally if most things are horribly bitter, then you won't eat much of it, and you'll live. You could even take a full gulp of mouthwash and there won't be a bucket for you to kick, but you might complain of a stomache. Bitter is a good gauge of toxicity - strychnine is zomfg bitter according to most literature. Maybe except if your parents start buying you 凉茶, especially 二十四味, which you'll prob. die before you drink it.

And my dear, be more careful next time.

Hadriel