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Poisoning: First aid

Poisoning is injury or death due to swallowing, inhaling, touching or injecting various drugs, chemicals, venoms or gases. Many substances — such as drugs and carbon monoxide — are poisonous only in higher concentrations or dosages. And others — such as cleaners — are dangerous only if ingested. Children are particularly sensitive to even small amounts of certain drugs and chemicals.

How you treat someone who may have been poisoned depends on:

If you are concerned about possible poisoning, call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 in the United States or your regional poison control center. It may help to place a refrigerator magnet or a visible sticker in your home with the poison control number. Poison control centers are excellent resources for poisoning information and, in many situations, may advise that in-home observation is all that’s needed.

Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately if the person is:

Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 in the United States or your regional poison control center in the following situations:

Be ready to describe the person’s symptoms, age, weight, other medicines the person is taking, and any information you have about the poison. Try to find out the amount ingested and how long since the person was exposed to it. If possible, have on hand the pill bottle, medicine package or other suspected container so that you can refer to its label when speaking with the poison control center.

Poisoning symptoms can mimic other conditions, such as seizure, alcohol intoxication, stroke and insulin reaction. Symptoms of poisoning may include:

If you suspect poisoning, be alert for clues such as empty pill bottles or packages, scattered pills, and burns, stains and odors on the person or nearby objects. With a child, consider the possibility that the child may have applied medicated patches, taken prescription medicines or swallowed a button battery.

Take the following actions until help arrives:

If the person is at risk of overdose of opioid pain medication and naloxone (Narcan) is available, please administer. Increasingly, healthcare providers are giving people Narcan injectable prescriptions if they are at risk of overdose. Loved ones should be familiar with how to use them.

© 1998-2024 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved.

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