Kids and Household Poisons
Dr. Ebrahim Karkevandian explains what Toxicology is and how it can affect your life. Listen as he discusses the most common cause of poisonings in children and animals and helpful resources if you find yourself in an emergency.
Featured Speaker:
Ebrahim Karkevandian, DO, FACOEP, FACOMT
Dr. Ebrahim Karkevandian is an emergency medicine physician working at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the medical field. Dr. Karkevandian earned his medical degree from University of Health Sciences medical school in Kansas City. He completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center where he was selected Chief Resident in his third year. Following this, Dr. Karkevandian completed his fellowship in Medical Toxicology at the New Jersey Poison Control Center. Transcription:
Kids and Household Poisons
Intro: This is BayCare HealthChat, another podcast from BayCare Health System.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Welcome to BayCare HealthChat. I'm Caitlin Whyte. And in this episode, we are discussing toxins and poisoning with Dr. Ebrahim Karkevandian, an Emergency Medicine Physician with BayCare Health System. Doctor, do children get poisoned with the same agents as adults?
Ebrahim Karkevandian, DO, FACOEP, FACOMT (Guest): Not necessarily depends on the age. Depends on the age. So, the toddlers are very curious and everything quickly goes to their mouth. It's different when they're comparing, for example, the pediatrics to the adult.
Usually they are unintentional. I mean, it's by mistake, they put something in their mouth or the parents, as I mentioned, give a Tylenol more than recommended doses for the fever or give Advil more than the recommended the doses. So those are unintentional in pediatrics, usually unintentional overdose. When it comes to the adult point of view, adult mass majority of the adult poisoning are intentional. What that means is they are trying to ingest the medication or use the drug to harm themselves and/or to kill themselves. So, that is different than medication and different in the way they get exposed. In the pediatric, the vast majority of the overdose or poisoning happens at home. These are the household products, these are the medications at home. When the parents leave the medicine on the counter, or forget, or grandparents have the medication, for example, even on their table when the toddler or the kids get a hold on that and then put him in their mouth. But adults on the other hand, as an adult, usually, as I mentioned, could be from their recreational misusing it to get high, using the intravenous route, illicit drugs, street drugs and could be under this adult could be also the elderly individual because the elderly have a poor vision sometimes. Some of them, some of them are forgetful. They mix the medication, blood pressure medication together, mix them with other, with the vitamins and they get accidentally they get overdosed. Those are also called unintentional.
Host: So what is the most common poisoning in adults?
Dr. Karkevandian: The most common cause of poisoning is going to be analgesia. An analgesia, you're talking about most likely street drugs. And street drugs, you're talking exactly like your heroin or any of those other fentanyl or illicit drug on the street. These are the most common cause of their morbidity and mortality in the adult overdose.
Host: Talking about overdoses, how many drug overdoses are reported to the poison control center annually?
Dr. Karkevandian: Annually, we usually see very close to 2.5 million drug overdoses, or those phone calls made to the poison control center. But over the last four to five years, the trend has been lower. It means about 2.1, 2.2 million. But, surprisingly in 2019, which is the last year of the data that is available to us - over 2.5 million phone calls made to the poison control center regarding possible drug overdose. Out of those, we had about two, over 2 million of those calls were involve the human about 70,000 of those calls were made in 2019, with regard to the animals and the dog, by the way, the dog being a normal one, accounted for 90% of animal exposure through the poison of dogs account for 90% of all animal calls coming into the poison control center. Some other calls to the poison control center are for obtaining information, for example from the pharmacist or drug interaction.
So, but the important thing is most of the calls that are made to the poison control center come from home. You have a concern, you have a question about a drug, or a pediatric or child or getting accidentally exposed to the medicine or drug or the chemical. So the vast majority of the calls come from home.
There is a poison control center. They have an 800 free number 800-222-1222. which as soon as you dial that toll free number, you are connected to the local poison control center. So what they do at the poison control center, they call it, you know, confidential, by the way, they call up the information and the toxicology, especially they call on poison specialists, which are the nurses and the pharmacists that work at the poison control center. So they obtain all the information. And they present it to the toxicologist on call and then they give appropriate direction either go to the hospital or stay at home and just watch, or for example this particular medicine is not poisonous and you can just watch them at home. So the poison control center is 24/7 available in any part of the United States and all have the same 800 number. I'm going to repeat is 800-222-1222.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Well wrapping up here, doctor, is there anything else you'd like to add about toxins and overdoses?
Ebrahim Karkevandian, DO, FACOEP, FACOMT (Guest): Yes. Yes. So, my recommendation again for the parents, are a few things, number one do not mix the household products, cleaning products together, do not mix the ammonia and the bleach together. And also when you are using the chemical at home, please put the gloves on, put the mask on, turn on the fan, open the windows. Be very careful. And then number two, I'm going to recommend keep the old chemicals out of the reach of the children and also keep them in the original container. Do not put, for example, the chemical in the soda can or a milk container, just keep them in the original container and make sure they are tight in the container. Also try to put all the medication, including over the counter medication, like Tylenol or aspirin, out of the reach of the kids. Put them in the cabinet and make sure they are in a secure area that they cannot get hold on that. And of course, we talk about the poison control center, 800 number. It is toll free. It doesn't have to be an emergency. If you have any questions, any concerns, just give them a call. There are specialists over there, they the answer the questions, they follow up with you, this is what we do. This is why we are poison control center for questions.
As I mentioned, the vast majority of the calls to the poison control center, are basically regarding the drug overdose or the drug interactions and are treated at home, they don't go to the hospital. The vast majority often 84% are treated at home. We just tell them to stay at home, you watch for this and that. Then, if it's a complication, they advise them to go to the hospital.
So please do not forget. Put these onto your refrigerator this 800-222-1222 is a toll-free number, confidential, and available anywhere in the United States.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Well, thank you for this information doctor, head on over to our website at BayCare.org for more information, and to get connected with one of our providers. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all of the other BayCare podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social channels. This has been another episode of BayCare HealthChat. I'm Caitlin Whyte. Stay well.
Kids and Household Poisons
Intro: This is BayCare HealthChat, another podcast from BayCare Health System.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Welcome to BayCare HealthChat. I'm Caitlin Whyte. And in this episode, we are discussing toxins and poisoning with Dr. Ebrahim Karkevandian, an Emergency Medicine Physician with BayCare Health System. Doctor, do children get poisoned with the same agents as adults?
Ebrahim Karkevandian, DO, FACOEP, FACOMT (Guest): Not necessarily depends on the age. Depends on the age. So, the toddlers are very curious and everything quickly goes to their mouth. It's different when they're comparing, for example, the pediatrics to the adult.
Usually they are unintentional. I mean, it's by mistake, they put something in their mouth or the parents, as I mentioned, give a Tylenol more than recommended doses for the fever or give Advil more than the recommended the doses. So those are unintentional in pediatrics, usually unintentional overdose. When it comes to the adult point of view, adult mass majority of the adult poisoning are intentional. What that means is they are trying to ingest the medication or use the drug to harm themselves and/or to kill themselves. So, that is different than medication and different in the way they get exposed. In the pediatric, the vast majority of the overdose or poisoning happens at home. These are the household products, these are the medications at home. When the parents leave the medicine on the counter, or forget, or grandparents have the medication, for example, even on their table when the toddler or the kids get a hold on that and then put him in their mouth. But adults on the other hand, as an adult, usually, as I mentioned, could be from their recreational misusing it to get high, using the intravenous route, illicit drugs, street drugs and could be under this adult could be also the elderly individual because the elderly have a poor vision sometimes. Some of them, some of them are forgetful. They mix the medication, blood pressure medication together, mix them with other, with the vitamins and they get accidentally they get overdosed. Those are also called unintentional.
Host: So what is the most common poisoning in adults?
Dr. Karkevandian: The most common cause of poisoning is going to be analgesia. An analgesia, you're talking about most likely street drugs. And street drugs, you're talking exactly like your heroin or any of those other fentanyl or illicit drug on the street. These are the most common cause of their morbidity and mortality in the adult overdose.
Host: Talking about overdoses, how many drug overdoses are reported to the poison control center annually?
Dr. Karkevandian: Annually, we usually see very close to 2.5 million drug overdoses, or those phone calls made to the poison control center. But over the last four to five years, the trend has been lower. It means about 2.1, 2.2 million. But, surprisingly in 2019, which is the last year of the data that is available to us - over 2.5 million phone calls made to the poison control center regarding possible drug overdose. Out of those, we had about two, over 2 million of those calls were involve the human about 70,000 of those calls were made in 2019, with regard to the animals and the dog, by the way, the dog being a normal one, accounted for 90% of animal exposure through the poison of dogs account for 90% of all animal calls coming into the poison control center. Some other calls to the poison control center are for obtaining information, for example from the pharmacist or drug interaction.
So, but the important thing is most of the calls that are made to the poison control center come from home. You have a concern, you have a question about a drug, or a pediatric or child or getting accidentally exposed to the medicine or drug or the chemical. So the vast majority of the calls come from home.
There is a poison control center. They have an 800 free number 800-222-1222. which as soon as you dial that toll free number, you are connected to the local poison control center. So what they do at the poison control center, they call it, you know, confidential, by the way, they call up the information and the toxicology, especially they call on poison specialists, which are the nurses and the pharmacists that work at the poison control center. So they obtain all the information. And they present it to the toxicologist on call and then they give appropriate direction either go to the hospital or stay at home and just watch, or for example this particular medicine is not poisonous and you can just watch them at home. So the poison control center is 24/7 available in any part of the United States and all have the same 800 number. I'm going to repeat is 800-222-1222.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Well wrapping up here, doctor, is there anything else you'd like to add about toxins and overdoses?
Ebrahim Karkevandian, DO, FACOEP, FACOMT (Guest): Yes. Yes. So, my recommendation again for the parents, are a few things, number one do not mix the household products, cleaning products together, do not mix the ammonia and the bleach together. And also when you are using the chemical at home, please put the gloves on, put the mask on, turn on the fan, open the windows. Be very careful. And then number two, I'm going to recommend keep the old chemicals out of the reach of the children and also keep them in the original container. Do not put, for example, the chemical in the soda can or a milk container, just keep them in the original container and make sure they are tight in the container. Also try to put all the medication, including over the counter medication, like Tylenol or aspirin, out of the reach of the kids. Put them in the cabinet and make sure they are in a secure area that they cannot get hold on that. And of course, we talk about the poison control center, 800 number. It is toll free. It doesn't have to be an emergency. If you have any questions, any concerns, just give them a call. There are specialists over there, they the answer the questions, they follow up with you, this is what we do. This is why we are poison control center for questions.
As I mentioned, the vast majority of the calls to the poison control center, are basically regarding the drug overdose or the drug interactions and are treated at home, they don't go to the hospital. The vast majority often 84% are treated at home. We just tell them to stay at home, you watch for this and that. Then, if it's a complication, they advise them to go to the hospital.
So please do not forget. Put these onto your refrigerator this 800-222-1222 is a toll-free number, confidential, and available anywhere in the United States.
Caitlin Whyte (Host): Well, thank you for this information doctor, head on over to our website at BayCare.org for more information, and to get connected with one of our providers. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all of the other BayCare podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social channels. This has been another episode of BayCare HealthChat. I'm Caitlin Whyte. Stay well.