If you are suffering from a persistent headache, don’t be tempted to eat mothballs. In 2011, a 34-year old patient was admitted (unconscious) to a hospital emergency department in Amsterdam “following the ingestion of camphor mothballs for persisting headaches”. Fortunately, after a week or so of intensive clinical care she recovered and was discharged in […]
Tag: poison
Squeezing the Data From Squeezing the Face (with added poison)
Should patients — after they have had poison injected into their face — then squeeze their face? If so, then how often, and exactly where? Those are the bundled questions this study tried to get at, with perhaps a hint that further attempts to answer the questions might be able to produce some hint of […]
Cyanide moths – ok snack for kids
Some types of moth, notably the Zygaena genus, can contain significant quantities of cyanide, raising the question ‘Is it a good idea to eat them?’ The question has particular relevance since the moths are a traditional favourite snack amongst children from the Carnia region of Italy. The children like to eat the moths´ingluvies (roughly equivalent […]
Snake bite suction devices – a (pessimistic) review
What should one do if bitten, say, by a pit-viper? Perhaps make use of a proprietary snakebite venom suction device? Maybe not such a good idea, according to recent research from Professor Sean P. Bush, MD, FACEP, (pictured right, holding a sea-snake) of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Medical […]