It's not something you do on purpose, but sometimes, when you take breathing treatments a lot, or give them a lot, the medicine squirts into your mouth. It's not like it happens on purpose, it just happens .
The good news is I don't ever remember suffering from side effects. In fact, the side effects from ingesting albuterol are probably less than when you inhale it.
Years ago, when I was a student perhaps, I gave a breathing treatment to a really awesome mentally challenged young man. I started the breathing treatment using a mask, and then a conversation ensued between me his mother.
She said she set him up with a treatment using a mask a few days earlier and then left the room. When she returned, she saw the mask was off his fact and the nebulizer taken apart.
"What did you do with this?" she said, concerned.
"I drank it," he said proudly.
"YOU DRANK IT!!!!"
"Yep."
She called poison control. They said that he would be fine, that the side effects from drinking Albuterol would be no different than if you inhaled it: nervousness, dizziness, tremors, etc.
So, take it from the authorities, the next time you accidentally squirt albuterol into your mouth, take note of the fact it will do no harm.
This post was originally published on August 28, 2008 and has since been edited
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10 comments:
It sounds like something I would do so I got a big grin from this post but, knock on wood, I've never splashed it in my mouth yet. However, having bragged about that, I consider myself jinxed. :-)
I suppose it's also a good place to get cross contamination. Imagine doing that in a MRSA room. Yep, you better start wearing goggles. Can you picture it?
That made me wonder-
Why not, instead of giving useless breathing treatments, give them albuterol PO? Comes in strawberry flavored syrup, or little tablets. There really is something more to those breathing treatments than we insignificant RT's can imagine...
What a marvelous idea. Ventolin, it's not just inhaled anymore.
Things like that never land in my mouth, that would be easy...they land in my eyeballs. I've had to start wearing goggles because I've had some close calls.
http://www.unilab.com.ph/consumer/products_details.asp?eee=519
Let's say they drank like 20 2.5mg packets... how dangerous should I consider this.
Then I'd probably seek medical help.
To Anonymous who may have drunk 20*2.5mgs - what happened? I think our daughter just ate 3*2.5mg.
Was she ok
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