Ipecac

It is dark brown and a little bit sticky, and it tastes horrible--bitter and sour and just plain weird.

At least, that was what it was like in 1967, which was the last time I had to take it.

Never taken it personally, so perhaps this wont be what you're looking for, but i struggled with eating er, 'issues' (just don't feel like saying it) and amongst everyone i knew and spoke to, even ipecac was something of a no-go (or perhaps this is a UK thing) because it could kill with the first use.

I didn't realize it was risky - I recall a poison control center recommending it for a two-year-old kid who'd swallowed iron tablets. This was in the late 1980s.

Oh god. Sadly, I do have an ipecac story that's mostly a product of my own idiocy. Let's just say that I came to a crossroads one day and decided that I'd feel worse if I allowed the second dose of cold medicine I'd taken (not realizing how similar the ingredients were to what I'd already tried) to melt to efficacy in my stomach.

I tried the finger down the throat. Didn't work.

I remembered the Ipecac in the first aid kit. Silly me, I thought I'd cough up the pill and be done with it. Six hours later, thirteen vomiting incidents into my ordeal, I decided to call an expert to find out just exactly what I'd done to myself.

"Oh no, tell me you didn't..." Not a great thing to hear from the operator at the poison control center.

Apparently, Ipecac causes you to vomit, not by irritating your stomach lining, but by fiddling with your central nervous system, depressing something that keeps the peristalsis rippling down, not up.

The first thing I felt was as if I'd been given a lobotomy. Ipecac doesn't make you nauseated. It just drapes a leaden stupid over your thought processes. Nothing happens so much as just losing your will to live. Then, there's very little warning before the contents of your stomach is in your mouth - just a vague unease deep below your stupor. And it doesn't stop for hours.

Then you'll have an Ipecac hangover for a day or so and once your head clears you'll vow never to do that again unless your life is truly in danger.

Here's one link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/560217/ipecac_equals_instant_death_with_eating.html?cat=71

But a quick Google of the dangers of ipecac brings up some frightening results, but then, my perspective is from eating disorders.

I felt crappy for about twelve hours, if I recall correctly, maybe slightly longer. And kind of grim all the next day. It's rough stuff. I had no idea.

You'd have to have some kind of hardcore devotion to your eating disorder if you worked Ipecac into your routine.

I have to laugh because I never imagined my Ipecac story would ever be of any use besides embarrassment.

I threw up at tapering intervals. The shortest was probably a few minutes apart and then they lengthened out to once an hour and then just faded into feeling like shit for a while. I found I couldn't sleep or get distracted by anything. Brain was simply too dull to do anything but sit there and doze and suffer.

If your story takes place in present day, I believe they don't sell ipecac any more.

Kitty Pryde said:

If your story takes place in present day, I believe they don't sell ipecac any more.

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Not so. Although the large national pharmacy chains in the US have stopped stocking it, there are still states in the US where it is a) recommended by the state poison control center, and b) required to be kept in the first-aid kits of schools and daycares.

They stopped selling it?
I bought it just a few years ago; I bought it because I had two busy toddlers and ipecac is sort of a must-have with curious toddlers (though we all hope the cabinet door locks prevent any accidental poison ingestion).

Ah! My bad. I remember seeing it in the news a few years ago. The FDA did vote to take away it's OTC drug status, and if the FDA ever gets enough funding to do anything ever, and officially makes that change, it won't be available at all (cause it doesn't have prescription drug status). (from here)

I know they no longer recommend it for home first aid kits.

Hmn, we don't have anything like ipecac over the counter here (apart from a few medicines which contain ipecac but are for other purposes) for helping those who've been poisoned. I don't know why that's only just occured to me, haha.

oh! and no discussion of ipecac would be complete without this charming clip from Family Guy: WARNING IT'S REALLY GROSS!

Apparently they make it in tablets now. I never heard of that.

semilargeintestine said:

Apparently they make it in tablets now. I never heard of that.

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HAHAHAHA! Sorry, semilarge, you've been had. That's not ipecac at all. That's a homeopathic preparation. The designation 30X means that it is a solution of ipecac that's been diluted to 10^-30 times. In other words, it's .0000000000000000000000000000001 % ipecac! Some folks might call it water.

How ironic, they come from a site called 'lucky vitamin'

Just seen previous post, thank goodness, haha.

Kitty Pryde said:

HAHAHAHA! Sorry, semilarge, you've been had. That's not ipecac at all. That's a homeopathic preparation. The designation 30X means that it is a solution of ipecac that's been diluted to 10^-30 times. In other words, it's .0000000000000000000000000000001 % ipecac! Some folks might call it water.

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I haven't been anything. I never said I bought it, I just found it online. I think you need to calm down a little.

Sorry, didn't mean to be attacking you, but rather trying to criticize companies like lucky vitamin who purposely mislead consumers like that.

Gotcha. It drives me nuts too. My mom falls for that kind of crap all the time.

Stew21 said:

ipecac is sort of a must-have with curious toddlers

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The current state of medical wisdom is that it is not advisable to administer ipecac in the case of accidental poisoning. See the American Academy of Pediatrics' FAQ on the topic.