While visiting my parents, my two year old locked herself in the bathroom. We managed to get the door open, but not before she had emptied the entire bottle of my father’s nitroglycerin pills. He was prescribed the medication after a heart attack, and he carries the tiny vial with him everywhere he goes, in case he experiences chest pain. He knew there had been 30 pills in the vial, but we could only find fifteen of them on the floor and on the bathroom vanity. My daughter insisted that she ate some, but we had no idea how many. I was frantic, and I called poison control immediately. I explained the situation. The woman on the phone told me that my daughter would not have known to place them under her tongue as prescribed, so she would not get the full effect from the medication. She stated that my child would probably suffer from a terrible headache because of the incident. She asked how many pills she ingested, and told me to watch her for any signs of distress. There were fifteen pills missing. I did not know if she had ingested all fifteen. or if some had slipped down the drain. We called a plumber and instructed everyone to not run the water in the bathroom sink until he arrived. When he arrived, he used a borescope to inspect the pipe leading from the sink. He could see fourteen pills, meaning my daughter could have only ingested one pill. I was relieved to hear the news. One pill was not enough to cause alarm, but fifteen could have led to disaster. My father now keeps the vial of nitroglycerine out of reach when we come over to visit.
zoogie :: Nov.18.2007 ::
General, Childrens Health, Drugs, Medicine ::
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