Tar remover

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Tar remover

Home Treatment:

DO NOT make a person throw up unless told to do so by Poison Control or a health care professional. Seek immediate medical help.

If the chemical was swallowed, immediately give the person water or milk, unless instructed otherwise by a health care provider. DO NOT give water or milk if the patient is having symptoms (such as vomiting, convulsions, or a decreased level of alertness) that make it hard to swallow.

If the person breathed in the poison, immediately move him or her to fresh air.

Before Calling Emergency:

Determine the following information:

The patient's age, weight, and condition
The name of the product (as well as the ingredients and strength, if known)
The time it was swallowed
The amount swallowed

Poison Control, or a local emergency number:

The National Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) can be called from anywhere in the United States. This national hotline number will let you talk to experts in poisoning. They will give you further instructions.

This is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the U.S. use this national number. You should call if you have any questions about poisoning or poison prevention. It does NOT need to be an emergency. You can call for any reason, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Take the container with you to the hospital, if possible.

See National Poison Control center.

What to expect at the emergency room:

The health care provider will measure and monitor the patient's vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. The patient may receive:

Fluids by IV
Medicines to treat symptoms
Activated charcoal
A nasogastric (NG) tube thru the nose into the stomach to empty the stomach (gastric lavage)
Endoscopy -- camera down the throat to see burns to the esophagus and stomach
Medicine (antidote) to reverse the effect of the poison
Irrigation (washing of the skin), perhaps every few hours for several days
Skin debridment (surgical removal of burned skin)
Breathing tube
Oxygen
Bronchoscopy - camera down the throat to see burns in the airways and lungs

Expectations (prognosis):

How well a patient does depends on the amount of poison swallowed and how quickly treatment was received. The faster a patient gets medical help, the better the chance for recovery.

Damage can continue to occur for several weeks after the tar remover was swallowed. Death may occur as long as a month later.

Review Date: 5/23/2006
Reviewed By: Janeen R. Azare, PhD, MSPH, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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