Search for tag: "u0035224"

Announcer: Health information from expects, supported by research. From University of Utah Health, this is TheScopeRadio.com.

Interviewer: Snakes, ugh. Snake bites, double ugh. We are with poison expert, Brad Dahl. He's from the Utah Poison Control Center. I should say Dr. Brad Dahl. Let's talk about snakes for a minute here. Poisonous snakes here in Utah area, rattlesnakes, that's the only game, right?

Dr. Dahl: Yeah. The rattlesnake is the only venomous snake that lives in the wild in Utah.

Interviewer: All right. I'm out hiking and I get bite by one. What next?

Dr. Dahl: Well, the best thing to do, and this is a very difficult thing to do, is to not panic because I've got to be honest with you, even knowing what I know, I would probably come close to freaking out.

Interviewer: Sure.

Dr. Dahl: Because if you can keep your rate and everything else as calm as possible, you're going to do much better. Just know that we can help you. Okay. You're not going to die from this.

Interviewer: So rattlesnake bites... not lethal?

Dr. Dahl: Very rarely. It does happen every so often. The worst things that we see here in Utah is when people do things they shouldn't do.

Interviewer: Like try to kiss a snake?

Dr. Dahl: Well yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's not a good idea. We don't recommend kissing snakes. But, yeah, the number one thing is what used to be in the Boy Scout manual and that is put a tourniquet on. Number one, you're not going to stop the flow of venom through your body. Once it enters your body it's on its way.

Interviewer: And, no, that doesn't help at all? A tourniquet is just a waste of time?

Dr. Dahl: No. It doesn't help at all. It also inhibits your body's ability to attack the venom itself with your own immune system. So you want your body to let it do its thing. You want to stay calm and don't do that because otherwise, you can actually tissue at the bite site. Which, Utah typically is going to be the hand.

Interviewer: Oh, it is? The hand is the most likely to get bit?

Dr. Dahl: It's very unusual to see people bit in the foot here in Utah. In the last 20 years, we've had probably less than 10 bites on the foot. Yeah, in the entire state.

Interviewer: So snakes, snakes cannot penetrate if you're wearing sensible footwear?

Dr. Dahl: Yeah, that's true. So if you're out hiking where there could be snakes, you definitely want to wear some good boots and you want to wear jeans. There's actually been a study done on people wearing jeans and it's protecting them from being envenomated. That's the other thing too. Just because you're bit by a snake doesn't mean they injected venom in you. Although most of the time they do. So I always like to be an optimist. It's like, "Oh, I was bit by a rattlesnake. Hey! Maybe I wasn't envenomated."

Interviewer: But just imagine, treat it as though it did. What about those snake bite kits? I went and bought one of those things in the yellow tube, got the razor blade, you're supposed to suck them out. Does that work?

Dr. Dahl: No, but the interesting thing is I've never seen anybody who had a venom extraction kit get bit. So I think it is somewhat protective.

Interviewer: Really? That's interesting.

Dr. Dahl: Yeah, just, yeah.

Interviewer: But actually the kit itself and the act of cutting and trying to get the poison out, at that point it's too late.

Dr. Dahl: No. There have actually been studies done with injecting non-poisonous stuff into people and trying to extract it out with a venom extraction kit and they've not been able to get out anything, significant anyway. So it's pointless to do it. Usually, when you're out hiking you've got a knife there, it's not sterile. If you start cutting into things, start cutting into things. Yeah. We've had people cut and do some real damage with the knife, trying to cut and get the venom out. Yeah. We do not recommend doing that. So yeah, what Hollywood teaches us is not the right thing to do. Do not cut and suck. The Boy Scouts, they've changed their manual now. So no more tourniquets.

The other thing people think of doing is putting ice on it. And the one thing it does do that's kind of good is it numbs the pain. But the other thing it does that is not so good is it inhibits blood flow to the area. So, again, we do not recommend putting ice on it as well.

Interviewer: So they don't kill us, but what's that venom going to do to us? If I'm a couple, three miles out and I get bit, I've got to walk two or three miles to get cell phone reception. What am I dealing with at that point?

Dr. Dahl: Yeah. Well, certainly the sooner we can get you help, the better. Yeah, you're okay to walk. If you're not, if you don't feel you're okay to walk, then you can stay there if you're with somebody else. That's why it's always good not to hike alone, kids. You can send them out to call somebody and they can come in and get you. So getting you help is probably the best thing you can do as soon as possible. And not waiting to see if it's going to be a problem because if you wait for four or five hours and you come in and your arm is swollen all the way to your elbow or beyond, up to your shoulder, you're going to end up with some pretty good tissue damage.

Interviewer: I'm not doing more damage by trying to walk out, that's what you're telling me?

Dr. Dahl: No. That is correct. If you're bit on the hand, which is the classic thing, you can put your arm in a sling. You don't want to be aggressively swinging it around and things like that. So it's okay to do that and try to keep it immobile. And to not run out. Try to keep your heart rate as normal as possible. But hike out as calm as you can and as soon as you get a cell signal, call 9-1-1 to get somebody out there to get you. Interviewer: Okay. That's completely okay to do that?

Dr. Dahl: It's totally okay to do that.

Interviewer: That is a reason to call 9-1-1 and have somebody show up.

Dr. Dahl: Yeah. That's not a problem at all. We would encourage that. And obviously, if you get to the trail head and you've got your car there and the hospital is within an hour's drive, you're probably okay just to drive to the hospital.

So the worst thing you can do is think, "Oh, this snake is on the trail. That could hurt somebody. I'm going to move the snake off the trail," find a stick to go get it. And the next thing you know, you got bit on the hand. So leave the snake alone. It will move. Or, if it's on the trail, tell other hikers as you pass them. "Hey, guess what? There's a rattlesnake up there. So be careful. When you see it, go around it."

Interviewer: Trust me, Dr. Dahl, when I see a snake, the other hikers around me know. It sounds like I blew my knee out usually when I see a snake. All right.

Dr. Dahl: I'm with you there. They scare me too.

Announcer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? With over 2,000 interviews with our physicians and specialists, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you want to know. Check it out at TheScopeRadio.com.

updated: June 18, 2019
originally published: July 22, 2015

Interviewer: Let's say you accidentally swallow a mouthful of gasoline, how dangerous is that?

Today we're talking with Brad Dahl who's a poison specialist at the University of Utah Poison Control Center. Well, tell us what you think Brad, how dangerous is gasoline?

Brad Dahl: Well that's an excellent question because we see people accidentally swallowing gasoline all the time, I mean it's a daily occurrence here in Utah and the important thing to know is that if you swallow gasoline and it goes down to your stomach, it's really not that big of a deal, other than you're going to be burping gasoline for about 24 hours, that's not real tasty, but it will keep going, it's not absorbed very well in your gut. But most peoples initial instinct is I have to get it out and that's the wrong thing to do because where it is dangerous is if even a tiny drop gets into your lungs, that' can be very dangerous because it spreads out and it coats the lungs and it really hurts the tissue in there and it makes it difficult to breath, so we do not want it in your lungs.

Interviewer: So in the poison control center, what kind of scenarios do you hear from people when they call with a potential gasoline poisoning issue?

Brad Dahl: Well the most common thing is when somebody is siphoning gasoline and again with the price of gas being so expensive now, we have people, you know, it's easier to take it out of one vehicle to put it in another rather than go buy some more, so they'll be siphoning it and then as they're sucking on that tube some seems to get in their mouth, and then they accidentally swallow it after that.

Interviewer: And how much are they typically swallowing, is it just a mouthful or is it more than that?

Brad Dahl: It's usually just a mouth full and typically it's less than that. Some people try to spit it out but almost everybody I talk to says they swallow some of it.

Interviewer: So it's not that dangerous if you get a mouthful?

Brad Dahl: No, even two mouthfuls wouldn't be that dangerous as long as it goes down to your stomach and stays there or keeps going.

Interviewer: Now what about if you're filling up your lawn mower or something and the gasoline splashes up into your eye?

Brad Dahl: That really hurts, so you want to get it out of your eye as soon as possible and the best way to do it is with warm water, not cold water because cold water feels better in the eye because it numbs it but it won't move it along very well because gasoline doesn't like water and if it doesn't mix very well, so you want to, you know, just flush it nice and gentle through your eyes, as long as it takes to get it out, once your eyes are feeling better, you're done.

Interviewer: And what about fumes from gasoline, any danger from those?

Brad Dahl: Yeah, yeah, if you inhale enough fumes from gasoline, I mean certainly it can cause you to be a little bit impaired and not feeling good. It can cause headache and nausea and dizziness, those are the most common things, but as far as life threatening problems, usually not that big of a deal.

Interviewer: Brad, are there different considerations when it comes to kids, if they get some gasoline in their mouth or something?

Brad Dahl: Well it's the same risk so you want it to go down to the stomach and I know the initial feeling for a lot of parents is, I have to make them throw up and that's the absolute wrong thing to do because that's the easiest way to get it into the lungs. So if they've swallowed it you need it to keep going, so it's a good idea to give them something to drink, just a couple of sips of something that tastes good will do it and also, if it stays in contact with your skin or the tissue in your mouth or your throat for very long, it will make it very sore and will cause a chemical burn, so you want to get it off of there and again, it's okay to push it to the stomach, don't worry about getting it out.

Interviewer: So Brad are there any other risks with gasoline?

Brad Dahl: Yeah, one thing we see a lot is that people working on their cars in the garage and they're lying underneath here and they're messing around with hoses and that, that sometimes that gasoline will drip and sometimes it will go in their ears and boy when that gets inside your ear it is really, really painful and again the problem there now is how do I get it out of my ear safely, it's very difficult to do. You want to do it with warm water and it's okay to use a little bit of detergent but you don't want to use any pressure, so you don't want to be flushing it aggressively. Most of the time the best thing to do is to have a doctor do that and rinse it out, so that way you don't hurt your ear, but you do need to get it out because that can cause some real significant damage inside your ear.

Interviewer: So where would you go to get this out? Let's say you get gasoline in your ear or you swallow it.

Brad Dahl: Well any doctors office can deal with something like that or any kind of clinic that does emergency type services is fine. I would save the emergency room for a last resort, everything else is closed kind of situation, but I would definitely try to rinse it with warm water at home, maybe like I said, with a little mild soap but, again, you want to be very careful rinsing it, you don't want to put any pressure into the ears.

Interviewer: With just swallowing or a kid getting it all over themselves, if there's any worries is it okay for the parents to just go ahead and call the Poison Control Center?

Brad Dahl: Well they should do that first. You should always call the Utah Poison Center when your child gets into something and we'll help you with it right away. We'll answer the phone, we'll talk to you, we'll ask you some quick questions and a lot of the time it's the quickness that really makes things better. So if you call us first, we can help you right away, we can make sure you do things appropriately, rather than trying to fix things that you did wrong. And that number is 1-800-222-1222 and that's a nationwide number, you can call it anywhere in the United States or U.S. Territory and you'll get a poison control center.

updated: February 17, 2021
originally published: June 24, 2014