Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with poisoning

How soon will i know if i have food poisoning

crapples — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:40:28 -0800

How quickly will I know whether or not I have food poisoning? I just ate some pretty rare/raw hamburger at a work party. It was cooked on the outside, but very pink through the entire middle -- pinker than anything I've eaten before. I didn't have the presence of mind to throw it away and it was only after I was done that I thought, "Dang, I probably shouldn't have eaten that."

How soon will I know whether or not I have e coli or something else?

[As of now it has been about 30 minutes]

Coins kill condors.

halogen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:04:09 -0800

This morning we saw a sign at Grand Canyon about a female condor that died from zinc poisoning following the ingestion of too many coins (presumably, it had been looking for sources of calcium in order to produce harder eggshells). Dad immediately declared that the given cause of death is untrue, since zinc in coins is inert. Prove him wrong, hive mind! Dad's no avian biologist, and while I know what happens with zinc once it's in your system, I don't know much on the subject of what happens to coins after they're swallowed. It's hard to look for relevant articles on an iPhone, that's why I'm appealing to you for help. Money and dignity are at stake.

Unleaded or Regular?

Funmonkey1 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:48:09 -0800

[MythFilter]: Grandmothers always say never buy a dented can from the supermarket. Is there any truth to this today? From faint memory, I recall people were not supposed to buy dented cans as there was lead which could be ingested, however I am not sure if this was baloney or part of the myth.

What are the origins and does a dent in the can matter today?

I just ate accidentally ate some cheese with pink bacteria growing on it, will I get sick?

CTORourke — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:53:03 -0800

I ate some cheddar cheese with a pink bacterial plaque growing on it, could this be something that'll make me sick? I cut up some cheese for my lunch, some of it having been in my fridge for awhile. I was munching on the cheddar when I noticed it had a bit more smell than usual. I looked closely and saw some pink bacterial plaques growing on the surface.

I'm a biologist, but not a microbiologist, and I know that sometimes the e.coli and other crazy bacterias (we grow for the Introductory Biology lab I teach) can be pink. I also know that not all bacteria is toxic, not even all e.coli bacteria, but the fridge at my apartment has never been cleaned out properly and I know some weird stuff has been in there over the years.

Does anyone think it might be just an outgrowth of the normal lactic acid bacteria of the cheese? The bag the cheese was in was a little damp, which probably encouraged the growth. I threw the rest away.

If it is a bad bacteria, how long would it take for me to start getting sick?

Question about mercury poisoning

unicazurn — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:21:28 -0800

The other day I accidentally stepped on a package of CFL lightbulbs, buried under a pile of clothing. When I looked at the package I saw that one of the light bulbs was broken, and noticed a small amount of powder escape while I was trying to dispose of it. Later I scoured the room but I couldn't see the powder anymore or find it on any of my clothing. I read online that if you get mercury on your clothing you're supposed to throw it out...but there was so much clothing on the floor that it would be a huge loss for me to throw all of it out, and I'm not sure where, or what amount, of mercury might have gotten on it. Do I have to throw out all the clothing it may have fallen on?

(I aired out the room, and put the package in a double garbage bag outside)

Am I tempting food poisoning?

nímwunnan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:25:20 -0800

Aw crap, I left some salmon out overnight. Is it still safe to eat? Still in a sealed package, in a shoulder-bag in a slighly chilly room. Hoping that a food-safety expert will read this before dinnertime, GMT. I don't like food poisoning, but I don't like not eating a tasty dinner when I could eat a tasty dinner.

How fast does the body eliminate lead?

lgyre — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:54:47 -0800

My baby recently tested quite high (but not at an emergency level) for lead. He had two tests in a row, so we're pretty sure they're correct. We've got all kinds of information on eliminating lead and we're doing everything we can, but we'd like to make a plan about assessing his progress and considering more serious steps like moving if it's not great. Does anyone know how fast one can expect blood levels to drop after removing the source of exposure?

Help me determine if lotion causes my newly-induced, chronic skin rash that doesn't fit description of other afflictions.

skyper — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:17:14 -0800

Can you get skin poisoning from a usually good lotion that's 'gone bad'? I've used St. Ives' for years. Mostly just on my arms that get more sun exposure than elsewhere. I find it a bit pricey for *my* budget so I rejoiced to find it marked down to $2.50 (the Collagen Elastin, same as I'd been using) at Big Lots to replace the near-empty jug at home.
I began developing itchy rashes on my forearms and blamed at first numerous other factors: a similarly timed swimming/sunbathing in the nearby James river (swimmer's rash? even though we only stayed 1 hour?) and, we also began sanding plaster from the ceiling same day from our living room, exposing me to fine powdery dust anytime I enter the room, as well as odors from super-chemical strippers like methylene chloride.
The bumps on my arms itch similarly to what I've experienced in the past with loooong sun exposure at the beach, but those usually died down in a few days. But THIS has a.) gone on for a week, b.) is primarily localized to my arms, thus not "diaper rash", c.) comes and goes rather randomly, like at night abruptly I begin itching, or entering a hot car sitting in the sun after leaving an airconditioned place.
THEN I checked the sale-priced lotion I'd bought. THere's no expiration date but the top of the pump is blue not white, and the label says "New!" above the CollagenElastin title, whereas my previously used-up bottle had no "New!" anywhere on it; it seemed that variety had been on the market for some time.
I'm aware Suntan Lotions should expire after a couple years; does anyone know if regular lotions can lead to some sort of reaction if they're allowed to sit on a store shelf then go on sale after a long time? I'm hoping someone w/ similar experience w/ lotion can verify that this was the cause (meanwhile I'm switching to a calamine today & see if it'll help); I've avoided the liv. rm. to reduce exposure to pathogens there but little difference resulted; same intermittent itchy breakouts.
Thanks!

Is my Muffaletta mix safe to eat?

melorama — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:48:45 -0800

Can-I-Eat-This-filter: Is this jar of Muffaletta olive salad mix safe to eat? So in my haste to get some souvenirs and gifts from my trip to New Orleans last month, I purchased a few jars of Central Grocery's famous Mufaletta olive salad mix on my way to the airport.

What I didn't notice until I had landed a few hours later in Las Vegas for the second leg of my vacation, was that the label on the olive salad recommended that the jars be kept refrigerated even before opening them.

Being that I didn't have a refrigerator in my hotel room for my 7 day stay in Vegas (though I kept the A/C in my room at a nice chilly 61 degrees most of the time), I've been afraid to eat the olive salad, out of fear of botulism of some other nasties that may have formed between April 9, (when I purchased that jars), and April 17 (when I arrived home and stuck them into my fridge...where they've been ever since).

I know that there is a risk of botulism from consuming homemade garlic & oil infusions, and since the olive salad is likely loaded with garlic, I'm wondering just how risky it is to eat this stuff, a month later.

This stuff looks so goddamned yummy, it would be a shame if I have to throw it out!

Help me go beyond high school chem class, LD50-wise.

foxy_hedgehog — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 06:01:52 -0800

Calling all science types: Help me get a more sophisticated grasp of the "LD50" concept used to test the toxicity of substances. I understand the basic idea of LD50 (the dose of a substance per kilo of body weight that will be lethal to half of the test subjects), but have some questions about specifics.

Namely: all of the LD50 experiments are conducted on animals- mostly rats, it seems. How to researchers extrapolate their data from these experiments to apply to humans? Given what I presume are the differences between human and rat metabolism, it seems like a very speculative and inaccurate way to gauge the threshold a "lethal dose" of a drug in humans, and I wonder how and if researchers/toxicologists etc. account for this leap.

As always, thanks for any and all help.

How normal is a terrible memory?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:17:27 -0800

Bad memory makes me feel stupid. My memory is absolutely abyssmal...to the point where I worry about it and even get depressed. I often can't recall the plot of a movie I've seen a couple of years ago, and I only remember the name of one or two of all of the teachers I had in school (elementary through high school!). I struggle with learning new things, although I can memorize with a great deal of effort and repetition.

The interesting thing about this is that my siblings are extremely intelligent and successful. I've always felt that something was wrong with me, and that I am smart but there's a spot where my thinking doesn't work. It seems to have to do with the way I process information and store memories.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if it's just "normal" for some people to have such a horrible memory. I'm in my 30s and I don't have a history of substance abuse problems, head injury or anything like that.

My current doctor says he's quite sure that I don't have ADD. Sometimes I wonder if I might have even had heavy metal poisoning as a child. I did play with mercury once (around age 13?) and drank from a pewter goblet around age 15-16 (not knowing that pewter contains lead).

Will catching NYC mice make my cats sick/dead?

unknowncommand — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 08:56:26 -0800

Will catching NYC mice make my cats sick/dead? My cats have killed two mice in the past four days. I live in NYC, and I wonder whether mouse-catchability is aided by their being poisoned already. Last night, I heard one of the cats vomiting a lot, and this morning found the newly deceased mouse. Does cat-vomiting usually accompany non-poisoned-mouse-killing? If these mice are poisoned will it hurt the cats if they are only killing (and not eating) them? What to do? I would love the cats to catch the mice, but not if it kills them (obviously). I've read a few "how to catch mice" threads on ask.me already, and tried googling but the keywords are tricky.

So, what could opened, exposed processed cheese do to you if you ate it?

weston — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 00:53:24 -0800

I just ate some supposedly sealed processed cheese spread that I now have reason to believe has been open indefinitely. As in, quite possibly since leaving the packing place. What's the likely fallout? So we have snacks at work, including those kraft/ritz "handi-snacks" that are little sealed plastic packages with crackers in one segment and cheese spread in another. I popped one down earlier, and then, when I went to throw the package away, noted that there was a big crack in the end which had formerly contained the cheese. I don't think I created this on opening and consuming the contents. I checked the rest of the box of these things to see if the other containers had similar cracks, and pulled out at least one more that obviously did.

My assumption is that these could have been open for a long, long time.

If this were packaged meat or something, given my natural paranoia, I'd probably already be on my way to an after-hours clinic or emergency room to check that I'm not going to be violently ill or dead of food poisoning. But keeping my natural paranoia in check is the idea that this is cheese, a food which is made by letting spoiled milk sit out for a long time. It's *processed* cheese, no less.

On the other hand, it really does look like this was exposed to the open air for a long time, and clearly was not delivered in the manner it was supposed to be.

Ingredients: Whey, Whey protein concentrate, cheddar cheese, canola oil, water, mil protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, milkfat, salt, maltodextrin, lactic acid, sodium alginate, sorbic acid, natural and artificial flavor, apocarotenal, annato.

What are the possible and probable impacts on my innards?

Does natural gas kill?

lunalaguna — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 11:51:12 -0800

Does natural gas alone kill? I need someone to explain how natural gas becomes carbon monoxide and why my pet is dead. I was out of the apartment last Thursday night when the pilot light on my oven went out. I came home in the morning to find the apartment filled with gas fumes and my sugar glider nearly dead. I have a carbon monoxide detector, and it was not going off. After taking my sugar glider to the vet (where she later died), I met with the gas company employee who could not detect carbon monoxide and insisted that natural gas alone is nontoxic. I know what happens to a human or animal when carbon monoxide is inhaled, but am not sure about the effects of natural gas. Is it possible that there was carbon monoxide built up from the gas leak that later dissipated and could not be detected by the gas company's equipment? Could I have died if I had been in the apartment overnight? I guess I'm dealing with the grief of this by focusing on the minutia, but seriously, what happened here?

What could have poisoned the kitty?

unknowncommand — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 14:48:26 -0800

My friend's (strictly indoor) cat recently died of poisoning. Potential causes? The autopsy shows symptoms similar to that from poisoning by ethylene glycol (antifreeze): calcified crystals in the kidneys. There's pretty much no chance that the cat found any ethylene glycol, though, and the only plants in the house were kitty-safe African violets. Has anyone had any experience with cat poisoning? Can you think of any likely causes?

How can I tell if my stove is slowly leaking gas?

notsnot — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:48:58 -0800

GasLeakFilter:
This evening, I installed the 1963 Kenmore Griddletop I'd purchased a few weeks ago into my kitchen. At the re-sell shop where it was purchased, I was shownthat all the burners worked, that there were no leaks (some sort of geiger counter). At any rate, I suddenly have a weird sort of sore throat, and I'm wondering if the damn thing isn't leaking. So: first, how do I determine if it's leaking, and two, what are the signs of low-level natural gas poisoning?
(I *did* shut off the gas valve and have range hood fan going, just in case)