The ’I’ word.

[mayinga]

Yes, I am talking about Ipecac.

Nearly every home has a bottle somewhere hidden in the cupboard. It's a terrible substance that induces vomiting, used to save one's life if poison is taken in by mouth. I found it in my medicine cabinet several months ago--ironically, I'm pretty sure I was looking for some anti-emetics, hehe *druggie*--and I sort of...went up to my mom and asked her to throw it out. Just politely, not in a freaking-out manner or anything. And of all things what does she say?

"It's about to expire, actually, I need to get a new one soon."

Goodness! I feel terrible for asking, because I know it's to save a life, but the presence of the fluid makes me so uneasy, it makes me feel like it's going to creep into my room at night and force me to ingest it. o.o; Or worse...I...
--disturbing--
Think that someone in my housewill spike my food/drink with it as a 'joke' or an attempt at 'therapy'.


Discuss:
Ipecac.
Irrational uncomfortableness.
The struggles of the emetophobic youth and/orpeoplewho don't understand.
Emetophobia. Whatever!Edited by: mayinga

[cardinalgirl]

wow, i always think my parents of friends are gonna play a joke on me and spike me with it too. dont worry, they shouldnt/wouldnt do that if they know what your going thru ..

[livielove123]

omigosh i have worried about that too! My friends, when they first found
out said that they wanted to make me v* and i just immediatly said that
that was a horrible idea.....and then started panicking! I feel like if I am
near raw meat or anything like that it is just going to magically jump
inside my mouth and get me s*! I feel so crazy!!

[samara's on tv]

I know my parents don't have ipecac and I know I don't have any in my apartment, but my parents think that I'm SO SILLY with my Emet and I am SO AFRAID That they will put some in like one of my drinks or something to make me vomit so I'll just "Get over it" It freaks me the hell out! I'm glad that it isn't readily available to them though. I thought I was the only one who thought this! LoL!


~Monica

[Bunk]

alright, story time....

As evil and scary as Ipecac might seem to an emet, it serves an important purpose that we need to recognize. So, on to the story....

I was 5 or 6 years old at the time, and I still remember this like it was yesterday.
One of the neighborhood kids and I had been playing that day, and doing whatever it is that little kids do. At some point during all this, he pulled a plastic bag from his pocket, which contained what I would later learn was his grandmother's diabetes medication. Of course, to a child, anything which is small, colorful, and edible is deemed as candy, and consumed as such.

Eventually my mother would discover the one remaining capsule which I was saving, and very much looking forward to eating later that day. After interrogating me, and determining I had been popping pills like Rush Limbaugh, my mother starts freaking out like I had never seen. I of course, am clueless as to how serious this all was.

My mother then makes contact with my friend's grandmother, and together they determine how much of her medicine was missing, and how much we had ingested. So, now comes the phone call to The Poison Control Center, and I'm sure you all know where this is going.....yep, they said to induce V*ing.

As young as I was, I could never recall having V*'d before...ever. So I was clueless as to the fun that was in store for me. My parents tried to explain it as best they could, but I think they were both so worked up over the situation that most of the useful info was omitted.

So, I have now consumed a spoonful of some stuff (Ipecac), that according to my mother will make me feel "yucky". Fine, big deal.....yeah, I was wrong. So, now I'm sitting on my bed, my father is in the room with me. I have a basin on the bed next to me, still not understanding what exactly is going on. I remember starting to feel nauseous, VERY nauseous in fact, but being so young, I had no clue what that really meant, and determined that this was the "yucky" that my mother had explained so well. So I'm still wondering what the hell that basin is for.

The nausea got increasingly worse over time, it could have been just a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. I finally realized that something was about to happen, but I wasn't sure what. I'll spare everyone from any further details, except to say that I did V* a couple of times, and that was the end of it.

So in the end, this "evil" medicine saved me from what was sure to be an ugly trip to the hospital, and could very well have saved my life.


Edited by: Bunk

[samara's on tv]

I'm not arguing that ipecac is BAD but it does make me nervous, I know it serves a purpose and I'm not going to dispute it, and if god forbid I ever have to take it then I'm glad it's available. That being said, I'm just scared someone will spike my drink with it and make me vomit just to get over it.


~Monica

[xxsophiaxx]

seeing it doesn't really make me nervous. I don't even think we have any. And I trust my family and I know they'd NEVER do that to me.

[jandub]

I'm confused though, because my kids' pediatrician tells me that ipecac is not recommended anymore to even keep in the house. She said studies have shown that inducing vomitting when poison is injested is potentially harmful, but I can't remember why. I think maybe it had something to do with the esophogas, like maybe burning it or heck I don't know. She told me to throw away the ipecac in our house, which I'll admit, I was happy to do. I've read that now its safer to just call an ambulance or take them to the hospital and they do the charcoal thing to absorb any poison. I don't know, I'll have to do some research about that one, but from what I've read and what the doctor told me, its actually unsafe to keep it around. I don't know though....

[rubysoho120]

Jandub I heard the same thing....because if you v* it out it is already
partially digested anyways, and charcole will absorb the bad stuff, and
v* makes your system off set...i dunno but i do know what i have heard
it was not recommened to use

[tree1211]

I would soooo, be on trial for homicide if someone did that to me!!! I would kill em and then wait for the cops to come and get me.[img]smileys/smilies_07.gif[/img]

[lianaismadchill]

i actually just had this discussion about ipecac w/ my mom last night. she told me she just wants to give it to me one day randomly, but i told her i would never trust her again. she said i had a good point & then told me what she thinks shes going to do is take it herslef or my dad said he would take it to show me v* isnt that scary. I flipped out at her. They better not do tht!

[mayinga]

Ahh, I'm glad I got some replies for once, and I loved reading what you all had to say. x3 And to answer jandub's question--I know a lot about this, fear is an obsession after all--ipecac is only reccomended to be used withcertain poisons. Some poisons do burn the esophogas, but some are more harmful to the insides so they need to be gotten out as quickly as possible. The latter mentioned ones are the ones you'll use ipecac for. -nod-

[daffodil]

I'm another one who is paranoid someone will slip me some ipecac. I don't *think* anyone would, but I'm still paranoid.
I have two small kids, but I have recently thrown our ipecac out, because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that parents no longer keep it in the house, and if poison was ingested, to call 911.
I must admit, I was VERY glad to throw the stuff in the garbage!

[christianne]

Like Daffodil I used to have some when my son was a baby---I was given a bottle of ipecac that came in a first aid kit at his shower. BUT his pediatrician told me to throw it out because they didn't recommend using it anymore and to call Poison Control instead. He said there are safer ways to induce v*, and you should not induce v*ing with certain poisons because it can cause more damage on the way "out".

But, admittedly when I got the bottle to throw it away I was almost afraid to touch it. Almost like it can "seep" through the bottle and enter my system somehow and make me ill. Yeah, I know---what was I thinking! [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

[marieb73]

Yeah I am paranoid about people trying to help me over my phobia by slipping me some of that stuff. Especially because my mom and sister think if you "face your fear" directly it will vanish. Last time my mother said that I told her I could help her with her fear of heights and enclosed places by putting her on a plane to India (an 18 hour) flight. She looked at me and said that was ridiculous because my fear was irrational, not hers. Oooookkkkkkk.


I have to say that if anyone did do that to me, they would be out of my life in 10 heartbeats, forever. Even if I did "get over my phobia" as a result, I still would cut the person who "helped" right out of my life, no questions asked, no explanations or apologies accepted.

[daffodil]

But, admittedly when I got the bottle to throw it away I was almost afraid to touch it. Almost like it can "seep" through the bottle and enter my system somehow and make me ill. Yeah, I know---what was I thinking! [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

Haha! When I threw ours away I picked it up with a plastic bag around my hand so I wouldn't have to touch the bottle! Then I washed my hands.[img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

[crimgoddess]

Man- we never had a bottle of this stuff around the house.....nor was it part of our first aid kit.


Weird.


*amber*

[jandub]

It does seem weird but when I first had babies it was in all the books as something you had to have in the house. It was so hard for me to buy it, and I'm not sure if my kids injested something that I wouldn't have just called 911 anyway, because I honestly don't know if I coulda given them that stuff. I would give it to them and then call 911 to come help me! But I'm glad now that you're not supposed to have it, whew.

[samara's on tv]

Like Amber, we never had the stuff in the house, also as a nation kids are getting dumber, cause I remember at a VERY young age being told what NOT To put in my mouth. I mean have you seen the news shows on Kids who find guns and play with them? When I was a kid guns were BAD and you didn't TOUCH THEM! WTF is with kids these days?


Sorry for the mini rant.


~Monica