Recently I received a call from a friend who was extremely worried about one of her employees. To make a long story short, this individual was trying to stop smoking and was using a combination of a patch, vaping and still smoking. It didn’t take long to figure out that that they were overdosing on nicotine.
There has been a significant rise in nicotine poisoning due to the popularity of e-cigarettes or vaping. While more common in children, it can happen to adults who are combining multiple products that contain nicotine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that 50 to 60 milligrams of nicotine is a deadly dose for an adult who weighs about 150 pounds. Traditionally, someone who smoked would absorb around 1 milligram of nicotine per cigarette. This is why overdosing, while a threat to children who may accidentally eat a cigarette butt, was less common in adults.
Vaping, however, has changed the game. Juul claims that one of its pods contains as much nicotine as a whole pack of cigarettes, though this may vary because without oversight there is nothing stopping Juul or any other manufacturer from increasing nicotine levels. American Lung Association
Nicotine is found in the following products: cigarettes; cigars, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, snuff, pipe tobacco, tobacco plants, some insecticides (no longer in the U.S.), and in nicotine replacement products (nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, inhalers and nasal spray). You can absorb it through skin (wearing a patch, inhalation from smoked products or ingestion through the mucous membrane of your mouth (from tobacco chew products or liquid nicotine) or through the intestines (after accidental swallowing of e-cigarette refill products or drinking liquid nicotine).
Signs of Nicotine Poisoning: Within the first 15 minutes to an hour of being exposed, symptoms would create a stimulating effect such as:
• Nausea and vomiting
• Increased salvia
• Abdominal pain
• Pale skin color
• Sweating
• Increased blood pressure
• Increased heart rate
• Rapid, heavy breathing
• Loss of full control of body movements, loss of balance, difficulty walking
• Tremors
• Headache, dizziness
• Muscle twitching
• Twitching
Late Phase symptoms: Within 30 minutes to up to four hours later, symptoms shift and include: Diarrhea, low blood pressure; shock; coma; muscle weakness/paralysis; shallow breathing, difficulty breathing, respiratory failure.
Go to the hospital if symptoms progress to include seizures, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, breathing difficulties or even coma.
Learn more about Nic Sick
Nic Sick: The Dangers of Youth Vaping: Good video from PBS about the history of vaping and its impact
If you or your child has been exposed to liquid nicotine, call the Poison Center hotline at 800-222-1222 or call 911.
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