If possible, use stomach pump early, or tube and funnel. Or give thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in a wineglass of water, and when vomiting ceases give thirty drops of aromatic spirit of ammonia in a wineglass of water every half hour till pulse has become full and rapid. Then apply cold to the head and heat to the extremities.
Chloral; Patent Sleeping Medicines; "Knock-out Drops." Symptoms: Nausea, coldness and numbness, stupidity, prostration, often vomiting and purging, sleep, coma. Heart very weak, with pulse at wrist very feeble. Constriction of the mouth and throat, with dryness. Pain in bowels is marked before stupor appears.
Use stomach pump if possible, or empty stomach with rubber tube and funnel, siphoning fluids out. Or give thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in a wineglass of water. When vomiting ceases, give two teaspoonfuls of whisky in half a glass of hot water. Give hypodermic injection of sulphate of strychnine, one-twentieth of a grain every two or three hours, till patient is roused and weakness is past. Rubbing of the surface, application of hot-water bottles to the body and legs.
If breathing ceases, follow Rule 2 under Suffocation (p. [186]) till breathing is well established again.
Opium; Morphine; Laudanum; Paregoric; Soothing Syrups. Symptoms: Drowsiness, sleep, stupor when roused, pupils very small—"pin point" unless patient is used to the drug—constipation, cold skin.
Use stomach pump, if at hand. Or give emetic of thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in a wineglass of water, followed by two glasses of warm water, as vomiting proceeds. Let the patient inhale ammonia or smelling salts. Give him half a grain of permanganate of potash dissolved in a wineglass of water, every half hour. Inject two ounces of black coffee, at blood heat, into the rectum.
Rub the lower part of the body and legs briskly toward the heart, while artificial respiration is being carried out. See Rule 2 under Suffocation (p. [186]). Thirty drops of tincture of belladonna to an adult, every hour, will assist the breathing. Do not exhaust the patient by walking him around, slapping him with wet towels, or striking him on the calves; keep him awake by rubbing.
Tobacco when Swallowed: Nausea and vomiting occur, with severe pain and great prostration; delirium or convulsions may follow. The heart, at first rapid and full, becomes weak and compressible.
Give emetic at once: thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in wineglass of water, followed by two glasses of warm water, by degrees. Give whisky, two teaspoonfuls in wineglass of hot water. Keep patient warm.
Nux Vomica; Strychnine. Symptoms: Excitement, rapid heart action, restlessness, panic of apprehension, twitching of forearms and hands, possibly convulsions, during consciousness.