Nicotine poisoning

Every year many children go to the
emergency room after eating cigarettes or cigarette butts.
Sixty milligrams of nicotine will kill an adult. About three or four cigarettes contain sixty milligrams of nicotine. Consuming only one cigarette's worth of nicotine is enough to make a toddler severely ill. In some cases children have become poisoned by medicinal creams used topically.

Symptoms

vomiting and nausea

headaches

difficulty breathing,

stomach pains

seizures

weakness

increased drooling

Physical Process

These symptoms can be traced back to excessive stimulation of
cholinergic neurons. People poisoned by
organophosphate insecticides experience the exact same symptoms. With organophosphates,
acetylcholine builds up at synapses and overstimulates the neurons. Because nicotine
is so similar to acetylcholine, and binds to cholinergic receptors, nicotine in
excess produces the same overstimulation and toxicity. The more nicotine
binding to the nicotinic cholinergic receptors, the more acetylcholine is subsequently
released and free to activate other subsets of cholinergic receptors.

Diagnosing

Increased nicotine or cotinine (the nicotine metabolite)
is detected in urine, or increased serum nicotine levels occur.

External Links

How Stuff Works:Nicotine

Nicotine Poisoning In Pets

Child Poisoned By Topical Medicinal Cream

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