Swallowed Mercury.
@edwardjoy2000 (2387)
United Arab Emirates
July 15, 2010 1:58pm CST
My cousin was just 6 then. He was running high temperature. His mom placed a thermometer in his mouth and told him, “don’t bite” and went to the kitchen. It was barely a minute when the boy said, “Mom I bit it”. He had swallowed the mercury. My aunt rushed to the nearby hospital and the doctor acted quickly. He gave him some liquid that made him vomit the mercury out. It was such a scary situation. Have your kids or someone know done a weird thing like this?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@nirose (384)
• India
16 Jul 10
I have never seen such event occur in my whole life, heard about it but didn't happened anywhere near me. That must be really scary finding out someone thats already sick getting into more emergency.
Hope your cousin is fine now. And thanks for sharing.
Regards.
2 people like this
@marguicha (222855)
• Chile
16 Jul 10
I broke several thermometers when I was little. Most of them were just because I was naughty. And I guess at that time noone knew that mercury was so bad. There were two reasons why I broke thermometers. The first one was when I did not want to go to school. My mom would check if I has fever. The minute she left the room, I´d take the thermomether out and place it in the light bulb so it would show I had fever. Sometimes I did not take it away on time. Then came the play. It was fun to search for the little balls of mercury and place them together so they would make a bigger one. I never ate mercury though and my mother never put the thermometer in our mouths.
My kids did the same things although I never taught them that. SHAME!!!
2 people like this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Jul 10
I would be as afraid of the glass as the mercury. Glad the little guy was OK.
@magtibaygom (4858)
• Philippines
17 Jul 10
Yeah. Both, taking in bits of glass and mercury are both scary. Pieces of broken glass can harm the digestive tract. With regard to mercury poisoning, there are first aid that are recommended for such poisoning. And for the long term bad effects of mercury, chelating can help. I know a company online which sells zeolites (from Volcanic materials) that according to some scientific research, zeolites can help the body get rid of the harmful heavy metals that are accumulated in the body. It rounds up heavy metals, and carry it out of the body through the excretion process. It's totally safe because the zeolites are also taken out of the body through normal excretion and waste elimination process. Without eliminating heavy metals like mercury, a person is prone to chronic dangerous illnesses like cancer and organ damage.
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
16 Jul 10
That was really pretty scary and to think that it's only a child who were able to swallow the mercury. I am just glad that nothing harm was ever done to the boy. he is such a lucky kid and the doctor is really good on what he done for the boy.
The mother should have not let it inside the mouth maybe much better if it is under the arms. I have seen my sister do that to my nephew whenever he has fever.
@jaiho2009 (39141)
• Philippines
16 Jul 10
Wow,this is a bit scary.
Thanks that your cousin is fine.
The mother should not leave the kids,or maybe she should put the thermometer underarm.
It is too risky to put thermometer at kids mouth,due to this said situation.
Anyway,it pays to learn the lesson.
@sexysilver (928)
• United States
15 Jul 10
I was told by a nurse that the medical community is turning away from rectal temperature readings because some kids wiggle & end up perforating their colon.
Personally, I like the ones that you can move across the child's forehead ... I know they are a bit more expensive, but I like them :)
1 person likes this
@grecychunny26 (9483)
• Philippines
16 Jul 10
Kids do the darniest things I should say. What had happened did he vomited the Mercury? that was dangerous. I really hope so. Well when it comes to kids they are really naughty. I warned this one kid for hanging on the tube because that was not durable and he did not listen to me, he hanged himself there and suddenly a large sound was heard, there he went down on the ground with a large lump on his head. That is lesson learned. They will never believe unless they experience it.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
That is scary. My little brother once ran into a door and was bleeding majorly down his forehead. I was only 6 at the time but I remember we grabbed lots of paper towels but he just kept gushing out blood so we rushed him to the Emergency Room and we had to wait in line for almost an hour but luckily by then the bleeding was slowed. When we saw the doctor he stitched up the big cut and he was fine. That was very scary but there isn't even a scar there any more.
