Historically, most cases of nicotine poisoning have been the result of its use as an insecticide; however, such use is less frequent now than previously. Every year many children go to the emergency room after eating cigarettes or cigarette butts. Sixty milligrams of nicotine has the potential to kill an adult, which is about the amount of nicotine in three or four cigarettes or half a cigar, if all nicotine were absorbed. However, this figure is higher in regular smokers, although not drastically so. Consuming only one cigarette's worth of nicotine is enough to make a toddler severely ill. In some cases children have become poisoned by topical medicinal creams which contain nicotine. An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects in all developmental forms. ... A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... The emergency room is the American English term for a room, or group of rooms, within a hospital that is designed for the treatment of urgent and medical emergencies. ... A cigarette will burn to ash on one end. ... Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae), predominantly in tobacco, and in lower quantities in tomato, potato, eggplant (aubergine), and green pepper. ... The term adult describes any mature organism, but normally it refers to a human: one that is no longer a child / minor and is now either a man or a woman. ...

Symptoms

• vomiting and nausea
• headaches
• difficulty breathing
• palpitations
• stomach pains/cramps
• seizures
• weakness
• increased drooling

Vomiting (or emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of ones stomach through the mouth. ... A headache (medically known as cephalalgia, sometimes spelled as cephalgia) is a condition of pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... For the play Breath by Samuel Beckett, see Breath (play). ... A palpitation is an abnormal, rapid beating of the heart, brought on by overexertion, disease or drugs. ... In anatomy, the stomach (in ancient Greek στόμαχος) is an organ in the gastrointestinal tract used to digest food. ... This article is about the medical condition. ...

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 binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, nicotine in excess produces the same overstimulation and toxicity. The more nicotine binding to the nicotinic cholinergic receptors, the greater the overstimulation of the cholinergic receptors and the greater the toxicity. A synapse is cholinergic if it uses acetylcholine as its neurotransmitter. ... An organophosphate (sometimes abbreviated OP) is the general name for esters of phosphoric acid and is one of the organophosphorus compounds. ... The chemical compound acetylcholine, often abbreviated as ACh, was the first neurotransmitter to be identified. ... Synapses allow nerve cells to communicate with one another through axons and dendrites, converting electrical signals into chemical ones. ... Neurons (also called nerve cells) are the primary cells of the nervous system. ... Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are ionotropic receptors that form ion channels in cells plasma membranes. ... The skull and crossbones is a common symbol for toxicity. ...

Diagnosing

Increased nicotine or cotinine (the nicotine metabolite) is detected in urine or blood, or increased serum nicotine levels occur. Cotinine is a metabolite of nicotine. ... A metabolite is the product of metabolism. ...

External links

• How Stuff Works:Nicotine
• Nicotine Poisoning In Pets
• Child Poisoned By Topical Medicinal Cream