Ipecac - sodium bicarbonate

[MagickalKat777]

I was wondering... I've only vomited twice this hard in my life... I won't brag about my life and the drugs I've taken where everyone hot sick and I didn't... But I ate some green chili tonight... Too hot for my roommate to eat, which the person who gave it to him, knew he couldn't eat... Other than that and a few shots of vodka (I can drink 30 of those in a night with no problem)...

I've never been so sick... Excellent when my mother forced that nasty ipecac down my throat when I was a kid... After I vomited my stomach empty I was still gagging so I took 1 tsp of baking soda and mixed it with around 1/2 cup of soda water... It instantly stopped the stomach issues... Lasted about thirty minutes... Did the same thing again 30 minutes later... Its been 30 minutes and has included ethanol by way of vodka... To purposely induce vomiting... I swear, since this came from someone who couldn't stand me, that she purposely made me sick. I don't even vomit like that when I get the flu (temp 98.7 currently)...... In the three years my roommate has lived with me, even with a 104 fever, he's never seen or heard that kind of vomit from me.

I know I can get it tested.

My question is... Can ipecac be canceled out by a teaspoon of baking soda and some water, every 30 minutes, until emission stops? I know the role bicarbonate plays in the system. I was running on intuition when I pulled the soda and the sodium bicarbonate... But it instantly stopped the sickness. Is this a viable solution for ipecac poisoning? I know that ipecac makes the gastrointestinal tract go insane... But sodium bicarbonate, in moderate doses, stops that spasm up north... But too much and it goes south.

I'm curious... Someone that has puked probably 20 times max in his life... Who has only vomited twice like this, one confirmed ipecac... Is there a chance I was poisoned? And would my solution work? I have no urge to vomit now... Usually when I vomit it doesn't stop until the fever breaks... This had no fever though. (Well minor... As of 1:27AM MDT I have a 99.1 but my normal is 98.9 so it's extremely minor). I was just wondering if there is a sound reason for bicarbonate killing ipecac or if it was just food poisoning... Or possibly both. I don't know the pharmacology of ipecac but it seems acidic for multiple reasons.

 

[sekio]

Re:consuming bicarbonate as an "antidote" to ipecac: Uhh... I wouldn't. If you keep consuming bicarbonate and vomiting you are liable to throuw your salt balance seriously out of whack. I would suggest Gatorade or Pedialyte, something balanced in electrolytes.

Ipecac works by directly irritating the nerves in the stomach, I don't think it actually is inactivated by soda and water. I suspect your stomach felt better once you had something inert in it, that's all.

I mean, at face value, eating super spicy green chili dishes and then washing it down with vodka.... that sounds like a recipe to get very sick, to me.

I would hope that your roommate would have better taste than to feed you ipecac anyway. I was under the impression that it was restricted from sale in this day and age because it's generally recognized that there's no use for it that doesn't run the risk of bodily harm via dehydration, intense vomiting, etc (and because it's frankly foul shit). Really, feeding someone ipecac is the kind of thing that you could get someone charged with assault for. It's way, way beyond "harmless prank" and anyone who had done more than about 15 seconds of research would know this.

You can definitely save some of the food to have it tested, but where I'm not sure. You could maybe have a local university look at the presence of emetine (ipecac compound). I'm not sure you can do anything on your own at home.

I would talk to him, but at the same time, don't be too accusatory. It doesn't seem likely you were poisoned intentionally. (Or is your roomate a psychopath and you've never mentioned it? )