Cyanide poison: what is the effect? how to get rid of the poison?

There was once a case in Indonesia where a victim died from coffee mixed with cyanide poisoning. The effect is terrible too. Within a short time, the victim died instantly. Actually, what is Cyanide Poison?

What is cyanide poison?

Cyanide poison is rarely used, but very deadly. Cyanide toxins make your body unable to use the oxygen you need.

The term cyanide refers to a chemical that contains a carbon-nitrogen (CN) bond. Many substances contain cyanide, but not all of them are deadly poisons. Sodium cyanide (NaCN), potassium cyanide (KCN), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and cyanogen chloride (CNCl) are deadly, but thousands of compounds called nitriles contain cyanide groups but are not toxic.

In fact, we can find cyanide in nitriles used as medicines, such as citalopram (celexa) and cimetidine (tagamet). Nitriles are harmless because they do not readily release CN ions, which are groups that act as metabolic toxins.

History of cyanide use

This may not be what you think. Although cyanide is a chemical killer substance, in fact this substance was originally used in the mining world, as a binder for the precious metal of gold.

Using the amalgamation technique with cyanide, the gold content that can be obtained can reach 89 - 95%, much better than other methods which only reach 40 - 50%.

However, after the war broke out, the use of cyanide was shifted to its function as a dangerous chemical and began to be used for genocide and suicide poisoning.

Another use of this poison is to kill rodents, shrews, and moles to protect crop crops.

How does cyanide poison work?

In short, these toxins prevent the body's cells from using oxygen to produce energy molecules. In this poison there is a chemical compound called the cyanide ion (CN-). this compound can bind to iron atoms in cytochrome C oxidase present in mitochondrial cells.

These toxins act as irreversible enzyme inhibitors or prevent the cytochrome C oxidase present in the mitochondrial cells from doing their job, transporting oxygen to become an energy carrier.

Without the ability to use oxygen, mitochondrial cells cannot produce energy carriers. In fact, tissues such as heart muscle cells and nerve cells require these energy carriers. If not, then all of his energy will be exhausted. When a large number of critical cells die, humans will die.

Simply put, these toxins make your body unable to use the oxygen you so desperately need.

Source of cyanide poison that we can find everyday

During this time, people may have started to recognize the name cyanide poison from the case of 'coffee cyanide', in which the victim was poisoned due to this poison powder which had been mixed into the coffee.

In fact, without realizing it, we might actually inhale this poison in our daily lives, but on a very small scale so that the effect is not lethal.

Here are some common items that may expose you to toxic cyanide.

• Smoke from fires or burning tools such as rubber, plastic, and silk forms smoke that contains cyanide.
• Cyanide is used for photography, chemical research, synthetic plastics, metal processing, and industry electroplatting .
• Plants that contain cyanide such as apricot plants and cassava plants. Fortunately, cyanide poisoning only occurs if you have been severely exposed to these plants.
• Laetrile, a component that contains amygladin (a chemical found in raw fruit, nuts, and plants) is often used for cancer treatment. One of the side effects of using laetrile is cyanide poisoning. Until now, the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) has not approved the use of laetrile as a cancer treatment. However, in other countries, in Mexico for example, laetrile has been used as a cancer treatment with the drug name "laetrile / amygdalin".
• These chemicals, once they enter your body and are digested by your body, can be converted by your body into cyanide. Mostly, these chemicals have been banned from circulating in the market. However, some chemicals such as nail polish removers and plastic processing fluids may still contain this cyanide.
• Cigarette smoke is the most common source of cyanide. Cyanide occurs naturally in tobacco. Smokers' blood may contain 2.5 times more cyanide than nonsmokers. Even though the amount of cyanide from this tobacco doesn't poison you, in the long run, isn't it important to avoid smoking?

Signs and symptoms of cyanide poisoning

In fact, cyanide poisoning is somewhat difficult to detect. The effects of cyanide are very similar to those of shortness of breath, because cyanide does work by stopping cells in the body from using the oxygen it needs to survive.

Here are the signs that someone has cyanide poisoning.

• Limpness, confusion, strange behavior, excessive drowsiness, coma, shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, and attacks may coincide with high amounts of cyanide poisoning.
• Usually, when a person has cyanide poisoning suddenly and immediately acutely (as in the case of coffee cyanide), the effect is dramatic. The victim will be immediately hit by a rapid attack, attacking the heart and causing the victim to faint. It could also be that this cyanide poison attacks the brain and results in a coma.
• Cyanide poisoning due to long-term effects or due to environmental factors does not usually have an immediate acute attack.
• The skin of people with cyanide poisoning usually turns a strange pink or cherry red color because oxygen can't get to the cells and remains in the blood. The person will also be breathing very fast and may have a very fast or very slow heart rate. Sometimes, the breath of a person with cyanide poisoning smells like bitter almonds.

How many doses of cyanide are lethal?

Depends on exposure, dose, and duration of exposure. Inhalation of cyanide may have a greater risk than ingesting this poison.

If exposed to these toxins through skin contact, the effects may be less severe than if cyanide is ingested or inhaled.

The toxic dose of cyanide can be lethal depending on the compound and several other factors. Half a gram of ingested cyanide can kill an adult who weighs 80 kg.

Usually the victim will lose consciousness, followed by death, within a few seconds of inhaling high doses of cyanide, but lower doses, whether ingested or inhaled, require a person to undergo intensive care for several hours or even several days in the hospital.

How can a doctor diagnose whether someone has cyanide poisoning?

If there are people around you who seem to have cyanide poisoning, don't act alone. Quickly seek help so that the victim can be immediately taken to the doctor. Cyanide poisoning is actually something that can still be saved.

Most victims of cyanide poisoning die from an early diagnosis, not detected early, or from indeed severe poisoning suddenly in very high doses.

Following are the steps for a doctor to diagnose a person with cyanide poisoning.

• If you are a helper for a victim of cyanide poisoning, you will no doubt be asked what happened to the victim. You will be asked if there are suspicious bottles around the victim, whether the victim has physical or psychological problems, and other information. Remain calm and answer the questions as best you can, because this information is very important for diagnosing the victim.
• The doctor will perform blood tests, x-rays, and other necessary procedures to try to diagnose whether the cyanide poisoned the victim's body, how badly the victim was poisoned, or whether other types of poisoning have attacked the victim.

This cyanide diagnostic test can take hours or even days. Therefore, doctors rely on a combination of information from victim rescuers, how the victim is, and data from the laboratory for the initial diagnosis.

Can cyanide poisoning be treated?

Because cyanide is an actual toxin in the environment, the body can detoxify small amounts of cyanide. For example, when you eat apple seeds or smoke cigarettes, which actually contain cyanide, you don't die right away, do you?

When cyanide is used as a poison or a chemical weapon, treatment is highly dose dependent. High doses of cyanide that are inhaled too quickly are lethal, first aid aid for victims who inhale cyanide is to try to get the victim to get fresh air.

If the victim inhales cyanide in lower doses, it will usually be treated with administration of antidotes that can detoxify cyanide, such as natural vitamin B12 and hydroxocobalamin which will react with cyanide to form cyanocobalamin, and can be excreted in urine.

Depending on the condition, a cure is possible. However, paralysis, liver damage, kidney damage, and hypothyroidism do not rule out this too.

How long will death last after exposure to high doses of cyanide?

Short-term exposure to cyanide can cause irritation of the nose and mucous membranes. If the concentration is more than 5 mg / m3, alkaline cyanide mist can cause sores and bleeding in the nose.

If absorbed in sufficient quantities, systemic effects may occur, as may be with short-term ingestion exposure.

Long-term exposure to cyanide compounds in low concentrations can cause decreased appetite, headache, weakness, nausea, dizziness and irritation symptoms of the upper respiratory tract.

Ingesting very large doses of cyanide can result in sudden loss of consciousness, often with seizures and death, generally within 1 - 15 minutes.

Low-dose cyanide effect

Lower cyanide doses can result in corrosion of the mucous membranes of the stomach, unpleasant odor of the tonsils on breath, burning sensation, choking in the throat, the appearance of spots on the face, and salivation.

In addition, the victim will feel nausea with or without vomiting, restlessness, confusion, dizziness, giddiness, weakness, headache, rapid pulse, palpitations, and stiffness in the lower jaw.

The rate and depth of breathing generally increase initially, gradually becoming slow and breathless.

Diarrhea and urinary incontinence (urinating in your pants) can also occur. In addition, seizures can be followed by paralysis.

The eyeball may become protruding out of the way while the eyeball may not react. From here, damage to the optic nerve and retina can lead to blindness. There may be foam in the mouth (sometimes the foam is accompanied by blood), which is a sign of pulmonary edema.

Death can occur within four hours and may be caused by cessation of respiratory system function or anorexia in the tissues. Other symptoms can include chest pain, slurred speech, and transient stages of stimulation of the central nervous system accompanied by headaches.

Meanwhile, ingesting this compound in very low concentrations for a long period of time can cause decreased appetite, headaches, weakness, nausea, and dizziness.

Is it true that cassava contains cyanide poisoning?

Several types of plants also produce cyanide toxins, one of which is cassava.

Why doesn't anyone ever get poisoned while eating boiled cassava? In nature, cassava or cassava produces this poison in the form of a cyanogenic glycoside compound called linimarin.

Cyanogenic glycosides are relatively non-toxic, but the enzymatic processes that occur in the human body can break them down into hydrogen cyanide, one of the most toxic forms of cyanide.

Fortunately, not all types of cassava produce this compound in large quantities. Types of cassava that are commonly consumed daily generally produce very small amounts of cyanide, and the levels decrease with proper processing.

How can we keep eating cassava safely and not causing poisoning?

Please note that not all cassava contains high levels of toxic cyanide. We can distinguish which cassava contains high or low levels of cyanide toxins.

Cassava which has a high cyanide content usually has very red petioles. If peeled, the cassava tubers will be red, not white.

Apart from the outward appearance, cassava that is poisonous if eaten will taste bitter, while non-toxic cassava if eaten will taste sweet if eaten fresh. However, there are indeed some cassava which when eaten will taste sweet at first. Then, soon it will taste bitter on the tongue.

If something like this happens, stop eating it immediately, but there is no need to panic because this will not make you sick or die. To fix this, drink enough water.

Processing of cassava before consumption can reduce the cyanide content in it. Before cooking, cassava should be soaked in water for a certain period of time.

This soaking process can reduce the toxic levels of cyanide in the cassava. This is because HCN is a water-soluble acid.