Surgical removal of the mercury if injected under the skinįor inorganic mercury poisoning, treatment often begins with supportive care.Medicine to remove mercury and heavy metals from the body.Breathing support, including oxygen, tube through the mouth into the lungs, and use of a breathing machine (ventilator).Inhaled elemental mercury poisoning may be difficult to treat. The type of exposure will determine what other tests and treatments are needed. Activated charcoal by mouth or tube through the nose into the stomach, if mercury is swallowed (under limited circumstances).Your health care provider will measure and monitor your vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. The person should be moved away from the source of exposure. Treatment for exposure to different forms of mercury are given after this general information.

General treatment for mercury exposure includes the steps just below. Women should talk to their provider about what they should and should not eat while pregnant. Most health care providers recommend eating less fish, especially high-mercury fish such as swordfish, while pregnant, and limiting the consumption of such fish by small children as well. Seizures and death (with large exposures)īeing exposed to large amounts of the organic mercury called methylmercury while pregnant may cause permanent brain damage in the baby.Numbness or pain in certain parts of your skin.Long-term exposure will likely cause symptoms in the nervous system, including: A single large exposure, however, can also cause problems. This means that being exposed to small amounts of organic mercury every day for years will likely cause symptoms to appear later. Usually, organic mercury causes problems over years or decades, not right away. Organic mercury can cause sickness if it is breathed in, eaten, or placed on the skin over long periods of time. A large amount in the bloodstream may cause massive blood and fluid loss from diarrhea and kidney failure, leading to death. Permanent kidney damage and kidney failure may occur. If inorganic mercury enters your bloodstream, it can attack the kidneys and brain. Depending on how much is swallowed, symptoms may include: Unlike elemental mercury, inorganic mercury is usually poisonous when swallowed. Infection may develop, requiring surgical drainage and removal of the mercury. There have been cases of mercury being injected under the skin, which can cause fever and rash. Long-term brain damage from inhaled elemental mercury can also occur. Chronic symptoms may include:ĭepending on how much mercury is inhaled, permanent lung damage and death may occur. Long-term symptoms will occur if small amounts are inhaled over time. This often occurs by mistake when people try to vacuum up mercury that has spilled onto the ground.īreathing in enough elemental mercury will cause symptoms right away. It is so thick and slippery that it usually falls off the skin or leaves the stomach and intestines without being absorbed.Ī lot of damage can occur, though, if elemental mercury gets into the air in the form of small droplets that are breathed into the lungs. Elemental mercury is usually harmless if it is touched or swallowed.

A list of symptoms of mercury poisoning