A Boy Drank His Mom's Essential Oils. This Is What Happened To His Brain.

Summary

In this video, Dr. Bernard narrates the alarming case of a 3-year-old boy, BB, who accidentally consumed his mother's wintergreen essential oil, leading to severe salicylate poisoning. The boy exhibited symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and rapid breathing. The video explains the science behind salicylate's impact on the body, including acidosis and mitochondrial dysfunction, and how medical intervention with bicarbonate helped in BB's recovery. The incident serves as a cautionary tale about the potential dangers of essential oils and the importance of safety measures.

Takeaways

• 🌿 Essential oils can be potent and potentially dangerous if ingested, as demonstrated by a case of a 3-year-old boy who accidentally drank his mother's essential oils.
• 👩‍⚕️ The boy, BB, presented to the emergency room with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and rapid breathing, which are indicative of a serious medical condition.
• 🧪 A blood test revealed low bicarbonate levels in BB's blood, pointing to acidosis, a condition where there is an excess of acid in the body.
• 🔬 The active ingredient in the ingested wintergreen oil, methyl salicylate, is similar to aspirin and can be toxic in large quantities when ingested.
• 🏥 Medical intervention was critical to correct the acid-base imbalance in BB's body by administering bicarbonate to counteract the acidosis.
• 🧠 The salicylate toxicity affected BB's brain function, causing him to become unconscious, highlighting the importance of rapid medical response.
• 💊 The high concentration of salicylate in the oil BB ingested is equivalent to dozens of aspirin tablets, illustrating the potency of essential oils.
• 🔄 The body's natural response to acidosis is to increase breathing rate in an attempt to expel excess carbon dioxide and restore酸碱平衡.
• 🛑 The mother's decision to change the safety caps on the essential oil bottles due to her arthritis pain inadvertently put her son at risk.
• ⚠️ The case serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of keeping essential oils and other potentially harmful substances out of reach of children.

Q & A

What was the initial condition that led to BB's mother using essential oils?

BB's mother, Megan, started experiencing pain in her arms, legs, shoulders, and hips, with swollen hands, which she suspected might be arthritis.

Why did Megan decide to use wintergreen oil for her arthritis?

Megan chose wintergreen oil because it contains methyl salicylate, which is known for its pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties, similar to aspirin.

What was the reason Megan changed the caps on her essential oil bottles?

Megan changed the caps to ones without child safety features because her arthritis caused her so much pain that she couldn't exert the force needed to push down on the child safety caps.

How did BB accidentally consume the wintergreen oil?

BB consumed the wintergreen oil when Megan left her oils out on a table while she took a phone call from her boss, and BB accessed the bottles with the non-childproof caps.

What symptoms did BB exhibit after ingesting the essential oils?

BB showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting, tachypnea (fast breathing), lethargy, and eventually unconsciousness.

What does a low bicarbonate level in the blood indicate?

A low bicarbonate level indicates acidosis, which means there is an excess of acid in the blood.

How does salicylate from wintergreen oil cause harm when ingested?

Ingested salicylate converts to salicylic acid in the body, which is toxic. It disrupts the mitochondria's ability to produce ATP, leading to acidosis, hyperthermia, and organ damage.

What is the role of bicarbonate in treating BB's condition?

Bicarbonate is used to counteract the acidosis by increasing the base in the blood, which helps to neutralize the excess acid and prevent salicylate from converting to the harmful salicylic acid.

How did the medical team attempt to eliminate the salicylate from BB's body?

The medical team forced base into BB's urine to help his kidneys filter and concentrate the salicylate, allowing it to be eliminated through urine.

What was the final outcome for BB after the treatment?

BB made a full recovery after several days in the hospital, thanks to the medical team's prompt intervention and treatment.

What lesson did Megan learn from this incident?

Megan learned the importance of taking great caution to never expose her son to any potential household dangers, emphasizing the need for childproof safety measures.

Outlines

00:00

🚑 Essential Oil Poisoning Incident

Dr. Bernard introduces a case involving a 3-year-old boy, BB, who accidentally ingested his mother's essential oils, leading to severe health complications. The video discusses the boy's symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and rapid breathing, and the mother's use of wintergreen oil to alleviate her arthritis pain. It also touches on the potential dangers of essential oils if ingested and the importance of keeping such substances out of children's reach.

05:02

🧪 The Chemistry Behind Wintergreen Oil Poisoning

This section delves into the chemistry of methyl salicylate, the active ingredient in wintergreen oil, which is similar to aspirin. It explains how the body's acid-base balance is disrupted when such oils are ingested, leading to a condition known as acidosis. The video illustrates how the body attempts to compensate for this imbalance through rapid breathing, and how the poisoning can lead to unconsciousness and severe health consequences, including fever and hyperthermia.

10:05

🩺 Medical Intervention and Recovery

The final paragraph outlines the medical team's response to BB's poisoning, focusing on the treatment of acidosis and the efforts to prevent further damage to his organs. It discusses the use of bicarbonate to counteract the acid in his blood and the measures taken to help his body eliminate the toxic salicylate. The video concludes with a positive outcome, as BB makes a full recovery, and a reminder of the importance of safety around household substances.

Keywords

💡Essential Oils

Essential oils are concentrated extracts from plants, often used for their aromatic and therapeutic properties. In the video, they are central to the narrative as the boy, BB, accidentally ingests his mother's wintergreen oil, leading to a severe health crisis. The video discusses how essential oils, while beneficial when applied topically, can be toxic when ingested, especially in high concentrations.

💡Tachypnea

Tachypnea refers to rapid or labored breathing, often an indicator of a medical emergency. In the context of the video, BB presents with tachypnea, which is a symptom of his essential oil poisoning. The video uses this term to illustrate the severity of BB's condition and the urgency of the situation in the emergency room.

💡Acidosis

Acidosis is a condition where there is an excessive amount of acid in the body, leading to an imbalance in the body's pH levels. The video explains that BB's ingestion of wintergreen oil caused a significant drop in his blood's bicarbonate levels, resulting in acidosis. This term is crucial for understanding the physiological impact of the poisoning on BB's body.

💡Methyl Salicylate

Methyl salicylate is the active ingredient in wintergreen oil and is also found in aspirin. The video emphasizes that while methyl salicylate can be beneficial for topical pain relief, it is highly toxic when ingested, especially in the concentrated form found in essential oils. BB's ingestion of this substance is the cause of his medical emergency.

💡Carrier Oils

Carrier oils are used to dilute essential oils before applying them to the skin, reducing their potency and potential for skin irritation. In the video, Megan uses carrier oils to mix with wintergreen oil for her arthritis treatment. The concept is introduced to contrast the safe topical use with the dangerous ingestion of undiluted oils.

💡Aspirin

Aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid, is a common over-the-counter medication used for pain relief and reducing inflammation. The video relates aspirin to the wintergreen oil's active ingredient, methyl salicylate, to explain the toxic effects when ingested. Aspirin is used as a reference point to help viewers understand the severity of BB's poisoning.

💡Acidemia

Acidemia is a condition characterized by an excess of acid in the blood, which can lead to a dangerous drop in blood pH. The video describes how BB's blood tests revealed acidemia, indicating a worsening of his acidosis and the need for immediate medical intervention to prevent organ damage.

💡Mitochondria

Mitochondria are the cellular powerhouses that generate energy in the form of ATP. The video explains that salicylate toxicity disrupts the mitochondria's function, leading to a failure in ATP production and an increase in heat generation, contributing to BB's fever and acidosis.

💡Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate is a base that can be used to counteract acidosis by increasing the blood's bicarbonate levels. In the video, it is mentioned as a treatment for BB's acidemia, aiming to restore the acid-base balance in his blood and prevent further organ damage.

💡Child Safety Caps

Child safety caps are designed to prevent young children from accidentally accessing potentially harmful substances. The video discusses how Megan changed the caps on her essential oils for ease of use due to her arthritis, inadvertently increasing the risk of her son's accidental ingestion, highlighting the importance of child safety measures.

Highlights

Essential oils can be powerful and potentially poisonous if ingested.

A 3-year-old boy, BB, presents to the ER with nausea, vomiting, and tachypnea after accidentally drinking his mother's essential oils.

BB's mother, Megan, used wintergreen oil for her arthritis, unaware of its dangers when ingested.

Wintergreen oil contains methyl salicylate, similar to aspirin, which can be toxic in high concentrations.

BB's low bicarbonate levels indicate acidosis, a condition where the body has too much acid.

The boy's rapid breathing is a sign of the body's attempt to compensate for acidosis.

Megan's decision to change the oil bottle caps for easier access inadvertently put her son at risk.

BB's unconsciousness in the hospital signals that the acidosis is affecting his brain.

Salicylate toxicity disrupts the mitochondria's ability to produce ATP, leading to energy depletion and heat generation.

The medical team's prompt intervention with bicarbonate infusion is crucial to counteract the acidosis.

BB's case illustrates the importance of child safety measures and the potential risks of essential oils.

The video serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of essential oils and the need for proper storage and childproofing.

BB's full recovery after hospital treatment underscores the importance of quick medical response to poisoning cases.

The video concludes with a reminder to be vigilant about household dangers and to seek medical help immediately in case of accidental poisoning.

Transcripts

Hi everyone, Dr Bernard here. Essential oils  can be very, powerful, just like this mother  

son combo will find out. As always, references  to subject matter with links to similar cases  

published in literature in the description  below. This is not an uncommon poisoning,  

as I will demonstrate in this video, which is published in 8K. I make  a new video every month so if you subscribe,  

turn on all notifications and hit like  we’ll get some gas station nachos together.

A Boy Accidentally Drank His Mom’s Essential  Oils. This Is What Happened To His Brain.

BB is a 3 year old boy, presenting to the  emergency room with nausea, vomiting, and  

tachypnea. Tachy meaning fast and pnea referring  to breath. He was breathing quick and struggling.

His mother Megan, tells the admitting  nurse that she found her son on the floor  

face down in a pool of his own stomach contents.  

She turned him over to see his face,  and she couldn’t believe what she saw.

18 months ago, Megan started  having trouble with her arms  

and her legs. Everyday, she would notice that  her shoulders and hips would hurt. Her hands  

would be swollen up and down her fingers to  the point where just bending them would hurt.

Megan thought maybe she had developed arthritis.  You know, body’s different after having kids now,  

but this shouldn’t be a problem. Years ago, when  she had just finished college, Megan had gotten  

in to essential oils, just as a fun thing  to do with some of her friends. She wanted  

to live a more natural lifestyle and she loved  the smell of things like lavender and tangerine.

In her mind, she connected the dots, arthritis  and the oils. She remembered, that there’s some  

oils that can be used topically for pain,  to calm and cool down what she assumed was  

inflammation happening in her body, attacking  her joints and causing pain. She had some of  

this wintergreen oil left over from years past.  It’s the same stuff they have in other pain  

relief creams that they sell over the counter. “Why not mix it with  

some carrier oils and rub it on all the parts  that hurt,” she thought. And everything seemed  

to go great. Megan and her son were able to be  happy and healthy because mom was pain free.

But a few months later, Megan’s arthritis  came back and it would wax and wane.

The oils had child safety caps on top, where  one has to push down with more concentrated  

force than a child could know to exert. But  because Megan’s hands would hurt so bad,  

she elected to change the caps to ones without  the safety. You could simply screw these ones  

on and off, without the need to push down  first. Megan knew the risk of doing this  

was that her son could potentially get into  the oils now, but it’s alright she thought,  

just make sure to put them out of reach so he  can’t get to them, and there will be no problem, she thought.

But there was a problem. One day Megan was  making her wintergreen ointment sitting down  

on a coffee table, she got a phone  call from her boss. She stepped aside  

as she left all her oils out on a  table. Some ointment was already made,  

and so she wasn’t totally aware of how much oil  was left in each bottle when she walked away.  

BB not knowing any better, got a hold of the  oils as he started drinking. When she got back,  

the bottles of her oils seemed toppled over, it  was kind of messy. She didn’t remember if she had  

knocked some over in the rush to pick up the call  from her boss, so she didn’t think too much of it.

Over the next several hours, the oils settle  and absorb in to BB’s body and his mother has  

no idea what had happened. He starts to  act lethargic, but his breathing becomes  

fast and labored. He doesn’t act like how  he normally does for that time of day,  

as he empties his stomach on to the carpet.  Megan finds him face down on the floor,  

in a panic as she calls for 911 and he’s  brought to the emergency room where we are now.

At examination, doctors notice BB  had a fever, and his breathing was  

fast and labored. When they listened to his lungs,  they were clear, he didnt have a blocked airway,  

so his tachypnea probably isn’t from some kind  of congestion or fluid buildup in his lungs,  

at least not yet. Because hes 3 years old, he  can’t verbalize to anyone how he’s feeling.  

No one knew he drank anything and he can’t tell  anyone he did. And Megan hasn’t connected in her  

mind yet that BB being this way is related to  her essential oils being messy on that table.

A blood test finds that BB has low bicarbonate  presence in blood, but what does that mean?  

Bicarb is one part of baking soda, which is sodium  bicarbonate. If you remember from middle or high  

school, there was a small science experiment where  you mix vinegar with baking soda to get a chemical  

reaction because vinegar is an acid and baking  soda is a base. So if BB has low bicarbonate,  

then it means he has low base presence in blood.  The body’s a balanced system, so if base is low,  

and acid is opposite of base, then it mean he  has too much acid. This is called acidosis.  

Acid formally defined as the concentration of  hydrogen ion, and -osis referring to a disorder.  

An acid disorder, bringing us to the essential  oils of his mother that he accidentally drank.

Some essential oils, probably won’t  cause problems if you drink them.  

But some of them are extreme extracts of  things that are fine to put on the skin,  

but the moment they get ingested and  absorb into the body, they become poison.

Megan used wintergreen oil as an arthritis remedy,  and that’s great. It does an awesome job at that  

because the active ingredient contained therein,  is methyl salicylate. The salicylate moiety you  

might recognize from the chemical name of aspirin,  acetyl salicylic acid. In the body, they become  

the same salicylate, and this is one of the most  common over the counter therapies. Even Pepto  

Bismol is known as Bismuth sub salicylate.  You can even find salicylate in face wash.

This makes sense with Megan’s use.  Aspirin is an anti inflammatory medicine,  

it’s how it relives pain. You could apply it  on the skin where some of it gets absorbed,  

or you can take tablets of it by mouth.  The problem is wintergreen oil is really  

concentrated. The bottle BB drank  has the equivalent of at least 66  

big aspirin tablets. Just 1/3 of this bottle  alone can be fatal if taken by mouth in a child.  

And BB drank 3 times that fatal dose, because  he drank the entire bottle. Even though BB  

can’t tell doctors what happened, their findings  from examining him give them some more clues.

The interesting thing about the body is that  it regulates acid base balance quickly through  

breathing. We inhale oxygen. But we exhale CARBON  dioxide. And this bring us back to biCARBONate.

The blood delivers oxygen all throughout  the body, so what we breathe in,  

goes from our lungs right in to our  blood. But blood is made of water. And  

if we’re trying to put oxygen in to it by  inhaling, then it means at the same time,  

carbon dioxide is in the blood ready  to get exchanged out by exhaling.

The reason why this is important, is because  when Carbon Dioxide is dissolved in Water,  

it exists as a balanced system with  biCARBONate and acid. This tells the  

medical team a lot about what’s happening  in BB. He has low bicarbonate in his blood,  

meaning there’s more acid than base. Going  backwards in the understanding of blood,  

hes breathing fast meaning his body is desperately  trying to push excess carbon dioxide out as a way  

to fix the acidosis. But things keep getting  worse. BB falls unconscious in the hospital  

as he’s admitted in. As doctors take another  blood test, they find that he now has acidemia.  

It’s not just low base presence in blood  now, but there’s an acid presence in blood,  

meaning that it’s starting to spill all throughout  his body. But where is this acid coming from?

This brings us back to BB’s  fever. When energy is consumed,  

heat is created. When the body consumes a lot  more energy than it can create, then too much  

heat gets generated, leading to hyperthermia,  high body temperature, but why is this happening?

Inside the cells, there’s a powerhouse called  the mitochondria. It generates energy in the  

form of ATP, by using electricity, the movement of  positive and negative charges, just like you see  

on a battery. But when salicylate is inside the  mitochondria, it flows freely going back and  

forth wherever it wants, and starts to disturb the  electrical flow. As this short circuit is formed,  

ATP isn’t made anymore. But cells need that  energy. They can detect that something is  

wrong but they don’t know why. The powerhouse  keeps working harder and harder kind of like  

a hamster running in a wheel and because the  wheel doesn’t touch the ground, the hamster  

can run forever and not get anywhere. Salicylate  toxicity forces the mitochondria to run in place,  

never actually producing any energy. As the  wheels keep spinning faster and harder, massive  

amounts of heat are released and because energy is  only consumed and not made in BB’s body anymore,  

this is one part of where his carbon  dioxide and acidosis are coming from.

The tachypnea, the metabolic acidosis, the  nausea and vomiting before falling unconscious.  

Doctors ask Megan if her son had accidentally  eaten something or drank some kind of chemical,  

specifically something related to aspirin.  

Already in a panic, she said she didnt know, she  didnt think he did, but then it dawned on her.  

She left her essential oils out when she  stepped aside to talk to her boss on the phone.  

The bottles didnt have child safety caps. She  came back to them and saw a big mess that she  

didnt remember leaving. As she tells doctors  every single oil that BB could have drank,  

their blood test returns, and it confirms  everything, because he has high salicylate  

presence in blood from drinking a bottle bottle  of wintergreen oil, made of methyl salicylate.

Finding the problem is great for the doctors, but  things are only getting worse now. BB’s acidemia  

is intensifying. More acid has spilled into his  blood compared to just a couple hours before,  

and because he’s unconscious now, it  means that his brain is now affected,  

but how did the brain get involved??

We’ve already established that cells need a lot  of energy to function, but in toxic settings,  

huge amounts of salicylate forces cells  to use more energy than they can create.  

One function of cells is to maintain their fluid  balance. A cell doesnt want to be super bloated,  

it also doesnt want to be shriveled  up. To maintain the balance of fluid,  

cells can’t just pull water from  the outside and shove it in.  

But what they can do is manipulate sodium, because  wherever sodium is, water will flow towards it.

In this small science experiment, I dissolve  salt in this water and place it into a semi  

permeable tube meaning that only water and  nothing else can flow in and out of it.  

I place this tube in a pool of distilled  water that has no salt dissolved in it and  

you’ll see that water enters the tube. That  water flows towards where there’s sodium.

If cells can pump sodium in and  out, they can control their fluid balance.

This pumping of electrolytes requires energy, which  if the cells aren’t making anymore and they’re  

starting to run out of it, then it means that  they can’t control their own fluid balance.

Sodium doesnt get pumped out of  the cell anymore. Water flows in

and the cells become bloated. When all the  cells become bloated, the organ becomes bloated.  

The brain starts to swell up and expand into the  skull. But this is only the start of the problem.

The thing about salicylate as a chemical is  that it exists as a second form, in a balance  

with itself as salicylic acid. Salicylate has  an electrical property associated with it,  

a negative charge. The reason this is important,  is because when a chemical has a charge,  

it cannot enter or exit a cell by itself. But  salicylic acid isn’t charged. Salicylic acid,  

enters and exits cells however and whenever  it wants to. And because BB has acidemia,  

a high hydrogen ion presence in blood, it means  that there’s so much hydrogen floating around,  

salicylate only exists as salicylic acid, as it  now starts to flood in to every single organ.

The brain’s not only swelling now because it  doesnt have enough energy to maintain fluid  

balance, but it starts discharging. The heart  starts beating in strange rhythms because muscle  

needs a lot of energy, but as salicylic  acid disturbs all ATP production,  

the cells can’t keep up. Fluid starts flowing  in to the lungs because those cells don’t  

have enough energy to maintain fluid balance.  BB’s body tried the best it could to breathe  

out extra carbon dioxide and push out the acid  in his blood to protect his organs from this,  

but the flood of wintergreen oil he  drank simply overwhelmed this mechanism.

Is there anything the medical team can do at this  point to reverse this? By the time they asked  

Megan if BB had accidentally eaten something or  drank some kind of chemical, they started to take  

measures for what they thought could be happening.  If he has acidemia and acidosis, specifically has  

low bicarbonate presence in blood, then the answer  is to give him bicarbonate. This will push the  

balance of acid down. As more base is infused in  to his blood, it prevents salicylate from becoming  

salicylic acid, forcing it to keep its electrical  charge so it can’t enter in to his organs.

Additional measures were taken by doctors to force  base in to BB’s urine. This allows the body to use  

the kidneys to filter and concentrate salicylate  so that it can be eliminated in the urine.

There isn’t much that can be done once most  salicylate becomes salicylic acid in the body  

during a toxic event because there isn’t an easy  way to suck it out of the organs. In some cases,  

patients will appear to be ok and within a couple  hours, the aspirin toxicity will overtake them,  

permanently. The clinical decline can  happen quickly and suddenly in this setting.  

The only thing we can do now is to make the blood  basic as quickly as possible to prevent all of  

that from happening. And luckily the medical team  were able to catch it just in time in BB’s case.

After several days in the hospital,  and a lesson learned by Megan to take  

great caution in never exposing  any risk ever with any potential  

household danger to her son, BB  was able to make a full recovery.

Thanks so much for watching. Take  care of yourself. And Be Well.