The Dangers of Ingesting Bleach and Understanding the Potential Consequences

When I was in school, there were different cases of people who drank bleach because of depression or heartbreak, but then I saw different videos on youtube of people who claim to have drank bleach but when I see the result of the reaction in those who actually drank the bleaching agent and those who claimed to have drank it on staged videos, the difference is clear. Those people who did videos of bleach drinking have a result where they are okay after taking the agent but is that really true?

Okay, I did a little bit of chemistry and biology (Biochemistry) at the University, although I am doing something deeper in my Master's program, so I should be able to do justice to this very well. So let's bleach out this post and see what the result would look like.

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Bleaching agents are usually cleaning agents used to make the materials such as cloth and PVCs whiter and cleaner. It is composed of about 3% to 8% Sodium Hypochlorite (NaClO) dissolved in water. Bleach isn't acidic, so let's not start with the corrosiveness of it being attributed to acidity. Actually, bleaches have a pH of 11, and it is an oxidizing agent. The oxidizing agent in NaClO is responsible for its ability to remove die from clothes, turning them to white if deep into it.

Talking about Corrosion, the oxidizing ability of bleach is what makes it corrosive when it comes in contact with human skin. When I say the human skin, I do not mean your outer body because we all know that bleaches do not corrode our outer skin because it is made of dead tissue layers (epidermis) but it would affect the skin of the mouth because it is relatively softer and not made up of dead cells like the skin, so it would corrode the mouth.

When a person takes bleach, its effect is dependent on certain conditions such as the quantity, the duration of the bleach in the mouth, and if it was spat out or swallowed. Since it has a corrosive effect on the mouth, people who spit it out will only have damages in the mouth which will include the corrosion of the tongue, the tonsil, and the lateral and medial pterygoid muscle. If the damages are not really serious and are not in children, then the mouth will heal over time.

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If swallowed, there can be problems because starting with the esophagus which is made up of soft elastic tissues, which send food to the stomach through contraction. The esophagus can have injuries as a result of the corrosive ability of the bleach. The injuries to the esophagus can be life-long even if the content weren't in large volume.

By the time bleach gets to the stomach, the esophagus has been injured, and people who had taken this agent begin to have symptoms like difficulty breathing, nausea, difficulty swallowing, and they can go into shock. The injuries to both organs are severe, and the stomach lining can be perforated.

For me, most people who I have seen take bleach do not die, they end up in severe pain that people around them take them to the hospital or they even take themselves to the hospital but that doesn't mean that people do not die from ingesting bleach. Certain research says mortality after caustic poisoning is at 20% of all cases. When they get to the hospital, the breathing problem is first solved via intubation, then the poison is diluted with milk or water and the bleach is pumped out.

While a lot of people might survive the poisoning, the injuries to the gastrointestinal tract can be problematic in the future, as scar tissues aren't elastic, so swallowing and passage of food through the esophagus can be relatively impossible. If the person can get gastrointestinal organs donated, then they can live normally again, or undergo esophagectomy and colon interposition.

I didn't really follow the cases of people who took bleach when I was in the university but then it is important to know that consuming bleach is extremely dangerous and potentially life-threatening. Safety should be prioritized and if there is any case of an accident, then immediate medical attention should be sorted.

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Reference

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• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441921/
• https://www.poison.org/articles/what-is-bleach
• https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/poison/sodium-hypochlorite-poisoning
• https://www.emra.org/emresident/article/bleach-ingestion
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24724360/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10018575/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30689457/
• https://www.cureus.com/articles/136943-self-poisoning-with-household-bleach-in-an-elderly-man#!/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420983/
• https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/394494

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Hi, I am Tobi a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. Want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my youtube channel where you can listen and watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, kindly do well to keep them coming.