Lately, I've been a little unlucky. The spring wind was dry and dry, so in order to replenish more water, I bought a stainless steel thermos cup. But I didn't think about it, using it to drink water, drinking it made me stomachache and diarrhea, don't mention how uncomfortable.
That's it
Source: Self-made
Actually, blame me for being careless. Because this cup has a strainer, I didn't notice the desiccant in the cup, and as a result, I drank the desiccant for 5 days in a row!
Oh my God, it's 5 days in a row!
When I found the small bag of black things at the bottom of the cup, the feeling of being unloveable, not to mention how sour. It's a pity that I forgot to take pictures at that time, and I couldn't show everyone the "remains" of the desiccant. The specific picture, let's make up your own brain. The filter that blocked the view was also thrown away by me.
I was curious about how many unlucky bastards like me there were, and I searched the Internet, hehe.
You can also search and try
Source: Web
There are many people who have asked this question on the Internet, and many people have answered it, but unfortunately, many of the answers are unreliable. In order to "rescue" the unlucky bastards who share the same illness as me, I want to popularize the "desiccant" today.
Desiccant is a dehumidifying material that plays a drying role by adsorbing or absorbing moisture in the air.
The application history of desiccant is not short. As early as 1773, it was discovered that charcoal has the effect of drying adsorption [1].
The development of desiccant to today, according to the state of existence, can be divided into three categories: solid desiccant, liquid desiccant and composite desiccant. Generally speaking:
Solid desiccant includes silica gel, zeolite, activated carbon, molecular sieve, activated alumina, anhydrous calcium chloride, calcium oxide (also known as quicklime), etc.;
Liquid desiccant includes calcium chloride solution, lithium chloride solution, lithium bromide solution, concentrated sulfuric acid, etc.;
The composite desiccant is a porous material-halogen salt composite material [2].
At present, desiccant is the most widely used and most deeply studied in the refrigeration industry [3]. However, because such desiccant is generally inside refrigeration machines such as air conditioners, it is difficult for people to have direct access.
Food, cosmetics, medicines and other daily necessities are all big users of desiccant because they need to prevent the items from becoming damp and moldy.
Generally, the desiccant in such daily necessities has special packaging, which can be filter paper, non-woven fabric, composite paper, etc. It will be printed with warning words such as "inedible", "do not eat", "Don't microwaves", which translates to do not eat and do not put in the microwave. Some will also indicate the specific ingredients.
The outer packaging of the desiccant has obvious warning icons and text
Source: Pixabay
Common desiccant ingredients in life are:
(1) Quicklime
Quicklime blocks
Quicklime, scientifically known as calcium oxide, is usually formed by calcination of limestone (mainly calcium carbonate). Young and middle-aged netizens with rural life experience may have seen the scene of lime burning in a lime factory.
In modern life, people rarely see quicklime, and some people may ask: isn't the white slurry that gardeners apply to tree trunks? In fact, before adding water, it was still quicklime, but after adding water, it became mature lime, which means that the white slurry applied to the tree is hydrated lime.
Because quicklime has good moisture absorption effect, convenient source and cheap price, it is often used as a desiccant. Most of the desiccant in small foods is made of quicklime.
(2) Calcium chloride
Calcium chloride flakes
Although calcium chloride and the above "calcium oxide" are only one word difference, they are two completely different substances.
Calcium chloride is a kind of halogen salt, industrial calcium chloride is generally obtained by sea salt as raw material, through ammonia alkali production. In fact, calcium chloride is not far from people's lives, especially for northern residents, because the thing used to remove snow and ice in winter is industrial calcium chloride [4].
In addition to calcium chloride for industrial use, there is also calcium chloride for food and medicine.
Food and pharmaceutical grade calcium chloride is produced using low concentration hydrochloric acid and limestone as raw materials. This grade of calcium chloride is generally used in food as a stabilizer, thickener, desiccant and taste improver. Calcium chloride can also be made into calcium chloride injection, which is used to treat calcium deficiency, magnesium poisoning rescue, etc.
(3) Silicone
The picture shows silica gel desiccant
Source: Pixabay
Silica gel is a highly active adsorption material, usually prepared by reacting sodium silicate and sulfuric acid, and then undergoing a series of post-treatment processes such as aging and acid bubbles [5].
For the use of silica gel, everyone must know its application in plastic surgery, in fact, because of its good safety, it is now widely used as a desiccant. For example, silicone desiccant can often be seen in some cosmetics, electronic products, and clothing, and can also be seen in more expensive foods.
(4) Miscellaneous
There is also a tea bag desiccant that is also very common, packed in small bags of non-woven fabric or filter paper, the specific composition is unknown, but it is generally described as tea powder.
Because the tea crushed leaves are hollow fluffy structures with a large surface area, they have a certain degree of hygroscopicity, but the hygroscopicity is not strong, and the main function is to remove odor.
That desiccant I drank is just that. As for what it tastes like, it does smell a little teay. Don't be curious about its taste!
1. Mistakenly taking quicklime desiccant is the most harmful
Quicklime is released in large quantities after contact with water to produce calcium hydroxide, which is highly alkaline, that is, hydrated lime. Slaked lime can corrode the digestive tract, causing oral and esophageal damage or gastric ulcers [6].
If people accidentally take the desiccant of quicklime components by mistake, they can quickly deal with it as follows:
(1) Immediately go to the emergency department of the hospital for treatment.
(2) Do not drink water and do not induce vomiting to avoid secondary injury caused by vomiting.
(3) Foreign literature does recommend drinking 1~2 cups (or drinking 15 ml per kilogram of body weight) of water or milk dilution therapy, but the effect is weak, and there is a risk of vomiting leading to aspiration. Therefore, caution is recommended [7][8].
(4) Keep the desiccant packaging bag and provide it to the doctor in time.
(5) After the patient seeks medical treatment, the doctors' treatment method is mainly symptomatic treatment. Generally, it includes: ECG monitoring, fasting water (parenteral nutrition support if necessary), oral care, weak acid neutralization treatment, etc.
2. Mistakenly take calcium chloride desiccant
Calcium chloride, like quicklime, is a white substance. After calcium chloride comes into contact with water, it will also release heat, which has a certain irritation to the gastric mucosa.
Unlike quicklime, calcium chloride does not produce strong alkaline substances when it comes into contact with water and is therefore not corrosive.
Calcium chloride may also cause hypercalcemia, and patients will have low energy, drowsiness, headache, abnormal dry mouth, metallic smell in the mouth, poor appetite, and abnormal electrocardiogram [9].
If people accidentally take the desiccant of calcium chloride by mistake:
(1) For ordinary people, the treatment method is the same as the desiccant of quicklime components mistakenly taken;
(2) However, for doctors, if patients have hypercalcemia, targeted symptomatic treatment, such as volume expansion, diuresis, anti-bone resorption and dialysis, should be carried out.
3. Mistakenly take silica gel desiccant
Different from quicklime and calcium chloride desiccant, silica gel desiccant is easier to identify.
The silica gel desiccant is granular in appearance, transparent pellets, and the words "Silica gel" or "Silica gel" will be on the packaging bag.
Silica gel granules in desiccant
Silica gel is a neutral chemical that does not react chemically with water, is not absorbed by the body, and will eventually be excreted with stool.
Therefore, if people accidentally take silica gel desiccant, do not panic, because it generally does not affect the human body, just need to observe closely. Even if symptoms such as mouth and throat discomfort occur, they can heal spontaneously [10].
4. Mistakenly take tea bag desiccant
The aforementioned desiccant mostly exists in food packaging, and the desiccant for tea bags is different, mostly in tea cups, feeding bottles and other items. Because of this, people often ignore its existence.
Although the composition of tea bag desiccant is mostly described as tea crushed, it cannot be ruled out that it is mixed with other types of desiccant ingredients.
Therefore, if you mistakenly take the desiccant of tea bags, because the composition is unknown, you should immediately go to the emergency department of the hospital to receive symptomatic supportive treatment, and provide the residual "accident" desiccant to facilitate the doctor's further judgment. If necessary, actively contact the manufacturer to confirm the specific composition of the tea bag desiccant.
As for me, because I had been drinking for 5 days when I found out, the desiccant content in the water was already very low, and the symptoms of stomach pain and diarrhea had almost disappeared, and I also knew it, so I didn't do anything special.
As for the majority of friends, if this happens, don't be like me, it is better to seek medical attention in time.
Children are most likely to mistakenly take food desiccant, of course, for sloppy adults like me, it is also possible to mistakenly take tea bag desiccant. So in order to avoid mistaking, you can start from the following two aspects:
(1) Educate children to identify desiccants, know that desiccants are harmful, cannot be edible, cannot contact eyes, mouth, nose, skin, and cannot be put into water.
(2) Every time you open an item, especially a snack for your child, carefully check it to see if it contains desiccant. If desiccant is present, it should be immediately discarded in the trash and covered with other garbage.
Special author: Xiong Chaogang
Pharmacist in charge of the pharmacy outpatient clinic of Xi'an Chest Hospital
Reviewer: Yun Wuxin
Ph.D. in Biological and Food Engineering, Purdue University
bibliography
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[8] Honiun C S , Mairra S R , Lane B P , et al. Effective Treatment for Acute Alkali Injury to the Esophagus Using Weak-acid Neutralization Therapy: An Ex-vivo Study[J]. Academic emergency medicine, 1995, 2(11):952-958.
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*Produced by Tencent Medical Codex Content Team