Pale toadstool poisoning

• Description of the distinctive characteristics of the pale grebe
• What edible mushrooms can be confused with pale grebe?
• Symptoms and signs of toadstool poisoning
• First aid before the doctor arrives
• Treatment of poisoning with pale toadstool in a hospital
• Is it possible to use pale grebe for good purposes?
• Prevention measures

Pale grebe is a very poisonous mushroom, the poisoning of which is extremely dangerous for human life. It belongs to the genus Amanita and grows on fertile and well-lit soils of deciduous and mixed forests. Most often they are located in groups, but sometimes you can see that the fungus grows separately, on its own. They can be found in late summer or early autumn.

Pale grebe is the most poisonous mushroom in the world.

Description of the distinctive characteristics of the pale grebe

What does a pale toadstool look like? The body of this poisonous mushroom consists of a cap (its size varies between 5 and 14 cm) and a stem (its length can be from 8 to 15 cm, and its diameter can be from 1 to 3 cm).

A young mushroom is usually covered with a film. The color of the cap can vary from grayish and greenish to olive, and its shape can be both flat and hemispherical, the edges are even. The pulp of the mushroom is white, juicy, its color does not change if the mushroom is damaged.

The taste of grebe is sweetish, the smell is not pronounced. The stem of the mushroom is colored in the same way as the hat, there may be a moire pattern; shape - cylindrical, slightly thickened at the base.

On the upper part of the leg, you can see a membranous ring, and in the lower part, where it is slightly thickened, there is also a film on the leg - already bag-shaped, it has a white or greenish color, its width varies between 3 and 5 cm. It is the presence of these films is the main characteristic by which it is possible to distinguish the pale grebe from other mushroom species similar to it.

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What edible mushrooms can be confused with pale grebe?

The pale grebe is very similar in appearance to some types of mushrooms that can be eaten. These include champignons, green russula, greenish russula, russula with floats.

Important: membranous rings are the main distinguishing feature of the pale grebe, since they are not found in the above mushroom species. That is why in no case should you cut them under the hat when picking mushrooms. It is necessary to carefully examine the fungus and make sure that there are no membranous rings.

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Symptoms and signs of toadstool poisoning

The pale grebe is deadly poisonous. How is it different from a number of other poisonous mushrooms? The fact that no treatment, whether exposure to high temperatures or drying, can eliminate the toxic effect of its poison. For an adult to get poisoned, it is enough to eat only 100 g of the mushroom, that is, about a third of the fruiting body. Children are especially susceptible to the effects of the toxins of this poisonous fungus. Tellingly, their symptoms of poisoning begin primarily with convulsions; another early symptom, which is observed in children, is the reduction of the jaws.

The peak of poisoning with this fungus, as a rule, is observed in August.

The severity of symptoms of poisoning and the severity of the patient's condition depend on the amount of poison that has entered the body. The course of the disease can be divided into several periods.

The first period can last from 7 to 40 hours. It is called latent, because no signs of the disease have yet been observed. This is the insidiousness of the pale toadstool: by the time the first signs of poisoning appeared, a larger amount of poison had already managed to enter the bloodstream and begin to destroy the body.

The second period lasts from 1-2 to 6 days. His symptoms appear unexpectedly and suddenly. These include:

Pain in the intestines and vomiting are the first sign of poisoning with a pale toadstool.

• severe diarrhea (first yellow-green, then slimy and watery, sometimes with blood impurities);
• repeated severe vomiting;
• strong thirst: it is impossible to quench it, drinking water leads to increased vomiting;
• severe cramps, abdominal pain, acute intestinal colic;
• severe dehydration, which leads to a sharp decrease in blood pressure, pallor of the skin, increased heart rate;
• blurry vision, dizziness, headaches;
• cramps, most pronounced in the calf muscles (this is the result of the body losing a lot of chlorides due to vomiting and diarrhea);
• a sharp decrease in the amount of urine excreted or its complete disappearance (reason - dehydration);
• blood clotting.

The third period is typical for poisoning with the poison of the pale toadstool. It is also called the stage of imaginary recovery. Its duration is about a day. The patient's health suddenly improves dramatically, however, if you do a biochemical blood test, you can see abnormal liver function. The patient suffers from severe drowsiness. Often after 10-12 hours, collapse suddenly develops and the person dies. This happens in the case of severe poisoning with the poison of a pale toadstool.

In the fourth period, poisoning of the internal organs develops. The symptoms of this are:

In case of poisoning with mushrooms, it is necessary first of all to wash the stomach.

• yellowness of the mucous membranes and eyes;
• pain in the liver (right hypochondrium), heaviness in the same place;
• resumption of diarrhea and colic;
• nephropathy;
• toxic hepatitis;
• acute heart failure (it develops in case of severe poisoning and leads to death).

Thus, a person usually dies during the action of the poison within 10 days. It all depends on the state of his heart and blood vessels. In the case of a mild degree of poisoning, a person returns to normal very quickly. In the case of moderate and severe degrees of poisoning, the patient needs long-term rehabilitation, the period of which can stretch from 2 weeks to several months.

As a rule, the body is able to fully recover: after about 2 weeks, jaundice disappears, after which both the liver and other organs gradually resume their activities in full. However, do not forget that the probability of death in such poisoning is very high, since toxic hepatitis develops at lightning speed, and signs of cardiovascular insufficiency appear very clearly. Treatment, as a rule, does not bring results.

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First aid before the doctor arrives

Since the first symptoms of poisoning with a pale toadstool begin to make themselves felt only when a sufficiently large amount of time has passed after the penetration of the poison into the body, first aid is ineffective, the result will be zero. You need to see a doctor as soon as possible, ideally call an ambulance. In the hospital, the patient will receive antitoxic therapy.

Important: it is necessary to treat each person from the company that ate mushrooms.

What can be done before the ambulance arrives? Everyone whose body could get a pale toadstool needs to cleanse the stomach, after which you need to take activated charcoal at the rate of 1 g per 1 kg of a person's weight.