How to Treat Nickel Poisoning

Nickel is a stable element and cannot be broken down or otherwise destroyed. Elemental nickel is only moderately toxic but nickel carbonyl is highly poisonous and the most likely source of nickel poisoning. Common sources of nickel carbonyl are nickel mining, refining and plating and workers in these industries have a high risk of exposure. The following steps will help you identify and treat a case of nickel poisoning.

Instructions

• 1

  Know the symptoms of the immediate toxic effects of nickel poisoning by inhalation of nickel carbonyl. These include a frontal headache, insomnia, irritability, nausea, vertigo and vomiting.

• 2

  Leave the exposure site immediately and remove contaminated clothing.

• 3

  Observe the delayed pulmonary symptoms that appear about 16 hours after the onset of the initial symptoms and become most severe after about four days. They resemble those of pneumonia and include chest pains, dry coughing, rapid heart rate, sweating and weakness. This stage can frequently be fatal.

• 4

  Administer oxygen and measure the level of nickel in the urine for the first eight hours to determine the severity of acute nickel carbonyl poisoning. Less than 100 ug/l is mild, 100 to 500 ug/l is moderate and above 500 ug/l is severe.

• 5

  Begin chelation therapy with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and support measures including antibiotics, oxygen, corticosteroids, antibiotics and rest. Nickel carbonyl poisoning is frequently accompanied by carbon monoxide poisoning, which must be treated separately.

• 6

  Continue the convalescence, which can be protracted, and is often complicated by exertion. Permanent respiratory damage from acute nickel carbonyl poisoning is unusual.