What is mercury?
Mercury is a compound found in rocks in the Earth’s crust. It has a shiny silver appearance, which gives it the nickname “liquid silver.” Mercury is an element on the periodic table with the symbol Hg and the atomic number 80. Mercury is unique because it’s classified as a metal and comes in both liquid and solid forms depending on the temperature.
Mercury has several uses because it’s a conductor. This means that the compound allows electricity and heat to flow through it. For this reason, you’ll find mercury in thermometers, street lights and fluorescent lightbulbs.
What are the signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning?
Symptoms of mercury poisoning are different for each type of mercury and range in severity from person to person.
Elemental mercury poisoning symptoms
Elemental mercury is usually harmless if you touch or swallow it because its slippery texture won’t absorb into your skin or intestines. Elemental mercury is extremely dangerous if you breathe it in and it gets into your lungs. Often, elemental mercury becomes airborne if someone is trying to clean up a mercury spill with a vacuum.
Symptoms of elemental mercury poisoning occur immediately after inhaling the chemical and include:
- Coughing.
- Trouble breathing.
- Metallic taste in your mouth.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Bleeding or swollen gums.
Inorganic mercury poisoning symptoms
Inorganic mercury is poisonous when swallowed. When the chemical enters your body, it travels through your bloodstream and attacks your brain and kidneys.
Symptoms of inorganic mercury poisoning include:
- Burning sensation in your stomach and/or throat.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Diarrhea.
- Blood in vomit or stool.
- Urine color changes.
Organic mercury poisoning symptoms
Organic mercury causes symptoms if you inhale it (breathe it in) or touch it. Symptoms don’t occur immediately and usually arise after long periods of contact (could be years or decades) with the compound. Though not always common, being exposed to a large amount of organic mercury at one time can cause symptoms. Symptoms of organic mercury poisoning from long-term exposure include:
- Feeling numb or dull pain in certain parts of your body.
- Tremors (uncontrollable shaking).
- Unsteady walk.
- Double vision or blurry vision; blindness.
- Memory loss.
- Seizures.
People who are pregnant and exposed to large amounts of methylmercury (a type of organic mercury) can cause brain damage to developing fetuses. Most healthcare providers recommend people who are pregnant eat a limited amount of fish or remove fish from their diet, especially swordfish, during their pregnancy.
Long-term organic mercury exposure is deadly. If you frequently come into contact with organic mercury, wear proper personal protective equipment, like a mask and gloves, to reduce your risk of health problems associated with the compound.
What causes mercury poisoning?
Exposure to mercury causes mercury poisoning. Potential ways you could expose your body to mercury include:
- Inhaling mercury vapor (small droplets of mercury that become airborne and enter your lungs).
- Eating fish or seafood that naturally contains large amounts of organic mercury.
- Swallowing mercury.
- Touching liquid mercury.
How is mercury poisoning treated?
In the emergency room, your provider will immediately decontaminate (remove the dangerous substance) from your skin and/or clothing to avoid further exposure. Treatment of your symptoms quickly follows and varies based on the type of mercury exposure.
Treatment focuses on removing mercury from your body and could include receiving:
- Chelation therapy (removing metals from your body) via fluid through an IV.
- Oxygen through a face mask.
- Medicine to treat symptoms.
- Dialysis.
- Surgery to remove mercury.
Often, you’ll need to take chelators (medicine that removes metal from your body) for several weeks to months after mercury exposure to completely remove the chemical from your body.
Even after immediate treatment to remove mercury from your body, damage from the compound could create long-term symptoms that need ongoing treatment.
Mercury poisoning is most often diagnosed in the emergency room after exposure and experiencing severe symptoms.
Your healthcare provider will diagnose mercury poisoning after a complete medical history and physical examination. Your provider will ask questions about your symptoms like how long you’ve had them and the severity as well as if you’ve been exposed to any chemicals or compounds.
To confirm the diagnosis, your provider will offer several tests to monitor mercury levels in your body including:
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