How to Treat Lead Poisoning

Lead is a stable element and cannot be broken down or otherwise destroyed. Lead bio-accumulates and poisoning typically occurs over a long period of time. The following steps will help you identify and treat a case of lead poisoning.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Know the symptoms. Lead is a neurotoxin and is more dangerous to children than adults because it affects developing nerves and brains. Over time, it can cause children to suffer from behavioral problems, reduced intelligence, slow body growth and kidney damage.
2. Examine household items for high lead content, particularly drinking water and house paint made before 1978. Lead paint must be removed professionally. A diet high in calcium, iron, protein and zinc may reduce the absorption of lead into the body.
3. Get a medical examination. The average level of lead in the blood is 2.3 ug/dL and more than 10 ug/dL is considered lead poisoning in the United States, although children's neurological development can be impaired at levels below this. Lead can sometimes form a blue line on the gum in adults known as "Burton's line."
4. Seek treatment at a hospital for acute lead poisoning. Administer a gastric lavage or irrigate the bowel with a polyethylene glycol solution.
5. Use chelation therapy to treat high-level chronic exposure. Chelation agents for lead include dimercaprol (BAL) and edentate calcium disodium (EDTA calcium), which are injected, and succimer (Chemet) and penicillamine (Cuprimine and Depen), which are given by mouth.