#commonpoisons

Hello there lovely humans, how are you doing today? I hope everyone’s feeling absolutely marvelous! 😊💖 Today I’ll be sharing seven common poisons to use in your wip (warning: please don’t use them irl, I don’t want to be the cause of an increase in poisoning. please, this is only for writing purposes). 

Deadly Nightshade: Atropa belladonna

Found: Europe, North Africa, Western Asia

What it does: contains chemicals that disrupt the nervous system’s ability to regulate activities such as heart rate, breathing and sweating. 

Symptoms of mild poisoning: dilated pupils, light sensitivity, loss of balance, confusion, hallucinations and convulsions. 

Toxicity level: All the plant is toxic, but it’s berries are the greatest threat because it can be confused for food (10-20 berries can kill and adult, 2-4 can kill a child). 

Poisons extracted from it: Atropane. 

Can cause: Narcosis, paralysis and heart failure. 

Has an antidote: yes.

Hemlock: Conium maculatum

Found: Europe, North Africa, North and South America, Australia, Western Asia. 

What it does: affects nervous system, causing paralysis of respiratory muscles leading to death from O2 deprivation. 

Symptoms: stops breathing.

Toxicity level: 100mg/6-8 hemlock leaves are fatal to adults. Your character can be poisoned if someone put hemlock leaves in their tea/drinks. 

Antidote: no, however, it can be treated by supportive care and artificial ventilation for 48-72 hours until effects wear off. 

Arsenic

Found: Volcanic ash and ground water. Acceptable low levels in plants and seafood. Rare to find at dangerous levels in nature.

What it does: Necrotic cell death resulting in disruption in ATP production and causing organ failure. This process can last between 2 hours to multiple days. It can also be fatal in lower doses administered over a period of time.

Symptoms: Vomiting and diarrhea but is almost always mistaken for a sickness and not poisoning. 

Toxicity level:  White arsenic, which is arsenic oxide, is a water-soluble, tasteless solid easily added to drinks and can be used as a method to murder your characters. 

Antidote: I haven’t found any proper antidotes that would be able to treat an overdose of arsenic (other than get them to a hospital asap); however, immediate medical attention and being under chemicals that can sequester the arsenic away from blood proteins are used in treating acute arsenic poisoning.

Cyanide

Found:  can be distilled from the kernels of certain nuts such as almonds and also present in the leaves of some laurels bushes. There is also the industrial chemical sodium cyanide which can cause death in a matter of minutes, making cyanide the fastest acting poison. 

What it does: disrupts ATP production, affects the central nervous system and heart, and causes histotoxic hypoxia: the inability of cells to take up oxygen from the bloodstream.

Symptoms: acute cyanide poisoning can cause loss of consciousness, seizure, cardiac arrests (heart attacks), and difficulty breathing. 

Toxicity level: 200 milligrams of cyanide (solid or solution) or exposure to airborne cyanide of 270 parts per million is sufficient to cause death within minutes. Writers, cyanide has a bitter/acrid taste, use belladonna (deadly nightshade) or arsenic (to murder characters not irl) instead, belladonna is sweet and arsenic is tasteless. 

Antidote: Immediate medical attention, if it’s a severe case, doctors will administer either cyanide antidote kit or hydroxocobalamin (Cyanokit). 

Aqua Tofane

Found: Aqua Tofane is a strong poison that was reputedly widely used in Naples, Perugia, and Rome, Italy in the 17th century. It was created by a woman called Guilia Tofana who helped women in a time where they had no rights or protection, she would sell this poison to them so they can ‘get rid’ of their abusive husbands (I’m not saying I agree with her, but this is iconic. please don’t arrest me now). 

What it does: It is a slow acting poison and causes death from what would appear to be ‘natural causes’ such as those seen of a steadily progressing disease. It’s a colorless, tasteless liquid and therefore easily mixed with water or wine to be served during meals.

Symptoms:  The first small dosage would produce cold-like symptoms. The victim was very ill by the third dosage; symptoms include vomiting, dehydration, diarrhea and a burning sensation in the digestive system. The antidote often given was vinegar and lemon juice. The fourth dosage would kill the victim.

Antidote: I don’t think this poison is available anymore, unless you’re writing historical fiction or a story set in the 17th century, you can poison your characters with Aqua Tofane. I haven’t exactly found a direct answer of whether or not this poison has an antidote. 

Strychnine

Found: can be extracted from the seeds of the nux vomica tree, which grows in Southeast Asia. It became widely available in the west as trade with the Far East expanded.

What it does: Strychnine inhibits postsynaptic glycine receptors predominantly in the spinal cord, causing involuntary painful skeletal muscle contractions.

Symptoms:  Ten to twenty minutes after exposure, the body's muscles begin to spasm, starting with the head and neck. The spasms then spread to every muscle in the body, with nearly continuous convulsions, and get worse at the slightest stimulus. The convulsions progress, increasing in intensity and frequency until the backbone arches continually. Your character will probably die within 2–3 hours after exposure.

Antidote: There is no specific antidote for strychnine other than immediate medical attention, the doctors will be able to do their best to treat your character and it may or may not work. 

Thallium

Found:  this element was only discovered in the 1860s and while it has been used in some domestic murders – in some countries it has been available as rat poison –  it has been more widely used as an agent of assassination.

What it does/symptoms: Thallium sulfate is water-soluble and tasteless and they take several days for the symptoms to appear and even then these are generally attributed to other illnesses. Basically, your character won’t know they’ve been poisoned until a few days have passed. 

Antidote:  The FDA has approved Prussian blue as an antidote for thallium toxicity.