Delayed mushroom poisoning symptoms may signal organ damage

Delayed symptoms after eating mushrooms can indicate a life-threatening poisoning, while problems that begin soon after eating are generally easier to treat, poison consultant Ruth Kastanje said on Raadio 2’s R2 Hommik programme, reported by ERR.

Kastanje, a nurse-consultant at the Health Board’s Poisoning Information Centre, said people in Läänemaa had recently found poisonous mushrooms, including a case involving suspected green or white death caps.

The first symptoms usually appear on the same day, or during the first hours of the following day if the mushrooms were eaten late in the evening. Severe digestive problems can begin six to eight hours after eating them.

Symptoms may then temporarily ease, creating a misleading period of mild illness lasting several days. A sharp deterioration can follow, with severe weakness, nausea, vomiting and other complaints. Loss of consciousness may occur once organ damage has developed.

Kastanje advised people to seek advice immediately if they develop severe symptoms after eating mushrooms. Vomiting or severe diarrhoea within an hour or two should also prompt a call for advice, although symptoms that begin quickly are usually relatively mild because the poison has not yet reached the organs.

Symptoms that start several hours later may indicate poisoning by a white or green death cap, jahutanukas or a webcap mushroom. Kastanje said activated charcoal may still help in cases involving amatoxins and other slow-acting cellular poisons even 12 or 24 hours after the mushrooms were eaten.

If life-threatening mushroom poisoning is suspected, she advised taking 200 activated charcoal tablets immediately, saying a smaller amount would have no effect. Folk remedies such as drinking milk do not neutralise mushroom poisons, she said.

People who feel ill should also consider whether they were certain of the mushrooms’ identity, whether the mushrooms were prepared correctly, and how long the food had been stored. Spoiled mushroom dishes or old mushroom preserves can also cause illness. In some cases, a person’s digestive system may simply no longer tolerate mushrooms.

Kastanje recommended learning to identify a specific range of mushrooms before going into the forest. Unknown mushrooms should not be brought home. The Poison Information Line can be reached at 16662.