# question about Drano poisoning **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278 "2011-01-28T07:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![suspect9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@suspect9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suspect9)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/1 "2011-01-28T07:27:28Z")
im not sure if this belongs here, but google had every question except this. last week i bought a few grams of coke. only it was crystal drano. other fourms have questions like" what to do after drinking drano or injecting it", none about snoring it thinking it was coke. my question is, what are the effects of snorting it, and should i seek emergency attention. is it best to drink lots and try to flush it out? its been over a week and im starting to get red splotches all over my skin, and my arms are starting to feel weak. ---
**Author:** ![pericynthion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@pericynthion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pericynthion)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/2 "2011-01-28T07:32:11Z")
My hopelessly unqualified guess would be that after a week, those symptoms are probably unrelated. But a call to the Poison Control Center is free: 1-800-222-1222 ---
**Author:** ![suspect9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@suspect9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suspect9)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/3 "2011-01-28T07:48:23Z")
i just read drano is a form of lye, and can be reversed with a type of acid, just like in fight club. how would this react in my blood stream? is it possible for that to happen in my body? and btw i dont have access to a phone in till tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/4 "2011-01-28T08:28:25Z")
What’s the worst that can happen? Ask [these guys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Fi_murders). Drano is lye, (it’s used to dissolve bio-mass stuck in a drain!) and essentially if you didn’t get it washed out _immediately_ your face would have started to dissolve. You’d be in great pain too. I’m going to try and say this without being snarky; _Go to the hospital right fucking now!_ ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/5 "2011-01-28T10:15:39Z")
Draino is caustic soda, sodium hydroxide. If you snorted it it would dissolve into the wet surfaces of your mucus mebranes and render them extremely alkaline, gving you a fight-club style chemical burn on the INSIDE OF YOUR NASAL CAVITIES within minutes. You would probably not be posting on the Straight Dope a week later, so I suspect that whatever you snorted, it wasn’t draino. Or if it was, you’ve somehow gotten away with it. Draino dissolved in a thin layer of water will be neutralised over time by the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rather faster by the carbon dioxide in your inhalations, so if it hasn’t hurt you by now, it isn’t going to. How do you even know it was draino? If someone told you it was, they are probably kidding. Chances are your sym ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/6 "2011-01-28T11:37:16Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > _Go to the hospital right fucking now!_ Why? The Draino is long gone. What’s done is done. Assuming the OP’er is feeling well without symptoms, there’s nothing that can, or even should, be done at this late date ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/7 "2011-01-28T12:59:51Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Why? The Draino is long gone. What’s done is done. Assuming the OP’er is feeling well without symptoms, there’s nothing that can, or even should, be done at this late date The OP reported other symptoms, including skin splotches and weakness. I wouldn’t say go to the ER, but definitely consider making a doctor’s appointment or going to an urgent care center. And like the others said - Draino is not a poison in the usual sense. It is a chemical that causes severe damage to tissues that it comes in contact with. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/8 "2011-01-28T14:20:22Z")
I kind of doubt that the OP actually did anything that he said he did. Our major problem here is that every newbie who comes along reads a few pages of a few forums and thinks they’re clever enough to pull off a tongue-in-cheek “Need Answer Fast!” OP in GQ, and they’re _wrong_… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-drano-poisoning/569278/9 "2011-01-28T15:05:40Z")
[Moderator Note] \*\*suspect9, \*\*I’m closing this, both because it discusses illegal activity, and because I don’t believe that you actually snorted [Drano.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drano) If you had actually inhaled boiling lye laced with sharp aluminum shards into your nose, you would not be asking questions about it on a message board. I am not issuing a formal warning, but do not post false information again. Colibri General Questions Moderator