

Baking soda nearly killed an elderly man. He was using it to relieve the stomach pain caused by an ulcer, but went way overboard with the home remedy.

After slipping on a children's toy, the retired gentleman could not get back up. Paramedics transported him to Cooper Hospital in New Jersey. En route, they noticed that he was short of breath and picking at his side for no apparent reason.

In the emergency room, the patient was completely incoherent. He looked disheveled, underweight, and could not tell them what year it was.

Had he hit his head during the fall?

They ran a battery of tests, including a CT scan, but there was no sign of a head injury. However, the pH of his blood and urine were high – a condition called alkalosis. In other words, his body fluids were way too basic.

Soon after the examination, he became very agitated and tore the heart-monitor electrodes off his chest and the I.V. from his arm. To calm him down, the doctors gave him two doses of the tranquilizer Lorazepam. It worked too well.

His breathing failed. The medical staff intubated him.

Once the patient was stable, the doctors questioned his niece. She had found several empty boxes of baking soda at his home and explained that her uncle, who lacked health insurance, had been using it to cope with severe indigestion.

With an understanding of what went wrong, the doctors gave the patient fluids and potassium, which invigorated his kidneys. Slowly, the problem fixed itself.

In a note to The Journal of Emergency Medicine, Keyur Ajbani, Michael Chansky and Brigitte Baumann said that six days after his arrival, the elderly man could breathe without assistance. The hospital released him with a prescription for proper ulcer medication.

In their report, which is available online, Ajbani, Chansky, and Baumann explained that they could have quickly brought the pH of their patient's body fluids back down with injections of arginine hydrochloride or hydrochloric acid, but those procedures would have been risky. Their advice: When questioning patients about their medical history, be sure to ask if they are using any home remedies.