What is stomach pumping

The sooner you're taken to the hospital after an overdose or poisoning, the more the doctors will be able to remove from your stomach before it enters the bloodstream. Most drug overdoses involve over-the-counter medications, however when the substance in the stomach is a corrosive -- such as lye or ammonia -- gastric lavage is not performed because the substance could also corrode the tube and equipment used to perform the pumping [sources: Jacoby; Lippincott's Nursing Procedures].

If that happens, fluid could leak -- possibly into the lungs -- causing further harm to the patient [source: Jacoby]. After pumping, a solution containing activated charcoal is often introduced into the stomach.

It's thought to help prevent any remaining poisons from getting absorbed into the system [source: Mayo Clinic ]. Another common use for stomach pumping is to help clear the digestive tract before stomach surgery or an endoscopy. Before most surgeries and endoscopies, you'll be told not to eat or drink anything several hours before the procedure, which helps make sure everything is cleaned out and the doctors can see what they're doing.

It also makes the anesthesia more effective. In some cases, however, it's necessary to take the extra step of washing the stomach, especially if the procedure is an emergency, the patient is unconscious or there is bleeding in the stomach that could obscure the camera's view [source: Kleinman]. Another reason to clean out the stomach is after surgery or trauma. In those situations, stomach pumping can be used to clear out any blood or fluids that may have collected in the stomach.

Stomach pumping has been used by doctors since the s to remove poisons from people's stomachs. Hyperthermia , or overheating, is a serious risk during the summer months. Every year people perish from hyperthermia , especially when deadly heat waves sweep the country. The regulation of your body's internal temperature is essential for the body to function properly. If it gets too hot and your body isn't able to cool itself down enough, you could experience symptoms of hyperthermia, including dizziness, heat cramps, swelling, weakness and, in extreme cases, death [source: National Institute on Aging].

Doctors will sometimes use the gastric lavage procedure to cool down patients experiencing hyperthermia. Using the typical equipment for stomach pumping, ice water is pumped into and out of the stomach instead of the usual warm water to help quickly cool the body's interior back down to a healthy temperature [source: Kates ]. Sometimes doctors want to find out what exactly is in your stomach, and to do that must take a sample of its contents.

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Colonoscopy prep is no one's idea of a fun time, but there are ways to make the process more tolerable. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Gastric Suction Stomach Pumping. In an emergency, such as when a person has swallowed poison or is vomiting blood, no preparation is needed for gastric suction.

If gastric suction is being done for testing, your health care provider may ask you not to eat overnight or to stop taking certain medicines. Decontamination of the poisoned patient. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Meehan TJ. And, there is some risk that the tube will go into your trachea or windpipe rather than the esophagus and then stomach. If getting gastric lavage is the immediate response to an overdose, you might spend the night in the hospital for observation.

You might also receive a psychiatric evaluation, depending on why you took the substance. If it was alcohol, an overnight stay might be more than enough. It depends on the time it takes for the drug to leave your system if it was drugs.

Most likely, someone who overdoses is an active addict that uses various substances. Getting your stomach pumped might not do much to help your condition since the odds are the substance is already in your bloodstream. Those with a severe overdose episode need Narcan naloxone , a lifesaving injectable medication that literally brings someone back from the brink.

Unfortunately, most people go home at this point. However, some studies point out that using evidence-based medications for overdose can help people stay in recovery for longer. From the study , of those given buprenorphine, 74 percent remained in treatment at two months, compared to just 53 percent of those given a referral to an addiction specialist and 47 percent of those offered intervention services.

This new approach for addressing overdose might help get more people to treatment. Usually, only in worst-case scenarios will doctors recommend pumping your stomach after an overdose.