Strychnine Toxicity

Excerpt

Strychnine has been used for hundreds of years as a medicinal remedy for a broad range of ailments. Although it has now become a rare poisoning agent, sporadic ingestions still occur throughout the United States. Strychnine inhibits postsynaptic glycine receptors predominantly in the spinal cord, causing involuntary painful skeletal muscle contractions. Patients present with “awake seizures" which are episodic muscle contractions with no post-ictal period and normal mental status. Treatment is mainly supportive with benzodiazepines and management of complications from excessive muscle contraction. Most patients who survive acute poisoning do not have chronic sequelae of the poisoning.