Raid Max (Imiprothrin and Deltamethrin) Shots? Count Me Out

OK, as usual I have to open with disclaimers: I am not a doctor, and this is all personal opinion.

As this article shows, I also need to be more careful where I spray bug spray.  I wrote this up for anyone who may ever wonder about the effects of ingesting a fairly small quantity of pesticide.  I am sure the effects vary based on metabolism, chemistry, and many factors, so this case study is casually informational at best, but bottom line, IMHO, a little pesticide for a grown up ain’t deadly, but a little pesticide goes a long ways – so don’t take any chances with children or small animals… get them checked out ASAP.

So here is the story…Last night I got to conduct a self-poisoning experiment quite by accident.  I was asleep – I was awakened by little critters crawling on me. At first I thought I had been teleported to the Amazon jungle or something, but no, I had little winged ants flying around and they seemed to be coming from the kitchen.  So it was 1A, and I am spraying raid all over the house killing flying ants.

Anyway – I killed them off and my place reeked of pesticide.  It was 2A or so and I remembered, “Hey…I didn’t take my anti-inflammatory medicine!” So what do you think I do at 2A? I grabbed the cup of water sitting on the counter from earlier, and use it to pop my pill.  The water tasted absolutely disgusting but I swallowed it with my pill… I definitely had just ingested Raid Max.

I thought maybe it was just a little so it wouldn’t be that bad.  I read the label…the label said do not induce vomiting, do not drink milk, and go to the hospital.  I thought, “I didn’t DRINK Raid, I just had some in my water.”  So I went to bed.  Besides I was so tired and had to be up early for work.  My esophagus was burning slightly and my chest and throat were constricted, but I thought, “It’s OK. I am breathing just fine.”

So I laid in bed trying to sleep, and my pulse started racing.  I started to feel like my body was moving or trembling.  I thought, “Wow. I had better do some research.”  There was SOME information posted on the interwebz, but not for my exact situation… they all talked about fume exposure, inhaling, drinking (but in larger quantities), skin contact, etc.  And all of it was horrible – could be fatal, go to doctor, call 9-1-1, etc. I just didn’t think the quantity (a thin film in my water at best) warranted all the concern.

I couldn’t find my exact chemicals from the can, but I have since added those to this article just in case. So,  as I read up on various pesticides…  most of them said I was going to go through a trembling stage because the pesticide would impact my nervous system.  They all said, depending on the amount of exposure, the trembling could lead to convulsions, so…I figured I would keep my cell phone handy, and if it got worse, I would just call 911 cuz it wasn’t like I was going to drive to a hospital myself while convulsing.

I drank 32 ounces of water, and figured I would add 16 oz of lemonade so we could see if citric acid would help break that stuff down or maybe turn me into a mutant superhero.  I don’t think it did either – although I can now nudge roaches using just my mind… … … right. As it turned out, I just laid there until about 3 or 3:30…or maybe 4… trembling at a fairly consistent rate until I went unconscious from exhaustion. My alarm went off later that morning, and I was so happy to be OK, that I made it to work ALMOST on time and I was very peppy!

Still, if anyone ever offers to do a round of Imiprothrin shots, count me out.