Pleural effusion and ascites: unusual presenting features in a pediatric patient with vitamin A intoxication.
The usual presenting features of vitamin A intoxication are pseudotumor cerebri [increased intracranial pressure typically resulting in headache], skeletal pain, desquamative dermatitis, and hepatic inflammation. Our patient was a nine-year-old female who had increasing cough, dyspnea, and abdominal distention for a short time prior to admission. She was said to have been treated with 10,000 units of vitamin A per day for skin rashes. Radiographic studies revealed a very large right sided pleural effusion, ascites, demineralized bones, and retarded skeletal maturation. The diagnosis of hypervitaminosis A was made. More detailed medical history confirmed that the child had, in actuality, received up to 300,000 units/day of vitamin A plus desiccated liver pills and carrot juice for the previous year.Clinical symptoms completely abated following acute medical treatment for ascites and cessation of vitamin A intake. Several months later, a sample of liver, obtained and preserved at the time of exploratory laparotomy, was homogenized and extracted with ethanol/hexane. The retinyl palmitate level was significantly elevated and consistent with vitamin A poisoning.
The parents unintentionally poisoned their daughter with high-dose Poison/"Vitamin A". I see many health-oriented communities heading down this very path. Please don't do the same to yourself or your children. Vitamin A in all its form is not a "vitamin", it is a toxin.
Pleural effusion and ascites: unusual presenting features in a pediatric patient with vitamin A intoxication.
The usual presenting features of vitamin A intoxication are pseudotumor cerebri [increased intracranial pressure typically resulting in headache], skeletal pain, desquamative dermatitis, and hepatic inflammation. Our patient was a nine-year-old female who had increasing cough, dyspnea, and abdominal distention for a short time prior to admission. She was said to have been treated with 10,000 units of vitamin A per day for skin rashes. Radiographic studies revealed a very large right sided pleural effusion, ascites, demineralized bones, and retarded skeletal maturation. The diagnosis of hypervitaminosis A was made. More detailed medical history confirmed that the child had, in actuality, received up to 300,000 units/day of vitamin A plus desiccated liver pills and carrot juice for the previous year.Clinical symptoms completely abated following acute medical treatment for ascites and cessation of vitamin A intake. Several months later, a sample of liver, obtained and preserved at the time of exploratory laparotomy, was homogenized and extracted with ethanol/hexane. The retinyl palmitate level was significantly elevated and consistent with vitamin A poisoning.
The parents unintentionally poisoned their daughter with high-dose Poison/"Vitamin A". I see many health-oriented communities heading down this very path. Please don't do the same to yourself or your children. Vitamin A in all its form is not a "vitamin", it is a toxin.
