bromism

bro·mism (brmzm) or bro·min·ism (brm-nzm)

n.

Chronic bromide poisoning, characterized by headache, drowsiness, confusion, occasionally violent delirium, muscular weakness, cardiac depression, acneform eruption, foul breath, anorexia, and gastric distress.

---

bromism [bro´mizm]

poisoning by excessive use of bromine or its compounds, seen when the bromine concentration in body fluids is high enough to have a toxic and depressant action on the central nervous system. The toxic level varies with the individual and is somewhat dependent on chloride intake because the bromide ion and the chloride ion are equally absorbed and distributed throughout the same fluid compartments. This means that in a person with a limited salt intake bromine accumulates more quickly and severe poisoning can occur after ingestion of an amount that would be relatively harmless for a person with a normal or high salt intake.

Bromism was much more common before the removal from the market of certain over-the-counter remedies high in bromide, advertised as “nerve tonics” or headache remedies. Symptoms include acne, coldness of arms and legs, fetid breath, sleeplessness, impotence, headache, irritability, emotional instability, malaise, and mental aberrations such as hallucinations, amnesia, and disorientation.

Treatment. Treatment consists of immediate curtailment of bromine ingestion and efforts to eliminate it from the body. Diuretics may be used, or enteric-coated tablets of ammonium and sodium chloride if they are not contraindicated by cardiac or renal disease. Removal of bromine from the system may take as long as several months. In severe, acute poisoning it may be removed by hemodialysis.

---

bromism (brō´mizm),

n the toxic state induced by excessive exposure to or ingestion of bromine or bromine-containing compounds.

---

bromism

see brominism.