How Long Would It Take to Die After Drinking Bleach? The Effects and Cautions

There a lot of factors that determined how long for someone to die after taking bleach. Sometimes there are also people who don’t end up in a funeral. Here are the factors that we are going to discuss.

Bleach concentration

Usually household bleach only contain 3 to 7 percent of Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), one of bleach active ingredient that is corrosive.

When someone drink household bleach it may cause problems but may as dangerous as industry bleach that contain higher concentration of Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO). An industry bleach can contains 10 to 15 percent of Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO).

Amount of bleach that an individual had drunk

Of course the smaller amount the better, when we are talking about drinking bleach. There are a lot of cases where kids accidentally take a sip of bleach which looks like a water.

Thanks to the chlorine taste, so before they drink a mouthful of bleach, kids will stop drinking it because of its unpleasant taste. A small amount of bleach can only do nausea, upset stomach and dizziness.

In case someone take too much of bleach an immediate treatment need to be done because bleach is corrosive to human tissues and can cause death when it is not handled quickly by the medical practitioner. You also need to pay attention on other household chemical that can kill people

The first aid that you do

When you found someone or even yourself accidentally drink bleach, the first think that you have to do is don’t panic. Panicking will make it even worse, you need to calm down but you have to act quickly. Take a big glass of water or milk to dilute the Sodium hypochlorite.

The next thing that you have to do is quickly call an ambulance, police or poison control if you have one in your country. While waiting for help don’t try to induce vomiting, because it can make the irritation become worse. Inducing vomiting can only put a person at risk of inhalation problem because the bleach gas goes to the lungs.

Duration for the person to get immediate treatment

When someone doesn’t get immediate treatment, the bleach might start to eat their internal organs slowly. The esophagus will burn too much while the bleach flows to the intestines. It needs approximately an hour for the bleach to be in the bloodstream. 

When the bleach already flows through the bloodstream, it will be the beginning of the end. It needs approximately 2 hours or more for the bleach to burn the whole body from the inside.

So from all the factors we can’t conclude on how long for someone going to die after drinking bleach. It could be in any hours, minutes or even seconds. Here are also 26 Noxious Examples of Corrosive Household Chemicals that you should pay attention at and also be careful when you are trying to mix bleach with other substances.