Salty Despair: An Adolescent's Suicide Attempt through Salt Overdose

Abstract

Salt is found in nearly every kitchen across the world; however, it is not typically thought of to be a means for suicide. Depending on the age and size of the person, anywhere from 2 to 4 tablespoons of salt consumed rapidly can be lethal. To put that in perspective, the average person in the United States consumes approximately 0.5 tablespoons of salt over the course of the day, which is still above what is recommended. Most cases discussing salt overdose or salt poisoning happen accidentally, however there are case studies and reviews discussing intentional salt overdoses that mostly occur either as exorcism rituals in adults or parents poisoning their young children in cases of factitious disorder imposed on another (formally Munchausen's by proxy). Adolescents using salt as a suicide method, especially in the United States, is either very rare or not well documented due to the lack of available case reports. Here we present a case of an adolescent female who consumed approximately 4 dessertspoons of kosher salt (equivalent to 2-3 tablespoons) to kill herself after reportedly seeing the idea on social media. Although this patient had a favorable outcome with no signs of neurological damage, our goal is to bring awareness to the dangers of salt overdose and warn about a potential rise in cases due to circulating videos on popular apps social media apps.

Keywords: adolescent; hypernatremia; mental health; poisoning; self-harm; suicide prevention.