Symptoms of poisoning with swallowed menthol and eucalyptus inhalation include epigastric burning, severe abdominal pain, central nervous system depression, pulmonary damage, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, dizziness and muscular weakness, ataxia, miosis, coma and a feeling of suffocation. Cyanosis, delirium and convulsions may occur. Deaths have been recorded from doses as low as 3.5ml of eucalyptus oil (equivalent to 35m1 of the inhalation). The fatal dose of menthol in man has been estimated to be about 2g (equivalent to 100ml of the inhalation).
Treatment should consist of emptying the stomach by gastric lavage and aspiration. Administer a saline laxative by mouth, such as sodium sulphate, 30g in 250ml of water, or a dilute solution of sodium phosphate. Convulsions may be controlled by the use of parenteral anticonvulsant agents. The latter treatment would require hospitalisation.