Mushroom poisoning and heavy metal intoxications

1. Big picture

This topic has two classic exam patterns:

Mushroom poisoning is mainly a time-course diagnosis. The most dangerous pattern is: delayed severe gastrointestinal symptoms after wild mushroom ingestion → transient improvement → acute liver failure, which means amatoxin poisoning, classically Amanita phalloides.

Heavy metal intoxication is mainly a multi-system chronic toxicity pattern. Think of it when the patient has unexplained combinations of abdominal pain, neuropathy, anemia, renal injury, neuropsychiatric symptoms, skin changes, and occupational/environmental exposure.

Core emergency approach:

Suspected mushroom/heavy metal poiso