Mercury poisoning from a thermometer??

im a student nurse in the philippines and i was assign to have a duty on the local community health center.. it has been 3 days since my co-student nurse accidentally broke a thermometer in the table where we used to eat.. the problem is we ate there and im having an abdominal pain fro 3 days.. what is this a mercury poisoning incident?the pain is very tolerable and i i were to rate it from 1-10 and 10 being the highest.. its 4-5.. it feels like i am hungry..

you say you are a student nurse?
that means you work with nurses and doctors does it not
did you not report it
besides it was a surface that comes in contact with food
where i work a mercury spill is treated as a biohazard(thermometers and blood pressure machines) and there is a policy and procedure in place with a mercury spill kit
if you plan to be a nurse you should have known to report the incident immediately for both exposure of others and surface contamination
although mercury has not been used in most thermometers if you are using outdated equipment or even had a question about this you should have acted then
not to mention you have had pain for 3 days(no matter what the cause is)
student nurse or not where is common sense in both instances

dude you should get some help!
if it is mercury poisoning it could kill you!

Almost all thermometers nowadays don't use mercury, so odds are you probably didn't even touch any actual mercury

symptoms of mercury poisoning include:
# Impairment of the peripheral vision
# Disturbances in sensations ("pins and needles" feelings, numbness) usually in the hands feet and sometimes around the mouth
# Lack of coordination of movements, such as writing
# Impairment of speech, hearing, walking;
# Muscle weakness
# Skin rashes
# Mood swing
# Memory loss
# Mental disturbance

Mercury hasn't been used in thermometers for decades. Just in case your colleague was using old equipment, however, ask if the liquid in the thermometer was silver or red. If silver, it was mercury; if red, it was anything *but* mercury (usually alcohol, if memory serves), and you have nothing about which to worry.

However, mercury or not, if the pain continues, see a doctor. It could be something totally unrelated to the accident, but still serious.

Mercury in the liquid form actually has a low toxicity unless inhaled or ingested. It is able to volatilize and be inhaled, and this makes it a chronic hazard. As it is bioaccumulative, the best policy is to mandate zero exposure levels.

If you ingested all the mercury from the thermometer, you may be experiencing toxicity symptoms, but my guess is your stomach pains are a psychosomatic response to the incident.

You're thinking that you're casual exposure is leading to, what would be considered, acute symptoms.

If you're working in a facility that still uses mercury thermometers, the risk of mercury exposure and chronic symptoms is fairly high, as thermometers get broke all the time.