I do not have ANY idea as to the validity of this bit of information I stumbled upon on an unrelated site:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">"If you put visine (an eye-wash solution) in a businessman�s drink, it will send him to the bathroom pretty quickly, and keep him there for some time. Working class bartenders have been doing this for years."</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">This implies that visine, when taken orally, is either a diuretic or a laxative.

Here is some information on the "original" visine (there are several now) taken directly from <a href="http://www.prodhelp.com/eyecare/eye_care7.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.prodhelp.com/eyecare/eye_care7.shtml</a> ...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">

Product Description
For fast relief of redness due to minor irritation of eyes caused by conditions such as smoke, dust, other airborne pollutants and swimming.

Highlights
Fast Acting Formula.
Gets The Red Out�.
Store between 2 and 30 degrees C (36 and 86 degrees F).
Available sizes: 0.5 fl. oz. (15mL) and 1.0 fl. oz. (30mL).


Uses
Relieves redness of the eye due to minor eye irritations.

Directions
Instill 1 to 2 drops in the affected eye(s) up to 4 times daily. Should not be used if Visine-imprinted neckband on bottle is broken or missing.

Warnings
If you experience eye pain, changes in vision, continued redness or irritation of the eye, or if the condition worsens or persists for more than 72 hours, discontinue use and consult a physician. If you have narrow angle glaucoma, do not use this product except under the advice and supervision of a physician. When using this product, pupils may become enlarged temporarily. As with any drug, if you are pregnant or nursing a baby, seek the advice of a health professional before using this product. Overuse of this product may produce increased redness of the eye. If solution changes color or becomes cloudy, do not use. To avoid contamination, do not touch tip of container to any surface. Replace cap after using. Remove contact lenses before using this product.
PARENTS NOTE; Before using with children under 6 years of age, consult your physician. Keep this and all drugs out of the reach of children. In case of accidental ingestion, seek professional assistance or contact a Poison Control Center immediately.

Ingredients
Active Ingredient: Tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride 0.05%.
Inactive Ingredients: Benzalkonium chloride, boric acid, edetate disodium, sodium borate, sodium chloride, purified water.

Questions
Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page or call 1-800-223-0182, weekdays 9am to 5pm (EST).
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">Anyone have any idea how valid that first quote is?

I plan on calling the customer service line some time, hopefully I can get some good information that way. I think I will call and say "my son accidentally swallowed some visine original, and we called the poison control center and they said not to worry about it. however, he has had to go to the bathroom constantly all day since it happened"... this seems like a better route than "hey, if someone drinks this will it make them have to use the bathroom a ton?"

I dunno.... what do you all think?

You could always buy some and do some testing.. :D

The "ouch" test works with some things, and I admit that I use it a lot. "Does this gas burn?....Ahhh!!! My eyes!!!" However, when it comes to actually ingesting things it is never a good idea! Call the poison control center and do what Tyler suggested - "My son just swallowed some Visine Tears, is he going to die!?!?" Try to sound like a Panicked Soccer-Mom/Dad But, as far as testing on others go, as far as I'm concerned it's free game - so long as they don't know you did it. hehehe.

Ah ha

Took me a while but I found it. An overdose or Boric acid (one of the Ingredients) can cause both vomiting and diarrhea, you can find the info <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002600.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.

Boric Acid also has a whole lot of other (fun) effects such as (taken from web site)

Body as a whole
fever
twitching of facial muscles
twitching of arms, hands, legs, feet
convulsions
significant decrease in urine output
no urine output
collapse

Skin
blisters
skin changes-pink to red
bluish colored lips and fingernails
sloughing of skin
other skin manifestations

Gastrointestinal
vomiting - mucous, blood, blue-green color
diarrhea - mucous, blood, blue-green color

Heart and blood vessels
low blood pressure

Nervous system
drowsiness
coma

I would imagine it would be a whole lot easier to use 100% boric acid (sold as <a href="http://www.biconet.com/crawlers/vba.html" target="_blank">Cockroach Killer</a>) and mix it with into a strong solution, as it isn�t very toxic about the same as sodium cloride. Some information about how toxic it is can be found <a href="http://www.natbat.com/docs/boron.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.

This would make it good for disrupting someone�s daily routines as such, and wouldn�t stand much of a chance of killing the poor sod unless you just went completely overboard.

edit - wait I just found this <a href="http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/BO/boric_acid.html" target="_blank">site</a> that contradicts the other on the toxicity.

<small>[ October 03, 2002, 03:51 AM: Message edited by: hodehum ]</small>

Urban legend, nothing more.

As for boric acid, it'd take a shitload of it to do what's listed. And it tastes nasty as hell too, so good luck getting someone to ingest it.

My grandfather told me about something called curtin oil or crustion oil, or something like that, can't seem to remember what. That his brother put in a door to door salesmans drink when he came by there farm during the Depression.

This is a plant called purging croton (Croton tiglium) picture is here &gt; <a href="http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/1761_089.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/1761_089.jpg</a>

This is what the plant is reputed for &gt;
Seeds contain one of the most purgative substances known ; also quite vesicant; once used as emmenagogue. Homeopathically used for gastroenteritis, pustulose eczema, conjunctivitis, and mastitis. Here the reader should be warned that homeopathic practitioners use some very poisonous plants in very dilute concentrations. Like so many plants, this contains both cancer-causing and cancer correcting compounds. According to Pettit (1977), phorbol is the cocarcinogenic substance of Croton tiglium. For a man, about four seeds,
(Loved one : What did he did he die off *sob* ?
Coroner : He died of shitting :D )
for a horse, about 15 seeds represent a lethal dose. On the other hand, Pettit and Cragg (1978) list Phorbol 12-tiglate 13-decanoate as active at doses of 60-250 ug/kg against the PS-tumor system (Duke and Ayensu, 1984). In Malaya a single kernel is eaten as a purgative; when purging has gone far enough, coconut milk is drunk to stop it.

And this is what all it contains &gt;
C.S.I.R. reports that the oil contains 3.4% toxic resin. Of the acids, 37.0% is oleic, 19.0% linoleic, 1.5% arachidic, 0.3% stearic, 0.9% palmitic, 7.5% myristic, 0.6% acetic, 0.8% formic, with traces of lauric, tiglic, valeric, and butyric, plus some unidentified.

I bet there is more info on <a href="http://www.botanical.com" target="_blank">www.botanical.com</a>

<small>[ October 12, 2002, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: Boob Raider ]</small>

Why not use something that is intended for the purpose. Syrup Icepac(sp?) is a good choice. It is discussed in my first aid course.

A friend of mine was telling me that in his Navy days they used to give visene to give people the runs badly, but that was a long time ago and i'm sure the ingredients have changed a little, but it could still have the same effect. As for being an urban legend, you very well could be right, but either way you should just do as Agent Black says and use something made for that.