It produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction, making it quite noticeable and a common choice for assassinations and poison attacks.

For this reason, strychnine poisoning is often portrayed in literature and film, such as the murder mysteries written by Agatha Christie.

[3] Ten to twenty minutes after exposure, the body's muscles begin to spasm, starting with the head and neck in the form of trismus and risus sardonicus.

On the second day of taking it, towards the evening, I felt a tightness in the "facial muscles" and a peculiar metallic taste in the mouth.

Half an hour later, as I could judge, I took the same quantity of bromide, potassium and chloral—and a little time after I lost consciousness and fell into a "profound sleep," awaking in the morning with no unpleasant symptoms, no headache, &c., but a desire "to be on the move" and a slight feeling of stiffness in the jaw.

[5] Strychnine poisoning demands aggressive management with early control of muscle spasms, intubation for loss of airway control, toxin removal (decontamination), intravenous hydration and potentially active cooling efforts in the context of hyperthermia as well as hemodialysis in kidney failure (strychnine has not been shown to be removed by hemodialysis).

[12] Other sources specific to strychnine state that activated charcoal may be used after one hour of ingestion, depending on dose and type of strychnine-containing product.

These treatments involve keeping the patient in a quiet and darkened room,[16] anticonvulsants such as phenobarbital or diazepam,[6] muscle relaxants such as dantrolene,[17] barbiturates and propofol,[18] and chloroform or heavy doses of chloral, bromide, urethane or amyl nitrite.

[6] The sine qua non of strychnine toxicity is the "awake" seizure, in which tonic-clonic activity occurs but the patient is alert and oriented throughout and afterwards.

Strychnine is easily quantitated in body fluids and tissues using instrumental methods in order to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized victims or to assist in the forensic investigation of a case of fatal overdosage.

[24] Strychnine poisoning in animals occurs usually from ingestion of baits designed for use against rodents (especially gophers and moles) and coyotes.