The man wanted to eliminate table salt (sodium chloride) from his diet. Instead of cutting back, he searched for a full substitute. After asking an AI chatbot, he replaced salt with sodium bromide. That compound once appeared in old sedatives and some industrial products. However, it is not safe to use as food.
He used sodium bromide in every meal for three months. Then a wave of symptoms hit. He developed paranoia, auditory and visual hallucinations, severe thirst, fatigue, insomnia, poor coordination, facial acne, cherry angiomas, and a rash. He feared his neighbor was poisoning him, avoided tap water, and distilled his own. When he tried to leave the hospital during evaluation, doctors placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold for his safety....<<<Read More>>>...
