Antidote
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An antidote is a substance or a mixture that can counteract a form of poisoning.
General
Ingested poisons are frequently treated by the oral administration of activated charcoal, which adsorbs the poison and flushes it from the digestive tract, thereby removing a large part of the toxin. For poisons absorbed through the lungs, skin, mucous tissue or injected, antidotes are almost always injected in order to counteract the toxin as fast as possible. Sometimes multiple shots may be required, or in case of heavy meal poisonings, long-term treatment.
For some biologically-derived toxins, it's possible to produce anti-toxins by injecting small amounts of the toxin in a lab animal, and the resulting antibodies produced by the organism are harvested for use. This type of anti-toxin is called "antivenom" and it's commonly used for most species of snakes and spiders. In some types of animal stings, like bees/wasps or scorpions, the dangers come mainly from allergic reactions that may induce anaphylactic shock, thus in this case the antidote is epinephrine, which is the choice treatment.
Many toxins, either natural or man-made, have no known antidote. In such poisoning, symptomatic and supportive treatments are employed until the toxins are naturally eliminated from the body. This may not always work if the amount of toxin ingested is too much for the organism to handle.
Antidotes for anticoagulants are sometimes referred to as "reversal agents".
Common antidotes
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