To state “nothing happens!” is completely bogus. What happens is that the oil travels through the veins into the lung tissue and possibly brain tissue, where the tiny capillaries are too small for the oil molecules to travel through. The oil BLOCKS the capillaries, causing poor transfer of oxygen into the blood stream. You start coughing because your body treats the blockage like you have something in your lungs (it is, but not in the airway, but in the capillaries). And It hurts! A LOT. With a a tiny amount of oil making it’s way into the lungs, it will cause a cough that lasts just a couple of minutes. A larger amount will result in you coughing for a solid 20–30 minutes, gasping for air, breathing heavily, and feeling like you’re essentially DROWNING without water. It’s not only painful, it’s down right scary, if you don’t know what is happening.
The oil blocks transfer of oxygen, so your body is literally gasping for air, without anything in your lungs. The cough is a response trying to rid your lungs of whatever is blocking it (but the cough is non-productive, because there’s nothing in the lungs airspace). Over time the oil breaks free, but you might cough for a residual hour. I speak from experience on this.
While rare, the REAL DANGER is that the oil can actually block the capillaries to the point you have a blood clot form. Clots can form in the lungs, or even the brain, causing a stroke. Typically, this is reported as an “overdose” of testosterone, but functionally, this is the oil entering the bloodstream. Symptoms include headache, seizures, slurred speech, sudden and severe inability to speak, temporary blindness, and weakness in the arm or leg on one side of your body, that is both sudden and severe. These are stroke symptoms and require IMMEDIATE medical attention. You literally have 60 minutes to get help from medical professionals (ambulances can treat this on the way to the hospital), beyond that, stroke effects can have permanent damage.