Author: James Anderson
Alcohol Poisoning: Symptoms, Causes, Complications, and Treatment
Severely intoxicated people often smell of alcohol and may experience issues like incontinence, which can be indicators that they are more than drunk. As a CNS depressant, a high blood concentration of alcohol can also inhibit respiration, usually resulting in a slow, shallow breathing pattern. Alcohol poisoning is serious and potentially life-threatening. If you think someone has it, get them medical help as soon as possible. If you think you might have a problem with alcohol, call SAMHSA or talk to your healthcare provider.
Research shows that teens and college-age young adults often engage in binge drinking and high-intensity drinking. Drinking such large quantities of alcohol can overwhelm the body’s ability to break down and clear alcohol from the bloodstream. This leads to rapid increases in BAC and significantly impairs brain and other bodily functions.
If you drink more than this and your body isn’t able to break it down fast enough, it accumulates in your body. What tips the balance from drinking that produces impairment to drinking that puts one’s life in jeopardy varies among individuals. Age, sensitivity to alcohol (tolerance), gender, speed of drinking, medications you are taking, and amount of food eaten can all be factors. In some instances, oxygen may be administered by placing a mask on the face.
Alcohol Poisoning: How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?
Keep reading to learn more about alcohol intoxication, including its causes, symptoms, and treatments. You can prevent an alcohol overdose by limiting your alcohol intake. You might consider sticking with one drink or abstaining from alcohol altogether.
- These other conditions can complicate the symptoms, making it more challenging to recognize alcohol poisoning.
- Drinking too much too quickly can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and gag reflex.
- People may feel euphoric while drinking alcohol because ethanol stimulates the release of dopamine, a feel-good chemical in the brain.
- You shouldn’t try to treat it at home or “sleep it off.” A major danger of alcohol poisoning is choking on your vomit, which can happen when you’re unconscious or sleeping.
If someone near you has these symptoms, call 911 (or your local emergency services number) or take them to the nearest emergency room. The person can become extremely confused, unresponsive, disoriented, have shallow breathing, and can even pass out or go into a coma. Ethanol also increases levels of adenosine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Ethanol interferes with the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain by increasing the amount of gamma-aminobutyric acid.
Emergency Action for Alcohol Poisoning
Alcohol poisoning can be life-threatening and needs immediate medical care. Alcohol in the form of ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, is in alcoholic beverages. It’s also in mouthwash, some cooking extracts, some medicines and certain household products. Ethyl alcohol poisoning generally results from drinking too many alcoholic beverages in a short period of time. Even when someone stops drinking, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) can continue to rise for minutes, resulting in worsening symptoms.
A low level of alcohol intoxication causes mild symptoms, while severe intoxication, or alcohol poisoning, can be life threatening. As blood alcohol concentration (BAC) increases, so does the effect of alcohol—as well as the risk of harm. Even small increases in BAC can decrease motor coordination, make a person feel sick, and cloud judgment. This can increase an individual’s risk of being injured from falls or car crashes, experiencing acts of violence, and engaging in unprotected or unintended sex. When BAC reaches high levels, blackouts (gaps in memory), loss of consciousness (passing out), and death can occur. Alcohol poisoning is a serious — and sometimes deadly — result of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time.
Critical Signs and Symptoms of an Alcohol Overdose
Call 911 if someone you know is experiencing an alcohol overdose. Removal of alcohol and toxins directly via a tube placed in the stomach (a process referred to as stomach pumping) can prevent further absorption of alcohol. Dialysis, a process by which blood is filtered of waste and toxins, may be necessary in severe circumstances.
As such, the amount of alcohol that needs to be consumed to reach a state of alcohol poisoning varies from person to person. Although young people are most likely to engage in binge drinking, deaths from alcohol poisoning usually involve men between the ages of 35 and 64, according to the CDC. And middle-aged people are more likely than younger ones to take prescription drugs, which can increase the severity of alcohol poisoning. If the depressant effects begin affecting key functions of your body, like your breathing and consciousness, it’s considered alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol poisoning can appear similar to many life-threatening conditions. For example, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), a stroke, or a seizure can cause problems with speech and level of consciousness that may be confused with alcohol consumption. When you have alcohol in your system, you may also experience vasodilation (widening of the blood vessels), which decreases blood pressure.
But if you drink a lot in a short time, your liver may not be able to keep up. Alcohol poisoning happens when there’s too much alcohol in your blood, causing parts of your brain to shut down. It’s not necessary to have all the above symptoms before seeking medical help. A person with alcohol poisoning who has passed out or can’t wake up could die. If you think that someone has alcohol poisoning, get medical attention right away. If you suspect an alcohol overdose and the person is unconscious, do not leave them alone.