Overview
The condition of alcohol poisoning happens when an individual consumes great quantities of alcohol within a small time period. Such behavior is commonly referred to as drinking sprees and alcohol abuse.
Toxicity occurs when an individual intentionally or unintentionally consumes any kind of hazardous food, beverage, or chemical with the potential to seriously hurt that person.
Poisoning from alcohol may also happen when individuals consume common household substances with alcohol present in them such as rubbing alcohol or vanilla. In many cases, children are often the ones at high risk for these incidents.
Conditions associated with alcohol poisoning include:
- Mental disorientation
- Regurgitating food/beverages
- Convulsions
- Decrease in natural breathing (characterized as below eight breaths per minute)
- Hypothermia symptoms such as cold, moist, discolored skin
What should I do?
If an individual feels that another person is poisoned by alcohol, they should immediately request medical assistance such as calls for an ambulance. People with alcohol poisoning should never be allowed to sleep as in this state, an individual’s alcohol balance may actually rise to greater levels.
Once individuals are taken to medical facilities for treatment, they are closely watched until the levels of alcohol have safely subsided.
Indications of alcohol poisoning
A person can continue to experience increased alcohol levels in his or her blood for up to thirty to forty minutes. This factor can aggravate an already dangerous situation.
The following are symptoms of alcohol toxicity that can impact a person:
- Severely disoriented speech
- Physical disorientation
- Vomiting
- Abnormal breathing such as sudden stoppage or slowdowns
- Sudden drop in normal body temperature with blue-toned skin colour
- Lack of response (physical as well as mental) while conscious
- Loss of consciousness
The following are some of the possible dangerous results of alcohol poisoning:
- Suffocate while vomiting
- A halt to natural breathing
- Sudden heart failure
- Vomit inhalation and lung failure
- Serious dehydration resulting in brain injury in severe instances
- Serious cases of hypothermia
- Low blood sugar grades and development of seizures
Management
An individual who is suffering from the lethal impact of alcohol poisoning is unable to assist themselves to recover.
In cases where one person is drinking socially with another group of individuals, it is essential to be mindful of the first instances of poisoning while understanding the necessary procedures to when a person has drank too much alcohol.
If a person feels that another individual is affected by alcohol poisoning, call 999 and request an ambulance. In the meantime, the following steps are critical until medical help arrives:
- Make sure the patient stays conscious
- Provide the person with water to drink if possible
- In the event that the person is unconscious, put him/her on the right or left side while ensuring proper breathing
- Maintain warmth for the person
- Keep a close watch on the individual as well as unusual signs
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FACT CHECK
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-poisoning/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215627.php
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alcohol-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20354386