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Alcohol poisoning is a serious - sometimes deadly - result of consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol. When your body absorbs too much alcohol, it can directly impact your central nervous system, slowing your breathing, heart rate and gag reflex. This can lead to choking, coma and even death.
Alcohol poisoning most often occurs as a result of drinking too many alcoholic beverages over a short period of time. Binge drinking is a common cause of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning can also occur by drinking household products that contain ethyl alcohol (ethanol), or by ingesting isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or methyl alcohol (methanol; sometimes commonly referred to as wood alcohol).
A person with alcohol poisoning needs immediate medical attention and should not be left alone. If you suspect someone has alcohol poisoning, call your local poison control center or emergency number, usually 911.
Treatment of alcohol poisoning consists of providing breathing support and intravenous fluids and vitamins until all of the alcohol is eliminated from the body.
Signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:
Confusion, stupor
Vomiting
Seizures
Slow or irregular breathing
Blue-tinged skin or pale skin
Low body temperature (hypothermia)
Unconsciousness ("passing out")
It's not necessary for all of these symptoms to be present before seeking help. A person who has become unconscious, or cannot be
Alcohol poisoning may result from accidental - and, in some cases, intentional - ingestion, particularly among children:
Ethanol, for example, is found in alcoholic beverages as well as common household items such as after-shaves, colognes, perfumes, mouthwashes and medications.
Isopropyl alcohol is commonly found in rubbing alcohol, lotions, certain hand-sanitizing gels, some cleaning products and antifreeze.
Methanol is found in items such as solvents, paints, varnishes, antifreeze and windshield washer fluid.
Most often, however, alcohol poisoning is a result of drinking too much ethanol in the form of alcoholic beverages.
The effects of ethanol on your system depend on the concentration of alcohol in your blood. Also the concentration will include how strong the alcohol is, how quickly and how much you drink it, and how empty your stomach is at the time you drink it.
Normally, your body can eliminate the alcohol from a 12-ounce can of beer in about one hour. If your body absorbs more alcohol than it can eliminate, your blood alcohol concentration goes up.
Blood alcohol concentration continues to rise even after you've stopped drinking or have passed out because alcohol in your stomach continues to enter your bloodstream.
If you suspect that someone has alcohol poisoning, even if they don't have all of the signs and symptoms, seek immediate medical care. If the person is unconscious, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Don't leave an unconscious person alone. While waiting for help, do not try to make the person vomit. Alcohol is a stomach irritant and may cause vomiting. It also impairs your gag reflex. This increases the risk of choking on vomit if you've passed out from excessive drinking. There's also a risk of accidentally inhaling vomit into your lungs, which can lead to a dangerous or fatal interruption of breathing (asphyxiation). Excessive vomiting can also result in severe dehydration.
In addition, alcohol poisoning can affect your respiratory and heart functions to the point of shutting them down, causing death.
MEDICAL TREATMENT
Alcohol poisoning treatment usually involves supportive care while your body rids itself of the alcohol. This typically includes:
Careful monitoring
Airway protection to prevent breathing or choking problems
Oxygen therapy
Administration of fluids through a vein (intravenously) to prevent dehydration
If methanol was ingested, kidney dialysis may be necessary to speed up the alcohol elimination process. Dialysis may also be helpful in severe cases of isopropyl alcohol poisoning.
Your liver performs hundreds of vital functions, including processing nutrients, regulating blood clotting and producing bile, a fluid that helps digest fats. It also removes most drugs and chemicals from your bloodstream, breaking them down so they can be quickly eliminated from your body. Although the liver has a great capacity for regeneration, constant exposure to toxic substances can cause serious - and sometimes irreversible - harm
Because it's not possible to know how you'll react to a particular medication, toxic hepatitis can't always be prevented. But these steps can help reduce your risk:
Limit medications. Take prescription and nonprescription drugs only when absolutely necessary. Investigate nondrug options for common problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and arthritis pain.
Take medications only as directed. Follow the directions exactly for any drug you take.
Be cautious with herbs and supplements. Don't assume that a natural product won't cause harm.
Don't mix alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and medications are a bad combination. If you're taking acetaminophen, don't drink.
Take precautions with chemicals. If you work with or use hazardous chemicals, take all necessary precautions to protect yourself from exposure.
Nonprescription pain-relievers
You don't have to look farther than your medicine cabinet to find the majority of liver toxins. Nonprescription pain relievers such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others), naproxen (Aleve), and acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) can all damage your liver, especially if taken frequently or combined with alcohol.
Prescription drugs
In theory, all prescription drugs can injure the liver. Many don't cause serious harm, but hundreds may, include:
Herbs: Not always your cup of tea
some herbs, such as milk thistle, may help heal the liver, but others can cause liver damage. Herbs can also interact with prescription drugs, leading to more serious side effects than either alone would cause.
Some of the herbs considered dangerous to the liver include:
Cascara
Chaparral
Comfrey
Kava
Ma-huang
See your doctor right away if you develop any of the signs or symptoms of toxic hepatitis, including jaundice and fatigue.
Nausea and vomiting
Diarrhea
Convulsions
Coma
Sweating
Call 911, your local emergency services. An acetaminophen overdose can be fatal if not treated quickly.
MEDICAL TREATMENT
No specific treatment exists for most kinds of toxic hepatitis. For most cases of drug-induced toxic hepatitis, stopping the medication is the only treatment. Some people improve quickly once they're no longer exposed to the drug, especially if the problem is caught early. For others, recovery may take months.
Other treatments include:
To receive supportive therapy in the hospital, including intravenous fluids and medication to relieve nausea and vomiting.
When liver function is severely impaired, a liver transplant may be the only option for some people. Although liver transplantation is often successful, the number of people awaiting transplants far exceeds the number of donated organs.
NATURAL HEALING WITHOUT SURGERY
Some patient's have been prescribed or have taken over the counter medications that cause toxic side effects.
We can help eliminate the toxic side effects.
We will help detoxify the patient's liver functions that will help strengthen the other organs in the body.
