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DRINKING
The Danger Zone
PAGE 2
BY DIXIE M. JORDAN
Copyright 1998 by Parents' Press
What should I look for?
Bacchus and Gamma, a college peer alcohol education network, says the following symptoms are among those that signal a medical emergency. Call an ambulance if you see any one of the following:
The person is unconscious
and can't be awakened by pinching, prodding, or shouting.
The skin is cold, clammy,
pale, or bluish or purplish in color, all signs of insufficient
oxygen.
Slow or labored breathing,
especially fewer than eight breaths a minute or more than ten
seconds between breaths.
Vomiting without waking
up.
Isn't alcohol poisoning pretty rare?
Only a few cases of alcohol poisoning make national headlines - usually ones involving fraternity parties or initiations. But U.S. vital statistics show that more than 20,000 people a year die from alcohol induced causes. That figure does not include people killed in alcohol-related auto accidents or those who die of cirrhosis and other liver ailments.
What drugs can cause bad reactions with alcohol?
Lots of legal and illegal drugs, from antidepressants to aspirin, can act in combination with alcohol.
Among the most dangerous are narcotic painkillers (including cough syrup with codeine, Tylenol® with codeine, Percodan®), and drugs classified as sedative-hypnotics (including barbiturates).
How many drinks does it take to cause alcohol poisoning?
It's not only how many drinks, but how quickly you drink them, how much you weigh, and whether you are male or female.
Other factors, including fatigue, how recently you've eaten, and a host of others can also affect individual reactions. And the faster you drink, the more quickly your blood alcohol level rises.
The liver metabolizes about a half ounce of pure alcohol per hour, the amount found in the "standard drink" usually used to calculate blood alcohol.
That's 1.25 oz of hard liquor (Scotch, vodka, rum, gin) - a single shot, not a double; or a 12-oz bottle of domestic beer; or 5.5 oz of table wine (about two-thirds of a cup). Each of these contains about the same amount of ethanol, the kind of alcohol that's found in liquor.
Although people think they "don't get as drunk" on beer or wine as on hard liquor, each of these drinks has the same physiological effect on the body.
The "one drink per hour" rule of thumb won't necessarily keep you below the legal definition of intoxication (in many states, .08 percent blood alcohol level, or BAL), but potentially fatal alcohol poisoning generally occurs at substantially higher levels than this.
Alcohol poisoning most often occurs when someone drinks relatively rapidly, often because of a drinking game, drinking contest, 21 shots for a 21st birthday celebration, "forced" drinking of large quantities (at a fraternity initiation, for instance), or "drinking to get drunk."
A woman weighing around 100 pounds can easily reach danger level with maybe half a dozen drinks in an hour, seven or eight over the course of two hours, and considerably less if she's taken a medication that reacts with alcohol.
Comments about this article? Send us an e-mail and we'll add your remarks to the feedback page.
Did You Know?
You can't always tell how strong a drink is by the taste. Sugar content and strong flavors (peach, coconut, cola) in the liquor itself or in a mixer can disguise the alcohol taste.
Women are at higher risk for alcohol poisoning, and not only because they may weigh less than the average man.
A woman generally has a higher proportion of body fat, which absorbs less alcohol than other tissues - and leaves more to circulate in the blood.
Her liver may also metabolize alcohol less efficiently.
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