Alcohol and BAC levels: Danger, overdose, and treatments

Your liver breaks down alcohol to remove it from your body because it’s a toxin. But when BAC levels are high, your liver can’t remove the toxins quickly enough. Too much alcohol in your bloodstream causes the areas of your brain that support breathing, heart rate, and other essential life-supporting functions to start to shut down. Symptoms of alcohol poisoning typically correspond to blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels.

What are the symptoms of alcohol intoxication?

This includes discussing drinking games, which can easily lead to alcohol poisoning. Also, emphasize the importance of knowing when enough is enough, and discuss how to intervene if a friend is drinking too much or too quickly. This generally means having one drink per day for females or having two drinks per day for males.

• Alcohol poisoning is serious and needs prompt medical attention.
• Specifically, it slows areas of your brain that are responsible for basic life functions.
• But as you continue to drink, you become drowsy and have less control over your actions.
• Having too much alcohol in your blood stops your body working properly and can be life-threatening.
• Many people with alcohol use disorder hesitate to get treatment because they don’t recognize that they have a problem.
• If you can’t sit up, lie on your side to prevent choking on your vomit.

Alcohol’s effects on the body

• Your doctor may also perform additional tests, such as blood tests (to determine your blood alcohol and glucose levels) and urine tests.
• Research shows that teens and college-age young adults often engage in binge drinking and high-intensity drinking.
• If you’ve ever been swept up in the moment and said yes to one more shot of tequila when you should have said hell no, you’re probably well aware of what it feels like to have a bit too much to drink.
• The person can become extremely confused, unresponsive, disoriented, have shallow breathing, and can even pass out or go into a coma.

Always drink in moderation, and keep track of the amount of drinks you’ve had. It’s defined as when a man has five drinks or more within two hours or when a woman has four or more drinks within two hours. A person with alcohol poisoning needs medical help in a hospital. 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.

Complications of alcohol poisoning

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. The term intoxication is commonly used when large amount of alcohol is consumed along with physical symptoms and deleterious health effects. Alcohol poisoning happens when there’s too much alcohol in your blood, and parts of your brain shut down.

For example, some craft beers may have four times the amount of alcohol that’s in a regular beer. Be aware of the alcohol content of what you’re drinking and adjust how much you drink based on this knowledge. For example, you might have more than 12 fluid ounces of beer in your glass, and it might be stronger than 5 percent, in which case it’d take fewer drinks to get you more drunk. In terms alcohol poisoning of amount, one drink is defined as 12 ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol), 9 ounces of malt liquor (7% alcohol), and 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol). For hard liquor, one drink measures 1.5 ounces of 40-percent alcohol. We are dedicated to making alcoholism treatment accessible to every person in need and accept many forms of insurance or can help you facilitate payment arrangements.

Binge drinking and high intensity drinking

Every time you drink alcohol, it’s up to your liver to break it down and filter it until it becomes less toxic for the body to eventually eliminate as waste. For people who drink occasionally, the body can only process a certain amount of alcohol every hour, and that magic number is technically unknown; generally, it’s considered to be one drink per hour. So, glugging much more than that in a short time can result in https://ecosoberhouse.com/, per the Mayo Clinic.

Alcohol Poisoning Treatment

As a general rule, one standard drink will increase your BAC by 0.02 percent. So, while it might only take four drinks for you to be legally intoxicated, it’d take quite a bit more to kill you. The effects of alcohol are felt a little differently from person to person as a number of factors influence the amount of alcohol each person can withstand.

Alcohol Poisoning Complications

Despite many people gaining a pleasant intoxicating effect from alcohol, the substance is a depressant. Specifically, it slows areas of your brain that are responsible for basic life functions. This includes breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and gag reflex, which prevents you from choking. Alcohol can irritate a person’s stomach, causing them to vomit–even when they are unconscious. This article looks at fatal blood alcohol levels, signs and treatment of alcohol overdose, what BAC is and signs of different BAC levels, and support with managing or quitting drinking. If you’re with someone who might have drunk too much, call 911 right away.

Both young people and adults can experience alcohol poisoning. The condition is usually linked to drinking too many alcohol beverages. But in some cases, people with this condition might have accidentally or intentionally drank household products containing alcohol, such as mouthwash or vanilla extract. People cannot treat severe alcohol intoxication — or alcohol poisoning — at home.

• It’s important to remember that a person with alcohol poisoning may not have all the signs and symptoms.
• Teenagers and young adults often binge drink or engage in high intensity drinking.
• Alcohol.org is a subsidiary of AAC, a nationwide provider of treatment facilities focused on providing hope and recovery for those in need.