Alcohol poisoning can be described as a severe and occasionally deadly outcome of excessive drinking of alcohol within a short period of time. Excessive drinking of alcohol has significant impacts on an individual's breathing, gag reflex, and heart rate. As a result, alcohol poisoning or excessive drinking has the potential of leading to coma and death. This condition can also be attributed to binge drinking, which is consuming five or more drinks in a row. Furthermore, the condition can also happen when a person consumes household goods that contain alcohol either intentionally or accidentally. While excessive drinking causes several damages to the body, most of these damages are usually linked to long-term abuse of the body. An individual suffering from the damaging effects of alcohol poisoning should seek urgent medical attention in order to prevent severe danger. One of the major ways to avoid serious danger from these side effects is through knowing the symptoms of the condition ("Alcohol Poisoning Symptoms," par, 1).
Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning:
Generally, a patient with alcohol poisoning tends to experience suppression of nerves that control involuntary actions. As a result, the individual's ability to breathe or gag reflex will be jeopardized to an extent that he/she loses consciousness, experiences choking, and faces high risk of death. However, the common symptoms of alcohol poisoning include respiration trouble as the person's experiences shallow and scattered breathing. Consequently, the individual is likely to develop a blue or purple tinged skin or even colder skin because of lack of oxygen getting into the bloodstream.
Secondly, patients with alcohol poisoning have coordination problems since they lose their ability to control themselves. Therefore, his/her behavior seems erratic while the emotional responses become predictable as they suffer from frequent mood swings. The third common symptom of alcohol poisoning is alertness where the individual may appear to be in a confused trance. During this period,...
Fourth, patients with alcohol poisoning usually become nauseated to an extent that they vomit uncontrollably. The uncontrollable vomit is attributed to desperate attempts by his/her body to get rid of any alcohol that has not entered into the system yet. There are other signs and symptoms to look out for that indicate a succession from being drunk to alcohol poisoning. They include confusion and hypothermia, which occurs as the individual's body temperature drops.
How Does Alcohol Poisoning Occur?
When a person consumes an alcoholic drink, his/her needs to filter out the poisonous alcohol or toxin from his/her blood (Nordqvist, par, 3). Generally, the human body absorbs alcohol more rapidly than food, which implies that alcohol gets into the bloodstream much faster. Despite of the rapid absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, the liver can only process a small amount of alcohol i.e. nearly one unit of alcoholic content each hour. Therefore, if a person consumes two units of alcohol in an hour, his/her body will have an extra unit of alcohol in the bloodstream. As a result, the more the individual consumes, the higher the likelihood of him/her to have more units of alcohol in the bloodstream.
In essence, the faster a person drinks alcohol, the higher his/her blood alcohol concentration becomes because of more units in the bloodstream. Excessive drinking of alcohol within a short period of time rapidly increases the person's blood alcohol concentration to an extent that his/her mental and physical functions are negatively affected. Actually, the individual's heartbeat, breathing, and gag reflex may not work effectively since they are functions controlled by the nerves. If the person's blood alcohol concentration is high enough, his/her physical functions may stop working and the patient may eventually pass out or stop breathing. Therefore, the ability of alcohol poisoning to occur is dependent…
