Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that alcohol use causes nearly 80,000 deaths annually. In 2005, more than 1.6 million hospitalizations and 4 million emergency room visits were related to alcohol abuse, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
What is Alcohol Poisoning
Alcohol poisoning is the result of ingesting large quantities of alcohol, leading to extremely elevated blood-alcohol concentrations. Depending on your weight and gender--women absorb alcohol more quickly than men--alcohol becomes toxic. It can shut down your respiratory system, sending a message to your brain and lungs to stop breathing. Without medical treatment, this can lead to death.
Treating Alcohol Poisoning
According to Maine emergency room nurse Linda Dutil, when a patient is admitted for alcohol poisoning, plan A is to clear his stomach of alcohol using a charcoal drink containing beach sand and gravel. It absorbs the alcohol. Plan B involves pumping the alcohol out of the patient's stomach, known as a gastric lavage. A tube is inserted into the patient's stomach through either the nose or the mouth. Water is flushed into the stomach and pumped out.
Alcohol Trauma Statistics
Although news of alcohol poisoning deaths on college campuses would make one think it's primarily young people who succumb, that's not the case. New Mexico issued a report in 2005, after the high-profile deaths of two New Mexico State University students. According to the report, published in New Mexico Epidemiology, the median age for alcohol poisoning deaths in the state between 1999 and 2003 was 42.
Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome
Alcohol poisoning is not the only alcohol-related emergency that comes through hospital doors. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome is easily overlooked if the patient is brought in for nontrauma-related reasons, according to Mary McKinley, RN, author of a 2005 study published in the journal Critical Care Nurse. The New York Times reports that alcohol withdrawal is characterized by psychological symptoms including anxiety and depression, mild physical symptoms such as sweating and nausea and severe symptoms including convulsions, blackouts and hallucinations.
Emergency Room Admissions
A 2001 study published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism reported that about one in five people admitted to hospitals for trauma-related critical care was an alcohol user. For these patients, the likelihood of alcohol withdrawal being addressed is high, unlike nontrauma situations, when alcohol is easily overlooked, according to McKinley. Overlooking alcohol withdrawal can have devastating consequences and complications, McKinley says. Mortality rates for alcohol abusers is two to four times greater than rates for those who do not abuse alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
