Alcohol poisoning: signs and first aid

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When the dose of alcohol is moderate, then the person feels some improvement in mood, light euphoria, emancipation. The feeling of fear is dulled, the problems are smoothed out and lose their sharpness. That is why people drink alcohol. But with each increase in the dose a person loses the adequacy of perception and behavior. Self-control is suppressed. On his own initiative or under the influence of a drinking company, a person continues to drink. Signs of alcohol poisoning are beginning to increase. And there are people who can be seriously poisoned even with small alcohol doses. If you suspect a severe degree of poisoning, call for an ambulance.

CONTENTS

Signs of alcohol poisoning

First signs of poisoning - red face, sweating, unhealthy eye shine, frequent pulse, speech becomes louder, attention is distracted, behaviorloses its adequacy. Everything that a person hid in a sober state - now comes out. No wonder they say: "What's sober about the mind, the drunk on the tongue."

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At this stage of alcoholic intoxication, we should stop drinking. After all, poisoning for the morning will be felt like a hangover syndrome. A simple way to get rid of a shallow hangover is a cup of a little sweet hot tea with lemon. You can also take a very warm shower - this will help.

But if a person drinks further, then the next stage of alcohol poisoning comes. The person continues to drink, but already begins to be poisoned by products of disintegration of alcohol, processed by a liver from the first glasses. Here, the body itself tries to fight - there is vomiting as a protective reaction of the body. The patient has poor health, dizzy, doubles in the eyes. If a person who has broken the defense reflex - vomiting, continues to drink, then the alcohol content in the blood becomes larger. A heavily drunk person can die from paralysis of the heart or respiratory centers.

First aid for alcohol poisoning

What should I do if I have severe alcohol poisoning? Call an ambulance and do urgent first aid to the patient. To save a person is possible, if not to get lost and act skillfully and quickly. The first aid is carried out according to the scheme of treatment of any poisoning.

  1. Cover patient. After all, alcohol dilates blood vessels and in cold weather the patient can cool down very quickly.
  2. Purify the stomach by inducing a vomiting reflex. The patient must be conscious. Dissolve one teaspoon of soda and salt in slightly warm water. Give the patient a drink. Press down with a spoon on the root of his tongue and induce vomiting. Take care that the patient does not choke.
  3. After vomiting, stir in a glass of slightly warm water 10 - 20 tablets of activated charcoal and water the patient.

If you drink unconscious in severe poisoning, gastric lavage can not be carried out, otherwise it may drown. Here you will have to wait for the doctors to come to see that the patient does not choke, and also that his tongue does not fuse. To do this, just turn the drunk on his side or on his stomach.

When the rhythm of breathing is disturbed, the ampoule of cordiamine or caffeine must be injected subcutaneously. When you stop breathing, you need to clean the patient's mouth and do artificial respiration. In general, alcohol poisoning should be treated in the hospital, where it is necessary to remove the effects of intoxication.

It happens that the patient falls into a coma. This is a very bad sign of acute alcohol poisoning. With coma, the face turns blue( slightly), the breathing is intermittent, the pulse is thread-like, the skin feels sticky and cold to the touch. In these cases, emergency care should be given to the resuscitator.


Alcoholic coma is more common in people of medium weight and low drinking. The dose of high-risk alcohol is 0.5 vodka taken internally in a short period of time.

Poisoning with surrogates of alcohol

Especially grave condition of a drinker when he is poisoned by surrogates of alcohol. In surrogates there are especially harmful substances for the liver and brain. The consequences are very severe and probably irreplaceable for the whole organism.

Alcohol surrogates are liquids not intended for ingestion as alcoholic beverages. This includes household chemical products, cosmetics( toilet water, cologne, lotion), automotive fluids( glass cleaner, brake fluid), various medicinal tinctures.

From surrogates, one can distinguish those containing ethanol, but they are still dangerous because of impurities of technical alcohols. Especially dangerous in this respect is methyl alcohol, which in an amount of 50.0 ml.makes a person completely blind.


There are also counterfeit alcoholic drinks, i.e. counterfeit. These are alcoholic substitutes in the form of: vodka, wine, cognac, tinctures. It happens that in them specially added methyl alcohol and other toxic substances. People can even die when they are drunk.

Symptoms of poisoning with alcohol substitutes

The first signs are nausea, headache and dizziness, impaired coordination, "stumbling" language. These symptoms are similar to severe alcoholic intoxication, but only here is the difference - they arise after the use of small doses taken.

Methanol poisoning is manifested by flying flies, pulsations in the temples, abdominal pain, indomitable vomiting. Here you need urgent help. The consequences are very dangerous. The patient at the best - blinded, and at worst - falls into a coma and dies.

When poisoning surrogates of alcohol, before arriving an ambulance, the patient must provide first aid. The tactics and scheme are the same as in the general cases of the poisoning described above.

If the ambulance is not fast, then every 2 hours, give the patient 50.0 ml.30% pure ethyl alcohol without impurities, or just dilute the vodka. So you can do up to 4 - 5 times a day. And then, 3 days in a row rinse his stomach in combination with the subsequent acceptance of activated charcoal.

In general, at home, you can not treat poisoning. If the patient has lost consciousness - this is a sign of a serious condition. Monitor the patient's pulse on the radial and carotid arteries. If the heart stops beating, it means that the patient needs to be turned on his back, apply a precordial blow and resuscitate - carry out artificial respiration with an indirect massage of the heart.

If the nature of poisoning with alcohol substitutes is known, drink a little of the patient with good quality vodka. Ethanol( alcohol) stops the rate of decomposition of methyl alcohol( methanol).The patient's condition becomes easier. Lay the patient on the stomach, turn his head to one side, unbutton the clothes, so that breathing can be made easier. Open the window in the room, let the patient breathe fresh air.

If you become unconscious, lose consciousness of the patient, smear the patient with whiskey with ammonia or vinegar, easily lead near the nose with cotton wool with ammonia. Do not poke a cotton swab in the nose. There have been cases of stopping breathing for reflex reasons.