How Does Alcohol Poisoning Affect the Body?
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How Does Alcohol Poisoning Affect the Body?
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If you're one of the millions of people who regularly drink alcohol, chances are, at one point in your life, you've had one (or a few) too many drinks. Most likely, you've experienced the unpleasant symptoms known as a hangover: you felt bad the next day, had a headache and stayed in bed longer than usual. But excessive alcohol consumption can lead to alcohol poisoning. Much worse than a hangover, alcohol poisoning can lead to death: you can choke on your own vomit, have a seizure or simply stop breathing as a result of alcohol poisoning. And, even if death does not occur, irreversible brain damage can.
What Happens When Alcohol Poisoning Occurs?
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Alcohol is a type of depressant, meaning tha, when consumed it depresses your nerves--the same nerves that control your breathing. To fight off the depressing effects of the beverage, your body releases numerous chemicals. But despite these good intentions, those same chemicals can cause nausea and fatigue. A few too many drinks can lead to blurred vision, speech slurring and loss of coordination, which can then lead to unconsciousness. Because one of the nerves affected by alcohol is the gag reflex, when an intoxicated person loses consciousness, he may be unable to control vomit, which can lead to asphyxiation. And what's more, even while unconscious, the person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will continue to rise.A BAC of just 0.45% will kill half of individuals affected. So, in other words, a drunk individual can't simply sleep off the intoxication.
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How Can You Tell if You Have Alcohol Poisoning?
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While it's true that the symptoms of alcohol poisoning and intoxication are similar--mental confusion, nausea, headache, blurred vision --when you overdose on alcohol, you fall into a deep state of unconsciousness, from which you cannot be roused. Your breathing may slow or become irregular, vomiting may increase and body temperature may decrease. In fact, the skin may grow increasingly pale or even blue and you may begin to experience seizures (due to a decline in blood sugar). When this happens, hope someone is there to seek emergency help.
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