Even drinking alcohol while taking over-the-counter antihistamines can be dangerous. Drinking too much and too quickly can lead to significant impairments in motor coordination, decision-making, impulse control, and other functions, increasing the risk of harm. Continuing to drink despite clear signs of significant impairments can result in an alcohol overdose.

• It can lead to complications such as choking, brain damage, and even death.
• This can make it harder to keep track of how much alcohol you’ve actually consumed.
• It’s caused usually by binge drinking and can lead to death or brain damage.
• Syringe service programs provide harm reduction services to people who use drugs.
• People who binge drink (drink more than five drinks in an hour) are also at risk for alcohol overdose.

What are the risk factors for an alcohol overdose?

This is when a male rapidly consumes five or more alcoholic drinks within two hours or a female consumes at least four drinks within two hours. An alcohol binge can occur over hours or last up to several days. Knowing what is in the drugs you use can help you make choices to reduce your risk of overdose or injury.

• Alcohol in the form of ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, is in alcoholic beverages.
• A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
• This increase translates to an average of approximately 488 deaths each day from excessive drinking during 2020–2021.
• Because some persons who formerly drank alcohol might also die from alcohol-related causes, population-attributable fractions might underestimate alcohol-attributable deaths.
• Therefore, if you’ve consumed a lot of alcohol, you could still be at risk for alcohol poisoning even if you’ve stopped drinking.

For fact sheets in multiple languages including alcohol overdose

Peers work with syringe exchanges, recovery centers, alumni groups, mutual support groups including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, and more. For more information, see our Peer Services and Resources page. Substances like fentanyl and xylazine make the drug supply unpredictable and increase the risk of overdose and other harms of drug use. It is primarily metabolized in the liver by alcohol dehydrogenase to acetaldehyde.

Alcohol-Related Emergencies and Deaths in the United States

If you experience an overdose, your doctor will ask you about your drinking habits and health history. Your doctor may also perform additional tests, such as blood tests (to determine your blood alcohol and glucose levels) and urine tests. Your height and weight determine how quickly your body absorbs alcohol.

Many factors may have contributed to these increases in alcohol-related deaths. These include the availability of alcohol, increases in people experiencing mental health conditions, and challenges in accessing health care. Prompt treatment of an alcohol overdose can prevent life-threatening health problems.

Emergency medical staff will take steps to ensure a person’s medical stability and safety to help them recover and survive. An alcohol overdose is typically treated in the emergency room. The emergency room physician will monitor your vital signs, including your heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature.

In addition to checking for visible signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning, your doctor will likely order blood and urine tests to check blood alcohol levels and identify other signs of alcohol toxicity, such as low blood sugar. Although young people are most likely to engage in binge drinking, deaths from alcohol poisoning usually involve men between the ages of 35 and 64, according to the CDC. And middle-aged people are more likely than younger ones to take prescription drugs, which can increase the severity of alcohol poisoning. It is dangerous to assume that an unconscious person will be fine by sleeping it off. One potential danger of https://ecosoberhouse.com/ is choking on one’s own vomit.

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From 2000 to 2020, the number of overdose deaths in New York City more than tripled. Trained staff at the centers observe and intervene if someone shows signs of overdose. In November 2021, OnPoint NYC opened the first publicly recognized Overdose Prevention Centers in the country. They are syringe service programs that have operated in Washington Heights and East Harlem for years. Learn about the services and resources below to help keep your community safe. Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking.

• If you drink more than this and your body isn’t able to break it down fast enough, it accumulates in your body.
• Alcohol use disorder includes a level of drinking that’s sometimes called alcoholism.
• Among females, the average annual number of deaths from excessive alcohol use increased by 15,136 (34.7%), from 43,565 during 2016–2017, to 58,701 during 2020–2021.
• The emergency room physician will monitor your vital signs, including your heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature.
• In November 2021, OnPoint NYC opened the first publicly recognized Overdose Prevention Centers in the country.
• But if you drink a lot in a short time, your liver may not be able to keep up.