Heavy drinking kills one in four

March 31, 2006

MARY AMES

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Brenda Nice, as a mother and a pre-school teacher, knows a lot of beautiful children in the Valley. She doesn't want any of those children's parents to lose a child to alcohol poisoning, the way she recently lost her 17-year-old son, Adrian Hartman.

But so many teens binge drink, Nice said, she is sure it will happen again.

Statistics back her up.

&#8220People with alcohol poisoning have a one in four chance of not making it,” said Dr. John Boston, a local internist.

Alcohol poisoning, a dangerously high level of alcohol in the bloodstream, can happen to anyone at any age, but teens may be less aware of the signs of danger.

The signs that someone's drinking has gone beyond a buzz start with lethargy and maybe vomiting, he said.

In social situations, where some people toss back shot after shot of hard liquor, an astounding amount of alcohol can end up in their bloodstreams, he said.

In Alaska, and in most states, the legal limit for driving under the influence is .08 percent blood or breath alcohol. Boston said he has seen levels as high as .35 in binge drinkers.

A general rule of thumb to establish whether someone has just passed out or needs immediate medical care, is whether you can wake them up, he said. If someone wakes up enough that you can talk to them, they probably don't have alcohol poisoning and are somewhat OK, he said.

&#8220Wake them up and find out if they are still in there,” Boston said.

Even if an intoxicated person doesn't have alcohol poisoning, if unconscious, they can lose their gag reflex and are in danger of throwing up, breathing the fluid into their lungs and drowning in their own vomit, he said.

If you try to rouse someone from a stupor and they don't wake up, if you lift their arm and it just drops straight to the ground, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately, he said. Other signs of danger include slowed breathing with an increase in heart rate, he said.

&#8220The heart rate kicks up as the stress gets worse,” he said.

The high of an alcohol bender descends into seizures and hallucinations during withdrawal, and in extreme cases, the need for kidney dialysis, Boston said. Twenty-five percent of people who go through alcohol withdrawal without medical treatment die.

The sobering effects of coffee is a myth that lingers, he said. Only time will clear alcohol out of your system.

At the hospital, doctors push in literally liters of fluids to rehydrate an alcohol-saturated body, give medications and sometimes even flush the stomach, Boston said.

Nice wants more teens to know what they are doing when they make the choice to spend a weekend drinking.

&#8220I want everyone to know you're playing Russian roulette with your life,” she said.