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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffAlcohol is a stomach irritant and may cause vomiting. It also impairs your gag reflex. This increases the risk of choking on vomit if you've passed out from excessive drinking. There's also a risk of accidentally inhaling vomit into your lungs, which can lead to a dangerous or fatal interruption of breathing (asphyxiation). Excessive vomiting can also result in severe dehydration.
Severe alcohol poisoning can be fatal. People who survive may have irreversible brain damage.
- Watson WA et al. 2004 annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2005;23(5):589-666.
- Facts about alcohol poisoning. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.">http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/OtherAlcoholInformation/factsAboutAlcoholPoisoning.aspx. Accessed Sept. 6, 2008.
- Alcohol poisoning. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/PEOPLE/outreach/SafeSobr/15qp/web/idalc.html. Accessed Sept. 6, 2008.
- Alcohol alert. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa37.htm. Accessed Sept. 6, 2008.
- Woolfenden S, et al. Children and adolescents with acute alcohol intoxication/self-poisoning presenting to the emergency department. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2002;156(4):345-348.
- Young-Hee Y, et al. Accidental alcohol poisoning mortality. National Institute on Alcohol Dependency. http://www.nicd.us/alcoholpoisoning.html. Accessed Sept. 6, 2008.
