[ Golden Gater Online - October 23, 1997 ]
Alyson Baker
The Post (Ohio U.)
ATHENS, Ohio -- Louisiana State University student, Ben Wynne, 20, went drinking in August to celebrate fraternity pledge week. Twenty-four hours later, with a blood alcohol level of .588, he was dead.
About a dozen college students nationwide die from alcohol poisoning each year.
Jim Schulz, assistant nurse manager in the emergency room at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, said many OU students come into the ER for alcohol poisoning.
"Alcohol is a drug," he said. "How much you ingest depends on how much you want to poison yourself."
Alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream from the stomach. When large quantities are consumed in a short period of time, the alcohol can quickly reach a toxic level, Schulz said.
This is alcohol poisoning. Once this level is reached, one of two conditions can cause death.
Vital organs can shut down when too much alcohol has reached the brain. This is a less common and more extreme situation, he said. The second, and more widespread, cause of death results from an obstructed airway.
Alcohol toxicity causes the victim to lose consciousness. Protective agencies that alert the body to danger are not working. Therefore, a victim can choke on his or her tongue or vomit. Unfortunately, many young people die this way, Schulz said.
O'Bleness does not have statistics on exactly how many students are treated for alcohol poisoning each year.
"In my tenure, I've seen it too many times," he said. "We're losing young, vibrant people who have more to offer society other than drowning in their own vomit."
Senior Sean Riley said he suffered alcohol poisoning when he was a sophomore.
During an hour and a half, Riley said he drank about eight Kamikaze mixed drinks, four beers and two shots of hard liquor.
"Kamikaze drinks are named after the kamikaze pilots who crashed straight down," he said. "That's what this drink does to you."
Riley lost feeling in his body while throwing up in the bathroom at a local bar. Someone called a cab to take him home and concerned friends called an ambulance. Emergency medical technicians kept him conscious by asking him questions until he reached the hospital, where he was put on an IV.
Riley said he was lucky he did not receive a citation for his condition. OUPD Officer Mark Mathews said most of the time alcohol poisoning is enough.
"Alcohol poisoning is not pleasant," he said. "We usually refer the victims to judiciaries if they are underage."
Since then, Riley has been more careful with alcohol.
"I try to spread it out. When I start to feel too drunk, I just stop," he said.
Spreading drinks out over a long period of time is a good idea, Schulz said.
Alcohol toxicity depends on how much is consumed, length of time and size of the individual. The amount of alcohol a person has consumed for the past five to 10 years also influences tolerance levels.
"As you drink more, it takes more," he said.
It can be hard to tell when alcohol has reached a dangerous level.
If people are becoming non-responsive and falling into a stupor, they may be experiencing alcohol poisoning.
Schulz said three steps can be taken to help someone in this situation. First, get the person to stop drinking. Second, walk them around and keep them alert. Third, if the individual has lost consciousness or "passed out," keep the airway open and call an ambulance.
Vomiting should only be induced if the majority of the alcohol is still in the stomach, he said. It is possible for the vomit to be taken into the airway and pulled into the lungs.
"We view a severely intoxicated person as a No. 1 extreme medical emergency, one being life-threatening," Schulz said.
Many college students think drinking is the only form of entertainment on the weekends, he said. According to a 1996 Harvard study, Schulz is right. The Harvard School of Public Health, College Alcohol Study surveyed 17, 000 students at 140 colleges nationwide. The study found 44 percent of today's students are considered binge drinkers, defined as five or more drinks in a row at least once during a two-week period for men and four or more drinks for women.
A great deal of binge drinking in Athens goes on at Uptown bars. Senior Tom Roeder, a bartender at The Junction, 41 N. Court St., said he was told to cut people off if necessary and call a cab for those who should not be walking home drunk. He follows the rules, he said. One night, after a woman had purchased a drink she lost her balance. Roeder took her drink away and refunded her money.
"She raised hell," he said. "But we do what is safer for people."
[ Golden Gater - October 23, 1997 ]