Excessive alcohol consumption negatively affects the state of the body - everyone knows about this. But too large a dose of ethyl alcohol can lead to very dangerous consequences. Including a condition called alcoholic coma. As you know, a coma quite often leads to death.
Alcoholic coma: causes . The reason for the development of this condition is intoxication of the body with ethyl alcohol. In fact, it is not possible to determine the exact amount of alcohol that is fatal. Firstly, it all depends, first of all, on the individual susceptibility of the body to alcohol. Some people become ill after just a few glasses of a strong drink, and some, on the contrary, are very resistant to ethanol.
The general state of the body also matters - the level of immune defense, the state of the liver, the presence of other diseases. In addition, alcohol should not be consumed on an empty stomach - so ethyl alcohol is absorbed into the blood faster. It is worth paying attention to the concentration of ethanol - if it is above 12%, then intoxication will be harder.
As a rule, a coma develops when the body contains 3 g of ethanol for every liter of blood. If this indicator increases to 5 grams, then a high probability of death.
Alcoholic coma: the main symptoms . In medicine, it is customary to distinguish three main stages of the development of such a coma.
- Stage One, or superficial coma. A person loses consciousness. Further, severe vomiting or hypersalivation may begin. Hypertonicity of the muscles of the extremities is observed. The patient's pupils are narrowed, but all the main reflexes are preserved. Facial skin becomes cyanotic.
- Stage Two. At this stage, blood pressure is significantly reduced . The poisoned person's breathing slows noticeably. If you listen to the pulse, you can see that it is very weak and fast. Muscle tone and natural tendon reflexes disappear at this stage, but the person is still responding to pain. A characteristic sign of coma is involuntary bowel movements and urination.
- Stage Three, or a deep alcoholic coma. If you listen to the pulse or breathing of a person, you can see that they are rare, weak and irregular. At this stage, all reflexes disappear, the patient no longer responds to pain. The pupils dilate greatly, the skin becomes even more pronounced, bluish tint.
If you do not provide medical assistance to a person, then it is likely that a deep narcotic coma will lead to death. In most cases, death occurs as a result of suffocation by own vomit or sunken tongue (muscles lose their tone). If the concentration of ethyl alcohol in the blood increases sharply, then respiratory arrest or cardiovascular failure may develop.
In any case, the moderate and severe forms of alcoholic coma are fraught with serious consequences for the human body - renal failure, myorenal syndrome, acidosis, hypokalemia and blood clotting.
Alcoholic coma: treatment . The first thing to do is to call a medical team. Until this time, it is necessary to provide the patient with first aid. To begin, lay the person on a flat surface and turn his head on his side - so he will not be choked with vomit. Watch his tongue as well - if he starts to sink, then you need to hold him. When cardiac or respiratory arrest is necessary, a heart massage and artificial respiration should be performed .
As for drug treatment, it all depends on the degree of damage to the body. As a rule, to begin with, doctors clear the airways of mucus and provide the necessary amount of oxygen. In more severe cases, the patient is connected to an artificial respiration apparatus.
Gastric lavage is also carried out - a probe is used for this purpose. To remove ethanol from the blood, the patient is injected with saline and glucose.
It is worth noting once again that alcoholic coma is a very dangerous condition that requires immediate medical attention.