Doctors have issued a warning about getting too drunk at summer parties this year after treating a man who got blackout intoxicated and fell into a coma.
The patient, 31, downed an entire 500ml bottle of tequila and two shots of shochu, a type of hard Japanese liquor while partying at a nightclub in Izunokuni, Japan.
He passed out and was rushed to the hospital, where tests showed he was in a ‘deep coma’ and had a dangerous amount of fluid in his lungs.
Doctors put him on a ventilator to prevent him from suffocating due to the fluid, which they suspect was vomit that he’d choked on.
A 31-year-old man drank the equivalent of 11 shots as well as two cups of a Japanese liquor called shochu (stock)
The chest CT scan showed hazy spots and areas of shadowing in the back parts of both lungs, with more significant findings on the left side. This indicates fluid build up in the lungs
The patient was a nightclub owner but was otherwise healthy and not an alcoholic.
After being transported to the hospital, he was given a score of E1V1M1 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, used to measure a person’s level of consciousness after a head injury.
The score meant that his eyes wouldn’t open, even when stimulated, he did not speak, moan, or make any sounds, and he did not move his limbs or any part of his body in response to commands or painful stimuli such as a pinch.
His blood pressure and heart rate were normal, but he was in respiratory distress and was becoming hypothermic.
His tongue was also obstructing his airway and crackling sounds were coming from his lungs, indicating fluid there.
It was probably due to vomiting while unconscious, causing the stomach contents to leak into the lungs.
The doctors who treated the man at Juntendo Shizuoka Hospital in Japan said: ‘The main life-threatening consequence of acute intoxication with high blood alcohol concentrations is respiratory depression.
‘In these conditions, intoxication also reduces the sensitivity of the airways and the reflex block of foreign bodies, increasing the risk of aspiration.’
On day two, he regained consciousness and his lung function improved, allowing doctors to remove the breathing tube.
He was discharged from the hospital on day three.
The case report was published in the American Journal of Medical Case Reports.
The patient drank 500ml and two glasses of liquor which works out at around – the equivalent of 13 shots of spirits.
The CDC recommends people have no more than one shot per day, or one beer or wine.
Alcohol is considered the most abused drug out there, with 16.3 million US adults reporting heavy alcohol use in the previous month.
Around one in five adults say they sometimes drink more than they think they should. This is more common in men than women.
Americans now drink the same amount as during the Civil War – around 2.5 gallons per year on average. This is up from 2.15 gallons in 1995 and 2.3 gallons at the tail-end of World War II.
After years of being told that red wine in moderation, about a glass a night with dinner, had robust heart health benefits, the public has just learned that is not the case.
Researchers have found that past evidence to back that claim up is flimsy and has only been documented in observational studies – meaning other factors could be at play.
And the World Health Organization meanwhile said no amount of alcohol is safe or healthy.
A study conducted in the UK found that even Brits who were classed as low-risk drinkers had an 11 percent higher risk of dying from cancer compared to ‘occasional drinkers’.
Those from poorer areas had an even harder time, having a 25 percent increased risk of dying from cancer and a 14 percent higher risk of dying overall.
