Drink in moderation during holidays
During holiday gatherings and celebratory banquets with friends and family, having a moderate amount of wine to liven up the occasion is permissible as it can enhance the festive atmosphere and is not significantly harmful to health. However, excessive drinking, especially binge drinking, is absolutely not allowed.
Acute ethanol (alcohol) poisoning has a suppressive effect on the central nervous system. If the blood alcohol concentration is too high, the medulla oblongata can be suppressed, which may lead to respiratory paralysis and death. Experiments have confirmed that the ethanol consumption that causes poisoning symptoms is about 75-80 grams, and the lethal dose is 250-500 grams. Therefore, unrestricted consumption of alcoholic beverages with high ethanol content can be fatal.
Everyone's alcohol tolerance is different, and there is significant individual variation in the onset of acute poisoning. The ethanol content in a person's blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid is generally difficult for hospitals to measure, but acute alcohol poisoning is often divided into three stages:
1. Excitement Stage (Mild): Most patients have a flushed face (though a few may show no change in facial color), feel a sense of physical and mental pleasure, speak frankly without reservation, and can sometimes be rude and impulsive, emotional, and unpredictable in their moods. They may talk incessantly at times, and be silent at others.
2. Ataxia Stage (Moderate): The patient's movements become progressively clumsy, their body sways and loses balance, their gait is unsteady, and their speech becomes incoherent and slurred.
3. Stupor Stage (Severe): The patient falls into a stupor, with a pale face, cold and clammy skin, purple lips, slow breathing with snoring, an increased pulse, and a low body temperature. Additionally, symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, belching, and hiccups may also occur.
Currently, there is no specific antidote for alcohol poisoning. For those with mild poisoning, drinking should be stopped immediately. For moderate poisoning, not only must drinking cease, but the person must also leave the banquet to rest, drink plenty of water to help the alcohol be excreted through the urine as quickly as possible, and alleviate poisoning symptoms. For those with severe poisoning, immediate hospitalization for emergency treatment is required. Before admission, the patient must be accompanied by a dedicated person to ensure that vomit does not enter the trachea and cause suffocation.