Intoxicated / Hung Over In The Doctor's Office

Anyone been in this scenario?

I've treated people with IV fluids for the dehydration and acidosis of hangovers. A liter or two of saline with two amps of D50W. (Concentrated glucose) and an amp of bicarb works like a charm.

You ever had to treat someone for acute alcohol poisoning?

Absolutely. I've had to intubate a number of people who were apneic from alcohol ODs. As a resident I had a 14yo girl who drank a fifth of gin by herself while her friends went out to buy mixer. She was breathing about four times a minute when they returned and called 911. She was on a ventilator for 24 hours. Her blood alcohol was 10 or 1000. She wasn't even hung over.

Holy shit...

Shamefully I have been once in this situation. Years ago during a wild time in my life, my girlfriend and I have been invited to a birthday party to a club downtown.

I used to have a lifestyle that was pretty much work, get home, study, sleep...the eating part on the run.

As far as I remember it has been a couple of really busy days at work and the day of the party (I believe it was a Friday) I haven't had anything to eat and I have been drinking lots of those 4 hour energy drinks to keep me going.

After work I got home, started to get ready for the party, the guys picked us up and there we were in the club: VIP section, music, fun, my friends and some sort of drink. I have no idea what I have been drinking or how much.

I remember I was having the fun of my life, when suddenly I felt like everything was spinning, I felt like I was riding a roller coaster, I couldn't hear well anymore, I felt really relaxed, sleepy and I told my friends I was going to the bathroom to wash my face with some cold water.

I have no idea what happened in there. I have pieces of memories of my girlfriend crying, people around on the sidewalk, paramedics pressing something on my chest, then total blackout.

The first sounds I remember hearing when waking up were the beepings from the monitors in the ER. So yes...shamefully I've been in one of those embarrassing situations.

That was the first and last time I was going to be like that. Ughhh...completely embarrassing, but part of my life ???

Never me personally but had to look after various individual in A&E especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Not a very pleasant experience at all, especially as a few can get both verbally and physically aggressive, not to mention the bouts of vomiting and incontinence and having to worry about aspirating as due to their intoxicated state they are are unable to maintain their airway adequately . The worst has been a few " glassing " ( glassing is a physical attack using a glass as a weapon, normally a pint glass) which were quite serious and required surgery to repair ( one almost lost an eye and another has some injury to a facial nerve).

Thankfully I don't have to work in A&E anymore, as it seems to be getting worse in the UK , there seems to be an increase in teens and young adults overindulging and binge drinking on the weekends especially. Too many bars and nightclubs seems to be offering more and more cheap booze and "happy hours".

Before I got sober, 10 t=years ago, I was taken to an E.R. 4 times by Fire Dept. EMT. Same hosp. They have computers that keep records, so they knew me. Last time in they did a rectal temp. and pushed a Foley into me. That made me aware that they were tired of seeing me come in there. Thank God, I got sober and never bothered them again with such foolishness.

Http://www.hangoverheaven.com

Not necessarily an "office," but definitely somewhere that has hungover people. As someone who doesn't drink and has never seen the draw to it, I just can't imagine enjoying something that would cause you to want IV fluids and vitamins the morning after ....