Harmful Effects of Alcohol

Overdosing on alcohol is just as dangerous as overdosing on other drugs. How much alcohol can kill you depends on your tolerance to alcohol as well as your gender, age, weight, and any medical conditions you have, such as diabetes or hepatitis. Using certain medications while drinking alcohol can also produce harmful effects.

In general, for an average adult male, a lethal dose of alcohol is between 5 and 8 grams of alcohol per kilogram of body weight. If that adult is 60 kg, or 132 pounds, death is more likely to occur after a liter of spirits or four bottles of wine.

This is just the known lethal dose, though. Alcohol poisoning, which is also life-threatening, can happen at much lower doses. Some people may begin to show signs of alcohol poisoning after only four or five drinks within a two-hour period of time.

The Stages of Alcoholism

Having an occasional drink does not automatically mean that you are dying from alcoholism. But, for some, the occasional drink turns into a long-term addiction. If that’s the case for you or someone you know, you might be wondering, “How long does it take for an alcoholic to die?” The answer to this question is a bit complicated.

Alcoholism has five distinct stages. Your risk of long-term health effects and death increases considerably as you move through the stages. Each person moves through the stages at different rates, with some staying at an earlier stage for a long time and others skipping stages and moving quickly to end-stage alcoholism.

Stage 1: Occasional Excessive Alcohol Use or Binge Drinking

In the first stage, people begin to experiment with drinking larger amounts of alcohol. People at Stage 1 tend to be college-aged or young adults. While they may not drink every day, or even every week, when they do drink, they consume several alcoholic beverages at a time. Generally, binge drinking is considered to be five or more drinks in two hours for men and four or more drinks in two hours for women. Alcohol poisoning or death via car accidents or other risky behaviors are the greatest risks at this stage.

Stage 2: Increasing Alcohol Consumption

Once a person moves past occasionally binge drinking at a party or social gathering to drinking more frequently, such as every weekend, they have moved to the second stage. While some people consume a beer or glass of wine every evening, Stage 2 alcoholics use alcohol as a way to feed better, alleviate stress, cope with sadness, or as a reason to get together with other people.

Stage 3: Problem Drinking

In Stage 3, the frequent or excessive alcohol user has begun to experience, social, financial, emotional, physical, or workplace consequences of their drinking. They might be drinking so much now that the alcohol makes them sick or they are engaging in frequent illegal or risky activities influenced by their alcohol use. Their behavior may become erratic at this stage and friends, family, or coworkers might begin to pull away.

At this stage, drinking is no longer a social activity and instead might be done in isolation. The risk of dying from drunk driving or other alcohol-related accidents increases significantly at this stage.

Stage 4: Alcohol Dependence

In Stage 4, the individual has become dependent on alcohol. He or she might not feel the same effects with their usual amount of alcohol, requiring increased drinks to feel buzzed. As a result, they may feel withdrawal symptoms, such as tremors, sweating, racing heart, irritability, or insomnia, as the alcohol wears off.

The person will drink again in order to alleviate the symptoms. At this stage, the individual typically understands that drinking is causing problems but he or she is unable to control his or her drinking.

Stage 5: End-Stage Alcoholism

In Stage 5, drinking for pleasure no longer occurs. Instead, the individual feels a psychological and physiological need to drink. They crave alcohol, and may even turn to other drugs at this stage. Drinking becomes a compulsion and happens despite the consequences. At this stage, even if someone is told that their drinking is killing them, they are unable to stop on their own.

Once someone reaches end-stage alcoholism, the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver have already experienced significant damage. The individual might also be experiencing severe malnutrition, making it difficult for the body to heal itself. At this stage, the body begins to deteriorate rapidly and if the alcoholism is not treated, the body can go into fatal liver, kidney, or heart failure. Our insurance verification team works quickly to verify your insurance benefits to place you into one of our centers as soon as possible. Because of our industry expertise, we will be able to verify this information in a timely manner and can advocate for more coverage or more time in treatment.

We strive to do this as quickly as possible while also maximizing your coverage. Our insurance verification process is of no cost to you and there are absolutely no obligations.

While sometimes it can be difficult to detect the signs of liver or kidney failure in its early stages, there are some red flags that indicate serious health problems in an alcoholic.

It is a myth that someone can sleep off alcohol poisoning. If you witness signs of alcohol poisoning, it is important to get the person to a hospital immediately. Alcohol poisoning is a life-threatening emergency.

Drinking kills many people in the United States. Each and every one of these deaths is preventable by not using alcohol. If you are concerned about your alcohol consumption and are thinking “alcohol is killing me,” there is hope.

Know that getting treatment is an important step in preventing alcoholic death. By stopping your drinking and living a sober life, you can halt the long-term health effects of alcohol use and keep yourself safe from tragic alcohol-related accidents and deaths. Give us a call today – we are here to support you in your journey toward a healthier life.