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According to what teachers are saying, the kid died from medical complications but he actually had alcohol poisoning. He also had two brothers at our school. Thats scary. I dont understand how you could die from drinking so much because wouldnt you pass out before you could get that much alcohol in your system?

Nope, it happens quite often. It's remarkable how much alcohol you can jam into yourself in such a short amount of time. If the alcohol content is high enough and you drink it quick enough you can do some serious damage. That's unfortunate to hear.

I still dont understand. When I use to drink, if I got up to 10 or 13 servings, I would be throwing up and wouldnt be able to keep anything down. How much do you think an average person would have to drink to be hospitalized?

The amount you can safely consume varies by person. It's affected by your weight, how fast your liver can process it, etc.

Here's a couple of informative pieces:

The "lethal dose" (LD) of alcohol is clinically defined as the amount that would kill half the population (the LD50). Most authorities place the LD50 at about .40% or about four times the current legal limit in most states. However, there are many cases in which death occurred from alcohol poisoning at much lower, and in some cases, much higher levels. For a 100 lb. man or woman drinking very quickly, it would only require about 8-10 drinks in an hour to reach the lethal level.

Whereas some people only vomit when they have consumed too much alcohol, other people just fall asleep (with or without vomiting) after they have consumed too much alcohol. In these people, death can follow in one of two ways: you may fall into a deep sleep and vomit while sleeping. What's the result? You choke on your own vomit because you are too intoxicated to wake up and clear out your airway. In other instances, you simply fall asleep and never wake up, because the concentration of alcohol is so high that the areas of your brain controlling life functions are so depressed that they stop functioning and so do you.

wow, thats really scary. For being so close to death, it really seems like a small amount, so easy to die.

I know that as a young person I guzzled most of bottle of Southern Comfort. I spend the next several hours in the toilet vomitting. I did pass out, and woke when my cousin was helping me up the stairs. Note that the was over 4 hours AFTER I drank the booze. I was so out of it that I slept in my clothes, and woke with one of the worst hang overs I ever had, for three damn days. I pby should have gone to the hospital.

I found out a year later that it wasn't my cousin that helped me, it was my sister.

Passing out is alcohol poisoning. If you drink enough, fast enough your body doesn't have the chance to get it out of your system. Correct me if I am wrong, but alcohol is absorbed into your blood stream not only from the intestines, but also from the stomach. Vomitting is your bodies attempt to rid itself of the poison. Make no mistake that alcohol IS a poison. If you have enough absorbed, you could die. It happens way to often. Most of the time it is to young inexperienced drinkers that don't know where their limits are. Somtimes it happens to adults. John Bonam of Led Zepplin died because he drank too much, passed out and asperated his own vomit. Asperated is a polite way to say he drowned in his own puke.

So do you still drink anymore?

yep, I still drink, but in moderation...a 12 pack of beer will last me for months. I have some of a 1/5th of rum I bought in Jamaica 4 years ago...

I can't remember the last time I got drunk, I do, however, remember the last hang over I had. Viscious. I started drinking busch ice "beer" at about 10am, stopped at about midnight. I put away 20 of them in that time. All I can say about the hangover is OUCH.

hmm, that disuades me to drink from all the stories I'm hearing. Actually, I dont anymore. I use to drink all the time, the majorioty of the week. Then someone got mad at me and told my parents and I got caught. Havent drank since. Someday I really want to study alcohol or drugs and the effects. When I was drinking 4 or 5 days a week, it was all I could think of. My grades went down and it was all I wanted to do. If I didnt drink, my day felt like it was ruined. When I was caught, I seriously didnt think I would be able to stop but I did, without too much of a challenge. But now I'm starting to want to drink. I told myself not until college but I cant imagine waiting that long. Drinking is like a whole different sensation, like seeing or hearing. It just makes all your problems go away and you feel like you have no responsibility. I know it's only temporary but arent most enjoyments? I mean, you pay $15 to go out to eat but it's not making you healthier or anything, its for a small time satisfaction.

I like to drink. I have drinks most days... but you'll never see me drunk. I enjoy beer, but drink it in moderation (a beer can last me up to 2 hours... I don't mind it when it gets warm).

While I enjoy having a beverage, I also hate drunk people. I was a club DJ for a few years when I was younger, and watching people fall over, puke, or make asses of themselves is about as funny as air (which isn't very humorous).

It's ok to drink or not drink (well.. if you're of legal drinking age). But if you chose to drink, you also have to chose to what level you want to take it. You're also responsible for your decisions.

Did you drink before 21?

From my personal experience alcohol is one of the sneakiest, scariest of all the ' drugs '. Sneaky in that you dont realise for a long time that have becom dependant on it. When i worked in the middle of a city center it was the done thing to go out and drink every evening ( and sometimes lunchtimes ). looking back i should have known something was wrong because the first thing i would do when i got home was open a beer, even before i said hi to my kid! I still drink now, but i can take it or leave it. my ' cure ' was riding the motorcycle. i used to have a crotch rocket and as a group we would ride kinda quick, at those speeds i knew the smallest misjudgement could be fatal so i wouldnt drink for at least 24 hours prior to riding. Of course since moving to the states its hard to find beer that's quite as potent as it was in the UK ( at least not without checking out some of the truly truly potent madeforalcoholic malt beers on sale) If you can go without drinking, and you are having a good time and relax amongst you friends then you will probably have more fun being able to remember the stooopid stuff you do with your mates, as for me, i hear most of it second hand from collegues who saw it, and that kinda hurts!

Well, from my point of view, drinking isn't always a bad thing. The doctors seem to agree with me.

BUT, when you drink to escape the problems of the world, that's a problem. I see the two as very different things.

Drinking for pleasure and the taste of the drink are OK in my eyes. Drinking to escape is wrong. You should confront the problems and deal with them.

I'm not sure I agree with you rocketdork. I mean, I was drinking the majority of the week, getting drunk probably about once a week but I had then and still have now a 4.0. I'm in honors, orchestra, etc. I'm not sure of my opinion. I mean, if you dont have that escape, it can build up. Stress, pressure, etc. I cant rule it out as something thats wrong to use to escape with. I mean, I loved it and I was able to stop.

canofcoke wrote:Did you drink before 21?

My first sip of beer was on my dads lap when I was 4 or 5.

Yes, I drank before I was 21. But then again... the legal drinking age was 18 back then. I was raised in a home where there was beer in the fridge. I could have one if I wanted, but if I did, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere. I was also banned from sharing it with my friends (which I respected... didn't want my foster parrents to get charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor).

I was allowed to have a beer or glass of wine at dinner if I desired, but I only rarely did. Usually, I had milk or a soda. My foster parents taught me that it was no big deal if you had half a brain about it, and I've pretty much treated it that way since.

Have I ever drank too much? You betcha! Have I ever gotten in trouble over it? I almost went to jail. That's a long story that involved Kevin Coe (a serial rapist who ran around Spokane in the 80's)... I'll tell you about it later.

You can ask my kid, his friends, or any of my friends how many times they've seen me drunk. They'll probobly answer, at most, "once" (and that was Jester's damn fault).