How Long Does Alcohol Poisoning Last?

Understanding the Alcohol Poisoning Timeline and When to Get Help

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We’ve all been there; someone gets a bit too drunk at a party and spends the rest of the night in the bathroom or passes out on the floor. Your initial reaction might be to laugh it off, but in the case of alcohol poisoning, it can be incredibly dangerous.

I attended a close friend’s wedding with an open bar encouraging people to “drink and be merry.” Towards the end of the reception, the bride’s uncle was slumped over in his chair and unable to stay awake. It turns out he had an addiction to alcohol, drank too much, and had to go to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning. Fortunately, he survived and returned to rehab shortly after.

If you or someone you love has an issue with excessive alcohol consumption, the reality is that they can be in danger of alcohol poisoning – especially if they drink alone and can’t get help when they need it.

So, how long does alcohol poisoning last: at least in terms of minimal alcohol poisoning, it often resolves after a few hours with proper medical care and supervision.

For more specific details, our guide will break down the factors involved and how to best recover from such a condition.

Purpose Healing Center offers drug and alcohol addiction treatment services local to Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, and the surrounding areas, and welcomes many out-of-state clients.

Our medical detox programs help you safely overcome your alcohol dependence and prepare you for inpatient or outpatient treatment programs that we build around your specific needs.

Keep reading to learn all the considerations about alcohol poisoning and why you need professional help from an alcohol rehab like Purpose if this has become a regular part of life for you or a loved one.

What is Considered Alcohol Poisoning?

In short, the threshold for alcohol poisoning happens when you consume too much alcohol in a short period of time. When you have too many alcoholic beverages at once, your liver is unable to process the flood of alcohol in your system, which has a depressive effect on your body that impacts your nervous system, heart, and breathing. This results in an alcohol overdose.

In general, you should be able to overcome mild alcohol poisoning a few hours after your last drink with proper medical care and supervision.

However, it’s hard to pinpoint how much alcohol it takes and how long alcohol poisoning lasts because alcohol consumption is a constant battle between your alcohol intake and the amount of alcohol your body can process.

Whether you’re becoming more drunk or sobering up depends on a variety of factors, so it’s important to consider them to help gauge your risk before you have an alcohol overdose.

How Does Alcohol Poisoning Happen?

Alcohol poisoning is usually indicated by your blood alcohol content (BAC). The higher your BAC, the more impaired you’ll become and the closer you are to getting alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol poisoning can occur in people with a blood alcohol concentration as low as 0.25%, but it often occurs above 0.3% BAC, where the risk of other complications is far higher.

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The Main Factors That Impact How Long Alcohol Poisoning Lasts

How long it takes you to reach alcohol poisoning and how long it lasts depends on two factors: your ability to process alcohol and the rate you’re adding more alcohol to your system.

Your Metabolism

Your metabolism refers to how effectively you can process and remove toxins like alcohol from your bloodstream. A better metabolism means you can drink more before getting alcohol poisoning.

Many factors impact your ability to metabolize alcohol, including:

Liver Function: The liver processes alcohol, which means any kind of liver impairment can impact how effectively it can filter alcohol from your blood. Liver damage is one of the reasons that people addicted to alcohol for long periods are at a high risk of alcohol poisoning.
Age: As you age, your ability to metabolize alcohol worsens. The older you get, the less you can drink before it catches up to you.
Body Weight: Heavier people have more blood and water in their bodies, which means it’s easier to dilute alcohol and puts less strain on the liver.
Food Intake: Consuming alcohol means that it has to work its way through your digestive system. If you have food in your stomach, it spends more time in your stomach, where its absorption rate is lower than in the small intestine.
Other Substances: The liver processes most drugs, but it can only filter so much blood at a time. When you combine alcohol with other drugs like opioids, benzodiazepines, sleeping pills, or stimulants, their concentrations will stay higher in your blood for longer as your liver tries to remove all of the toxins from your body, resulting in alcohol poisoning.

Other genetic factors also play a role in your metabolism, but they’re difficult to identify without testing.

Your Alcohol Intake and Drinking Habits

The amount of alcohol consumed is equally important to your ability to metabolize alcohol. If you drink less, you’ll have less to process, and your metabolism is more likely to keep up and prevent alcohol poisoning.

Your alcohol intake is primarily affected by how much alcohol you drink, how quickly, and what you’re drinking.

It takes fewer drinks with a high alcohol content to reach alcohol poisoning because you’re adding more alcohol and less water to your bloodstream. The more you drink and the harder your alcohol, the easier it is to get drunk and alcohol poisoning. For example, a 12-ounce beer that’s 5% alcohol has a similar impact on your BAC as a shot of 40% liquor.

At the same time, how quickly you drink also affects how much of an impact your drinking has on you. Most people can metabolize one drink per hour, which is the same as a shot or a 12-ounce beer. So, if you finish a six-pack in an hour or do multiple rounds of shots with friends, like the bride’s uncle, your liver won’t be able to keep up.

Knowing the Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning

Alcohol poisoning effects are incredibly dangerous. Some people who lose consciousness never wake up, so you need to be able to identify the symptoms so you can get them to help as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to distinguish the effects of alcohol poisoning from extreme drunkenness, but it’s an incredibly important distinction to make for your or your loved one’s safety.

Never forget that alcohol poisoning can be a potentially life-threatening condition and that 911 or emergency services should be called if you suspect it is occurring.

When Does Intoxication Become An Emergency?

There’s a thin line between “blackout drunk” and alcohol poisoning, which means things can go wrong quickly.

When someone is drunk, they’re often still able to move, respond to speech or contact, and remain conscious in some capacity. There may be vomiting, but it’s generally controlled and they can drink water.

Alcohol poisoning often causes extreme vomiting and a lack of consciousness and responsiveness. People with alcohol poisoning won’t answer when you call their name, won’t respond to pinches or other contact, and may breathe shallowly or gasp for air due to respiratory depression. You may also notice pale or bluish skin from a lack of oxygen or small convulsions and seizures.

If you notice the effects of alcohol poisoning symptoms, especially breathing problems, it’s an emergency, and you need to call an ambulance.

How Is Alcohol Poisoning Treated?

If someone you know has alcohol poisoning, they need prompt medical treatment. Again, call emergency services immediately, place them on their side to prevent them from choking on their own vomit, and attempt to keep them conscious.

Alcohol poisoning is treated based on the type and severity of symptoms. If they’re having trouble breathing, doctors may use a breathing tube or oxygen therapy to maintain circulation during recovery. They can also give fluids to help dilute the alcohol in their bloodstream and maintain blood pressure for cardiac symptoms or provide medications to prevent seizures or further vomiting.

Once the immediate danger is addressed, binge drinking treatment becomes the next priority.

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The Importance of Getting Help For Binge Drinking

Issues with alcohol can be incredibly difficult to cope with because it’s so prevalent in society. It’s one of the few drugs that companies can advertise on television, and it’s a staple in many celebrations or events, like weddings, which makes it hard to avoid and easy to overdo.

In some cases, an alcohol overdose can occur without an underlying alcohol use disorder. You may have had too much alcohol in celebration or forgotten that you took another substance that interfered with your ability to metabolize alcohol, such as taking shrooms with alcohol.

However, for many people, it’s also quite difficult to reach the level of alcohol consumption required to get alcohol poisoning without large quantities of high-alcohol-content drinks.

Experiencing alcohol poisoning is incredibly scary and is a clear wake-up call that you need to make changes. It’s not healthy to reach that level of intoxication, and even a single instance of binge drinking that leads to alcohol poisoning means you should consider getting help.

The Proven Treatments Available for Alcohol Abuse at Purpose

Struggling with excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse is difficult, but there’s help available.

Accredited drug rehabs such as ours at Purpose Healing Center offer alcohol addiction programs that are built to help you get and stay sober. You’ll have multiple options for the type of treatment you receive, which can include:

Medical Detox: Stopping alcohol after an extended period can be both uncomfortable and dangerous. A medical detox ensures you’re as comfortable as possible during withdrawals, which may include medication-assisted treatment to help curb symptoms and prevent harmful complications.
Inpatient Treatment: If you have a hard time resisting the temptation to drink when you’re home, you may want to attend an inpatient program. During your treatment, you’ll live at the treatment center and receive daily care, including meals, group therapy, medication management, and more.
Outpatient Treatment: If your schedule makes it hard to commit to an inpatient program or you’re not someone who drinks too much alcohol regularly, outpatient treatment may work better for you. During your treatment, you’ll regularly attend therapy, meetings, and appointments with your care team but won’t stay overnight.

Each type of treatment has pros and cons, but the most important thing is getting help when you need it in whatever capacity you can handle.

Purpose Healing Center: Get Expert Help For Alcohol Today

Whether you’re binge drinking on occasion or dealing with an alcohol abuse disorder, the threat of alcohol poisoning should be enough to encourage you to get help – and Purpose Healing Center is here for you.

At Purpose, we offer custom-tailored addiction treatment programs for all kinds of substances, including alcohol. We understand the unique difficulties faced when quitting drinking and work to help you develop the coping skills you need to stay sober even in the face of frequent temptation.

You can attend medical detox, inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs built specifically around what works for you.

Don’t risk yourself or a loved one experiencing alcohol poisoning. Contact us today to learn how you can avoid alcohol poisoning and overcome alcohol abuse with effective treatment now.