What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

[LesPaulCustom]

Dont ask...long drawn out story...but does anybody know what the long term effects of drinking rubbing alcohol??

Mrs LPC

[sully]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

i think your poison control center will get you a faster answer.

sully

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Yeah I know, but I dont want to call them and have them thinking that we are so bad that we guzzle rubbing alcohol on a daily basis. I just wanna know basically what can happen to your innerds after a period of time, plus adding pure vanilla, mouthwash, and Nyquil by the gallons on top of it. Would the person have any bit of their liver left??? Brain cells shot to hell too?? Will they die soon?? God I sound morbid as hell now.

Mrs LPC

[A. Pulver]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

You can go blind and you can die

[stsk]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

rubbing alcohol cant be good for you!
i think it says on the bottle that it can cause serious gastric problems

mouthwash cant be good either


i heard you can get a sorta drunk effect if you drink pure vanilla... but it tastes like shit! just smells good

dont know about nyquill... but robitussin maximum strength is the shit!

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

How long would it take before you knew the outcome of the long term effects? I know that it can cause you to go blind or just flat out die...but how long would it take? I cant stand not knowing whats going on...I dont know what organs its can fry and what would be slightly safe. Damn, I should have gone into internal meds...

Mrs LPC

[stsk]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

why are you asking?

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Long drawn out story...but here are the cliff notes...Daddy is a serious alcoholic, he will drink ANYTHING he can get his hands on. Yesterday, he drank rubbing alcohol on top of a couple of bottles of mouthwash and my grandmother (whom he still lives with) found him passed out in the driveway and couldnt wake him up. She found the bottle of alcohol and called 911...they couldnt get a response from him but got a slight pulse, he went to the ER and now hes in ICU going through withdrawals along with a case of pneumonia. Hes stable now, but not out of danger, the ICU nurse says he could still possibly die. I wont know anything until my grandmothers in home nurse calls me or my grandmother calls me with an update. It truly sucks being 8 hours away from home.

Mrs LPC

[stsk]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

damn thats serious [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

i wish him the best of luck

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Here's a note on the toxicity of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol:

EFFECTS ON HUMANS The documented toxicity of isopropyl alcohol in man is confined for the most part to accidental ingestion (not inhalation), with a few cases reported in association with rectal and topical application. Several deaths have reportedly resulted from ingestion of about 1 pint of 70% isopropyl alcohol (Adelson, 1962)e Other persons have survived after ingesting similar amounts (Chapin, 1949; Freireich et al., 1967; Juncos and Taguchi, 1968; King et al., 1970)~ The lethal dose of isopropyl alcohol is estimated as 160-240 ml (Ashkar and Miller, 1971) and 250 ml (McBay, 19733. In 197S, 372 Melanesian men consumed a solution of 82% methyl alcohol and 18% isopropyl alcohol in the mistaken belief that the solution was methylated spirits; 18 of them died. A disparity was noted in the amount of solution consumed and the sequelae; for example, 100 ml produced blindness and death in one case, but 500 ml seemed to cause no disability in two other men who claimed to have drunk this high quantity (Scrimgeour, 1980~. The rates of ingestion were not specified. Ballard et al. (1975) reported that 15 of 41 persons working in a drug company became ill and had nausea, vomiting, weakness, and abdominal pain. Their illness; was attributed to their exposure to carbon tetrachloride and isopropyl alcohol, inasmuch as 13 of the 15 had been within 25 It of these chemicals when they were spilled. In two factories manufacturing isopropyl alcohol by the stroug-acid process (involving the formation of isopropyl oils as byproducts), an Ace;; risk of cancer'; of the parana';al sinuses was found (Eckhardt, 1974; Hueper, 1966; Well et al., 1952~. An excess risk of laryngeal cancer may also have been present. However, diisopropyl sulfate, art intermediate substance in the preparation of isopropyl alcohol suspected of being an animal carcinogen, is formed in the strong-acid process. Zakhari et al. (1977) quoted several studies (Garrison, 1953; Vermeulen, 1966, McFadden and Haddow, 1969; Moss, 1970; Wise, 1969) of coma produced in hospital patients by topical application of isopropyl alcohol during sponge baths intended to reduce fever. Blood isopropyl alcohol concentrations ranged from 10 to 220 mg/100 ml; recovery in all cases was complete in 24-36 h. -57-
OCR for page 58
Ten volunteers exposed for 3-5 min to isopropyl alcohol vapor at concentrations of 200, 400, and 800 ppm reported mild to moderate irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat at the two higher concen- trations (Nelson et al., 1943~. Daily ore] intake of low doses of isopropyl alcohol (2.6 or 6.4 mg/kg of body weight) by groups of eight men for 6 wk had no effect on blood cells, serum, or urine and produced no subjective symptoms (Wi~ ~ _ al., 1969~. Fuller and Hunter (1927) reported that dizziness occurred within a short time of oral exposure of seven human subjects to 20-30 cm3 of 50% solution of isopropyl alcohol. They also experienced moderate to severe headache lasting one to three h. The odor threshold for isopropyl alcohol ranges from 40 ppm (May, 1966) to 200 ppm (Scherberger et al., 1958~. Isopropyl alcohol is not a cutaneous irritant (Nixon et al., 1975), although several cases of allergic contact dermatitis have been reported (Fregert et al., 1971; McInnes, 1973; Richardson et al., 1969; Wasilewski, 196%S. EFFECTS ON ANIMALS The oral LDso of isopropyl alcohol in rats, rabbits, and dogs is about 5 g/kg (Lehman and Chase, 1944~. The dermal LDso in rabbits is about 13 g/kg, and inhalation at 16,000 ppm for ~ h was lethal to four of six rats (Smyth and Carpenter, 1948~. The intravenous lethal dose in cats is 2.5 ml/kg (Macht, 1922~. Isopropyl alcohol vapor at maximal saturation in air (i.e., 5.~% at 25°C) is not lethal to mice exposed for less than 1 h. The LC,o administered for 120 min to mice is 10.39 + 3.68 mg/L (49,120 ppm). The oral and intraperi- toneal LDsos are approximately equal in mice and rats. LCsos measured in rats exposed to isopropyl alcohol for 8 h were 19,000 ppm for females and 22,500 ppm for males. The signs of intoxication after application of isopropyl al cohol are similar to those with ethyl alcohol, although it is 1.5-2 times more toxic than ethyl alcohol (In.ternatiollal Agency for Research on Cancer, 1977~. Death is usually preceded by dizziness;, narcosis, deep coma, and shock (Lehman et al., 1945; Morris and Lightbody, 1938~. An orally administered dose of 2 g/kg produced narcotic effects in rabbits for about 8 h (Morris and LighLbody, 1938~. Augmented hepatotoxicity of various chlorinated hydrocarbons was noted in mice administered isopropyl alcohol at 2.5 ml/kg 18 h before hydrocarbon exposure (Traiger and Plaa, 1974~. Lehman and Chase (1944) demonstrated the doses of isopropyl alcohol that produced anesthesia and death in rabbi ts and dogs: Anesthetic Dose Lethal Dose l Rabbits 3.23 ml/kg 8.23 ml/kg Dogs 3.35 ml/kg 5.12 m1/kg -58
OCR for page 59
The respiratory system may be paralyzed by isopropyl alcohol; this is usually the cause of death after isopropyl alcohol ingestion (Zakhari et al., 1977~. A concentration of isopropyl alcohol in air of 97.5 m ~ L caused respiratory minute-volume depression, broncho- constriction, hypotension, and bradycardia in rats. Single exposure to atmospheric isopropyl alcohol results in an increase in pulmonary resistance and a decrease in pulmonary compliance. These effects are more pronounced if more than six daily exposures are administered (Zakhari et al., 1977~. In anesthetized dogs, isopropyl alcohol inhalation caused various effects: depression of myocardial contractility at 1.0% (2.45 mg/L), reduction in cardiac output at 2.5% (6.12 mg/L), and systemic hypotension at 7.5: (18.37 mg/L) (Zakhari et al., 1977~. Histopathologic examination of rats exposed at 21,000 ppm for ~ h showed typical lesions of chemical pneumonitis and pulmonary edema accompanied by foamy vacuolization of liver cells and severe focal cytoplasmic degradation (Laham et al., 1980~. Baikov et al. (1974) investigated the effects of chronic inhalation of isopropyl alcohol by rats. Groups of 15 animals were exposed to isopropyl alcohol continuously for 24 hid for 86 d at concentrations of 20, 2.5, and 0.6 mg/m3 (approximately 8.14, 1.02, and 0.24 ppm). The animals inhaling isopropyl alcohol at 20 mg/m3 (8.14 ppm) showed changes in reflex behavior, increases in the retention of BSP, the total leukocyte count, and the number of abnormal fluorescent leukocytes. They also showed a decrease in the blood nucleic acid content, the blood oxidase and catalase activities, and the amount of coproporphyrin in blood. Animals inhaling isopropyl alcohol at 2.5 mg/m3 (1.02 ppm) demonstrated some of the same effects, but none were statistically significant. In animals inhaling isopropyl alcohol at 20 mg/m3 (~.14 ppm), postmortem findings included hyperplasia of the spleen with the development of hemorrhages of the sinuses and erosion of follicular cells, some evidence of liver parenchymal cell dystrophy, hyperplastic ependymal cell';, and degenerative changes in the cerebral motor cortex. None of these effects were observed in animals inhaling isopropyl alcohol at 0.6 mg/m3 (0.24 pro). On the basis of this continuous exposure study, the authors suggested that 0.6 mg/m3 (0.24 ppm) be adopted as the maximal daily average concentration. Some of the physiological responses reported in this study, such as the increase in abnormal fluorescent leukocytes, are obscure and are therefore difficult to interpret. Furthermore, they suffer from a lack of experimental details. Isopropyl alcohol (10%) in the diet of young rats for 30 d had no effect on growth, liver weight, or lipid content (Miyazaki, 1955~. Dogs given daily doses of 1.3 g/kg in the drinking water had the appearance of drunkenness 3-5 h after intake, but no consistent pathologic changes over a 6-mo period (Lehman et al., 1945~. No evidence of carcinogenicity was found when several strains of mice were exposed to isopropyl alcohol in air at 7,700 mg/m3 3-7 in/d, 5 d/we, for 5-8 mot However, the animals were not observed over a normal lifetime and were killed at 8-12 ma of age (Weil et al., 1952~. The authors reported no increases in the incidence of lung tumors in mice given subcutaneous injections of 0.025 ml of isopropyl -59

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm certainly not an expert but as I read this (and a couple of other random sources) it seems that the primary danger is ingesting a lethal dose. Methyl (not isopropyl) alcohol causes blindness so that's probably not a concern. I'd think that if this was an isolated incident and he appears to make a full recovery, he probably has.

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Theres too many 50 cent words in that....hurts my brain...I just wanna know if I should be planning a trip home soon....I used to worry about writing his obituary...but Ive done it sooooo much in the past...I have it memorized now.

Mrs LPC

[sdavis80]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

OUCH!!! Sorry to hear it. If you guys need anything like maybe a sitter or something just let me know [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . But seriously if there is anything I can do let me know!

[hippietim]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Originally posted by A.Pulverizer:
You can go blind and you can die

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I thought that's what happened went you were Catholic and masturbated.

[Newc]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

Nah you won't die, your eyes rot out and the skin of your hands flakes off, but you won't die from slappy la beef [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mrs LPC - sorry to hear about it - God Bless you guys and your dad as well.

Newc

[Ace]

Re: What can happen if you drink rubbing alcohol??

These are really questions you should be asking the doctors who are treating your father, not us. Obviously there are serious effects from drinking these things, and your father is experiencing them. The doctors treating your father must have taken all sorts of tests and they would have a much better understanding of his condition than a bunch of guys who hang out and talk guitars. This is a good place to find support, but not medical knowledge.