Drinking and driving

originally posted by: KyoZero
a reply to: peppycat

I know this will go nowhere...but you are very, very wrong on this

I am a former paramedic and former crisis clinician. My first job out of internship was the emergency room in a very busy Chicago hospital followed by a job in two other area hospitals. The reason I even mention he second job, being mental health related and not medical, is because in order for me to assess someone for suicidality, their blood alcohol content (BAC) has to be under .80 or 080 (we use blood)

Now...with that said, we did have many people who were very drunk and making suicidal threats. Often times, by the time their BAC was 050, they did not feel the same way. It was not uncommon for me to have a patient come in whose BAC was 300 or above. The LIVER....not the stomach...not coffee....not food...not herbs...not flushes...is what decides how quickly you drop to below legal limit. For the most part, healthy or mostly healthy people will drop 25 points in an hour. Meaning, if you come in with a BAC of 200, it generally takes 8 hours to reach 000 and 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach under 080 to where I can legally talk to you. However, if the liver is damaged in any way, typically the drop rate is between 15-20 points per hour.

When these people come to the ER, they are usually given an IV and a banana bag (or rally pack), so called for it's light yellow color, in which thiamine, magnesium, and folic acid are given along with a .9% saline solution. This is NOT given to speed up the process of BAC drop. Instead, it is given to mitigate effects of severe hangovers and dehydration.

Food, coffee, protein...all of these things can help someone who is drunk 'feel' sober for a while often due to the sudden rush of caffeine, or the quick intake of sorely needed nutrients after a night of heavy drinking. The food now filling the stomach likewise helps people 'feel' sober due to the filling and calming sensation that food has once eaten. Think "thanksgiving." The reality of triptopan is very overblown. The reason many people feel so calm, happy, and meditative from Thanksgiving is not a chemical, it's because they ate a lot.

Unfortunately, none of your proposed methods of becoming sober quickly are anything more than, "I feel better," but the BAC is still well above legal limits.

Thats true, it only makes you feel better and helps prevent hangover sickness at least in my case. It certianly won't lower your BAC by any means. Still, Don't drink and drive.