# Alcohol IV, UL or true **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644 "2003-06-04T17:09:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/1 "2003-06-04T17:09:33Z")
A former boss told me this story he got from his wife who was getting her pharmacy degree at the U of A in Tucson. She said that there were severe alcoholics who would intentionally drink anti freeze because of the treatment. According to her the ethylene glycol would form globules in the liver and destroy it so the only way to keep it suspension was to give an alcohol IV to the patient. I’ve heard of drunks drinking Sterno™ but this is over the top. My wife, TheLadyLion, is a chemical dependancy counsellor and has never heard of such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/2 "2003-06-04T17:21:14Z")
Type “paris explosion” into Google and you’ll get the latest news links. [17 injured.](http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-4jun2003-96.htm) Probably gas. ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/3 "2003-06-04T17:25:03Z")
that should answer your question ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/4 "2003-06-04T17:26:30Z")
also try posting in the correct thread. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/5 "2003-06-04T17:28:09Z")
\<- has “WTF?” expression on face. Uh, no that didn’t asnwer my question at all. I think you responded to the wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/6 "2003-06-04T17:38:36Z")
Man. What a lot of bullshit for one nugget of truth. Ethylene glycol is not especially toxic; its metabolites are. Yes, you can administer alcohol to compete for the enzymes involved, which will prevent EG toxicity. No, they don’t actually do this – there are drugs that inhibit the enzyme, and that’s the preferred treatment. Well, I guess maybe somebody does, but it’s not common, and it’s combined with induced vomiting and gastric lavage with activated charcoal, making it a less-than-fun way to spend a Saturday night. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/7 "2003-06-04T17:47:13Z")
Thanks for the SD **Nametag** , I’ll stick to Sterno on Saturday nights from now on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/8 "2003-06-05T00:36:07Z")
[Here’s](http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic177.htm) a good article on ethylene glycol toxicity. To summarize, initial treatments are IV crystalloids, thiamine, and pyridoxine. As **Nametag** mentioned, fomepizole is available as an antidote. However, it’s expensive (~$2000/day), so I don’t know how readily available it is. Emergency dialysis is also an option. However, induced vomiting isn’t really used anymore for anything. St. Urho EMT ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/9 "2003-06-05T01:08:50Z")
In a pet emergency first aid book I have somewhere it says to administer alchol if your pet has drunk antifreeze. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/10 "2003-06-05T06:03:48Z")
Vet clinics do indeed use an ethanol drip to counteract antifreeze ingestion…assuming the owner brings the animal in before the kidneys are affected. Induced vomiting is also the first line of treatment for veterinary toxicity cases. It’s not really used for anything in human medicine, though. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/11 "2003-06-05T06:33:06Z")
I caught one of my dogs lapped up some antifreeze in a parking lot when we were walking in the rain. The puddle looked strange, so I dipped a finger in, and had a taste. Sweet … yup, anti-freeze. Damn. I drove like a maniac to the nearest emergency vet, where they immediately placed her on an ethanol drop, and watched over her for about three days. Yes, she survived. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/12 "2003-06-05T10:09:07Z")
Padeye\*\*, sorry for adding to your confusion earlier. This is what comes of having two SDMB windows open at once. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/13 "2003-06-05T10:42:11Z")
It may depend where you are: these University of Kentucky Hospital guidelines for [Ethylene Glycol Poisoning Treatment](http://www.mc.uky.edu/pharmacy/dic/criteria/ethyleneglycol.htm) show IV ethanol as the primary treatment, and fomepizole only if ethanol is contraindicated for clinical/ethical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/14 "2003-06-05T13:10:20Z")
As I recall, IV ethanol used to be used to halt pre-term labor, but has been largely replaced by terbutaline sulfate and magnesium sulfate for that purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/15 "2003-06-06T06:58:02Z")
About 15 years ago a nurse friend described a patient they were treating - young man had drunk isopropanol or methanol (IOW a common alcohol that wasn’t ethanol), and they had him in hospital on ethanol drip for several days. From what she described it sounded like a hangover times a hundred. I might opt to die instead… ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-iv-ul-or-true/179644/16 "2003-06-06T11:22:20Z")
Of related interest: [“Whisky cure after anti-freeze error”](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2617997.stm).