So, I know the body can absorb alcohol through the anus. I know this is potentially a dangerous activity, since it would be easy to overdose or take too much too fast this way.
But assuming a person is careful to measure the dosage and administer it in a moderate, controlled way - is there any other potential danger? Infection?
And presumably, any calories that one would usually have to metabolize by drinking the alcohol would be irrelevant when taken rectally (or would they?). If that’s true, why not take alcohol up the rear as a way to keep your diet on track?
I wouldn’t think infection. Maybe irritation, colitis, something like that.
Pure alcohol itself has calories, which will enter your bloodstream as surely as if you’d drunk it. So if you were to use vodka, which is basically alcohol and water, you can assume 100% caloric absorption. Wine and beer contain carbohydrates in addition to alcohol. You’d absorb the alcohol calories but not the carbs.
The Mayans were apparently somewhat fond of imbibing their alcohol via enema rather than drinking it. Europeans used to take “tobacco enemas” which was basically someone blowing smoke up someone else’s ass. So the notion of intoxicating oneself via the nether regions had not only occurred to people but has actually been practiced.
This bears reiteration. The thing about imbibing alcohol in the usual way is that the absorption into the bloodstream is slower and if levels get too high (and let’s not forget that alcohol is a poison) the body has a safety mechanism (vomiting).
With anal absorption, the alcohol goes into the bloodstream much faster and if you cross the danger threshold there’s not a lot you can do about it. You can’t even get your stomach pumped.
Dan Savage talked about this in his podcast not all that long ago (which is why I mention the above - I’ve never had any desire at all to do butt shots myself) and said that basically it’s a really dumb thing to do and at the absolute most you shouldn’t do anything stronger than heavily diluted wine.
As for other problems, Savage didn’t mention them but remember that alcohol can dry out and irritate tissues, and obviously the usual cautions about however and whatever you’re using to get the booze in there apply.
To be fair, one of the main uses of tobacco enemas was resuscitation of drowning victims. Mouth to mouth was apparently seen as too risky. (source, mom and dad’s first aid book, which had a history section as well.)
First I’m thinking this is a really dumb question; then the Mayans; then the Europeans - Damn??
My “ignorance fought” dose of the Dope just overflowed for today.
There’s a video out there (probably more than one) of a woman recording herself giving herself a big wine enema, getting drunk from it, stumbling around, and then squatting on a toilet for the inevitable result. She’s so drunk her feet keep slipping off the toilet seat into the bowl, and she keeps missing the bowl mid-evacuation & it goes all over the place. It’s amazing what people will record themselves doing.