My jackass roommate went and got drunk enough to get hauled back by a friend, who advised me to keep him awake and get him to drink water.
Keeping him awake is not working. I can wake him up, but he goes back to sleep pretty quickly. I did get him to drink a few swallows of water. As it stands, I check to see if I can wake him up every 10 minutes or so.
So what should I do? Waking him every 10 minutes is not a good long term strategy (its midnight now). Is there anyway to tell ‘sleeping it off’ from ‘unconscious’? Am I going to have to stay up all night with him?
The data: I wasn’t there, some guy brought him back and just said he had ‘too much’… this was about an hour ago. He’s 18, African American, about five-ten and, um, a healthy weight, I guess. (bad at estimates)
If this isn’t the place, mods, move it, but somebody please help me out. I didn’t spend my high school years learning how to deal with alcohol induced problems, and now I am completely unprepared for college life…
Just let him fall asleep and sober up. Put a trash can near his bed so if he ralphs, he just might have the mind to do it in the can.
Keeping him up is just putting a strain on you, keeping you up and having to listen to any drunken ramblings he might spout.
The best drunk is a sleeping drunk. This comes from my own college party host days. If they’re awake, they get stupid ideas and do things like upturn furniture, punch holes in walls, or wash the telephone in the dishwasher. (All things that happened at my parties.)
If you can rouse him, then he isn’t unconscious in the medical sense of the word. Make sure he’s lying on his side and try to prop him so that he can’t roll onto his back - the big danger is choking on his own vomit if he throws up.
Well, it’s been a while, but I used to deal with this as a college EMT, so I’ll chime in until some-one better qualified says something.
Yes, you will probably need to keep checking his conciousness level. If you can’t keep him awake, that’s no surprise (alchohol is a CNS depressent.) If you can’t get him to wake up, that’s a sign of a real problem. Keeping him hydrated is a very good idea, alchohol also has an effect equivalent to dehydration on the brain. The more you can get into him the better, but anything’s better than nothing. If you can, check to see if he knows:
who he is
where he is
what day/ month/ year it is (don’t be too fussy about this last one)
Also, DON’T Believe whoever dropped your roomate off with you!!!
It is more than likely that there was something besides just alchohol involved. If you can’t wake him up, or if you see fixed pupils, any bumps/burises/wounds on his head, difficulty swallowing, rapid shallow breathing, or feel a weak, rapid and thready pulse, call the campus medical services. Yeah, he might get busted, but these symptoms indicate more than mere over-intoxication.
BTW, the water drinking is meant to keep his fluid levels up. Alcohol is a diuretic, so his body is getting dehydrated. Less volume of water in his blood will give him a killer hangover headache.
Screw him. Let him have his hangover. Maybe he’ll learn not to overindulge, or at least not overindulge so much.
Hell, if he’s so drunk that he can’t stay conscious, do something he’ll regret, like shave all the hair off his body. :D:D:D:D:D
IANAD, but I was in college with a moderately alcoholic roommate. As long as he’s breathing (which is pretty clear he’s doing), I wouldn’t worry too much. The distinction between “falling asleep” and “passing out” is mighty fine, and thus not worth worrying about - either way, he’s not consuming any more alcohol, which gives his body a chance to process what’s already in him.
Obviously he’s not taking enough water in him to do what you really want him to do (well, actually, you probably don’t want him to do this, but it will do him the most good) - which is to vomit. Vomiting has the salutary effect of subtracting whatever alcohol’s still in his stomach, and that’s A Good Thing. Still, even the small amount of water that he’s getting now will help him in the morning - dehydration is a major part of a hangover, so the more liquid in him the less severe it will be.
Of course, I’m assuming that your roommate had the normal “a few too many,” and was not part of some sort of fraternity or sports-team hazing that forced seriously obscene quantities of alcohol down his gullet. The key is breathing - as long as he seems to be doing that OK, I would assume he’ll be fine. Oh, and I’d position him so that he’s on his side, rather than on his back or stomach - that way if he does vomit, he’ll make a mess rather than choke.
But what if he becomes unconscious? I’m not sure when he last drank, and I’m not sure about the mechanics of alcohol metabolism. I’m not sure how to know if he’s asleep or medically unconcious besides checking him repeatedly. If I’ve been able to wake him so far, can I stop checking?
And how can I make sure he stays on his side if I’m asleep? He’s not rambling. When he’s awake he just looks miserable.
Preview shows that I’ got another reply and email is binging at me, but I’ll post this as is and then make another sweep.
Ok, he’s breathing, and encouragingly its actual humanoid breathing. A little while ago (half an hour/15 min) he was doing quick gasps, which I woke up from. Now its just more like someone sleeping.
There is a clinic, and he won’t get in trouble if I have to take him there but I don’t want to overreact either.
Stupid drunk you say! It’s time to shave him down like a big 'ol hog ready for the barbecue. Let him lapse into a hard stupor and then get out the razor and shaving cream. Put him in the tub and shave his head as bald as the day he was born then replace his clothes and hide the evidence of your actions.
Ok, he’s starting tossing and turning and he’s harder to wake up. Good sign? Bad sign? The harder to wake up scares me but on the other hand maybe he’s actually falling asleep, i haven’t known him long, maybe he’s a sound sleeper. I don’t know how to interpret tossing and turning at all.
If he’s tossing and turning he is definitly not unconscious. He’s just having a very unrestful sleep at this point. Take yourself to bed. Your roommate will in all likelyhood wake up with a killer hangover and that’s about it. Trust me I speak from experiance having taken care of many drunks (and being one myself on occasion)
John, call the campus clinic. In the meantime, make sure you LINE the wastebasket with a plastic bag or two.
If I had been put in this situation, I’d probably just call the campus clinic and let THEM deal with it. They’ve seen this all too often, and know exactly what to do. Yeah, he’ll PROBABLY be OK even if you just let him sleep it off, but your roomie might think twice about getting stinking drunk if he wakes up in the clinic. You don’t want him to make a habit of this. If nothing else, it’s nerve-wracking and not fair to you.
And also to say to those suggesting that he should be ok to just “sleep it off”: Yeah, more than likely, but there’s a huge number of 18-year-olds that die every year from binge drinking when they get to college, and the best thing to do is to get some-one with some medical training to evaluate him. It could really, honestly, no exaggeration save his life.
umm let me get personal here. from what what you say, i THINK he’ll be fine. why? i am an alcoholic w/one alcoholic parent (used to be two). seen many-a-nights like that- but were all better now…
Yeah, throw him in bed and put a trash can near him. And if his head swims and he feels dizzy when he lies down, tell him to keep one foot on the floor. And take a few deep breaths, oxygenate.
I might be late checking in on this one, but if you’re a really good roommate, you might want to pick him up some Gatorade or something similar. I’ve found that it makes me feel much better the morning after overindulging. It’s certainly not a cure, but it’s beneficial. I try to stock up every time we have a party, for those guests who have to spend the night here.
I didn’t intend to make light of your OP, and I think it’s wonderful that you are so concerned about your room-mate, but nothing you have said so far leads me to believe that he is in immediate danger.
I’d usually second Lynn’s suggestion of letting him wake up in a clinic just to shock the hell out of him, but I suspect the emergency rooms in the US are already at breaking point.
Just let the asshole deal with the killer hangover he is bound to wake up with tomorrow, withhold the painkillers, and play heavy metal or rap as loud as you can - he won’t forget that in a hurry.
BTW - I have minor medical qualifications and if he’s not in respiratory distress after this many hours then it’s extremely unlikely to be a problem. Just put thumbtacks or something behind him so that if he tries to roll over on his back the pain will make him roll the other way.
And on behalf of a mother who has a son at university, I’d like to say that I think you totally rock for caring so much about your room-mate.
