And there was me thinking that the only time people called doctors for drunks was on Neighbours…
It’s important to know that if you find someone who appears to be sleeping but you want to make sure they are okay is make them sit up. If they wake up then they are probably okay. Learned this from 911 once.
Ok, its morning and things are ok, although I am exhausted, Around 3 some noise in the hall woke him up and I talked to him a bit, he was pretty lucid and he was awake for several minutes. When he went back to sleep he seemed to be sleeping normally, so I relaxeed a litle. I didn’t go to sleep but I dozed a little.
Around 5 he got up again for longer, I talked to him some more, he claimed to have not been that drunk and I told him all I had to go on was what the guy who dropped him off told me. After talking I concluded he wasn’t likely to die at this point and got some sleep.
It is morning now, and I don’t know how he is because he isn’t talking, but that’s normal. We don’t really talk much anyway. I think if he had a hangover he’d be a little more careful with how he closes the door.
I think I fulfilled my good roommate duties by making sure he didn’t choke to death on his own vomit; he’ll have to handle his hangover by himself. Later we’re going to have a talk about my babysitting-drunks duty and how it doesn’t it exist. If he plans on getting this drunk every weekend he better find some friends to stay with while he sleeps it off.
Thanks for your help everyone. This was pretty lousy for me and you really helped. Mods, you can lock it up now if you like.
–John
I salute you fine sir!
“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.” (paperbackwriter)
i don’t buy it. he is (was) stinking drunk…like billions before him. yes, many die. how many, a dozen per year? This is not 12 deaths per million students (pulling these #'s outta my ass for the sake of argument). This is 12 deaths per 200 million drunk incidents these 1 million students have in the course of a year. Odds significantly decreased - to the point of if you sweat this in college you’ll never make it to graduation sane.
he’s hammered. he’d better learn to take his licker better.
Wow, it’s fascinating to see how much good and bad advice can be had here.
Yue Han, congrats on a job well done – particulary given that you didn’t have to. You definitely win the Good Roomate Award.
For next time, or to anybody else:
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Call your RA. You shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of thing, and they get paid to. They should have some training, too… They can make the call whether or not he’s suffering from alcohol poisoning and if they need to call the campus clinic (that’s what they’re there for) or if he’ll be okay in the room. No need for you to stress.
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Recovery position. (Thanks, yojimbo!) So they don’t aspirate vomit if they do vomit. (It also makes it slightly more difficult for them to roll back over.)
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Wake them up every 20-30 minutes. If they can wake up and talk to you, all is good. Water’s not a bad idea… if they can’t wake up, the campus clinic/ambulance/911 is your next step. Don’t hesitate; an unnecessary call is much better than a dead roommate. (Unless you’ll get straight As for the semester because of it … kidding! :D)
Any changes (decreases, usually) in heart rate, breathing, or level of awareness mandate a call for the clinic/ambulance. If they have had any drugs (definitely get as much information if you can from them or whoever brings them home), call the clinic/ambulance.
Hope this helps! (And if it did, my email and ICQ/AIM contact information is in my profile – I’m almost always on AIM and ICQ, and I check email more often than I check the boards.)