Drug and Alchohol Awareness

Alcohol has lots of positives, helping you to enjoy yourself, be more chatty and maybe even a bit more flirty but there are plenty of negatives to make you think about your levels of drinking. Drinking too much alcohol can have an impact on your physical health, mental health, studies, weight and your pocket. Binge drinking can easily lead to acute alcohol poisoning, which can kill. In England alone, around 500 people a week end up in hospital due to alcohol poisoning. For more information about alcohol and it's effects, visit www.drinkaware.co.uk. Print out and complete Time @ the Bar mini assessment and see how much you are drinking. You can also visit Unit Checker for more information.
Time @ the Bar

 Dangerously drunk

Typical signs of alcohol poisoning include:

  • Confusion
  • Can't be woken from sleep
  • Cold, clammy or blue skin
  • Vomiting
  • Convulsions
  • Slow breathing and/or irregular breathing (less than eight breaths a minute)
  • Having a low body temperature (hypothermia)

If someone shows signs of alcohol poisoning, it's important they are not left alone and that they are looked after.

Do:

  • Try to keep them awake
  • Try to keep them in a sitting or standing position if vomiting
  • Put them into the recovery position with their head to the side if they insist on lying down
  • Keep them warm to prevent hypothermia
  • Give them water if they can drink it
  • Stay with them. Even if they were initially responsive, the alcohol levels in their blood may be so high they will continue to get drunk whilst asleep, and may become unconscious.

Do not:

  • Give them coffee to sober them up. It doesn't work and will cause more dehydration
  • Leave them to sleep it off. They could inhale their own vomit and die
  • Allow them to lie on their back. They may vomit. Put them on their side, and use pillows or cushions to stop them rolling back
  • Walk them up and down to try to sober them up
  • Put them under a cold shower
  • Allow them to drink any more alcohol

Don't wait for all of the symptoms to appear. If in any doubt, call 999 for an ambulance.

Drugs

The use of chemicals to alter the way we feel and see things is one of the oldest activities of the human race.

But a person's use of a drug such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis or heroin can become uncontrolled, or start to control them. Even when the use of drugs leads to serious physical and mental problems, the person using may still not want to stop. For more information talk to Frank, your GP, or Centre for Wellbeing. Seek help if you need it!