Stepdaughter unconscious through alcohol - A&E?

[LittleLionMansMummy]

Posting here looking for quick advice please. Dh got called by dsd's friend at midnight saying she was in no fit state to go into town (they'd been preloading vodka). The taxi wouldn't take her. Dh went to collect her, she couldn't stand up and hasn't been conscious since he put her in the car. She's home now (I.e. here, but she lives with her mum), is breathing, he's laid her on her side and is sitting with her. He's not going to leave her, but should he be getting her to hospital? Looked up alcoholic poisoning but it's not clear if what we've done is sufficient or she needs to be in hospital.

If you think SD needs to be in hospital because she's pissed I suggest you take her and allow the Ambulance Service to deal with real emergencies.

Oh fgs, an ambulance isn't needed unless there are other symptoms. If she's breathing OK and someone is watching her, then she'll be fine to sleep!

Christ. She's had a drink, she's being watched, suggesting 999 is ridiculous

She'll be ill soon. No fun for anyone. Just like when they are three or four and can't communicate when they'll be sick. Get the towels out and the massive patience. Good luck.

Pressuredrip just one harsh reply to be fair, everyone else has been very helpful. I agree that teenage drunkenness is nothing unusual, and didn't want to overreact and clog up our already overstretched NHS if we could help her at home (very little previous experience of alcohol poisoning in a hound adult so nothing to compare it to, except my own experience which would have been to 'sleep it off' (not recommended). We've now spoken to 111 who have said we're doing the right thing. If she'd remained unresponsive dh would have gone to A&E. Thanks everyone, sometimes it's good to have an outside perspective.

Oh, and stop with the stupid pain stimulus suggestions. Pinching ears does fuck all with a drunk person. If you want to check responsiveness, then sternal rub will do it.

Hope she's okay, by the way. X

"She hasn't been conscious for over an hour? Get her to A&E"

What bollocks. It's the middle of the night fgs. Most people are unconscious..

hat in layman's terms, what is sternal rub? Agree a drunk person won't feel a thing, but if you're going to be helpful, I'd like to know what that is.

What bollocks. It's the middle of the night fgs. Most people are unconscious..

There is a massive difference between asleep and unconscious. Maybe if you don't know the difference, don't be giving out medical advice online.

Don’t call an ambulances. You might divert one away from a proper emergency. Chuck some water in her face. If that doesn’t work, put her in the car and take her to A&E yourselves.

If Hat doesn't reply before me - A sternum rub is someone running 2 bent fingers, knuckle side down, in a downward movement, quite forcefully, against a person's sternum - The sternum is the uppermost bone just before the ribs fuse.

Anyone who is conscious will feel it. Its very painful and an easy test to find if someone is conscious or feigning unconsciousness.

hat never mind. I've re-educated myself. Sternal rub is definitely preferable to ears.

Call 111 and talk to someone. They will help work out whether she needs further medical attention, and if so perhaps her dad can take her to hospital rather than using an ambulance. But again you talk to someone who can help to advise on medical need first.

Also, ouch.

Not quite sure why the mother needs to be informed because an adult chose to drink too much, and has someone watching her? He'll have a sleepless night. Make sure she's on her side, so vomits on the floor. If concerned- painful stimuli- not pleasant. Rub her sternum as hard as possible, or pinch her earloabe if she wakes(ish) to that, there's no problem. And hopefully lesson learned.

Also, ouch

Ouch indeed! But a very effective way of deciding whether to call an ambulance away from a real emergency or not 😉

@IWantMyHatBack- have successfully pinched ma y earlobes for a response actually. If it doesn't work moved on to more painful- but never started with a sternal rub

Not earlobe. Those are traditionally pierced and totally numb. Don't do that. Knuckle to breastbone as hat said.

Hope she's OK op.

Sorry for all this worry you are having..If you know now, that its just a lot of vodka that she has consumed, and nothing untowards,, and she is somewhat a little responsive,, then just be prepared for some throwing up in the loo later, and try and get her to drink lots of water if she can.

I think that I am saying this, as I remember a friend of my daughter being in this situation many years ago after some party or other. Hope all turns out ok for you all.

How awfully worrying for you and DH.

It was good of the friend to make contact with family to make sure DSD was properly looked after, rather than just leave her to her own devices. That is a major worry with teenage girls.
I hope both DH and her DM will have stern words with her. I think you said her drinking is causing worries. That has to be stopped. You could be facing years of nights like this if it is not dealt with.
Tomorrow I would feel an urgent need to hoover every inch of the house and re-arrange the pot and pans cupboard very noisily!

Not quite sure why the mother needs to be informed because an adult chose to drink too much,

I am assuming her mum would be expecting her home at some point and may be concerned when she doesn’t show up?

How is she this morning? Head hanging in the toilet I assume 🤢
I remember doing this although admittedly a bit younger and my mum came into my room in the morning saying here to go sweetie I’ve brought you a drink so I grabbed the pint glass and chugged loads down to run straight to the loo and vomit it wasn’t water it was vodka funnily enough I’ve never touched the stuff again and she made her point 😂

The sternal rub isn't used in hospitals any more. It causes bruising and it isn't reliable to give responses. If you need to cause pain to assess response from a possibly unconscious person, you put pressure on their nail bed by rolling a pen over it firmly, or their trapezius by pressing in under the collar bone. We sometimes press above the eye if we are worried that the lack of response is due to a limb problem, but there are now concerns that this can cause nerve damage, so even that has gone out of favour a bit.

It sounds like she's waking, but vomiting is a real danger so she does need to be kept on her side, and then she'll need to be drinking water to flush her kidneys.

Dh stayed with her till 5am, making sure she stayed on her side. She had an attitude this morning with dh when he tried to talk to her. I took her a cup of tea and was very calm, asked her not to be shitty with dh because she'd scared us both so much that dh had to stay with her for most of the night. She had a few tears and said she couldn't remember anything. I asked her if she was with anyone she didn't know well and she said they were all well known to her. I said I thought she probably just didn't know her limits, that we've all been there, but that it was very scary to see in someone you love and I hope she'd learned something from it. Remarkably she wasn't sick.

Her mum's reaction was "silly girl. She wouldn't get away with that here." But seemed otherwise unconcerned. Dh said she was so bad we nearly drove her to the hospital. No reaction other than "has she got her phone?" Pretty pissed off to be honest. Had it been my own dd or ds I'd have been straight along to collect them and having words about how dangerous that level of drinking is. As a step mum I can't afford to alienate dsd by reading the riot act and she's very defensive whenever dh tries to talk to her.