vomiting blood and alcohol

Specialties Emergency

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Do you find many patients vomiting blood from drinking too much alcohol?

Well he does have diarrhea and chills, so I am thinking virus BUT as Granny Nurse says, why would a virus cause a GI bleed? He may have a virus, but perhaps he would have thrown up without bleeding if he hadn't been drinking 5 beers and one hard drink at one dinner. I talked to him about it, and he said not to lecture him! It is so hard when they are adults and they don't live with you. Thank you all so much for talking to me. At least this has made me aware of what is going on. And this is the kind of work I aim to do-wow Krisssy

Sorry but it is based on living with an alcoholic parent and dealing with her, for 78 years And she never exhibited any of the classic signs and symptoms but she was an alcoholic. And Kissey's son is exhibiting one of the classic signs of abuse by his binge drinking. Someone needs to look up these signs of alcohol abuse. And I have also had 25 years of dealing with alcoholic patients and their abuse and their excuses.

Grannynurse

My father was a binge drinker alcoholic, and he had to have at least one drink a day and the pills too. Till the day he died, he would NOT admit there was a problem. In fact, he told me that when he was dying, he was not drinking, so that proved he wasn't an alcoholic. He didn't understand that he was just substituting Oxycontin. Denial is a major symptom of the disease of addiction. It is very tough because of that. Krisssy

Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

I just wanted to say that it is great that you are willing to talk to your son about drinking. It is a difficult subject for many parents to bring up.

When I went to college, my mother talked to my sister and I about a family history of alcoholism (on my dad's side). These talks made a big difference for both of us. Even though many students at my college were binge drinkers, I didn't fall into that pattern because of her warnings. My mom basically told us that we have to be more aware of our behavior because studies have determined that there is a genetic component to addiction.

Your son might be comparing his behavior to that of his friends, but drinking is riskier for him than it is for most people. Addiction can creep up on someone, and so he must constantly look at his relationship with alcohol and seek help if a problem develops.

He is lucky to have such a caring mom :)

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
Well he does have diarrhea and chills, so I am thinking virus BUT as Granny Nurse says, why would a virus cause a GI bleed?

Diarrhea and chills are also possible signs of DT's.

There's too much you probably don't know about what's going on, and in the absence of him coming clean, you probably won't. The best advice I can give is to be supportive if he asks for help, but don't let him play you. I wish him and you well and healing.

My father was a binge drinker alcoholic, and he had to have at least one drink a day and the pills too. Till the day he died, he would NOT admit there was a problem. In fact, he told me that when he was dying, he was not drinking, so that proved he wasn't an alcoholic. He didn't understand that he was just substituting Oxycontin. Denial is a major symptom of the disease of addiction. It is very tough because of that. Krisssy

It is an extremely hard disease for a child or parent to deal with. It took me more then twenty years to accept that my mother was never going to change or accept her role as an alcoholic. It took me that long to accept there was nothing I could do to help her. and that there was nothing wrong with my failure. Denial is on both sides. I hop[e you have a better and shorter time then I dud.

Grannynurse

Also, he ate baked ziti for dinner, so who knows. The doc said to come back to the hospital if he throws up blood again. Krisssy

Krissy,

I'm probably wrong and this is going to sound way out of left field but, did he throw up in the ER..? Who determined that it was blood..? Was that checked...? Could an 18 year old with 7 beers + in him determine that it was blood or did he possibly mistake it for tomato sauce..? I know it's a longshot but I just thought I'd ask.

Take whatever the alcoholic SAYS they drank, and multiply it by 2.

Specializes in Emergency.

For what its worth I have seen first time teen drinkers present to the ER vomiting blood tinged GI contents. Alcohol is a GI irritant after all. The get so sick that they cant stop vomiting and eventually the do throw up some bloody looking stuff. The sad thing is we treat them with fluids, phenergan and the like, so the end up not having a hang over, not remembering the event and more than likely we see them again.

RJ

Hello all, I have vomited blood on more than one occassion in the past year, about 3 times. It isn't often but can be scary. I'm not speaking for everyone who vomits blood because there can be serious reasons that do not include alcohol, but for me it would be from over drinking, or drinking and not eating properly. I think the person has to have been drinking for a certain period of time for blood vomiting to occur, not just happen because someone drank too much one weekend, the drinking has to be consistant, over months or years. Also, not eating properly and drinking heavily can cause this. I say, lower the levels of drinking a lot and drink less often, and when you are going to drink, make sure you eat at least 2-3 good meals that day, and lots of fluids. Take care of yourselves!

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