vomiting blood and alcohol

Specialties Emergency

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

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Yes, especially if they are chronic drinkers, gastritis is a problem. Sometimes if they have progressed in their alcoholism, esophageal varices will result and when they blow - look out!

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My hospital treats psych patients only, and we have an ER. I float there occasionally--we get a lot of alcoholics and addicts, maybe 1-2 vomiting-bleeds a month.

They are considered medically unstable and we ship them next door to the ER at the medical hospital, via ambulance.

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Yes, especially if they are chronic drinkers, gastritis is a problem. Sometimes if they have progressed in their alcoholism, esophageal varices will result and when they blow - look out!

It is my son, and he is not a chronic drinker. He mostly binge drinks when he and his friends go out.But last night, he had 7 beers and one hard alcohol drink.He is in the hospital emergency room now. I was just wondering if this coud occur from this sort of binge drinking ? He is only 25.

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It is my son, and he is not a chronic drinker. He mostly binge drinks when he and his friends go out.But last night, he had 7 beers and one hard alcohol drink.He is in the hospital emergency room now. I was just wondering if this coud occur from this sort of binge drinking ? He is only 25.

Your son is a chronic drinker. A lot say they are not because they only binge drink. Bringing drinking is chronic drinking. And he could be suffering from gastritis and that is most likely why he is bleeding. He needs help.

Grannynurse

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Specializes in Case Management.
Do you find many patients vomiting blood from drinking too much alcohol?

I would make sure they check LFT's and do hepatitis panels.

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He told me that he had 8 beers and one glass of hard alcohol last night. Is that considered a binge? Could that cause gastritis? He has been in the ED of a large city hospital in NY . He has been there for about 2 hours. I spoke to him about 45 minutes ago, and he said they had taken blood, and he was on IV-no tests yet. I want to speak to someone there. How long should I wait? Is it proper to ask for his nurse or his doctor? Thanks so much. Krisssy

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I would make sure they check LFT's and do hepatitis panels.

What are LFT's?

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Your son is a chronic drinker. A lot say they are not because they only binge drink. Bringing drinking is chronic drinking. And he could be suffering from gastritis and that is most likely why he is bleeding. He needs help.

Grannynurse

Hi Granny nurse. Do you mean that he needs help for excessive drinking like an alcoholism counselor? There is alcoholism and addiction problems in the last 3 generations of my family, and my husband and I were divorced recently being very traumatic on all of us. You know, these kids think it is normal to drink this way. I hope this is a wakup call for him, but I want to see a diagnosis first. I am so worried.

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Specializes in Nursing Assistant/ Army Medic, LVN.

I had a similar problem a few years ago.

Just about every time I would drink anything hard, I would vomit blood. I also went to the hospital at one point. (That whole bloody vomit thing gets kinda scary after a while).

Basically, the deal with me was that my stomach didn't like the Jack Daniels as much as I did. I could drink liquor just fine for a number of years until, all of a sudden, my stomach couldn't handle it anymore. I had to stop drinking liquor.

I'm perfectly fine and healthy, I just can't drink liquor. I can drink beer without any problems, so I just stick with that. (In moderation, of course). :rolleyes:

I wish you and your son well.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Urg Care, LTC, Rehab.
He told me that he had 8 beers and one glass of hard alcohol last night. Is that considered a binge? Could that cause gastritis? He has been in the ED of a large city hospital in NY . He has been there for about 2 hours. I spoke to him about 45 minutes ago, and he said they had taken blood, and he was on IV-no tests yet. I want to speak to someone there. How long should I wait? Is it proper to ask for his nurse or his doctor? Thanks so much. Krisssy

krissy,

since your son is an adult, they probably won't (and shouldn't for confidentiality reasons) give you any information. hopefully they will get a social worker involved who will get a chemical dependency evaluation. 8 beers and a glass of hard alcohol is a lot of alcohol... thank god he didn't kill somebody or himself. i'm a mom too, i know how hard it can be. good luck to you all.

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Thank you all for all of your support. It is always hard to get that kind of call at 6AM from your child no matter what the age.

My son just called and said that they discharged him. They said his blood work was normal, aND THERE WAS NO BlOOD IN HIS STOOL. THEY TOLD HIM THAT IT WASN'T FROM THE DRINKING-THAT HE HAD A VIRUS. I aM NOT YELLING-I KEEP HITTING THAT CAPS LOCK KEY BY ACCIDENT. I asked him about binge drinking, and he said he only drinks like that on the weekends, and that it is normal to do that on weekends. oy He said that his roomate has a stomach virus and he must have caught it. What does a mother do?

Krisssy

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