Alcohol poisoning is a result of drinking too much ethanol in the form of alcoholic beverages. The effects of ethanol on your system depend on the concentration of alcohol in your blood (blood alcohol concentration, or BAC).
Normally, your body can eliminate the alcohol from a 12-ounce can of beer in about one hour (or 1¼ oz. of 80-proof liquor, or 4 oz. of table wine). If your body absorbs more alcohol than it can eliminate, your blood alcohol concentration goes up. Blood alcohol content continues to rise even after you've stopped drinking or have passed out because alcohol in your stomach continues to enter your bloodstream. The following are six effects of alcohol on the body (adapted from Dr. Izak Loftus, forensic and anatomical pathologist from the Pathcare-group, for Health24).
First effect: The Jovial Phase
The brains frontal lobes house the functions that control your inhibitions, self-control, willpower, ability to judge and attention span. This is the first part of your body to be impacted by alcohol.
Second effect: The Slurring Phase
This is when your motor skills become impaired, you have difficulty speaking, you start shivering, and complicated actions become very difficult to execute and your sensory abilities are hampered.
Third effect: The Can’t-See-Properly Phase
Your visual perception ability becomes limited. You experience increased difficulty with movement and distance perception. Your depth perception becomes impaired and your peripheral vision decreases. It is at this point, that people are at risk of injuries or death from falls.
Fourth effect: The Falling-Down Phase
Maintaining your balance has become difficult and the cerebellum portion of your brain is now being affected by the alcohol.
Fifth effect: The Down-and-Out Phase
At this stage the alcohol wave is crashing over your brain. You become tired and very unsteady. You start shaking and you vomit. Maybe your reflexes will not be so badly suppressed that you cannot protect your airways, otherwise you could inhale your own vomit and die. Your consciousness is now suppressed, and you may be comatose.
Sixth effect: In the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Should the alcohol wave wash further, it reaches your brain stem and you have life-threatening problems. The centers controlling your breathing and your blood circulation are suppressed, and you begin to die.