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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Nausea, Dizziness, Accelerated Breathing After Taking 16 Disprin Tablets Followed By Drinking Wine. What Can Be Done Without Hospitalization?

hi my friend has been drinking today.. wine (low alcohol wine) and she went to bed a moment ago saying she does not feel to well so i asked her how many disprins she took today because i saw her taking a few. she said 16 tablets.. now she is showing 3 symptoms , nausea, dizziness, accelerated breathing.. she does not want to go to the hospital . is there anything i can do to help her?
posted on Sun, 7 Jul 2013
Twitter Sun, 7 Jul 2013 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 8 Jul 2013 Last reviewed on
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hi,
Disprin contains aspirin 350 mg. So, totaling dose of 16 Disprin is 5600 mg in a day. I assume you friend being weighted of 45 kgs. This comes to the ingestion of 124 mg/kg approx. Now, 150 mg/ kg of body weight is toxic dose of aspirin which is only slightly high than what your friend has consumed. Secondly, your friend had consumed alcohol, aspirin increase blood level of alcohol and hence its toxicity, also alcohol can increase chances of stomach bleeding caused by aspirin. Alcohol decreases aspirin excretion by kidney as it produces acidic urine this predisposes person to aspirin toxicity even at low doses.

With this background, it seems that your friend is suffering from mild toxicity of aspirin and hence developed signs of it (i.e. nausea, dizziness, accelerated breathing). Assuming that your friend is not suffering from any other disease and is not taking any other medicine, there are low chances of mortality with this level of aspirin toxicity. But I strongly recommend that you should seek medical help to eliminate any risk. If any how this is not possible then you can take following basic steps which will make your friend recover fast,

-Make her to sleep on her left side on lateral position.
-Give her burnt toast/ bread to prevent further absorption of drug/alcohol if the last dose of disprin or alcohol was taken within 3 to max 4 hrs.
-Give her plenty of fluids with tolerable amount of sugar in it. Fluid will decrease acidity of urine and this will increase excretion of aspirin by kidney, sugar will provide energy.
-You can give her fruit or vegetable juice except cranberries, prunes and plums to make urine more alkaline to increase excretion of aspirin by kidney. Alternately you can also give oral rehydration solution (ORS) for the same effect.
-If she becomes less responsive or difficult to wake, breathing becomes shallow or decreases per minute, hands and legs becomes floppy, develops high fever, hallucinations, confusion or seizure then you must seek medical help.

Hope this will help you and your friend.

-Dr. Vishal Vadgama (MD)

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Nausea, Dizziness, Accelerated Breathing After Taking 16 Disprin Tablets Followed By Drinking Wine. What Can Be Done Without Hospitalization?

Hi, Disprin contains aspirin 350 mg. So, totaling dose of 16 Disprin is 5600 mg in a day. I assume you friend being weighted of 45 kgs. This comes to the ingestion of 124 mg/kg approx. Now, 150 mg/ kg of body weight is toxic dose of aspirin which is only slightly high than what your friend has consumed. Secondly, your friend had consumed alcohol, aspirin increase blood level of alcohol and hence its toxicity, also alcohol can increase chances of stomach bleeding caused by aspirin. Alcohol decreases aspirin excretion by kidney as it produces acidic urine this predisposes person to aspirin toxicity even at low doses. With this background, it seems that your friend is suffering from mild toxicity of aspirin and hence developed signs of it (i.e. nausea, dizziness, accelerated breathing). Assuming that your friend is not suffering from any other disease and is not taking any other medicine, there are low chances of mortality with this level of aspirin toxicity. But I strongly recommend that you should seek medical help to eliminate any risk. If any how this is not possible then you can take following basic steps which will make your friend recover fast, -Make her to sleep on her left side on lateral position. -Give her burnt toast/ bread to prevent further absorption of drug/alcohol if the last dose of disprin or alcohol was taken within 3 to max 4 hrs. -Give her plenty of fluids with tolerable amount of sugar in it. Fluid will decrease acidity of urine and this will increase excretion of aspirin by kidney, sugar will provide energy. -You can give her fruit or vegetable juice except cranberries, prunes and plums to make urine more alkaline to increase excretion of aspirin by kidney. Alternately you can also give oral rehydration solution (ORS) for the same effect. -If she becomes less responsive or difficult to wake, breathing becomes shallow or decreases per minute, hands and legs becomes floppy, develops high fever, hallucinations, confusion or seizure then you must seek medical help. Hope this will help you and your friend. -Dr. Vishal Vadgama (MD)