What’s your alcohol poisoning story?

I fucked up last weekend. I was never much of a drinker until the last year or so. I’m in my early 30’s, so I’ve seen enough to know I need to pace myself between drinks. On top of that, I’m on the smaller side (5’5 and 105lbs) and half Asian – Alcohol hits me hard, so I’ve tried to be cautious and get a decent handle on my tolerance.

Last weekend I met my friend at a bar, where we downed two drinks and one shot in 30-45 minutes. We met up with more friends at a club and immediately had another shot. We grabbed another drink to nurse while we hit the dance floor. This is when things start to get murky for me. I think my friend and I got another drink to share, but we finished it really quickly and made the poor choice to go get another drink each. I don’t really have any memory of buying the drinks or how many more we may have had.

At some point, my friend scurried off to the bathroom and I decided I should go, too. I remember running up the stairs toward the bathroom. I sunk to a seat on the toilet and started vomiting all over the floor. My memories after that are only brief snippets. Realizing I had slumped onto the floor and was leaning against the stall door. Someone asking my name. Asking if I could move so they could open the door. Telling them to call my friend. Someone holding my hand. Having water poured on me and feeling such relief. Someone asking if I could stand and adamantly saying “no”. Being told I need to try to walk.

The next thing I remember is hyperventilating and tearing a boatload of blankets off of myself. Realizing I’m in the hospital. My friends telling me to keep the arm with an IV in it straight. Giving me a bag to puke in. Begging for water and spilling most of it. Asking if my drunk friend was okay. Telling the friends who stayed with me to go home. Being told to raise my hands above my head so the hospital could do some imaging.

I was finally coherent enough to check my phone at 5:00a. I had gone into the bathroom at the club at 11:30p. My friends think I consumed 8-9 drinks in two hours.

I was instantly ashamed and embarrassed. I’m mortified that I put my friends through that. In my 30’s, I should know better. It was an extremely hard lesson learned. I guess this post serves a threefold purpose for me…

First, to simply get if off my chest.

Second, to ask for your stories with alcohol poisoning and the lessons learned so that maybe I can feel a little less alone in it.

And third, to ask those who have experienced this themselves two questions – How do you deal with the shame and make amends with the people who looked after you? And how long afterward did you continue to feel low key nauseous and have some noticeable brain fog?