The More You Know! v. Ethanol, BAC, First Order/Zero Order Reactions in Pharmacology
Jktm you asked if 25% of your blood is ethanol will you die? Yep, you'd be dead at least 40 times over. For any non raging non alcoholics I believe .6% is fatal so 25%...yeah...
Exactly. If 0.08% is legally drunk, then 25% would be way way way past fatal, it would be like, pickling a human corpse in pure ethanol...
Ethanol is metabolized differently than most drugs by virtue of the fact that it is metabolized based on a
zero-order reaction. What this means, is that a set percentage of the ethanol will be metabolized independent to the original dosage.
A short list of drugs that follow zero order reactions... (they are listed to form an acronym so med students can easily remember these, the anacronym is "Peas and Wheats", or "P's and Wheats", either one haha); of these, aspirin and ethanol are the most commonly heard of ones by people on these forums, the others you all may have heard of if you or family members have had to take any of them, or are med students and happen to already know all of this (if so - good for you!).
Drugs that Undergo Zero Order Reactions
Phenytoin, Phenylbutazone
Warfarin
Heparin
Ethanol
Aspirin
Theophylline, Tolbutamide
Salicylates
Most drugs (not including ethanol, as mentioned above) are metabolized by
first-order reactions, where the elimination of the drug from the body is directly proportional to the dosage of the drug present in your body. What this basically means is that no matter how much of a drug (that follows first order; nearly everything else other than listed above) you take, half of it will be gone by its first half life, and by another three half lives, only 6.25% will be remaining in your system. Although the duration of a drug doesn't always directly correlate to the half life (meaning a drug can wear off in effects, or the effects can change, before it is fully metabolized out of your system), eliminating the drug via the half lives definitely ensures that it is out of your system and no longer
directly effecting you (although drugs can have long lasting effects after they leave your system; whether they be neurotoxicity/cardiotoxicity, un-wanted side effects, or even medicinal relief from symptoms, or an after-glow from a recreational experience, etc). It's easy to think about first order reactions in terms of a drug like MDMA: no matter whether you take a single dosage of 100, 150, 200, or more milligrams of MDMA, the effects should last a solid 4 hours. If you go much below 100mg it might be around 3 or 3.5 hours, but generally speaking, it spans around 4 hours. If you ended up taking an unhealthy amount of MDMA, it should only last 4, maybe up to 5 or 6 hours relatively speaking, at the very most. Other drugs are different although they still follow first order reaction, for a variety of reasons. I can't think of any other good examples other than MDMA at the moment, as the duration can be effected by dosing lower/higher by quite a few drugs - although this
does not change the fact that the drug will still be eliminated by the half life. An individual's half life for some or a lot of drugs can deviate not at all, some, or quite a bit from any one average (when human studies have been conducted for a specific drug; not all drugs humans take have had many half life/BA studies, specifically but not limited to research chemicals), but the half life is still present, even if it's deviated heavily from an average.
On average...
a healthy liver oxidizes pure ethanol at the rate of about ¼ to ⅓ of an ounce per hour, which is less than 1 ounce of hard liquor.
Source
Although it is important to note it is going to vary from person to person based on availability and quantity of the proper liver enzymes needed to metabolize alcohol:
The rate of alcohol metabolism depends, in part, on the amount of metabolizing enzymes in the liver, which varies among individuals and appears to have genetic determinants (1,4).
Source
Something very interesting to note, the ability to metabolize alcohol is inherently necessary:
Ethanol and evolution
The average human digestive system produces approximately 3g of ethanol per day merely through fermentation of its contents. Catabolic degradation of ethanol is thus essential to life, not only of humans, but of almost all living organisms. In fact, certain amino acid sequences in the enzymes used to oxidize ethanol are conserved all the way back to single cell bacteria.[1] Such a functionality is needed because all organisms actually produce alcohol in small amounts by several pathways, primarily along the fatty acid synthesis,[2] glycerolipid metabolism,[3] and bile acid biosynthesis pathways.[4] If the body had no mechanism for catabolizing the alcohols, they would build up in the body and become toxic. This could be an evolutionary rationale for alcohol catabolism also by sulfotransferase.
For all intensive purposes, 1 oz = 28.3495 grams
I figured posting sources that listed ethanol in terms of grams/ounces without the conversion here might get confusing.
Here's some relative charts containing information for estimating your BAC content; all you have to know is how many drinks you had in one hour, your weight, and your gender. Pretty self-explanatory.
Also, a list of the general levels of alcohol intoxication, by BAC
BAC EFFECTS ON FEELING AND BEHAVIOR
.01 - .03 % - There is a mild lift in feeling. You have some loss of judgment. (1 drink within 15 minutes… BAC .03%)
.04 - .06 % - Most People feel high and must decide whether to continue drinking. You may get louder and have some loss of small muscle control, like focusing your eyes. (2 drinks within ½ hour… BAC .06%)
.08 - .09 % - Your sight and hearing are worse. It’s harder to detect danger. You have less sense of balance. (3 drinks within 1 hour… BAC .09%)
.10 - .12 % - Many people claim they’re not affected anymore, as if they could drink themselves sober. You are definitely not thinking straight. (4 drinks within 2 hours… BAC .12%)
.13 - .15 % - You have far less muscle control than normal. People feel happy even though they’re stumbling and acting foolishly. Risk of an automobile crash increases to 25 times the normal rate (5-7 drinks within 3 hours… BAC .15%)
.20 - .25 % - You’re confused. You usually need help doing things, even standing up. Those who drive are 50 to 100 times more likely to crash. The average alcohol-related highway death occurs at this level. (8-12 drinks within 4 hours… BAC .20%
.30 % - Almost nothing gets through the senses. An extremely life threatening BAC level.
.40 % - Your condition ranges from conscious to comatose. There is a chance of death from a ‘shut down’ of breathing. This is the LD50 for ethanol; half of the human population would die from having this high of a BAC.
.80 % - This is the LD100 for ethanol; any human being would die at this BAC.
IF YOU ARE IN EUROPE... PLEASE be VERY careful to look at this map, know what countries you are going to be driving through or may end up driving through, and know what the legal levels are. I'm sure those in the states, like myself, would be equally curious to know what the BAC legal limits are in the various countries in Europe.
If you are OUTSIDE of the United States and Europe...
click here. It's really interesting to look no matter where you live though; apparently in the UAE (which has very strict public intoxication laws), the legal BAC limit is 0.1%. It's also 0.1% in Lesotho apparently, a country completely surrounded by South Africa. It's also 0.1% in Burundi (a small African country, south of Rwanda). Very interesting.
A few last harm reduction notes from the Cpt.:
* If you are under the age of 21 years old, DO NOT drink with ANY BAC. This can be used as evidence of underage drinking, and is specifically illegal for under-21 year old's for drinking at all and driving. Give yourself a
generous amount of time to make sure you are back to 0.00% before driving. The last thing you want to do is ruin your life driving and going through a check point - or getting pulled over, not even impaired, as a 20-or-under year old with only 0.01 or 0.02 % BAC in your system. That would be real tragic. The driving limit (according to the link that includes all the stats for the entire world, linked in a text link below) for young/novice drivers (under 21 AFAIK, unless you start driving after the age of 21) is 0.02%; but this is for specifically illegal to drive at or over 0.02%; I'm sure they could still try to book you on underage alcohol consumption if you even registered at 0.01% - whether or not they would, I don't know - sorry.
* If you are particularly sensitive to the effects of ethanol, or are just generally tired with a low BAC,
please don't drive.
Driving tired is more dangerous than driving drunk. If I could go back in time, I would have never driven tired. I am eternally thankful that I never caused a horrible accident from driving tired (which I only remember happening once or twice).
* [For United States Only] For HR's sake (which includes your life, and the lives of other drivers, people walking on side walks close to the street, and all the public and private property potentially involved),
please do not drive with a BAC of over 0.05% if you are 21+ years old. 0.05% and under is considered, in most states, NOT impaired. However, if you are particularly sensitive to the effects of ethanol, you might be impaired. There's never a need to put anyone else at risk. I do believe for the
average person, anything under 0.05% shouldn't impair your driving, and may actually relax your nerves enough to help you be a better driver (an argument often put forth by marijuana users including and excluding people who smoke marijuana and then drive while medicated). Nonetheless, it's not a smart idea to make a habit of driving around with 0.05%. Specifically, in Washington State, you could be charged with a DUI/DWI even if you are under 0.08%, if it is asserted by the police that whatever BAC you are at is impairing your driving. Please keep in mind that they could also assert you took other drugs as well as ethanol, the combination of which is grounds for you to have a DUI (I think in their minds, other drugs, no matter which ones, + close to 0.08% BAC = 0.08% BAC or over).
* For HR's sake,
NEVER drive with a BAC of 0.08% (or whatever your local laws may be outside of the United States). In the United states, 0.08% is illegal and the "legal limit" meaning over 0.08% (and possibly right at 0.08%) would result in DUI/DWI conviction, and possibly other penalties. According to what the penalties could be (which could be bad to REALLY bad, depending on the state you live in), as well as open container laws for the driver and for the passenger, can be found at
this source. According to said link, surprisingly, there are a few states that allow passengers to possess an open container - as long as it's not the actual driver of the car (Alaska - the parts of it where ethanol consumption in itself is legal of course, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wyoming). I am surprised to be honest, especially Rhode Island, Indiana, and Tennessee are decently populated states and have at least one large city if not multiple ones.
* For your own sake,
NEVER drive with a BAC of 0.04%
if you are driving with a CDL (CDL, otherwise known as a
Commercial Driver's License, is required for people who operate tractor trailers or any vehicle above a certain weight in the United States, and likely most other places in the world); as this is the legal limit for CDL drivers. It also apparently doesn't matter what car you are driving (a huge truck, or a personal 4-door); as soon as you have a CDL license, the legal limit is 0.04%. You will want to do your own research to verify this if you are a CDL driver.
* It's a good rule of thumb not to drink with any BAC, but do what you will; you all are adults with the power to make your own decisions. Just please do not put your own or anyone else's lives at risk in what you do.
*
DO NOT let a friend or family member drive if they are obviously at 0.08% or above. Throw their keys down a drain, lock them in a safe, hide them where you know their drunk ass won'd find them - and make sure they don't find them, call 911 if you are unable to stop them if they are obviously way above 0.08% as they could potentially hurt someone or themselves. If you are afraid to stop them, try dissuading them from driving in this condition, have a good time with them, do
anything you can to try to prevent them from driving drunk. Please. I know
amapola was killed by someone else, a drunk driver, in Canada. He was an
amazing senior moderator (not to say the rest aren't, just to say he was special), and there's no bringing him back.
