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> Most people throw up rather than OD on Alcohol. If you take enough of a drug that it makes you throw up, you did overdose. 'Overdose' doesn't mean you died.

by pxc 2y ago

> Most people throw up rather than OD on Alcohol. If you take enough of a drug that it makes you throw up, you did overdose. 'Overdose' doesn't mean you died. Fatal overdoses just get talked about more than other overdoses because they're the most harmful kind of overdose.

vkou 2y ago
If people regularly 'overdosed' on heroin by throwing up and feeling like shit for a day, with the same kind of survival rate that drinkers 'overdose' at, opioids wouldn't be killing tens of thousands of people a year. Alcohol abuse either kills people in the long term, or combined with automobiles. Very few people have a bit too much to drink some night and actually die from it. You'll generally black out long before you get a lethal dose. With opioids, you can trivially take a lethal dose.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- pxc 2y ago
  Yes, heroin overdose is much more often fatal than alcohol overdose. (That doesn't change what the word 'overdose' means. If you want to be more specific than the word is, feel free to use adjectives, e.g., 'fatal overdose', 'deadly overdose', etc.)
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    In common practice, people use 'overdose' to mean life-threatening overdose.
Retric 2y ago
I’m referring to throwing up preventing negative health outcomes rather than death. You can throw up from excessive smoking, but it’s not going to help for inhaled or injected drugs. OD refers to excessive consumption or negative heath outcomes, so yes and sort of. With alcohol people will sometimes throw up before all that much alcohol enters the bloodstream, throwing up may qualify on its own but may prevent things like liver damage but throwing up itself could qualify as a negative health impact.
- nimajneb 2y ago
  The first sentence is ignoring the affect alcohol has on the liver.
  - Retric 2y ago
    Liver damage requires alcohol in the bloodstream at extreme levels or very long term habitual use. So for a collage kid throwing up really does provide meaningful protection for their liver. Though obviously it comes with its own risks of asphyxiation etc.

by pxc 2y ago

vkou 2y ago

If people regularly 'overdosed' on heroin by throwing up and feeling like shit for a day, with the same kind of survival rate that drinkers 'overdose' at, opioids wouldn't be killing tens of thousands of people a year. Alcohol abuse either kills people in the long term, or combined with automobiles. Very few people have a bit too much to drink some night and actually die from it. You'll generally black out long before you get a lethal dose. With opioids, you can trivially take a lethal dose.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pxc 2y ago
Yes, heroin overdose is much more often fatal than alcohol overdose. (That doesn't change what the word 'overdose' means. If you want to be more specific than the word is, feel free to use adjectives, e.g., 'fatal overdose', 'deadly overdose', etc.)
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  In common practice, people use 'overdose' to mean life-threatening overdose.

Retric 2y ago

I’m referring to throwing up preventing negative health outcomes rather than death. You can throw up from excessive smoking, but it’s not going to help for inhaled or injected drugs. OD refers to excessive consumption or negative heath outcomes, so yes and sort of. With alcohol people will sometimes throw up before all that much alcohol enters the bloodstream, throwing up may qualify on its own but may prevent things like liver damage but throwing up itself could qualify as a negative health impact.

nimajneb 2y ago
The first sentence is ignoring the affect alcohol has on the liver.
- Retric 2y ago
  Liver damage requires alcohol in the bloodstream at extreme levels or very long term habitual use. So for a collage kid throwing up really does provide meaningful protection for their liver. Though obviously it comes with its own risks of asphyxiation etc.