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Home -Alcohol Addiction -Alcohol poisoning: How to tell and what to do right now

Alcohol poisoning: How to tell and what to do right now

If someone has been drinking and you can’t wake them, or their breathing is slow or irregular, call 999 immediately. You don’t need to be certain it’s alcohol poisoning. Describe exactly what you’re seeing and the call handler will tell you what to do.

alcohol addiction help
October 2, 2026

Signs that you should call 999

Alcohol poisoning happens when someone drinks alcohol faster than the body can process it, and it can be life-threatening. Call 999 if a person who has been drinking shows any of these:

Confusion, or they can’t be fully woken

Vomiting, or vomiting while barely conscious

Seizures (fits)

Breathing that is slow or irregular, fewer than about eight breaths a minute, or long gaps between breaths

Pale, cold, or blue-tinged skin; on brown or black skin this is easier to see inside the lips, on the gums, and under the fingernails

Cold or clammy skin, or a low body temperature

Being unresponsive but still breathing

One of these symptoms is enough. You don’t wait for several to appear and you certainly don’t wait to see whether it passes.

A person does not need to show all of these signs to be in danger. Equally, the amount they have drunk is not a reliable way of judging how serious the situation is, because alcohol affects different people in different ways. If you’re in any doubt, treat it as an emergency.

What to do while you wait for the ambulance

After you’ve called 999:

  • Stay with them. Blood alcohol can keep rising for up to 40 minutes after the last drink, so someone can get worse after they’ve stopped drinking and after they’ve passed out.
  • If they’ve passed out, put them on their side in the recovery position so they don’t choke if they’re sick. Check they’re breathing properly.
  • If they’re awake, keep them sitting up. You can give them small sips of water only if they’re fully conscious, able to swallow, and not vomiting.
  • Keep them warm with a coat or blanket.
  • Keep checking their breathing and whether they respond, say their name, ask if they’re okay. If they stop breathing, the 999 handler will talk you through CPR.

What not to do

These are the common instincts, and each one can make things worse:

  • Don’t leave them to “sleep it off.” This is the belief that causes the most harm. Someone can stop breathing or choke while they sleep, and there’s no one watching.
  • Don’t give them coffee or anything with caffeine. It doesn’t sober anyone up and it worsens the dehydration alcohol poisoning already causes.
  • Don’t put them in a cold shower or try to walk them around. Alcohol lowers body temperature, and a cold shower can push it dangerously low. Moving someone who’s badly affected also risks injury.
  • Don’t let them drink more, and don’t try to make them vomit.
  • Don’t assume the smell of alcohol explains everything. It can mask a head injury or dangerously low blood sugar, which is one more reason to get medical help rather than guess.

Only time sobers someone up. Nothing you can give them speeds it up, the point of the wait is to keep them safe until help arrives.

Why it’s so dangerous

Alcohol is a depressant, which means at high enough levels it slows the body’s automatic functions such as breathing, heart rate, the gag reflex that stops you choking and the systems that keep you warm and keep your blood sugar stable. Alcohol poisoning is what happens when those functions are suppressed to the point they start to fail. That’s why the risks are choking, stopped breathing, and in serious cases damage to the heart and other organs.

It’s usually caused by drinking a large amount in a short time, which is why it isn’t only a risk for people with a drinking problem. A student on a night out, someone who’s had far more than usual at a celebration, or someone whose drink has been spiked can all end up with alcohol poisoning without any history of dependence. It can happen the first time as easily as the hundredth.

After the hospital

Most people who get medical help in time, recover. Hospital treatment usually involves monitoring and supporting the body while it processes the alcohol, sometimes with fluids and checks on heart rate and breathing until the danger has passed.

Once the immediate danger has passed, it may be worth asking whether this was a one-off or part of a pattern. If drinking has been becoming harder to control, or nights like this have happened before, then that’s something worth addressing.

If that’s where you are, our page on alcohol addiction is a more useful starting point than this one, and you’re welcome to call Abbington House on 01438 583222 to talk it through. But if you’re reading this because something is happening right now, the only thing that matters is getting help.

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