Woman Dies After Drinking Alcohol on Empty Stomach | Family and Friends Called Her a "Health Freak"
A rare condition that caused the death of a 27-year-old woman was recently reported earlier this week. Alice Burton Bradford, who was known to be fit and healthy, died after she drank alcohol on an empty stomach.
Alcoholic Ketoacidosis can develop if one consumes excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages for a long time.
Her family and friends described Alice as "a health freak," and said that she was not a heavy drinker, too.
Instead, this woman suffered from a rare metabolic complication called alcoholic ketoacidosis.
This condition, according to health experts, can be triggered if a person has not eaten enough before an alcoholic beverage consumption.
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Sudden Reaction to Alcoholic Drink
While the amount Alice had consumed before he died remains unclear, one thing was sure: her reaction to the alcoholic beverage was so abrupt that she did not even make it to the hospital and just died in her garden.
According to her friend of eight years, Aaron Mulvay, Alice's passing was undoubtedly a horrible shock as no one expected it to happen.
Aaron said he had never heard of such a condition until Alice had died. He added that they are not sure how much she had been drinking that weekend.
There's one thing though that Aaron was sure of: Alice was not an alcoholic. However, reports said the 27-year-old had not eaten enough, and that triggered a reaction in her stomach.
Ketoacidosis
News health sites say cells need sugar and insulin to function efficiently. Sugar comes from the food we eat, and the pancreas produces insulin.
When a person drinks alcoholic beverages, his pancreas may cease insulin production for a short time. For one to get the required energy, the body begins burning fat.
When this happens, the byproducts made of ketone bodies are generated. And if the body is unable to produce insulin, ketone bodies will start building up in the bloodstream.
Such a formation of ketones can yield a life-threatening condition called "ketoacidosis" or "metabolic acidosis".
This particular condition takes place when an individual ingests something and, eventually, metabolized into an acid.
Ketoacidosis includes several causes such as aspirin taken in large doses, kidney ailment, shock, and abnormal or unusual metabolism.
On top of the general ketoacidosis are numerous other types. One of these is alcoholic ketoacidosis, a condition caused by the overconsumption of alcoholic beverages.
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Causes and Treatment
This condition can develop if one consumes excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages for a long time. Too much consumption of alcohol frequently leads to malnourishment.
Additionally, those who drink alcohol in large quantities tend to have a habit of not eating regularly. These people may even vomit as a consequence.
With this, improper eating habits followed by vomiting can result in episodes of starvation that further lowers the insulin production of the body.
Someone who is already malnourished because of alcoholism is at high risk of getting alcoholic ketoacidosis.
Medical experts say this can take place as soon as one day after excessive drinking, depending on one's nutritional status, general health condition, and the amount of alcohol consumption.
Treating this condition is usually done in the emergency room. The doctor monitor's the patient's vital signs, which include the heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure.
Some patients receive vitamins and nutrients as contributors to the treatment of their malnutrition.
In some cases, the doctor may recommend admission to the intensive care unit. The length of confinement at the hospital depends on the condition's severity.
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Jul 23, 2020 07:09 AM EDT
