The main disorders to be distinguished from pathologic intoxication are temporal lobe seizures that occasionally take the form of outbursts of rage and violence and the explosive episodes that characterize the behavior of certain sociopaths. The diagnosis in these cases may be difficult and depends on eliciting the other manifestations of temporal lobe epilepsy or sociopathy. Pathologic intoxication may require the use of restraints and the parenteral administration of diazepam (5 to 10 mg) or haloperidol (2 to 5 mg), repeated once after 30 to 40 min if necessary.
In the language of the alcoholic, the term blackout refers to an interval of time, during a period of severe intoxication, for which the patient later has no memory—even though the state of consciousness, as observed by others, was not grossly altered during that interval. However, a systematic assessment of mental function during the amnesic period has usually not been made. A few observations indicate that it is short-term (retentive) memory rather than immediate or long-term memory that is impaired; this feature and the subsequent amnesia for the episode are vaguely reminiscent of the disorder known as transient global amnesia (see Chap. 20) but without the incessant repetitive questioning and competence in nonmemory mental activities that characterize the latter.
Blackouts may occur at any time in the course of alcoholism, even during the first drinking experience, and they certainly have happened in persons who never became alcoholic. The salient facts are that there is a degree of intoxication that interferes with the registration of events and the formation of memories during the period of intoxication and that the amount of alcohol consumed in moderate social drinking will only rarely produce this effect.
Treatment of Severe Alcohol Intoxication
Coma caused by alcohol intoxication represents a medical emergency. The main objective of treatment is to prevent aspiration and respiratory depression. One would like to lower the blood alcohol level as rapidly as possible. The previously favored administration of fructose or of insulin and glucose for this purpose is now known to be of little value. Analeptic drugs such as amphetamine and various mixtures of caffeine and picrotoxin are antagonistic to alcohol only insofar as they are overall nervous system excitants, but they do not hasten the oxidation of alcohol and are not clinically useful. The use of hemodialysis should be considered in comatose patients with extremely high blood alcohol concentrations (>500 mg/dL), particularly if accompanied by acidosis, and in those who have concurrently ingested methanol or ethylene glycol or some other dialyzable drug.
Methyl, Amyl, and Isopropyl Alcohols and Ethylene Glycol
Poisoning with alcohols other than ethyl alcohol is a rare but catastrophic occurrence. Amyl alcohol (fusel oil) and isopropyl alcohol are used as industrial solvents and in the manufacture of varnishes, lacquers, and pharmaceuticals; in addition, isopropyl alcohol is readily available as a rubbing alcohol. Intoxication may follow the ingestion of these alcohols or inhalation of their vapors. The effects of both are much like those of ethyl alcohol, but more toxic. They also have in common the generation of acidosis, usually with an anion gap, and if a sample of serum is obtained soon after the ingestion, an osmolar gap that represents the molecules of the circulating alcohol is seen.