Two men were hospitalized in the emergency room due to methanol poisoning

Ho Chi Minh City

The 39-year-old man had blurred vision, vomiting, and difficulty breathing after drinking half a liter of vodka bought at a grocery store. He was diagnosed with methanol poisoning, acute kidney failure, and required dialysis.

On September 1, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Bach, Head of Kidney Dialysis Department, Thong Nhat Hospital, said that the patient had level 2 kidney failure and had to be detoxified with ethanol and emergency dialysis for 4 hours. After treatment, kidney function partially recovered and the patient was discharged after two days.

A week before that, the department also received a 55-year-old man after drinking homemade medicinal wine. He once drank this wine and suffered from spinning dizziness. Three days later, he drank again, then felt tired, had difficulty breathing, had blurred vision, double vision and dizziness when looking at lights. Tests showed methanol poisoning, acute kidney failure and severe metabolic acidosis, requiring antidote and emergency dialysis.

According to Associate Professor Bach, methanol is a highly toxic chemical. After entering the body, it is converted into toxic substances, which can cause severe metabolic acidosis, optic nerve damage, kidney failure and cardiovascular effects. The methanol test takes many hours to get results, so doctors must treat it immediately when suspected, without waiting for the test. Dialysis helps remove methanol and toxic metabolites from the body.

Every year, the health sector records many cases of poisoning and death due to methanol in alcohol. Regular drinking alcohol contains ethanol, which is absorbed and metabolized by the body, while methanol is an industrial chemical, very toxic to humans. Some establishments may mix methanol into alcohol to reduce costs and increase profits, causing drinkers to be poisoned.

Associate Professor Bach said that in recent years, patients have tended to come to the hospital earlier when unusual symptoms appear after drinking alcohol, thus giving them a better chance of treatment and recovery. However, severe methanol poisoning or late arrival to the hospital can still cause irreversible optic nerve damage and even permanent blindness.

Doctors recommend that people use alcohol of clear origin, not alcohol of unknown origin. After drinking alcohol, if you have a headache, vomiting, extreme fatigue, difficulty breathing, especially blurred vision or decreased vision, you need to go to a medical facility immediately, do not subjectively think that it is just drunk.