Alcohol saves woman who drank antifreeze
A woman was prescribed lifesaving shots of whisky after mistakenly drinking antifreeze, it was revealed today.
Doctors told Glennis Middleton that alcohol was the only cure and without it she could die.
Mrs Middleton drank antifreeze left on a table by a relative who she was helping decorate her house.
After contacting her GP, she was told to go to the accident and emergency department at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where she given the alcohol by doctors on duty.
Staff gave her a choice of gin, vodka or whisky, before she was given two cupfuls to drink immediately.
Local councillor Mrs Middleton, 51, of Lilybank Crescent, Forfar, Angus said today: “I was stunned.
“I hadn’t realised it was quite so serious and I didn’t know that this could be fatal.
“It’s amazing the number of people who have spoken to me to say that they keep antifreeze in the back of the car – and that’s people with toddlers.
“There was a four to five-hour waiting time at the accident and emergency department, but I got taken in after about 30 seconds.
“The doctors say about 100 millilitres of antifreeze is sufficient to kill you – I had between half a cupful and a cupful of the stuff.
“I think it’s all the more dangerous because it doesn’t taste bad – I thought it was particularly strongly-flavoured water. It didn’t taste bitter.”
She added: “The medical staff at Ninewells were concerned about me because they previously had a patient who died 22 hours after taking it.
“I was thinking that I was all right and that I had more important things to do but the doctor was saying to me ‘you could die here, woman, you must stay’.”
Asked if she had known alcohol was the antidote, Mrs Middleton replied: “I would not personally have assumed that, no, but that’s the most effective thing against ethylene glycol, which effectively breaks down the kidneys and the liver. It stops the kidneys and the liver from working and then you die.”
Dr Shobhan Thakore, of Ninewells Hospital’s A&E department, said: “Potentially, fairly small amounts (of antifreeze) can kill you.
“When the body breaks them down it makes products which are toxic.
“The potential is that it causes kidney failure and can cause seizures, and the methanol can cause blindness.”
Dr Thakore explained that alcohol worked as an antidote because it forced the liver to process it rather than toxins found in antifreeze.
He said hospitals used large amounts of alcohol to overload the liver, which allowed the antifreeze to filter out through the kidneys and lungs.
He added: “If the liver is not working on the antifreeze, it gets excreted by the kidneys.
“You need to get rid of the antifreeze but it needs to go through your kidneys and lungs rather than the liver.
“Relatively small amounts of antifreeze can at best blind you and at worst kill you.
“There is a drug that could be used but alcohol is effective and readily available.
“She did all the right things by coming to the hospital quickly.”
