update on my nephew who had half a shot of tequila & tabasco and barfed...

[bertha katzenengel]

for a day and a half

He was at ER, got two bags of fluids, was sent home to barf it out of his system.

The older heads (his parents, my other sister) decided that maybe he barfed initially because of the drink, but that the extended illness had to be due to something else. No idea what, but it makes sense to me. He visited Mrs. V. and me in Maryland three years ago and the same thing happened, including the trip to the ER, then to the 24-hour pharmacy for suppositories. (Thank god he already knew how to use them.)

This was his very first drink of alcohol; he turned 21 last week. I still don't know why he chose that ungodly concoction for his first drink. :shrug: We're all hoping it puts him off alcohol forever.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who responded to last night's thread. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4594497 I appreciate your weighing in - and i'm glad to know that drink is called "prairie fire."

:bounce:

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Glad he is okay. How scary.

Funny story for you. On Christmas I made a really big dinner for my family, a whole Thanksgiving kind of thing because we had been out of town for Thanksgiving and missed the leftovers.

My husband had received some really, really nice bottles of wine from people who worked for him, I mean, really nice, $$$$$, not like the stuff I buy for me.

My 13 yo and 15 yo asked to have some. I wasn't sure, but husband poured about a shot full for each. 15 yo tasted and put it right down with a yuck face. 13 yo threw back the whole amount and promptly broke out head to toe in hives.

He is obviously allergic. Thank the Gods and Goddesses! He was the one I was worried about because he is just like his mother, very impulsive.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. Oh, shit!

M., I'm so sorry for the little one! Hope it didn't take long for them to go away. Yikes!!

[Midlodemocrat]

4. LOL. No, he was fine, we gave him some Benadryl.

and they went away. But, I have to say, I'm not sorry it happened. Better he learn here with us than at a keg party somewhere where he has the same reaction without getting help.

I think he probably allergic to the sulfates (?), but we told him he is allergic to alcohol. Might buy me a little time.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. Good strategy.

If he never questions you as he ages, he'll probably figure it out when he's mature enough to give it another go. One can hope, anyway. :crossed fingers:

[Kali]

6. wine hives - might have been sulfites, not the alcohol...

[Midlodemocrat]

7. That's what we figured, although I thought sulfates,

but that is NOT what we are telling him. Gotta have a few secrets you know.

[Kali]

12. I gotcha, but you might want to verify for sure; both ingredients,

sulfites and alcohol, are in a lot of consumables - if it is an alergy, the reaction could become worse over time.

Not that I would give medical advice on DU. ;-)

[skygazer]

3. I will no doubt get flamed for this but

It seems to me that in many ways, kids who grew up when I did had an advantage over kids now. What I mean is, our parents were fairly cavalier about alcohol - people drank, it was expected, it was a social thing and my parents felt that it was important to learn to drink. Sounds crazy now. But as a kid, I drank a small glass of champagne on New Years, I drank a little bit of wine on special occasions, Dad gave me sips of his beer. He ordered me my first real drink in a restaurant when I was 14 (yes, the waitress brought it without blinking an eye).

There's part of me that is shocked by that and yet when I and my contemporaries came of age, we didn't run out and drink 21 shots of liquor - there was nothing really to be proven. We did drink, and we drank too much but it seems like there's a lot of pressure on these kids who have absolutely no experience with alcohol to over-indulge.

So I'm not really sure what I think - I just see a lot of this stuff with kids overdoing it and even dying on their 21st birthday and I don't remember that happening so much back then. Because we'd all gotten drunk a few times by then. :shrug:

[bertha katzenengel]

8. Well, I won't flame you.

I too wonder why kids go out on their 21st and wind up dead of alcohol poisoning. The only thing I celebrated when I became an adult is that my mother could no longer tell me I couldn't have any of her Pepsis, and I promptly became addicted to Coca-Cola. Now at 275 lbs I do regret that little bit of neurosis, but I am still here, and not an alcoholic.

About my nephew: he is different. I realize your rant wasn't directed at him but I'll say this anyway, to the group. He has Asperger's, and his friends are not the crowd who would take him to a bar to "celebrate" his birthday. I still don't know who mixed him that vile concoction, but I imagine he was at a D&D gathering.

He never has been the type for drinking -- probably wouldn't be anyway if not for the Asperger's -- and I'm sure curiosity brought the shot glass to his mouth more than anything else.

[skygazer]

11. Oh, no, it wasn't aimed at your nephew

And I got off track and forgot to mention how glad I am that he's okay. And perhaps it is all to the good - an episode like that might put me right off alcohol.

No, simply a social observation. :hi:

[bertha katzenengel]

14. And a good one.

:hi:

[Kali]

9. I agree

and so does most of Europe and the rest of the alcohol consuming world - when it is a part of culture - of meals and socializing it is handled much better than when it is a forbidden item or rite of passage ...

[Mutley]

19. My parents gave me a little alcohol once in awhile, too.

A small glass of wine here and there, a few sips of a cocktail, whole beers now and then once I was 14ish. I didn't go too berserk when I turned 21. I did get drunk, oh yes, but it wasn't a big deal. I didn't get sick at all.

[tjwmason]

21. Still like that over here.

Thank goodness.

The legal age to buy alcohol or drink it in a pub is 18, and to drink alcohol in a restaurant is 16 - but even these are flexible in the right circumstances.

I can't honestly remember my first alcoholic drink, because it was so long ago. But it meant that by the time that I could go out drinking, I already knew my limits and how to drink properly.

[Left Is Write]

5. Tabasco and tequila would undoubtedly make me vomit also.

I'm glad your nephew will be fine.

[Moochy]

13. Prairie Wild Fire

Is usually tabasco and wild turkey. *shudder* but yeah Tequila would do the trick.

The thing about alcohol and spice, is that the alcohol amplifies the effect of the spice, and tears up your stomach something fierce. I could totally see this being 100% from the drink, I had dry heaves in college from just such a drink, and the heaves lasted for hours the next day, and started as soon as I woke up. I wasnt even very drunk, maybe 3-4 mixed drinks over a 3 hour period, and the last one was the prairie wild fire.

[davsand]

15. We took Material Girl to a wine tasting in October.

She will be 9 at the end of May. We let her try a couple of varietals, but it was just a sip to taste. She was unimpressed with it all (it really was not terribly good wine) but really did enjoy looking at the winery.

I really never thought much about it--because I always felt that making a big mystery of it all probably made it seem "cooler" somehow.

Additionally, I always figured that learning to appreciate wine probably would keep her from thinking it was something to just swill in big amounts.

Her Dad has a 12 pack in the fridge that has been in there since this summer. I think there are something like 9 beers left in it right now. She's seen me drink from time to time too--and again, I always figured it was ok for her to see us drink responsibly.

In light of the whole allergy thing and Bertha's nephew, now I'm feeling all paranoid--like maybe we exposed her to some horrible risk akin to letting her play on a highway or something.

Damn. I think I just lost some "Good Mommy points."


Laura

[Blue_Roses]

16. oh, god

what a horrible combination--tequila and tabasco--:puke:

Just the combination alone is enough to make one hurl for days, but even worse since it's his first drink. I hope he gets to feeling better soon:)

[Floogeldy]

17. Someone should have got him a 6-pack of Coors at age 16.

Total clusterfuck.

;)

[emmajane67]

18. You can totally be allergic to alcohol.

I know someone who was.
He ended up dying from drinking 1 rum and coke at a party. He thought it would be okay that time or something. You can understand the temptation I guess.
It was very tragic.
You should tell your nephew to be very careful.

[Mutley]

20. I'm glad he's okay.

:hug:

At least you can be sure he probably won't ever be an alcoholic!