ABSTRACT
It has been appreciated for many years that people who poison themselves have frequently consumed alcohol before doing so and that many of them have a major problem in the use of alcohol. The extent of alcohol use before poisoning cannot be reliably estimated from the patient’s account alone, and at least two Scottish surveys had been carried out measuring blood alcohol concentrations in all patients admitted to hospital because of self-poisoning. Despite the magnitude of the alcohol problem in the population that poisons itself and the continuing steep rise in the incidence of self-poisoning, very little attention has been given to how alcohol may modify the physical response to the poison. Alcoholics have long been recognised to be at particular risk from carbon tetrachloride poisoning but today this is rare.
