Stomach Pumping: Gut-wrenching stories from A&E
As long as I’ve been drinking, I’ve heard stories of people who have gotten way too fucked and needed to go the hospital to get their stomach pumped. I always thought stomach pumping was a bit of a myth, and it’s true that in recent years it has become less and less common in New Zealand, due to the risks associated with the procedure. Be warned though, stomach pumping is still a very real and scary thing. Massive decided to investigate, as we like to do from time to time.
What actually is stomach pumping?
Stomach pumping, medically known as a gastric suction or gastric lavage, is a procedure which empties the contents of your stomach to stop poisons or toxins from doing damage to your GI tract or to stop the process of said toxins going into your bloodstream. Gastric suctions aren’t always alcohol related, in fact most of them are in response to the consumption of chemicals such as cleaning products, or from overdosing on drugs. Long story short, a vacuum sucks up the contents of your stomach.
The process is pretty fucking grim I can’t lie. First, they’ll numb your throat, so you don’t gag on the massive tube about to be shoved inside of you. Don’t worry, they’ll lube the tube up for you, but be prepared - it is not as hot and sexy as it sounds. Tube goes down, suction gets turned on, out the contents come. Yuck, it literally makes me cringe just thinking about it.
Nowadays, getting your stomach pumped if you’ve drunk far too much is pretty uncommon. The procedure can be pretty risky due to damage to your bowels if old mate sticks it in too far, or the potential of the tube becoming dislodged. If the tube was to dislodge, there could be (serious) damage to your throat, you could choke on the contents that are being sucked up, or even contract pneumonia. The other trouble with stomach pumping is that it has to happen pretty quickly in order to be effective – once the alcohol has been properly digested none of the vacuums in the world are going to save you from the forthcoming. The more likely outcome will be getting hooked up to an IV and waiting for the alcohol to do its thing.
Look, we’ve all overdone it once or twice before, it happens to the best of us. The best advice I can give you to avoid spending a night in hospital from overdrinking is to eat some carbs before going out and drink plenty of water. If you feel like that last drink was a bad call, there is no shame in hitting the toilet for a tacky vom. Knowing when to stop drinking, however, can be the difference between the best night of your life and having a tube shoved down your throat.
What do students have to say about their experience?
Talia’s* parents had been quite strict during high school with regard to drinking, so in 2019 as a fresher Talia describes going “a bit crazy” once she was away from her parents for the first time. During this time, Talia and a friend went on an overseas trip together, and what ensued was “the peak of my stupidity”.
She says, “When we went through duty-free, there was a three for one gin deal which we obviously took advantage of. By the time the trip was nearly over, we still had two bottles left. My brain at that time was like, ‘I’m not gonna waste this alcohol’, even though looking back we could have easily bought an unopened bottle with us back to New Zealand.” Talia describes the pressure she and her mate had put on themselves to have the best night ever, and she ended up finishing an entire bottle of pink gin.
“That whole night was not smooth sailing, aye. I was already vomming before the bottle was finished, but every time I threw up I told myself I had to make up for lost alcohol by drinking more. So fucking stupid, bro.” After they left the hotel, Talia’s recollection gets pretty foggy, naturally. She recalls not being able to speak the local language, and that it was only by the good grace of a bouncer at one of the clubs that she was taken to the local medical centre. “Yeah, got no clue what really happened, and was pretty freaked out when I came back to my senses. The day after though, holy shit, my throat was so fucking sore. [It] felt like someone had shoved their hand inside me and punched the inside of my neck over and over … I was so hungry as well but had to make do with ice blocks for a while after.” Talia says she’s still traumatised from the incident and feels grateful she doesn’t remember much. “I feel bad for my mate though aye, definitely ruined that trip for her.”
Briar*, like Talia, also had a stomach pump in her first year away from home. “I had drunk a bottle of wine and lost all my friends in the hall. Then I saw my friend having a meltdown and throwing up outside, which made me want to throw up.” Briar took herself off to the bathrooms where “I had a meltdown because I couldn’t throw up”, despite her best efforts to get the alcohol out of her system.
Having locked the bathroom door, “the RAs were trying to get in the bathroom but I said I would only let my RA in so they had to go and find her”. By the time Briar’s RA was found, she had started throwing up white foam, and was immediately taken to the hospital.
“I can’t really remember much of the stomach pumping, but it just kind of felt like you’re gagging, like I just threw up.” The night is a bit of a blur for Briar, who still grimaces at the thought of locking out her RAs while throwing up foam. “For sure that could have been a lot worse. But then again, I didn’t really feel hungover the next day, so that’s a plus.”
Sharon* had her stomach pumped when she was 17 years old, after a night of dangerous binge drinking. “I remember snippets,” she admits, “but most of my memory is pieced together by Snapchats that my friends took of me. Isn’t that sad?”
After drinking almost a full bottle of rum “thanks to a torturous game of King’s Cup and watching my ex hook up with my mate in the corner”, she soon started dry heaving in the garden. “My friends thought it was a bit funny, at first, like classic me! But when I started coughing up blood, they dialled 111 pretty fucking fast.” The ambulance took 20 minutes, by which time Sharon was passing in and out of consciousness.
Arriving at the A&E on a busy Thursday night, a quick assessment was made and a stomach pump was administered. “I was given some kind of medicine to numb my throat, apparently, and then a tube was inserted. It just felt, I don’t know, horrendous. I felt like I was being turned inside out. It was the most invasive thing to have ever happened to me. Then they did it all over again as well!” She woke up in hospital the next day feeling “bruised and battered all over” with an intense headache. “I was discharged but I didn’t eat for a while. I could barely handle water,” she recalls, shuddering.
To this day, Sharon has never touched rum again, and says the whole experience has made her weary about drinking in general. “I thank God I was with good, sensible mates. And all the doctors and the nurses, they were really nice about the whole event. I never told my parents though. I hope they don’t read Massive lol.”
All of these stories are from young people with little experience drinking, who have inadvertently put themselves at risk from overdoing it. Excessive drinking can be so dangerous, and too often people who are suffering from the effects of overdrinking become the brunt of a joke, or the subject of a Snapchat story, before getting the help they need. As I said before, it’s pretty unlikely that stomach pumping will be the result of ingesting too much alcohol, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other dangers and risks. At the end of the day, looking after each other is the most important thing. Keep an eye on your mates and know your limits, team.
If you or someone you know needs support and treatment to reduce their alcohol intake, contact the following places.
Alcohol Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797 or free txt 8681 for confidential advice.
Māori line – 0800 787 798
Pasifika line – 0800 787 999