What???

Sparky,

The man has poor taste anyway. He really should try Sterno! :)

After the first bottle or so taste is not important.

It's the tincture.

So does most booze.

Do they still make Thunderbird?

1st. time I was in Brisbane, I used to walk down the hill from my hotel to the main shopping district. There was an "undeveloped" area of trees & shrubs where the indigent aboriginals hung out cat-calling drinking what they called, "meth." (This is LONG before methamphetamine). I kept asking people what they were talking about & was finally told that it meant methylated spirits aka "wood alcohol"-the kind that causes blindness among other things.

Rehabs. here in the U.S. do not allow patients to bring in mouthwash for the same reason. Anyone who knows anything about alcohol addiction could see this coming a mile.

Sir, what did we do to deserve such punishment?

MrCool,

I don't know if they still make Thunderbird anymore (I hope not!), but I did drink it once a long time ago. It was the nastiest tasting substance I have ever put in my mouth! It would probably make the hand cleansing stuff this guy drank taste good in comparison.

He was over 5 times the legal driving limit of .05 after drinking 6 bottles. That means, this product contains enough alcohol content to be legally drunk after ingesting just one 12.7 ounce bottle.

I don't know many beers out here that can do that. Well, at least not ones without a cork.

If this product is used outside a hospital environment with that high of an alcohol content, I would like it to be kept under lock and key.

Of course you can buy it right off the shelves. I don't think it should be regulated I quite frankly am sick to death of regulation that protect the stupid from themselves. It only makes my life more difficult and it stifles the whole Darwin selection thing.

children use "hanitizer" in school and they are smart enough not to drink it. This man is pretty useless to himself and others. Were it not hand sanitizer it would be mouthwash, perfume, aftershave etc---Heck you can sit an orange in a sunny window for a week and it will ferment.----Hmmmm a natural screwdriver you can eat it 100% all natural with absolutely no additives!

It's called alcoholism. You would be suprised at how many children drink the sanitizer at school and even more suprised at how many youth are in treatment centers for alcoholism. An alcoholic will drink ANYTHING that contains alcohol. I have seen people drink hairspray, perfume, mouthwash, cooking Sherry, and Vanilla Exract because it was all that was available. Stupid people? Absolutely not!! They have a disease. In fact, you must be the uneducated stupid one for not recognizing that. I am friends with many attorneys, doctors, politicians, and judges that are recovering alcoholics. Alcoholism doesn't care what your IQ is, race, or social status. Even you could have been born with the gene that creates an alcoholic. Unfortunately for you, alcoholism can be treated, but your stupidity and ignorance will last a lifetime.

Thanks for the verification. As the wife of a sober man for 28 years, I can tell you that even though most of us would hate the taste of handsanitizer, that alky never tasted a thing. THAT'S A DISEASE!

Alcoholics are very intelligent except to where alcohol is involved, alcoholism is a disease. They don't have any control once the reach that point of no return. They just don't, after that, anything for a drink.

I agree.. i now live here in Denmark where they have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect stupid people from themselves. here, you can't even buy ethanol or isopropanol for sterilizing wounds.

in addition, I work in pharmaceutical drug research, where we use 100% ethanol for many purposes, but the highest percentage we can get is 95%, and that is after a tremendous amount of paperwork, and approvel from the government..

So very true. At some point we need to stop making laws and rules to protect idiots from themselves. It will eventually become cost prohibitive. We can't afford a minder for every moron.

Its time to clean out the gene pool.

Jherek, You are mistaken if you think alcoholism is a self created illness. There is a strong genetic component, just like there is with Type II Diabetics. Educate yourself and get some compassion.

You are partially correct in that, just as with Type II Diabetes, an Alcoholic can do something about the progress of the disease. As with Type II Diabetes, the behavioral changes can be very difficult, especially without help. The ignorant, moralistic attitude of many in our society doesn't help.

What I don't get is how he got five bottles of sanitizer if in a hospital environment which is supposed to be a controlled setting. Was he slipping an orderly a fiver to sneak it in to him, raiding the supply closet, or swiping it from other patients? rooms?

Eloquent, Darthdon! Not to mention true!

wakeup: No kidding. I had no idea that Denmark was so stringent. Personally, I either use an iodine-based disinfecting solution or Hibicleans.

Darthdon, at the start of the day alcoholics and any other drug addict can have every bad gene in the universe. However, at the end of the day it is their own hand that pours the drink down their throat.

This same situation occurred at the hospital where I work. Since then, the switch was made from the gel which could easily be ingested to the foam and sanitizers ARE bolted to the walls for the convenient access for everyone - visitors, employees and patients.

At the risk of opening the political floodgates, I guess no one here remembers Kitty Dukakis and her headlines or the hospital joke / reference to alcohol wipes AKA Kitty Dukakis breath mints.

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-09/news/mn-1436_1_rubbing-alcohol

Yes, ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions but unfortunately the temptations can be a real mother and consequences are not always clearly considered. Ask someone who is hungry and steals to eat and gets caught. For those who would deny the equation, I have no doubt that an addict would beg to differ. The urges / needs can most definitely be equated with hunger.

The urge to eat and the urge to take a drug are completely reverse situations. One has the urge to eat because eating supports life; the urge to take a drug on the other hand is an urge towards self-destruction because taking the drug shortens one's life.

If drug addiction is a disease then it is an odd disease indeed: The "disease"is not communicable, does not start until one starts taking the addictive drug and the "disease" can only be cured by the afflicted person exerting an effort of will to refuse to take the drug.

Wake up and realize that drug addiction is not a disease but rather an addiction. The two conditions are not one and the same but are rather quite dissimilar. Calling an addiction a disease is just an effort by the politically correct to deflect the blame for the addiction away from the addict. Blaming someone or something else for the addict's condition is an attempt to shift the responsibility for the addiction away from the addict. This renders the addiction beyond the addict's control because if something other than himself caused the addiction, then he has no control over the addiction then has he? This will solve nothing.

A drug addict is a fool who has intentionally fed themselves a drug and become dependent on it. They themselves must decide to get off the drug and no-one else can make that decision for them. If they are determined to keep taking their drug in the full knowledge that it will eventually kill them, they are the worst sort of fool and you simply cannot protect a fool from himself.

spoken like a true FOOL

hand sanitizer and Red Bull

Or his alimentary canal. :)

BobbyB,

And light bulb sockets should have a warning telling people not to stick their tongues in them when the power is on!

Actually, some people I know SHOULD stick their tongues in them.

He is not a stupid person. He needs help. This is a hospital, not your home. Do you really think absurd things to the average person is going to be carried over into your life?

This is not an example of people trying to be overprotective in your own life.

Someone that determined to kill himslef with alcohol cannot be helped.

He was. There is little difference between in patient re-hab and a hospital. You can't watch them 24/7. If they want it they will get it.

This just goes to show how powerful of an addiction alcohol can be. Anyone that desperate for a fix needs to be in a hospital.

That's right, it is close by. :-)))

He WAS in a hospital! Trust me...to those of you who think this is odd...mouthwash, hand sanitizer, liquid shoe polish-filtered through bread...it has all been done when a person is detoxing from alcohol. Alcohol detox is the most potentially fatal of all substances, and for that reason should ALWAYS be done under medical supervision in a treatment center familiar with treating it.

Most treatment centers will keep all alcohol based products, including hand sanitizers-away from patient access. This story demonstrates how mainstream healthcare STILL doesn't understand the nature and treatment of addiction.

I work in a hospital. It is not a rehab facility but sometime one might think it was due to the number of drunks and druggers we get.

They come to get their GI systems to stop bleeding or to get their heart arrhythmias fixed. They have no intention of ceasing the booze and drugs. Yet while they are a patient, we medically detox them.

We've caught them drinking the hand sanitizers and even housekeeping cleaning fluids. They try to break into medcarts. The get their families to bring them booze and drugs. Which can be fatal when mixed with certain meds. They are master manipulators and liars.

They require supervision our unit is not staffed to provide. Yet we are responsible for their safety. They take our time away from other patients. We just l-o-v-e it when they come to our unit.

lk734505,

I would really hope you are part of the support staff (which is still bad), but certainly hope you're not a part of the clinical staff in the hospital. It is sad to hear that lack of compassion in your words. Maybe try treating a sick alcoholic with the same dignity and rescpect you would a patient sick with any other disease. Oh yea, don't forget that the American Medical Association has been recognizing Alcoholism as a disease for about the past 70 years. Would you talk so poorly about a cancer patient?

As a retired nurse & spouse of a long-time sober alky, I too was appalled at your attitude. I've seen it from all sides. And yes, it runs in families.

Maybe a new professional or support position in another area might give you some relief from the aggravation.

V and Alc. I assure you I treat all my patients with professionalism and respect. I do not let any of them affect my professional ethic. Nor are these patients made aware of or affected by my personal opinions or my own family tragedies that occurred as a result of these "diseases".

In fact, I am frequently assigned these patients due to my success with establishing a level of rapport and encouraging ground rules. These types of patients tend to be great testers and manipulators and can run roughshod over less experienced staff. I have been a nurse for over 25 years and have successfully cared for of many dozens of this kind of patient with nary a complaint.

I am only sharing what is observed and experienced in my workplace. You don't have to like all your patients to give compassionate care.

You are totally correct about liking all your patients; none of us ever did like 'em all! But, I'm aware that my feelings, whether expressed or repressed, can come out in small, subtle ways which is why I enjoyed several different kinds of nursing in my career. We ALL can/do burn out.

But... but... ignorant self-righteous and amoral idiots simply say they need to use "willpower" since an ill defined word that actually means something makes me feel like the fact I was born into the upper-middle class, while others weren't, was my own doing.

Tony,

You're right. I've also read that men in prison have been known to steal nutmeg from the kitchen to get high on. They boil it in water to release the oil and then drink it, because nutmeg oil is a mild narcotic. People who want desperately enough to get high will always find a way to do it!

Anything that can ferment can be used as alcohol. Hubby's Uncle used to tell a story of putting pure alcohol that they used to test boilers on ship with (Navy) mixed with left over lemon, lime & banana peels left to ferment.

UGH!

I was a clinical coordinator in a substance abuse treatment and sometimes had staff who thought it was crazy that there no aerosol cans permitted in the residential areas. Huffers will huff anything, and other addicts become huffers if it's all they can get. You have to be there and see it to believe how powerful a mental illness addiction is. Makes my stomach hurt to think about it.

Kerosene has no alcohol. No alcoholic I know has ever used it as a substitute. (Maybe you are thinking of Sterno?)

Disulfuram? (sp.?) They were still using it when I retired from nursing. I understand there may be a newer, better med. now. "Antabuse, according to antidotal accounts I've heard is a nasty vomiting, burning product. But it works for some.

I knew an alcoholic who was put on disulfram, (Antibuse). She learned that if she was careful, it actually enabled her to get high with much less alcohol, it was no deterrent at all.

WOW! Hadn't heard that one.

They are still using Antibuse, however it is almost just as damaging on your liver as the alcohol is. I suppose the Antibuse is less damaging on your family, finances, employment, kids etc than the alcohol is.

There is a solution. Some people just stop on their own, some use the help of their church, and millions and millions of others have found a solution through Alcoholics Anonymous. Whatever work for you works for you.

Unfortunately, a clever alcoholic will just take the Antibuse and drink anyway. Yes, you will throw up, but if you just stick with it, you will stop throwing up. The alcoholic who really wants to drink will just not take the Antibuse.

A. vs. S: If alkys were REALLY smart, they'd just hold it in their mouths & let the mucus membranes absorb it. But not nearly as effective as swallowing it, though.

"AA" worked for hubby. But he was a "high-bottom" drunk. Never lost a job & in fact, the more he drank, the more $ he made. ( Up to a point.) So he COULDN'T be a drunk, right? Convinced me, coming from a family that didn't drink.

"Cunning! Baffling! & Powerful!"

The articke did not mention banning the hand sanitizer, merely bolting it down.

HA! I think we need a WARNING SIGN above the hand gel telling people not to drink it, light it on fire, smoke it, put it in your eyes, bathe children in it, use it in automobile engines, put it in food, bla bla bla ........

FLOWERCHILD is so right. Common sense has to be a dying art or something. There is no way to protect everyone from everything. Isn't this pure Darwinism?

I see safety caps on the way for the hand sanitizing gels too ... it's amazing anyone above the age of 35 survived. Unreal.

ronabong

Brondo.. It's got electro-lites.. What a body craves..

"idiocracy" is a very scary movie.!!

Because as the US, every citizen hates the government for one reason or another.

It's easier than actually getting out and trying to change what they don't like about the government.

Why even sanitizer? Hasn't this fing hospital heard of good old soap and water?

Hand sanitizer is quicker, easier on skin when used frequently, and has been shown to be more effective in killing bacteria.

me,
My post was in response to the person who put the word illness, (describing alcoholism), in parentheses, which clearly indicates disbelief in the fact that alcoholism is an illness.

It is an illness!