Are Teens Getting Tipsy Off Tampons?
It's not exactly breaking news that many kids are drinking alcohol before their 21st birthdays. But now they're getting inventive about their illicit drinking.
Teens aren’t just singing “red solo cup, I fill you up,” and drinking their alcohol anymore; they’re seeking out new and terrifying methods of getting inebriated. (As a disclaimer, these trends aren't really that new. In fact, some of them have been in and out of the news for the past decade or so.)
Here are a few of the really unsafe (and frankly, horrifying) methods that kids are using to get their drank on:
"Eyeballing"
Yes, teens are actually pouring vodka straight from the bottle INTO THEIR EYES. Honestly, saline drops are the only liquid that anyone should ever be applying to their own eyeballs, and for good reason.
If vodka burns going down your gullet, just imagine what it can do to an eyeball. According to Robert Stutman, president of the Maryland Optometric Association, eyeballing can be very damaging to the eyes and can burn the cornea.
Vodka Snorting
Luckily, this fad seems to have reached the end of its lifetime, but a few years ago, it was hot. Foolhardy celebs (like Amy Winehouse and Prince Harry) and bored teens were at one time snorting vodka up their noses, effectively inhaling the alcohol directly into their lungs.
According to several online forum accounts - and one of our editors, who did this by accident once - vodka snorting can result in nosebleeds, headaches, and alcohol poisoning. In our staff member's words, "I was taking a shot of vodka when someone made me laugh too hard and it accidentally went out my nose. It was a completely horrific experience and I spent the next several hours in GREAT pain, with my head dunked in the sink."
Vodka Tampons
This is exactly what it sounds like - although in reality, it's more of an urban legend than an actual trend. For years, rumors buzzed about girls soaking tampons in vodka and sticking them into bodily orifices that alcohol should never touch. However, there haven't been any documented cases of this work successfully. A Huffington Post editor tried it out... and let's just say it sounded like much more of a buzz kill than a good way to get a buzz.
Alcohol Enemas
If a normal enema’s not unpleasant enough, lighten things up with a drink - in your rectum. Yes, people are actually splashing hard alcohol directly into their bums in order to get drunk faster. A rather thorough Google search of the term reveals that while alcohol enemas haven't been in the news, they're being talked about on all sorts of erm, alternative forums and community Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers, enemaloversguide.com, or drugsandalcohol.com.
"Butt Chugging"
Yes, it's totally a thing. According to the Huffington Post (which seems to be quite the authority on weird ways to drink), teens are sticking beer funnels into their rectums, rather then their mouths, in order to get drunk without having the telltale scent of alcohol on their breaths (although just for the record, a breathalyzer test measures the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream, not on the breath). Frankly, this sounds like a nightmarish frat initiation practice, no?
So is putting alcohol directly into your rectum (in any fashion) worse than drinking it? Yes! We cannot stress this enough. It's a horribly dangerous and self-destructive practice.
In an interview with KPHO News, Dr. Dan Quan from Maricopa Medical Center says that the practice is "problematic because you don't really know how much you're going to absorb" as the alcohol is absorbed straight into their blood streams, bypassing the colon and liver.
Health and wellness site emaxhealth.com also notes that the alcohol can cause vaginal or rectal irritation or infection.
We'll say it again: this is super dangerous. A few years ago, a Texas man died after his wife helped him administer an enema of sherry. Alcohol poisoning is the real danger with this trend; news reports say that by skipping the shot glass, alcohol consumers avoid the stomach ached and vomiting that tell a person "enough is enough."
By consuming the alcohol rectally, a person can become intoxicated and get alcohol poisoning without any of the unpleasant, but vitally important, warning signs.
Have you heard of any of these trends? Do you know anyone who has ever gotten drunk from a method other than drinking?
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