Abstract
A 29-year-old male took about 300 ml industrial alcohol in a suicidal attempt. The industrial alcohol was later confirmed to be methanol. He presented to the emergency department 10 hours post-ingestion with an anion gap metabolic acidosis and an osmol gap of 76.7 mOsm/kg. Ethanol infusion was started in the emergency department at 11 hours post-ingestion before the availability of serum methanol level. The clinical diagnosis of toxic alcohol ingestion was based on the history, arterial blood gases results and the presence of a significant osmol gap. The patient was then admitted to the intensive care unit for ethanol therapy and haemodialysis. Prompt initiation of ethanol therapy and the subsequent intensive care prevented the development of life-threatening complications of methanol poisoning in this case.