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When combined with alcohol some OTC medicines can have serious drug interactions, too. However, do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor. There are hundreds of prescription and over-the-counter medications that are commission paid meaning not safe to mix with alcohol. The dangers of mixing alcohol with medications can range from increased side effects to potentially life-threatening symptoms, overdose, and even death.

Can You Drink Alcohol While You’re on a Medication?

The use of alcohol with alternative medications should always be cleared with a provider first. One example is the drug interaction between warfarin and alcohol, which could increase bleeding risk. Always check with your pharmacist, doctor or other healthcare provider to see if these types of enzyme interactions are of concern between your medications. Fortunately, educating patients about the risks of combining medications with alcohol may help them avoid negative outcomes.

It is unclear how Houston developed her substance problems, but like many other addicts, she eventually began mixing drugs along with alcohol. Many prescription drug users who are not addicted or dependent consume alcohol concurrently as well, despite medical advice against it. Some of these antidepressants come with additional side effects when mixed with alcohol. Cymbalta can cause liver damage.Antidepressants called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), like Parnate and Nardil, can cause serious heart problems when combined with alcohol.

Sometimes called the “opioid epidemic,” addiction to opioid prescription pain medicines has reached an alarming rate across the United States. Some people who’ve been using opioids over a long period of time may need physician-prescribed temporary or long-term drug substitution during treatment. Help from your health care provider, family, friends, support groups or an organized treatment program can help you overcome your drug addiction and stay drug-free. Mixing alcohol and oxycodone can have dangerous and dire consequences. Speak with your healthcare provider if you have any questions or concerns about drinking alcohol while taking oxycodone. Two other drugs, gabapentin and topiramate, also interact with GABA and glutamate systems.

You might recognise this as a sense of relaxation and a lowering of social inhibitions when you’ve had a couple of alcoholic drinks. Alcohol and medication can have a harmful interaction even if they’re taken at different times. It’s important to understand the very real possibility of a reaction.

Naltrexone for Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol and medicines can interact harmfully even if they are not taken at the same time. If you mix any type of anti-nausea drug with alcohol, the side effects of the medication can become more intense. Copyright © 2024 European Medical Group LTD trading as European Medical Journal. European Medical Journal is for informational purposes and should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment recommendations. Harmful effects, the study notes, included traffic accidents, vandalism, physical harm, financial issues and family or marriage problems.

1. The use of alcohol with alternative medications should always be cleared with a provider first.
2. Working to stop alcohol use to improve quality of life is the main treatment goal.
3. When combined with alcohol, medications for attention and concentration disorders can make a person dizzy and sleepy.
4. Medications can interact with alcohol to produce different or increased effects.

Older people are also more likely to be prescribed medication that interacts with alcohol in the first place. In addition, the older we get, the more likely we are to be taking one or more medications that could interact with alcohol. Alcohol and medicines can cause harmful effects even if they’re not taken simultaneously. Sometimes, you can drink a few hours after taking a medication, other times you’ll need to wait a few days or longer. Determining whether you can take medicine before or after drinking alcohol can depend on several factors. And remember, alcohol and medicines can have harmful interactions even if they are separated and taken at different times of the day.

Mixing isoniazid and ketoconazole with alcohol can also cause liver damage. However, even medications that don’t require a prescription can be unsafe when mixed with alcohol. For example, OTC painkillers (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can cause a range of symptoms from gastrointestinal upset to bleeding and ulcers in the stomach to tachycardia (racing heart). Using alcohol with medications used to treat heartburn, both prescription and over-the-counter, can cause tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) and sudden changes in blood pressure. These drugs can also make the effects of alcohol more intense, leading to impaired judgment and sedation.

Alcohol-Medication Interactions: Potentially Dangerous Mixes

When you recommend or prescribe a medication that can interact with alcohol, this scenario presents a natural opening to review or inquire about a patient’s alcohol intake. The potential for a harmful interaction may provide a compelling reason for patients to cut down or quit drinking when warranted (see Core articles on screening and brief intervention). Some medicines that you might never have suspected can react with alcohol, including many medications which can be purchased “over-the-counter”—that is, without a prescription. Even some herbal remedies can have harmful effects when combined with alcohol. Additionally, drinking alcohol can also make the side effects of a medication worse or even cause new symptoms. This is especially true if you are taking a medication that makes you sleepy or causes sedation.

Looking for Treatment?

Talk to your physician for guidance, or for more information on the safe disposal of unused medications, visit FDA’s disposal of unused medicines or DEA’s drug disposal webpages. Patients should tell family and the people they are closest to about the increased sensitivity to opioids and the risk of overdose. Naltrexone is not an opioid, is not addictive, and does not cause withdrawal symptoms with stop of use. Naltrexone blocks the euphoric and sedative effects of opioids such as heroin, morphine, and codeine.

SAMHSA funds the Providers Clinical Support System – Medications for Opioid Use Disorders (PCSS-MOUD) to provide free training and mentoring to medical practitioners to identify and treat opioid use disorder. Inpatient treatment is provided in special units of hospitals or medical clinics. It offers both medical detoxification (to help the individual through physical withdrawal symptoms) and rehabilitation services. The individual in inpatient treatment generally lives in the center anywhere from a month to a year. Alcohol acts as a depressant to the nervous system, meaning it slows down the neurotransmitters in the brain that communicate with the rest of the nerves in the body. In the short term, this can lead to impaired judgment and vision, as well as slowed coordination and reaction time.