The risk of mixing alcohol and medicine: Celebrate safely this holiday season
12/19/2022
According to National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA), about 70
percent of adults in the U.S. said they drank alcohol in 2019. That same year,
over 45 percent of the population reported taking a prescription medication in
the past 30 days.
Combining medications (prescribed or not
prescribed) with alcohol can have unpredictable and unwanted consequences.
Aspirus aims to help community members better understand the dangers of mixing
these substances and how to prevent harm this holiday season.
“Drinking alcohol while taking
over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription medicine has the potential to be
extremely dangerous, messing with the effectiveness of the medicine and leading
to significant interaction effects,”
says Allyson Balthazor, a clinical pharmacist who is completing her first year
of pharmacy residency at Aspirus Wausau Hospital. “It’s best to avoid drinking
altogether while taking any kind of medicine, but if you’re considering it,
it’s important to know the risks.”
The Risks
Here are the dangers of mixing alcohol and
medication, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA) and American Addiction Centers (AAC):
1. Drinking alcohol might make the medication you’re
taking less effective.
“For example, alcohol is a depressant, so drinking
while taking an antidepressant may hurt the goal of improving your mood,” says
Balthazor.
2. The interaction of alcohol and some medications may
increase negative side effects. Taking a medication that causes drowsiness
while drinking can worsen the effect.
3. The interaction may
increase risk of organ damage. Balthazor shares an example, saying “taking too
much acetaminophen, or Tylenol, while drinking can significantly damage your
liver.”
4. The interaction can sometimes have life-threatening
effects, such as major bleeding, extreme drowsiness and trouble breathing.
The Effects
The effect alcohol has
on drugs will vary depending on the type or class of drugs you are taking while
drinking alcohol.
- Depressants combined with alcohol can
worsen side effects, with potential for dangerous and even lethal consequences,
such as rapid onset of dizziness, stumbling, memory loss, and potential death.
- Stimulants combined with alcohol conceal
alcohol’s effects, so people cannot gauge their level of intoxication,
which can result in over-consumption, significant impairment of coordination
and judgment, blacking out, and potential death.
- Prescription opiates combined with alcohol
can result in slowed or arrested breathing, lowered pulse and blood pressure,
loss of consciousness, coma, and potential death.
- OTC pain medications combined with alcohol can
increase the risk of serious side effects such as stomach ulcers and bleeding.
It can even cause liver damage.
“Be honest with your provider about how much you drink
and how often. They can determine how much may be safe for you to consume, as
well as help you understand the risks of drinking alcohol while on your
medications,” adds Balthazor.
To learn more about the harms of mixing
alcohol and medicine, visit the NIAAA website. To find an Aspirus provider near you, visit https://www.aspirus.org/find-a-provider.
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