Many medications interact with alcohol, regardless of whether they are prescribed by your doctor or purchased over the counter, such as herbal treatments.
When you drink alcohol, it is also broken down in the liver and can affect the amount of medicine that passes into your blood. Photo: Shutterstock
There are several occasions to relax with an alcoholic drink, such as when we enjoy with friends or celebrate a special day. But if you are taking certain medicines while you drink alcoholthis can affect your body in several ways.
Drink alcohol with some medicines means that the medicine may not work as well, with others, you risk a life-threatening overdose.
This is what you need to know if you are taking medicines but you plan to drink alcohol.
Because it is important?
After taking a medicine, it travels to the stomach.
From there, the body transports it to the liver, where the drug is metabolized and broken down before entering the bloodstream.
Each medication you take is provided in a dosage that takes this process in the liver into account.
when you drink alcoholit is also broken down in the liver and can affect the amount of medicine that passes into the blood.
Some medicines they are metabolized more, and that may mean that not enough of them reach the bloodstream to be effective.
Some medicines They are metabolized less.
This means that you get a much higher dose than intended, which might lead to an overdose.
The effects of alcohol (such as drowsiness) also add to any similar effects a drug might have.
Whether or not you will have an interaction, and what interaction you have, depends on many factors.
These include the medicine you are taking, the dose, the amount of alcohol what you drink, your age, genes, gender and general health.
Women, older people, and people with liver problems are more likely to have their medicines mixed with the alcohol cause interactions.
What medications do not go well with alcohol?
Many medicines interact with the alcoholregardless of whether they are prescribed by your doctor or purchased over the counter, such as herbal treatments.
1. Medicines + alcohol = drowsiness, coma, death
Drink alcohol and taking a medication that depresses the central nervous system to reduce agitation and arousal may have added effects.
Together, these can make you drowsier, slow your breathing and heart rate, and in extreme cases, lead to coma and death.
These effects are more likely if you take more than one drug of this type.
Los medicines to consider include those for depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, pain (except acetaminophen), sleep disorders (such as insomnia), allergies, and colds and flu.
It’s better not to drink alcohol with these medicines or maintain the consumption of alcohol to the minimum.
2. Medicines + alcohol = more effects
Mingle alcohol with some medicines increases the effect of those medicines.
An example is the sleeping pill zolpidem, which should not be taken with alcohol.
Rare but serious side effects are strange behavior while sleeping, such as eating while asleep or sleepwalking, which are more likely with alcohol.
3. Medicines + craft or home brew = high blood pressure
some kinds of medicines only interact with some types of alcohol.
Examples include some medicines for depression, such as phenelzine, tranylcypromine, and moclobemide, the antibiotic linezolid, the Parkinson’s drug selegiline, and the cancer drug procarbazine.
These so-called monoamine oxidase inhibitors only interact with some types of boutique and craft beers, beers with visible sediment, Belgian, Korean, European, and African beers, and homebrew beers and wines.
These types of alcohol they contain high levels of tyramine, a natural substance that is normally broken down by the body and does not normally cause any harm.
However, monoamine oxidase inhibitors prevent the body from breaking down tyramine.
This increases the levels in the body and can cause blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels.
4. Medicines + alcohol = effects even following stopping drinking
Others medicines interact because they affect the way the body breaks down alcohol.
If you drink alcohol while you wear these medicinesyou may feel nauseated, vomit, flushing of the face and neck, shortness of breath or dizziness, your heart may beat faster than normal, or your blood pressure may drop.
This can occur even following stopping treatment and then drinking alcohol.
For example, if you are taking metronidazole, you should avoid alcohol both while you are using the medication and for at least 24 hours following you stop taking it.
An example of how the alcohol changes the amount of the drug or related substances in the body is acitretin.
This medication is used to treat skin conditions such as severe psoriasis and to prevent skin cancer in people who have had an organ transplant.
When you take acitretin, it is changed into another substance, etretinate, before it is removed from the body.
The alcohol increases the amount of etretinate in the body.
This is especially important since etretinate can cause birth defects.
To avoid this, if you are a woman of childbearing age, you should avoid the alcohol while you are using the medicine and for two months following you stop taking it.
Myths regarding alcohol and drugs: alcohol and birth control
One of the most common myths regarding medicines and the alcohol is that you cannot drink while using the birth control pill.
In general, it is safe to use alcohol with the pill, as it does not directly affect the effectiveness of birth control.
But the pill is most effective when taken at the same time every day.
If you’re drinking a lot, you’re more likely to forget.
The alcohol it can also cause some people to feel nauseated and vomit.
If you vomit within three hours of taking the pill, it won’t work. This increases the risk of pregnancy.
Las contraceptive pills They can also affect your response to alcoholas the hormones they contain can change the way your body gets rid of alcohol.
This means that you can get drunk faster and stay drunk for longer than normal.
alcohol and antibiotics
Then there is the myth of not mixing alcohol with no antibiotic, this applies especially for metronidazole and linezolid.
Otherwise it is generally safe to use alcohol con antibioticssince the alcohol does not affect its effectiveness. But if you can, it’s better to avoid the alcohol while you drink antibiotics.
Los antibiotics and the alcohol they have similar side effects, such as upset stomach, dizziness, and drowsiness.
Using the two together means you are more likely to have these side effects.
The alcohol it can also reduce your energy and increase the time it takes you to recover.
