Mixing alcohol and medication can even be dangerous.
If you’re drinking excessively or regularly, you are increasing the risk of adverse medication reactions.
The combination of medication and alcohol can lead to serious health consequences, including overdose and even death.
Verywell / Jiaqi Zhou
Alcohol can interact with certain drugs or exacerbate the medical and mental health conditions you’re being treated for.
To be safe, consult with your doctor or pharmacist first.
They can provide personalized guidance based on your specific medications and health status.
Here is what you oughta know about the possible unsafe interactions between alcohol and common prescription and over-the-counter medications.
Alcohol can make some medications less effective by interfering with how they are absorbed in the digestive tract.
Additionally, drinking alcohol can also make the side effects of a medication worse or even cause new symptoms.
And be honest about your drinking habits.
The effects of mixing alcohol with medication also depend on certain individual factors.
In addition, there are hundreds of mental health medications that interact with alcohol.
Combining alcohol with a mental health medication can make the medication less effective or even more dangerous.
ADHD Medications
Stimulants and sedatives (such as alcohol) mask each other’s effects.
So, mixing the two together increases the likelihood of overdose on either substance.
Harmful physical effects such as seizures may occur in some cases.
The following list of medications that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol isn’t exhaustive.
Drowsiness and dizziness are common side effects of medications used to treat allergies, colds, and the flu.
These symptoms are also common when you drink alcohol.
If you have angina, you might be prescribed a medication called nitroglycerin.
You will want to avoid alcohol for three days before you roll and after you stop Flagyl.
Some drugs (often antihistamines) used to prevent and treat motion sickness can also be purchased over-the-counter.
When used under medical supervision, the combination can be an effective way to treat alcohol withdrawal.
You might not need to completely avoid alcohol if you are taking a blood thinner.
However, your doctor might have a different recommendation.
That said, mixing alcohol and statins could still make the medications side effects more intense.
The effects of the mix can be especially seriousif not deadlywhen the cough medicine also contains alcohol.
This combination can cause an overdose which may be fatal.
These drugs can also make the effects of alcohol more intense, leading to impaired judgment and sedation.
Muscle relaxants are commonly used to treat back and neck pain, as well as certain kinds of headaches.
Mixing these medications with alcohol intensifies the side effects and increases the risk of afatal overdose.
However, even medications that don’t require a prescription can be unsafe when mixed with alcohol.
If you are taking an OTC painkiller, be sure to read the label carefully.
Summary
There are hundreds of prescription and over-the-counter medications that are not safe to mix with alcohol.
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