Harmful Interactions National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA

Women and people with smaller body size tend to have a higher blood alcohol concentration when they consume the same amount of alcohol as someone larger. This is because there is less water in their bodies that can mix with the alcohol. Nial Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a member of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nial is the chief scientific officer of Vaihea Skincare LLC, a director of SetDose Pty Ltd a medical device company, and a Standards Australia panel member for sunscreen agents. Nial regularly consults to industry on issues to do with medicine risk assessments, manufacturing, design, and testing.

Combining alcohol with ibuprofen can lead to a higher risk of stomach upsets and stomach bleeds. The effectiveness of oral contraceptives (and other forms of hormonal birth control) isn’t affected by alcohol, so it’s OK to enjoy a drink here and there when taking the pill. It’s possible that if you use them together, antibiotics may be less effective at clearing up the infection that you are being treated for. Antipsychotics may be prescribed for people with conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine.

For example, if someone usually relapses at the holidays or the anniversary of the death of a loved one, they might decide with their doctor to take it just around that time, Schmidt says. Three drugs have FDA approval for alcohol use disorder, and each works differently. Older people also are more sensitive to the effects of medications acting on the brain and will experience more side-effects, such as dizziness and falls. In older adults especially, alcohol use may increase the risk for falls, serious injury, and disability related to balance problems. Antidepressants can cause drowsiness and dizziness that can be made worse with alcohol.

You always hurt the ones you love—especially if you abuse drugs or alcohol. Physical addiction appears to occur when repeated use of a drug changes the way your brain feels pleasure. The addicting drug causes physical changes to some nerve cells (neurons) in your brain. Use of hallucinogens can produce different signs and symptoms, depending on the drug. The most common hallucinogens are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and phencyclidine (PCP).

Other Medications for Substance Use Disorders

Combining alcohol with some medicines can lead to falls and serious injuries, especially among older people. If you take medications for arthritis, it is important to know that mixing them with alcohol can increase your risk for stomach ulcers and bleeding in the stomach, as well as liver problems. The following list of medications that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol isn’t exhaustive. You should always read the label of any medication and check with a doctor to be sure you are safely taking a medication.

Find more top doctors on

One of the deadliest combinations is alcohol and narcotic pain medications. On their own, opioids can cause drowsiness, dizziness, slowed or impaired breathing, impaired motor control, abnormal behavior, and memory loss. Medications prescribed to lower cholesterol levels (known as statins) can cause flushing, itching, stomach bleeding, and liver damage.

Prescriptions, Opioids, and Fake Pills

It is very important to follow your healthcare provider’s orders for dosage and time taken to avoid misuse, overdose, and/or death. Overdoses involving opioids killed nearly 47,000 people in 2018, and 32% of those deaths involved prescription opioids. Combining medicines for managing general pain, muscle ache, fever, and inflammation with alcohol can cause stomach upset, bleeding, ulcers in your stomach, and rapid heartbeat. When mixed with alcohol, Excedrin and Tylenol can also cause liver damage. Side effects of mixing antibiotics and antifungals with alcohol can range from maverick house sober living fast heartbeat and sudden changes in blood pressure to stomach pain, upset stomach, vomiting, headache, or redness in the face.

1. Most people feel the effects of the immediate-release formulas of oxy within minutes of consumption.
2. People who do best in an outpatient program generally are willing to attend counseling, have a strong support system, housing, and reliable transportation to get to their treatment sessions.
3. When you have alcohol use disorder, just thinking about alcohol triggers a pleasurable response in the brain.

Changes in the brain

Alcohol can interact with certain drugs or exacerbate the medical and mental health conditions you’re being treated for. They can provide personalized guidance based on your specific medications and health status. When opioids such as oxycodone and alcohol are combined, it can have devastating effects. Drinking alcohol while using opioids comes with many risks, including slower breathing, impaired judgment, and potentially overdose and death.

Here is a short list of the most common prescription and OTC drugs that can pose a risk to your health if mixed with alcohol, as well as what can happen if the substances are combined. In general, alcohol use has the potential to make symptoms of a mental health condition worse. 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.

Always review labels on over-the-counter (OTC) bottles to look for drug interactions between allergy, cough and cold medicine and alcohol. Allergy medicine used with alcohol can also cause or worsen drowsiness. Mixing these OTC medicines with alcohol may make driving hazardous. You can look at medicine label ingredients to see what medicines have alcohol in them, or ask your pharmacist.

Drinking even a small amount of alcohol while taking an antibiotic called Flagyl (metronidazole) can cause a severe reaction, making you extremely sick with nausea and vomiting. You will want to avoid alcohol for three days before you start and after you stop Flagyl. It’s important that you don’t mix alcohol with any of the following medications. Explore Mayo Clinic studies testing new treatments, interventions and tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage this condition. People struggling with addiction usually deny they have a problem and hesitate to seek treatment. An intervention presents a loved one with a structured opportunity to make changes before things get even worse and can motivate someone to seek or accept help.