Thinking of Mixing Alcohol and Medications? Just Say No!

If you’re tempted to have a beer, glass of wine or any other type of alcohol with your medication, know it’s a risky decision. Mixing alcohol with certain medications can lead to serious health risks and consequences. Here are some of the potential dangers:

Increased Side Effects: Drinking alcohol and taking medications that are over the counter or prescribed by a health care provider can cause harm to a person’s body. Alcohol can increase the side effects of many medications, including sleepiness, dizziness, risk of overdose and slower reactions. This is particularly true for medications like sedatives, opioids and certain antidepressants. It can make it hard to breathe, which can damage your brain and other organs – and possibly even lead to early death.

Reduced Effectiveness: Alcohol can make some medications less effective or even ineffective. For example, it can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics, potentially leading to longer illness or increased risk of complications.

Serious Reactions: Some medications, including certain types of painkillers and cough syrups, contain ingredients that can cause serious reactions when mixed with alcohol. These reactions can include difficulty breathing, motor control problems, memory problems and rapid heartbeat.

Liver Damage: Both alcohol and certain medications can cause liver damage on their own, but the risk of liver damage increases significantly when these two are used together. This is even true for commonly used medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), which can cause liver damage when used in high doses or over a long period of time.

Increased Risk of Addiction: Mixing alcohol with certain medications, particularly opioids and benzodiazepines, can increase the risk of addiction.

It’s important to read the labels on your medicine’s label to see if it says there could be harmful effects when combined with alcohol. You should also reference the helpful resources noted below and consider talking to your health care provider or pharmacist to learn more about the risks and consequences of potential interactions of different medications with alcohol.