If You Drink Alcohol.....Here’s what you should know about how it affects you and the medicines you take.

What you should know about alcohol and medicines.

You may be unaware of how alcohol affects your body and some of the over-the-counter and prescription medicines you may take. These effects can vary depending on how much alcohol you drink and which medicine you take. With certain medicines, you may need to avoid drinking alcohol altogether. To help you understand this important issue, take some time to read this article. It provides helpful information about alcohol as well as how it affects your body and some of the most commonly used medicines. If you have any additional questions, talk with your doctor or other healthcare professional.

Alcohol: What it is, What it can do.

Alcohol is a chemical that acts like a drug in the body. It can affect important organs and systems of the body, such as the brain and nervous system, the stomach and digestive system, the liver, and more. The seriousness of its effects depends on how much and how often you drink alcohol.

The government takes alcohol seriously enough that it legally limits access to adults. This is because the effects of alcohol are especially dangerous for children. Alcohol interferes with the development of the nervous system in the growing child- even before birth. In fact, it is now known that alcohol while she is pregnant, causing what is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Alcohol should be used responsibly and cautiously by adults because of the many effects it can have on the body. Special caution should be taken by individuals with chronic diseases and those taking medicines.

What effects alcohol can have on your body.

Alcohol has very different effects on different people. It can even affect the same person differently at different times. Four factors determine the effects of alcohol:

How much you drink

How much you weigh

How much food you have eaten

Your drinking habits

The central nervous system and brain

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. Though at low blood levels you will feel stimulated and less inhibited, alcohol acts much like depressants, such as sedative drugs.

Even moderate amount of alcohol affect the brain. This is why you should not drink alcohol when you plan to drive a car or operate machinery.

Alcohol and stomach

Alcohol irritates the lining of the esophagus(food pipe) and the stomach. It can cause gastritis, and inflammation of the stomach that can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding.

These effects of a moderate amount of alcohol are reversible if you stop drinking alcohol. If you are a heavy drinker, the risk for damage is much greater tearing of the stomach lining, ulceration, and more severe bleeding can result.

Alcohol and the liver

Alcohol can cause even more problems when used excessively. Chronic use of excessive amounts of alcohol can lead to serious complications in the liver, the organ where alcohol is processed. Cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis are the two most serious consequences in the liver; in fact, chronic excessive alcohol consumption is the single leading cause of illness and death from liver disease in the U.S.

What you need to know about alcohol and medicines.

Over-the-counter and prescription medicines can give you relief and help you stay healthier, as long as you take them correctly. Drinking alcohol can sometimes affect how other medicines work.

Alcohol can interact harmfully with some common over-the-counter medicines. And about 100 prescription medicines can produce unwanted effects when taken with alcohol. These problems can be minor or very severe, and even fatal.

Sometimes it’s just the simple combination of a moderatie amount of alcohol and recommended doses of medicines that can cause a bad effect. In other cases, it’s excessive amounts of alcohol consumed on a regular basis combined with excessive doses of medication that cause a bad reaction.

Factors that need to be considered about alcohol and your medicines:

Specific medicine or medicines taken

Amount of medicine taken

Amount of alcohol consumed

Time of drinking in relation to time of taking medicine

How the particular medicine is broken down by your body

Alcohol and over-the-counter pain relievers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has urged manufacturers to include an alcohol warning on all over-the-counter pain relievers. This includes acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen(Advil), ketoprofen (Actron and Orudis KT), and naproxen sodium( Aleve).

Tylenol was the first of the over-the-counter pain relievers to comply voluntarily by adding the following to its label: "If you generally consume three or more alcohol-containing drinks per day, you should consult your physician for advice on when and how you should take Tylenol and other pain relievers. "In addition, when Aleve, Orudis KT, and Actron, as well as Tylenol Extended Relief, became available, their labeling included an alcohol warning.

How alcohol interacts with NSAIDs

NSAIDs are NonSteroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs- a class of pain relievers that includes aspirin, ibuprofen(Advil), ketoprofen(Orudis KT and Actron), and naproxen sodium (Aleve). NSAIDs to varying degrees can cause serious gastrointestinal (stomach) ulceration and bleeding. In addition, alcohol by itself is a stomach irritant.

If you take any of these pain relievers and drink alcohol, the risk of stomach irritation and bleeding can be increased. The more you drink and the more medicine you take, the greater the problem can be. So talk to your doctor about which pain reliever is right for you.

How over-the-counter medicines can react with alcohol

ie, Benadryl

ie, Codeine, Darvon

ie, Naprosyn, Motrin

ie, Valium, Barbiturates

To get more information on alcohol and medicines

If you have any questions about alcohol and medicines, your doctor or healthcare professional is your best source of advice.

For additional information on how alcohol affects you and medicines you take, please contact:

American Medical Association (AMA)

Healthcare Education Products

515 North State Street

Chicago, IL 60610