Drug That Interact With Alcohol And Their Potential Effects When Taken Together

Drugs and alcohol

Alcohol is not a poisonous compound when consumed in moderate amount. However, moderate consumption can become dangerous and deadly when it is combined with certain medications. These medications can be over the counter (O.T.C) control drug (CD) or prescription-only medicine (P.O.M). Therefore, what can possibly happen even in the moderate amount of alcohol combined with some medications.

Drug Interaction

Interaction is a situation whereby two or more substances interact with one another. Therefore, drug interaction occurs when one or more drugs interact with each other or with other substances. In this case, it is alcohol.

Drug And Alcohol Interaction

The interaction can be one of the following ways. The interaction

1. does increase the effect of the drug
2. Reduce the effect of the drug
3. Make it toxic
4. Makes it ineffective

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Note: Interactions with same drug and same amount of alcohol consumption can vary depending on other factors like

1. Elderly
2. Patients with impaired renal or liver function
3. A drunkard will be more likely to have interaction than others

Levels Of Interaction Of Alcohol With Drug

There are two levels of interactions, which are:

1. Major: Highly clinically significant. Avoid combination. The risk of interaction far outweigh the benefit
2. Minor: Minimally clinically significant. Minimal risk. Assess risk and consider an alternative drug. Steps can be taken to circumvent the interactions. Consider a monitoring plan.

How Does It Happen

This is divided into:

1. A single drink or several drinks over several hours may compete with metabolising enzymes with a drug. This increases the drug availability which further increases the risk of side effects
2. Long-term alcohol ingestion may activate drug metabolism enzymes. This reduces the active drugs that are available.
3. Activated enzymes transform some drugs into toxic chemicals which can damage organs
4. Alcohol can magnify the inhibitory effects of sedative and narcotic drugs at their sites of action in the brain.

General Effects Of Interaction

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Headache
• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Blood pressure
• Abnormal behavior
• Loss of coordination
• Accident complication
• Liver damage
• Heart problem
• Internal bleeding
• Impaired breathing
• Depression

  

  Alcohol

List of Drugs That Interact With Alcohol And There Likely Effects

Acetazolamide	enhanced hypotensive effect
Amiloride	enhanced hypotensive effect
Amitriptyline	* enhanced sedative effect
Amlodipine	enhanced hypotensive effect
Atenolol	enhanced hypotensive effect
Carbamazepine	possibly enhanced Central Nervous System (C.N.S) adverse effects of Carbamazepine
Chlorpheniramine	enhanced sedative effect
Chlorpromazine	enhanced sedative effect
Clomipramine	* enhanced sedative effect
Codeine	enhanced hypotensive and sedative effect
Cycloserine	*increased risk of convulsions
Diazepam	enhanced sedative effect
Enalapril	enhanced hypotensive effect
Fluoxetine	possibly increased sedation
Fluphenazine	enhanced sedative effect
Furosemide	enhanced hypotensive effect
Glibenclamide	enhanced hypoglycemic effect
Glyceryl trinitrate	enhanced hypotensive effect
Griseofulvin	possibly enhanced effects of alcohol
Haloperidol	enhanced sedative effect

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Hydralazine	enhanced hypotensive effect
Hydrochlorothiazide	enhanced hypotensive effect
Insulins	enhanced hypoglycemic effect
Isosorbide dinitrate	enhanced hypotensive effect
Levamisole	possibility of disulfiram-like reaction
Metformin	hypoglycemic effect, increased risk of lactic acidosis
Methadone	enhanced hypotensive and sedative effects
Methyldopa	enhanced hypotensive effect
Metronidazole	disulfiram-like reaction
Morphine	hypotensive and sedative effects
Nifedipine	enhanced hypotensive effect
Phenobarbital	enhanced sedative effect
Phenytoin	plasma phenytoin concentration reduced with regular large amounts of Alcohol
Procarbazine	disulfiram-like reaction
Promethazine	enhanced sedative effect
Propranolol	enhanced hypotensive effect
Sodium nitroprusside	enhanced hypotensive effect
Spironolactone	enhanced hypotensive effect
Timolol	enhanced hypotensive effect
Verapamil	enhanced hypotensive effect, plasma concentration of alcohol possibly increased by verapamil
Warfarin	*enhanced anticoagulant effect with large amounts of alcohol; major changes in alcohol consumption may affect anticoagulant control

Note: * indicates a potentially hazardous interaction

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