Medications + alcohol = ?
Pills and alcohol are a complex and simple topic at the same time. In principle, the whole article can fit into one phrase: "Medicines cannot be washed down with alcohol" – and calm down on that. However, a person is not a dog, it is not enough for him to say "fu". It is also necessary to explain in detail why "fu" and what will happen if you still wash down trichopol with beer.
Another temptation is simply to give a list of medicines in the form of a sign, indicating opposite each the effect of the combination with alcohol. But this is also not our method, so we will tell you slowly and thoroughly.
So, there are two main situations: alcohol changes the effects of the drug or the drug changes the effect of alcohol. We will not consider cases when alcohol addiction occurs already on a professional, chronic basis: completely different mechanisms are already starting to work here. For people who are actively friends with Bacchus, for example, painkillers, the same dental local anesthesia or even surgical anesthesia cease to act.
Alcohol changes the effect of the medicineHow can alcohol affect the behavior of a drug in our body?
Yes, whatever. Potentiate (enhance) the action, inhibit (reduce) the action, or even pervert it beyond recognition, giving the drug completely uncharacteristic properties for it. The saddest thing is that sometimes it is impossible to predict what kind of troubles the use of alcohol as a drink will turn out to be. A lot depends on individual characteristics, a specific medicine and a specific alcoholic beverage.
A classic example of summing up effects was demonstrated in Sergei Ashkenazi's film "Criminal Talent" (1988). The heroine of Alexandra Zakharova met men in a restaurant, they drank, and in the morning the unlucky philanderers woke up completely cleaned and with a very sore head. The sedative effect of alcohol was superimposed on the hypotensive and sedative effect of clonidine, which the fraudster mixed with her victims. People very quickly "passed out" and in the morning did not remember what happened to them. At one time, this method was very common among prostitutes – while clonidine preparations (clonidine, hemiton) could be almost freely bought at a pharmacy.
The next example, used, however, mainly by suicides, is taking sleeping pills–barbiturates and washing them down with vodka. Ethanol not only has a narcotic effect itself, but it also greatly simplifies the penetration of barbiturates into brain cells, which can lead to deadly respiratory depression. Even if the dose of sleeping pills seemed to be within safe limits.
Antidepressants are also not combined with alcohol. Especially drugs from the group of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO). This enzyme destroys biological substances from the group of monoamines in our body - adrenaline, norepinephrine, serotonin, melatonin, histamine, dopamine. Blocking monoamine oxidase allows all of the above to circulate in the blood for longer, raising vitality, improving mood and performing other actions in order to bring the victim out of depression.
Alcohol, as we have already mentioned, is a depressant, that is, an antagonist of antidepressants, that is, it negates their effect. There is another pitfall: alcohol intake stimulates the release of additional adrenaline, which means that (coupled with antidepressants) the heart will start beating like crazy, blood pressure will rise, small vessels will spasm.
In addition, some beers and wines contain the substance tyramine, which has a structure and action similar to adrenaline. Under normal conditions, tyramine is destroyed in the intestine, but against the background of taking MAO inhibitors, it can enter the blood and drive blood pressure to exorbitant heights.
Almost the same effect can be obtained if, with a cold, any vasoconstrictive drops are dropped into the nose and added "inside for a snowdrift", say, vodka with pepper. Ethanol, among other things, also increases the sensitivity of the heart to the effects of adrenaline. And even that meager dose of adrenaline-like substances (and others are not used to "punch" the nose) can significantly affect well-being. It is not pleasant to feel your own heart tearing free from a tight chest.
Another little dirty trick on the part of alcohol is the powerful activation of liver enzymes from the cytochrome group. They are responsible for detoxification in general, but cytochromes dispose of a lot of medications. For example, oral contraceptives. Under a certain set of circumstances – which are determined exclusively by experience – it may turn out that the hormone pill taken will be disassembled so quickly that it can easily be considered missed. In fairness, it is worth noting that 1-2 glasses of wine at dinner will not play a special role, but the desire to destroy all the alcoholic bins of the motherland against the background of taking contraceptives can turn into a "kinder surprise".
You should be careful with anti-inflammatory drugs. So one of the drugs of the basic therapy of rheumatoid arthritis, methotrexate, in combination with alcohol, very significantly "hits" the liver. Approximately the same thing leads to the combination of alcohol with paracetamol. This effect is called hepatotoxic. Other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (yes, the same aspirin) paired with alcohol increases the risk of stomach ulcers.
The medicine changes the effect of alcoholEthyl alcohol is known to decompose in our body under the action of enzymes.
At the first stage, alcohol dehydrogenase converts ethanol into acetic aldehyde. At the second stage, aldehyde dehydrogenase converts acetic aldehyde into acetic acid, which already splits into carbon dioxide and water without any problems.
The most toxic product from this whole company is acetic aldehyde. It is he who should be thanked for the symptoms of a hangover – headache, nausea, bruising, etc. One of the methods of treating alcoholism, popularly known as "hemming", is based on this feature.
The patient is injected with the drug disulfiram (esperal, antabuse, teturam), which blocks the second enzyme in the chain (aldehyde dehydrogenase). And they explain that you can't drink, otherwise it will be bad. If a person decides to test the strength of this protection, he gets a full picture of poisoning with acetic aldehyde. And no pleasure.
So, not only disulfiram has a similar effect. It is possible to be "hemmed in" when taking some antibacterial drugs. Metronidazole (trichopol) has become a byword, in the literal sense, the stunning effect of which has been experienced by many representatives of sexually active segments of the population.
But this is not the whole list. All cephalosporins, griseofulvin, sulfonamides (including biseptol), nitrofurans (furazolidone), ketoconazole should be added here. In the vast majority of cases, "one tabletka is enough". And one glass.
Another classic case when a drug changes the behavior of alcohol in the body is caffeine. You probably noticed that coffee liqueur is approximately equal to vodka in terms of impact, although the degrees in it are almost two times less. This is due to the peculiarities of the interaction of caffeine and ethanol.
Being a psychostimulant, caffeine can really give a temporary "sobering up" effect, which is sometimes used in bars or restaurants. However, after a while the intoxication returns, and more pronounced. The fact is that caffeine enhances the penetration of ethyl alcohol through the blood-brain barrier, which means that alcohol rushes into the brain with a vengeance, and we have a kind of "bonus" to intoxication.
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It will not be possible to find the lines "drink alcohol" in any instructions for the drug. At least because there is not a single useful combination of alcohol and medicines. Even relatively safe, there are not so many. Mostly – a solid negative. If there is no desire to put pharmacological experiments on yourself, it is better to drink medicines with water at room temperature. In ninety-five percent of cases, this will be enough. Well, you can read about the remaining five percent – the need to drink milk, mineral water or other liquid – in the very instructions for the drug that you just threw in the trash.
If you suddenly need to take any medicine, give up alcohol. You'll still have time to drink your tank.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru
17.06.2008