What's the harm in drinking alcohol when taking prescription medications?!


Question: What's the harm in drinking alcohol when taking prescription medications!?
Answers:
many will damage your liver, acetaminophen and alcohol has killed people, read the warnings on tylenol!


Read this!

WASHINGTON Evidence that many Americans may poison their livers by unwittingly taking toxic doses of acetaminophen has the government considering if consumers need stiffer warnings about the popular over-the-counter painkiller!.

Its not the first time acetaminophen, best known by the Tylenol brand, has drawn federal concern!.

There are warnings not to take it if you consume more than three alcoholic drinks, because the combination can poison your liver!.

But the latest worry is about overdoses: taking too much for too long, or mixing the myriad acetaminophen-containing headache, cold/flu and other remedies, or just popping extra pills!.

Because acetaminophen is nonprescription, "people think it must be safe and they take it like M&Ms," sighs Dr!. William Lee of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas!.

Lees data suggest acetaminophen overdoses could be a bigger cause of liver failure than some prescription drugs recently banned for liver poisoning, such as the diabetes medicine Rezulin!.

He tracked more than 300 acute liver failure cases at 22 hospitals and linked 38 percent to acetaminophen, versus 18 percent of cases caused by other medications!. In a second database tracking 307 adults suffering severe liver injurynot full-fledged failure at six hospitals, Lee linked acetaminophen to 35 percent of cases!.

"Most were accidents and should have been preventable," Lee contends!.

The findings surprised Food and Drug Administration officials, who this month began investigating how big a risk the painkiller poses and whether Americans need more explicit warnings to use it safely!.

They even are seeking data from Britain, where so many people used acetaminophen for suicide that British health authorities now restrict how many tablets are sold at once!.

"Acetaminophens liver toxicity is conspicuous in its magnitude compared to some of the other bad players we"ve taken off the market," says Dr!. Peter Honig, FDAs postmarketing drug safety chief!.

"Were looking at the data to decide if something has to be done, and what!."Www@Answer-Health@Com

some people's answers are insanely long!.
haha

well theres usually only harm if you drink or take the medications excessively!.
ive taken 5 vicodins (which actually dont trip you out or get your high or anything >:| ) and drank a water bottles worth of jack daniels before!.
and i'm fine!. i was fine that day!.
i know people who take meds and drink alcohol and they're fine!.
just dont overdo it!.
and dont drink too much!. or take too many of your meds!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

YOU CAN DIE !!!!!
DO NOT MIX THESEWww@Answer-Health@Com

Depends on the type of medicine!. Generally, it's not a good idea to take medication and drink alcohol!.

Some people have died because of the interaction between alcohol and a medication!. For those who suffer from hay fever, mixing antihistamines and alcohol can increase the risk of an accident while driving!. Alcohol can also interact with herbal products!.

Alcohol is broken down in the liver, through what is called the "first pass" metabolism!. Certain medications are known to reduce the level of first pass metabolism!. The list includes such drugs as aspirin and various anti-ulcer and heartburn treatments such as cimetidine, ranitidine and nizatidine!. Cisapride and metoclporamide, which are also used for treating various stomach complaints, also reduce 'first pass' because they increase the speed at which the stomach empties thereby reducing the degree of alcohol being metabolised within the stomach!. Erythromycin, which is a commonly prescribed antibiotic, is also known to reduce first pass metabolism!. It is also important to emphasise that women metabolise less alcohol than men on first pass!.

If you were taking one of these drugs and also happened to have consumed some alcohol then the level of alcohol in your blood could be higher than you might have expected!. If you were stopped by cops and had your blood alcohol measured you might find that the level was higher than you expected!.

The two most important enzymes for alcohol metabolism are known as ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase) and cytochrome P450!. ADH converts alcohol into acetaldehyde, which is one of the principal culprits in producing the hangover effect!.

alcohol could increase the level of the drug in the bloodstream because the alcohol had reduced the level of cytochrome P450 activity!. In other words if the enzyme is not breaking down the alcohol quickly enough more of it is left circulating in the bloodstream, which could have serious consequences!. In that scenario the person is effectively overdosing on the medication because of the alcohol



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