Additionally, drinking alcohol can also make the side effects of a medication worse or even cause new symptoms. This is especially true if you are taking a medication that makes you sleepy or causes sedation. More intense side effects mean you might be more impaired after having one drink than you would typically be. The mixture of opiates and alcohol, for example, can cause your breathing to stop and is a common cause of death.
- Antihistamines, such as brompheniramine, chlorpheniramine or Claritin (loratadine), can cause similar symptoms when mixed with alcohol.
- Since polydrug use multiplies the rewarding effects of drugs in the brain, it increases the likelihood of becoming addicted.
- Small amounts of alcohol can make it dangerous to drive, and when you mix alcohol with certain medicines you put yourself at even greater risk.
Other Substances
This isn’t an exhaustive list, neither in terms of possible drug combinations nor possible effects of combining certain substances. Mixing alcohol and drugs, or mixing two or more substances, can produce unpredictable side effects. It is best to do research before choosing to mix substances, or try to only take one substance at a time on nights out. This is particularly true if you have any preexisting mental or physical health conditions that could mean drug combinations pose additional risks. So, it’s important for people to know that taking drugs in combination can be far more dangerous than taking each of those substances by themselves.
- The simultaneous use of depressants and alcohol can lead to sudden dizziness, stumbling, loss of bowel control, and memory impairments.
- This pamphlet lists medications that can cause harm when taken with alcohol and describes the effects that can result.
- Combining two substances may intensify the effects of each substance in a phenomenon called synergism.
Mixing alcohol and cocaine
When combining stimulants and alcohol, one’s heart rate can dramatically spike, increasing the risk of immediate and long-term heart complications, such as arrhythmia, stroke, heart attack, or death. When mixing alcohol and drugs that have similar effects, such as benzodiazepines, heroin, ketamine or GHB, there is a higher chance of losing consciousness, overdose, coma and death. However, even medications that don’t require a prescription can be unsafe when mixed with alcohol. For example, OTC painkillers (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can cause a range of symptoms from gastrointestinal upset to bleeding and ulcers in the stomach to tachycardia (racing heart). Using alcohol with medications used to treat heartburn, both prescription and over-the-counter, can cause tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) and sudden changes in blood pressure.
Side Effects of Mixing Alcohol and Cocaine
NIDA warns that users of a hallucinogenic drug may suffer from long-term side effects like mixing alcohol and drugs causes an effect called flashbacks that can happen weeks, months, or even years later. A flashback can come on without warning and will cause a person to feel like they are tripping without taking the drug. Even though their use is highly unpredictable and dangerous, the NSDUH reports that nearly 1.5 million Americans were abusing hallucinogenic drugs at the time of the 2016 survey.
Mixing Drugs and Alcohol
- See the page called the risks of using drugs for more information about overdose.
- Here, we describe briefly how alcohol and medications can interact, and we provide a few examples of common medications that could interact negatively with alcohol.
- When you recommend or prescribe a medication that can interact with alcohol, this scenario presents a natural opening to review or inquire about a patient’s alcohol intake.
- Doctors have dubbed mixing these two widely used drugs together as a “deadly combination”.
- Adderall is a type of amphetamine that acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system.
This can have toxic results and lead to possible alcohol poisoning, which can be fatal. The DEA warns that when GHB is mixed with alcohol, it can slow down breathing to a Alcoholics Anonymous dangerous level and cause a person to fall into a coma. GHB and methaqualone may be added to a person’s drink without them knowing and used to facilitate sexual assault. Taking both at the same time increases the sedative effects of each and can make a person lose consciousness sooner and then suffer from amnesia as well. Overdose can be fatal, making it hard to breath, lowering pulse and slowing down blood flow, reducing body temperature, and possibly causing a person to pass out.
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This dangerous combination of substances also raises the risk for addiction and makes drug dependence more significant, which in turn increases the severity of the withdrawal symptoms as well. Alcohol interacts with dopamine levels in the brain, which is what causes the changes in movement and mood regulation that a person experiences while drinking. The more regularly a person drinks to excess, the more the brain https://ecosoberhouse.com/ gets used to alcohol.
Benzodiazepines
It’s crucial to understand that mixing drugs and alcohol can have dangerous interactions and escalate these risks. If you or someone you know experiences any concerning symptoms or reactions, seek immediate medical attention. Understanding the dangers of mixing drugs and alcohol is crucial for promoting informed decision-making and preventing potentially life-threatening situations.