Aging slows the body’s ability to break down alcohol, so alcohol remains in a person’s system longer. Older people also are more likely to take a medication that interacts with alcohol—in fact, they often need to take more than one of these medications. Some medicines that you might never have suspected can react with alcohol, including many medications which can be purchased “over-the-counter”—that is, without a prescription.

Sometimes called downers, depressants slow brain activity and reduce anxiety. Combining downers such as hydrocodone and alcohol can inhibit breathing and lower your heart rate, which can be fatal. Alcohol, like some medicines, can make you sleepy, drowsy, or lightheaded.

This drug only works to stop opioid overdoses, not overdoses on other kinds of drugs. Administering naloxone may help to stop opioid-caused symptoms, but the person may still suffer due to excessive alcohol consumption. Alcohol and opioids are both depressants, meaning they lead to relaxation, pleasure, changes to breathing and heart rate, and trouble thinking clearly or remembering events. When two drugs both cause these as side effects, mixing them increases the likelihood that a person will pass out, stop breathing, or suffer heart failure and die.

Lethal potential of opioids and alcohol when taken together

Polydrug abuse, especially involving two depressants like hydrocodone and alcohol, is extremely dangerous. The risk of a fatal overdose is much higher when drugs are combined to get high. If a person struggles with alcohol abuse, opioid addiction, or both, they need medically supervised detox and evidence-based rehabilitation to overcome these dangerous conditions.

Should this occur, without alcohol and hydrocodone in the body, the user may experience high levels of discomfort and sometimes dangerous withdrawal symptoms. With so many people struggling alcohol awareness toolkit prevention technology transfer center pttc network with opioid and alcohol abuse, it is likely that these two conditions will overlap. This form of polydrug abuse is extremely risky and puts the person at great risk of death from overdose.

Examples of Potentially Deadly Interactions

Alcohol and prescription drugs are two of the most common substances in the United States. In the US, it is legal for adults over the age of 21 to consume alcohol within reasonable limits, and with a doctor’s prescription and oversight, it is legal to take opioid painkillers like hydrocodone. However, medical professionals typically recommend, alcohol and aging can drinking make you look older and warning labels on the medications reinforce, to avoid mixing opioid drugs like hydrocodone with other depressant drugs like alcohol. In closing, combining alcohol with certain medications, particularly those with sedative effects, can increase the risk of adverse events, including falls, driving accidents, and fatal overdoses.

1. Alcohol and opioids are both depressants, meaning they lead to relaxation, pleasure, changes to breathing and heart rate, and trouble thinking clearly or remembering events.
2. Make your tax-deductible gift and be a part of the cutting-edge research and care that's changing medicine.
3. This medication can block the effects of opioids, which may relieve some of the symptoms of overdose.
4. There are reasons why medical professionals prescribing hydrocodone caution against drinking while taking these highly addictive opioid pills.
5. If a person combines opioids and alcohol, the effects of each can become stronger than they would be alone, which can have dangerous side effects.

This medication can block the effects of opioids, which may relieve some of the symptoms of overdose. When a person drinks alcohol, their bloodstream quickly distributes it to the brain, liver, kidneys, and lungs. It takes, on average, 1 hour for the body to break down one unit of alcohol.

Concurrent Alcohol and Hydrocodone Abuse

This medicine will add to the effects of alcohol and other CNS depressants. CNS depressants are medicines that slow down the nervous system, which may cause drowsiness or make you less alert. This effect may last for a few days after you stop using this medicine. Check with your doctor before taking any of these medicines while you are using this medicine.

When used excessively or when combined, these substances can create volatile and unpredictable outcomes. This medicine may cause a serious type of allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. Call your doctor right away if you have a rash, itching, hoarseness, trouble breathing, trouble swallowing, or any swelling of your hands, face, or mouth while you are using this medicine. Over time, alcohol damages most parts of the body, but especially the cardiovascular system, the digestive system, the liver, and the brain. Vicodin, Lortab and Lorcet contain acetaminophen, a substance used to treat minor aches and pains.

Alcohol-Medication Interactions: Potentially Dangerous Mixes

At least initially, the separate highs or euphoric effects of both substances serve to supplement the other, resulting in a synergized reward that the brain quickly takes note of. Concurrent use of alcohol additionally lowers the threshold for acetaminophen’s liver toxicity. This substance is only available with a prescription and can aid in the management of moderate to severe pain. Like alcohol, hydrocodone can produce feelings of euphoria that may lead to the development of physical dependency and, eventually, substance addiction.

Alcohol and Hydrocodone Use Statistics

The CDC and many other science organizations believe that the steep rise of prescription narcotics fed the epidemic of addiction and overdose. While many people now abuse street opioids like heroin and illicit fentanyl, most report beginning their substance abuse when they received a prescription for hydrocodone or oxycodone from their doctor. In 2018, CNN reported a story about an Indiana mother whose two sons died on the same night. The teens had overdosed after mixing hydrocodone and alcohol at high school graduation parties.

Most important, the list does not include all the ingredients in every medication. As the body acclimates to these consistently elevated levels of substance use, physiological 15+ pro tips on how to pass a marijuana drug test asap dependence can develop. Dependence results when the body is so accustomed to substances being available that it may begin to essentially malfunction without them.

Call your doctor right away if you have worsening of pain, increased sensitivity to pain, or new pain after taking this medicine. If the person has had a seizure, collapsed, does not wake up immediately, or has trouble breathing, immediately call emergency services. The study found that when a person combines alcohol with oxycodone, the number of times they temporarily stop breathing increases significantly, especially in elderly participants. Many people in recovery engage in informal support groups like 12-Step meetings to gain information and support from people with similar substance-related issues. When two or more depressants are used concurrently, they may increase the unwanted repercussions dramatically—leading to increased health risks. Alcohol and hydrocodone work differently in the body, but they both serve to slow down the body and diminish response time.