July 27, 2006
Top 10 Drinking Dangers
Before Another Drink, Learn More About What Doesn't Mix Well With Alcohol
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive Substance Abuse In America Get the facts on a national problem. Find out where to get help, learn how drugs affect the body and compare state drunk-driving laws.
Drinking And Over-The-Counter Drugs
"There are definite interactions with alcohol and OTC medications,” says Stephen Ross, M.D., a family medicine physician at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.
For instance, medications like Nyquil contain alcohol, so consuming it means you're adding more alcohol on top of your drink of choice.
"Also, many sleeping aids such as Tylenol PM or Sominex contain sedating antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl)," Ross tells WebMD. "If someone has alcohol in their system close to the time that they would take one of these sleeping medications they run the risk of becoming more sedated."
Mixing alcohol with other cold or allergy medications, explains Ross, like Contac or Benadryl, can make driving or operating heavy machinery dangerous.
"Nonsedating allergy medications like Claritin or Sudafed are safer to mix with alcohol," says Ross. "A rule of thumb would be to never mix alcohol with an OTC medication that says 'may cause drowsiness.'"
Alcohol And Chronic Illness
"Any person with a chronic medical illness must be careful when drinking alcohol," says Ross.
People with diabetes, for instance, need to be careful because alcohol is sugar, and sugar can be dangerous for people with this chronic disease.
Drinking alcohol can also be a risky move for people with stomach and intestinal ulcers, Ross explains. This condition can be aggravated and lead to internal bleeding if more than a small amount is consumed.
Energy Drinks
"Energy drinks or drinks with high caffeine intake do not help a person feel less drunk," says Ross. "The old adage that drinking a cup of coffee will sober you up more quickly is not true."
Instead, pounding down a few highly caffeinated energy drinks along with a few potent mixed drinks can make a person more combative and agitated — not a pretty picture.
If you've had too much to drink and you want to start the sobering-up process, go to something that's tried and true: water.
"I would recommend drinking plenty of water and not caffeine to try to decrease the effects of alcohol," says Ross.
Boating And Drinking
According to a study published in the December 2001 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, a person's chances of dying in a boating accident — either as a passenger or at the helm — soar when you add alcohol to the equation, even if the amounts of alcohol are small. After reaching the blood alcohol concentration limit of legal intoxication in most states, your odds of getting killed rise by 30%, according to the study. And when you're three times beyond the legal limit with a blood-alcohol content of 0.25, you are 50 times more likely to die than a sober boater. When you do the math, boating and drinking can equal disaster.
Alcohol And Marijuana
"The big three when you mix alcohol and cannabis are: effect on judgment, effect on motor performance, and sedation," says Christopher Welsh, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Both alcohol and marijuana have sedating properties, so when the two are combined, the effects are additive, explains Welsh.
"Animal studies have shown that motor performance is significantly impaired if you combine the two, compared to each on their own," Welsh tells WebMD. "This has also been shown in some human studies."
Sedation and an impairment of motor performance together leave a person with a less-than-perfect sense of judgment.
Alcohol And ... Almost Everything
Drinking alcohol can almost always put you at an increased risk for a bad ending in some way, shape, or form. Here are other activities that just aren’t good bedfellows for alcohol:
SOURCES:: Jenn Berman, Ph.D., psychologist, private practice, Beverly Hills, Calif. Stephen Ross, M.D., family medicine physician, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Christopher Welsh, M.D., assistant professor, psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md. — CollegeDrinkingPrevention.Gov web site: "A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences." Office of National Drug Control Policy web site. CDC Web site: Frequently Asked Questions about Extreme Heat." The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001; Vol. 286: pp. 2974-2980. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001; Vol. 285: pp. 893-896.
By Heather Hatfield, M.A.
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.
© 2006, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.
