- Combining alcohol with antidepressants, cold medications, or pain relievers can lead to an overdose.
- Taking Coumadin or Isordil may lead to severe side effects like bleeding or fainting.
- Adverse effects to watch out for include drowsiness and difficulty breathing.
Alcohol changes how your body absorbs medications, which can lead to adverse reactions. Mixing them increases the risk of an overdose significantly.
1. Depression and Anxiety Medications
One in 10 teenagers and adults takes antidepressant or anxiety medications every day.1
Many of these medications interact negatively with alcohol, particularly monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), like Parnate (tranylcypromine) and Nardil (phenelzine). MAOIs can cause blood pressure to spike dangerously when combined with tyramine, an amino acid found in red wine and beer.2
Combining alcohol with these medications increases the risk for an overdose and can make you feel more depressed.
You can also have drowsiness, dizziness, impaired motor control and coordination, difficulty breathing, strange behaviors, and heart or liver damage. Some of these medications can also make the effects of alcohol more extreme.2
Talk with a doctor before drinking alcohol if you take any antidepressant medication. Herbal supplements like St. John’s Wort and Kava, used for depression or anxiety, can cause liver damage if combined with alcohol.342
Anxiety and antidepressant medications to avoid with alcohol include:2
- Zoloft (sertraline)
- Wellbutrin (bupropion)
- Symbyax (fluoxetine/olanzapine)
- Prozac (fluoxetine)
- Paxil (paroxetine)
- Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)
- Abilify (aripiprazole)
- Cymbalta (duloxetine)
- Valium (diazepam)
- Xanax (alprazolam)
- Eskalith/Lithobid (lithium)
- Many others
2. Diabetes Medications
Nearly half of the population in the United States has diabetes, prediabetes, or insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.5 Millions take diabetes medications daily.
Adding alcohol can lead to dangerously low blood sugar levels and these symptoms:2
- Sudden changes in blood pressure
- Rapid heartbeat
- Weakness
- Headache
- Nausea and vomiting
Talk to your doctor before drinking alcohol if you take any of the following diabetes medications:
- Diabinese (chlorpropamide)
- Glucophage (metformin)
- Glucotrol (glipizide)
- Glynase and DiaBeta (glyburide)
- Micronase (glibenclamide)
- Orinase (tolbutamide)
- Tolinase (tolazamide)
3. Cold or Allergy Medications
Millions take medications for colds, allergies, and the flu that cause drowsiness and dizziness. Alcohol also does this.
Taking them together can amplify these side effects, impairing judgment, coordination, and reaction time. Combining alcohol with these medicines can increase your risk for overdose.2
It’s important to avoid alcohol if you are taking any of the following:
- Benadryl (diphenhydramine)
- Claritin or Claritin-D (loratadine)
- Dimetapp (brompheniramine)
- Sudafed, Tylenol allergy or cold medicines, or Triaminic (chlorpheniramine)
- Zyrtec (cetirizine)
- Robitussin (guaifenesin + codeine)
- Any others
