Alcohol and Vicodin: Is It Safe to Mix?

First, Vicodin and other hydrocodone-based prescription drugs are highly addictive, in part because of their potency. The effects of opioid drugs on a person’s neurochemistry are extremely powerful. But prescription painkillers are also dangerous because people may let their guard down in regard to the dangers when these medications are prescribed by a trusted doctor or healthcare provider. People can unwittingly become dependent or addicted to painkillers very quickly.

1. Make sure your doctor knows if you or anyone in your family has ever had a heart rhythm problem including QT prolongation.
2. A person can decide on a treatment plan with a health care professional or specialist in addiction and recovery.
3. Hydrocodone is an orally administered, generic prescription opioid that is categorized as a Schedule II medication according to the Controlled Substance Act.
4. Likewise, you should avoid consuming grapefruit and grapefruit juice, as this may increase the blood levels and effects of hydrocodone.
5. When a woman drinks, the alcohol in her bloodstream typically reaches a higher level than a man’s even if both are drinking the same amount.

This can lead to overdose and death if a person takes them regularly for nonmedical reasons. According to the World Health Organization, about 115,000 people died of an opioid overdose in 2017. Taking opioids, such as oxycodone or morphine, in combination https://sober-home.org/ with alcohol can have severe consequences and be fatal. Because opioids and alcohol are both depressants, combining them can have a synergistic effect. This means the effect of each substance is stronger when taken together than when taken separately.

What Is Hydrocodone?

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. Both hydrocodone and alcohol cause similar effects in the brain, so they can compound each other’s intoxication, making a person feel very high or drunk. When these substances are used in combination, risk of overdose and death is very high. Your doctor may recommend you get naloxone (a medicine to reverse an opioid overdose) and keep it with you at all times. A person caring for you can give the naloxone if you stop breathing or don’t wake up.

Older people face greater risk

Licensed addiction specialists can address your specific concerns and identify options. Professionals can also arrange treatment and continuing care to pursue a healthy recovery from addiction to Vicodin, alcohol, opioids or opiates, or any other drug. When alcohol and hydrocodone are used together, the short- and long-term effects have the potential to become compounded and increasingly harmful. klonopin and alcohol side effects Among the most unwanted effects of concurrent use is the heightened risk of developing both tolerance and physical dependence—both ultimately paving the way towards a poly-substance addiction. 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.

A person can decide on a treatment plan with a health care professional or specialist in addiction and recovery. This may include counseling, medication for the treatment of addiction, and regular visits to a treatment facility or support groups. A person can speak with a doctor about keeping a rescue medication called naloxone (Narcan) to take in case of an overdose of opioids. This medication can block the effects of opioids, which may relieve some of the symptoms of overdose. If you have found yourself unable to quit a drug habit, don’t try to go it alone.

Addiction and Mental Health Resources

With so many people struggling 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. The CDC and many other science organizations believe that the steep rise of prescription narcotics fed the epidemic of addiction and overdose. Hydrocodone is a highly addictive opioid drug that has earned the reputation of the most prescribed opioid painkiller in America.

Is It Safe to Mix Painkillers and Alcohol?

The more alcohol a patient consumes, the greater the risk for alcohol and medication interactions. Universal screening, careful prescribing choices, and patient education can help minimize the risks of combining alcohol with certain medications. Prescription painkillers often contain opioids, and someone can easily misuse legally prescribed medications and become dependent or addicted to them. Many people with opioid use disorders started with a prescription medication for pain management as a result of an injury or health condition.

Anyone can buy naloxone from a pharmacy or local health department. Make sure any person caring for you knows where you keep naloxone and how to use it. Extended-release hydrocodone is not for use on an as-needed basis for pain. Cough syrup and laxatives may have some of the highest alcohol concentrations. 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. In fact, according to a large study published in JAMA Psychiatry, approximately one-third of adults in the US have met the criteria for an alcohol use disorder at some point.