Alcohol interaction with medications

Medications that have been used as treatment for anxiety and depression in the postwithdrawal state include antidepressants, benzodia2epines and other anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and lithium. In general, the indications for use of these medications in alcoholic patients are similar to those for use in nonalcoholic patients with psychiatric illness. However, following careful differential diagnosis, the choice of medications should take into account the increased potential for adverse effects when the medications are prescribed to alcoholic patients. For example, adverse effects can result from pharmacodynamic interactions with medical disorders commonly present in alcoholic patients, as well as from pharmacokinetic interactions with medications prescribed to treat these disorders (Sullivan and O Connor 2004). 

Although many patients believe that dietary supplements will not interact with medications, recent literature suggests otherwise. Recently, many St. John s wort-drug interactions have been reported in the literature. Cases of patients developing symptoms of serotonin syndrome have been reported with St. John s wort alone and in concomitant therapy with other antidepressants such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and venlafaxine. St. John s wort may exacerbate the sedative effects of benzodiazepines, alcohol, narcotics, and other sedatives. St. John s wort may decrease the levels of protease inhibitors, cyclosporine, digoxin, and theophylline. 

Drugs/alcohol can also interact with medication, increasing side effects, e.g. drowsiness, arrhythmia. 

In deciding whether disulfiram should be used in alcoholism rehabilitation, patients should be made aware of the hazards of the medication, including the need to avoid over-the-counter preparations that include alcohol, the need to avoid drugs that can interact with disulfiram, and the potential for a DER to be precipitated by alcohol used in food preparation. The administration of disulfiram to anyone who does not agree to use it, who does not seek to be abstinent from alcohol, or who has any psychological or medical contraindications is not recommended. 

Verheul et al. (2004) pooled data from seven European acamprosate studies in an effort to identify patient-related predictors of response to the medication. Although they examined a number of potential predictors, including patients level of physiological dependence before treatment, family history of alcoholism, age of onset of alcoholism, baseline anxiety symptom severity, baseline craving, and gender, none was shown to interact with acamprosate treatment. These findings led the authors to conclude that, although the effect size for acamprosate was moderate, the medication can be considered potentially effective for all patients with alcohol dependence. 

Many studies have examined the efficacy of a variety of psychosocial treatments for alcohol, cocaine, and opioid use disorders, alone and in conjunction with pharmacotherapy. However, only a handful of studies have explored how these two treatment approaches may interact. More research is needed to further explore the ways in which psychosocial interventions may be used in conjunction with pharmacotherapy to optimize outcomes for both treatments. Providing encouragement for abstinence, greater treatment retention, medication adherence, and coping with medication side effects are some potential applications of psychosocial therapies. 

Cholestyramine use is not without limitations. It does not bind chlordecone alcohol, a metabolite of chlordecone that is also excreted in the bile (Guzelian 1981). It has a gritty texture in the mouth, and it causes several gastrointestinal disturbances, which may limit the willingness of patients to take it. It may also interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and interact with other medications (Goldfrank 1990). 

The development of alcoholism is often insidious, proceeding from frequent drunkenness to dependence over years. Since this is so, and since alcohol may interact with other treatment (other psychoactive substances and via its effects on the liver), a careful check of a patient s intake is an important part of the medical history. It is vital to know about alcohol abuse before anaesthesia, since it may make the anaesthetic difficult and alcohol withdrawal may complicate the recovery period. 

Beta-blockers interact with a large number of other medications. The combination of beta-blockers with calcium antagonists should be avoided, given the risk for hypotension and cardiac arrhythmias. Cimetidine, hydralazine, and alcohol all increase blood levels of beta-blockers, whereas rifampicin decreases their concentrations. Beta-blockers may increase blood levels of phenothiazines and other neuroleptics, clonidine, phen-ytoin, anesthetics, lidocaine, epinephrine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors and other antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and thyroxine. Beta-blockers decrease the effects of insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents. Smoking, oral contraceptives, carbamazepine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics decrease the effects of beta-blockers (Coffey, 1990). 

Until the role of echinacea in immune modulation is better defined, this agent should be avoided in patients with immune deficiency disorders (eg, AIDS, cancer), autoimmune disorders (eg, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis), and patients with tuberculosis. While there are no reported drug interactions for echinacea, some preparations have a high alcohol content and should not be used with medications known to cause a disulfiram-like reaction. In theory, echinacea should also be avoided in persons taking immunosuppressant medications (eg, organ transplant recipients). 

The FDA has announced its intention to require alcohol warnings on all over-the-counter pain medications that contain acetylsalicylic acid, salicylates, paracetamol, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, or naproxen. The proposed warnings are aimed at alerting consumers to the specific risks incurred from heavy alcohol consumption and its interaction with analgesics. For products... 

GQ is 33-year-old alcoholic who is placed on metronidazole, clarithromycin, and omeprazole for a recently diagnosed peptic ulcer. A urease breath test is positive for H. pylori. His other medications include ibuprofen, lisinopril, and meclizine. Which of the following is most likely to interact with GQ s metronidazole ... 

Assess medical and drug history (interacts with alcohol, narcotics, and other sedative-hypnotics)... 

Warns patient about taking other medication, including over-the-corner drugs, herbals/botanicals, and alcohol, which could inhibit or interact with the prescribed medication... 

As the reader is no doubt aware, we could fill up volumes on medical data surrounding alcohol use, abuse and interactions with other chemicals in the body. (In fact. Do It Now, publishes other works relating to alcohol in greater depth besides this one.) So what we will touch on are some basics involving vitamins, some basics regarding nutrition, and alcohol-related illnesses and physiological problems. 

The client should not just decrease smoking and alcohol. The client needs to stop both of these activities because they interact with the medication. 

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