Written by Mixing alcohol and medicines puts you at How alcohol consumption contributes to chronic pain risk for dangerous reactions. Protect yourself by avoiding alcohol if you are taking a medication and don’t know its effect. To learn more about a medicine and whether it will interact with alcohol, talk to your pharmacist or other health care provider. When opioids such as oxycodone and alcohol are combined, it can have devastating effects. Drinking alcohol while using opioids comes with many risks, including slower breathing, impaired judgment, and potentially overdose and death. Oxycodone/acetaminophen has a risk for abuse and addiction, which can lead to overdose and death.
It’s best to stop drinking alcohol during the first few days of treatment, or if a doctor increases your dose, until you see how oxycodone affects you. This is because the enzyme your body uses to break down acetaminophen (called CYP2E1) also breaks down alcohol. Due to the competition for the enzyme, less acetaminophen is broken down and more of the active drug remains in the bloodstream.
What special dietary instructions should I follow?
This is more likely in elderly or ill patients but can occur in anyone taking this medicine. This medication may be prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information. This may be more likely when you first start taking oxycodone but could happen at any time, for example when starting another medicine or if a doctor increases your dose.
Make sure you store the medicine in a safe and secure place to prevent others from getting it. Close follow-up with healthcare providers and creation of a pain management plan is an effective way to manage chronic pain. This plan may include limiting opioid medicines to the lowest effective dose for a limited period of time. The plan may also include non-medicine treatments such as relaxation techniques, massage therapy, or transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS). Using this medicine with any of the following medicines may cause an increased risk of certain side effects, but using both drugs may be the best treatment for you. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
- Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients.
- This is especially important for elderly patients, who may be more sensitive to the effects of pain medicines.
- Older people are at particularly high risk for harmful alcohol–medication interactions.
Does oxycodone interact with my other drugs?
This medicine is available only with your doctor’s prescription. Percocet® and Xartemis™ are available only under a restricted distribution program called the Opioid Analgesic REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) program. Talk to your care team regarding the use of this medication in children. Enter medications to view a detailed interaction report using our Drug Interaction Checker. Always check the brand and strength of oxycodone you get from the pharmacy. Follow your doctor’s instructions about gradually decreasing your dose.
Oxycodone and Alcohol: A Potentially Lethal Combination
However, if it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Do not take more than one dose of the extended-release tablets or capsules in 12 hours. Beyond the examples noted above, alcohol has the potential to interact negatively with many other commonly prescribed medications.
Selling or giving away opioid medicine is against the law. This is not a complete list of side effects, and others may occur. Long-term use of opioid medication, such as this medicine, may affect fertility (ability to have children) in men or women. It is not known whether opioid effects on fertility are permanent. Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction to oxycodone chloride hives, difficulty breathing, or swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Oxycodone is a controlled substance Schedule II, which means it has an accepted medical use but may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence and has a high potential for abuse.
Make sure lab personnel and all your doctors know you use this drug. To prevent constipation, eat dietary fiber, drink enough water, and exercise. Ask your pharmacist which type of laxative is right for you. When this medication is used for a long time, it may not work as well. Talk with your doctor if this medication stops working well.
Medicines that interact with oxycodone may either decrease its effect, affect how long it works, increase side effects, or have less of an effect when taken with oxycodone. An interaction between two medications does not always mean that you must stop taking one of the medications; however, sometimes it does. Speak to your doctor about how drug interactions should be managed. Do not mix alcohol with prescription medications, particularly opioids, as this can lead to slowed breathing, impaired judgement, overdose, and/or death.
This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter OTC) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements. Using this medicine while you are pregnant may cause neonatal withdrawal syndrome in your newborn baby. Check with your doctor first before changing dosage forms (eg, capsules, extended-release tablets, tablets). Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is not recommended.
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