Alcohol & Tradition
After celebrating midsummer the traditional swedish way, i.e. with certain traditional food along with certain traditional drinks, I realized how strongly alcohol is linked to celebrations and traditions, not only here in Sweden, but almost everywhere, and how this affects people with chronic illnesses.
It's not only a hazard, for many it's a change of a life pattern where drinks has been a natural element when it comes to socializing.
It is known that simultaneous ingestion of alcohol and painkillers containing morphine, methadone, petidine, ketobemidone, codeine, oxycodone, tramadol or pentazocine can produce greatly dangerous effects with at worst risk of respiratory paralysis and death. This can occur even at normal dosage in combination with blood alcohol levels of 1-2 per thousand.
Alcohol can also reinforce a drug's possible side effects.
Most drugs that inhibit inflammation and which are used in rheumatic and other pain conditions in joints and muscles have, like alcohol, effects on the platelets. This means that the risk of bleeding can increase in connection with, for example, accidents.
Some drugs for high blood pressure lower this by widening the blood vessels. Even alcohol has this effect on blood vessels. Such antihypertensive drugs along with alcohol can therefore cause troublesome blood pressure drops.
Always check in the drug description what substance your medicine contains. In principle, however, one should be careful with alcohol in connection with all medication.
I myself have lived with the delusion that if I just avoid the painkillers on the day I planning to have a glass of wine or two, it is risk-free, but unfortunately I had to revise my belief considerably after this year's Midsummer Eve. The feeling after three glasses of rosé during the evening became a rather unpleasant experience and although I have difficulty describing the reaction that arose, I know that I don't want to experience it again since it was really frightening. I realized that after years of daily intake of various pills, my whole body is like a walking pharmacy and to skip one day doesn't help at all.
Whilst completely abstaining from alcohol is certainly not a problem for me, it is still sad not to be able to enjoy a cold beer on a hot summer day or have a glass of wine for dinner, especially in social contexts which unfortunately, or in this case "fortunately", are relatively rare occasions for a chronically ill person.
It's not only a hazard, for many it's a change of a life pattern where drinks has been a natural element when it comes to socializing.
This fact with alcohol as a social drink is nothing new or strange, but can be a major problem to a person with a chronic illness who must medicate daily and especially with painkillers which by the way must never be ingested in connection with alcohol.
It is known that simultaneous ingestion of alcohol and painkillers containing morphine, methadone, petidine, ketobemidone, codeine, oxycodone, tramadol or pentazocine can produce greatly dangerous effects with at worst risk of respiratory paralysis and death. This can occur even at normal dosage in combination with blood alcohol levels of 1-2 per thousand.
Alcohol can also reinforce a drug's possible side effects.
Most drugs that inhibit inflammation and which are used in rheumatic and other pain conditions in joints and muscles have, like alcohol, effects on the platelets. This means that the risk of bleeding can increase in connection with, for example, accidents.
Some drugs for high blood pressure lower this by widening the blood vessels. Even alcohol has this effect on blood vessels. Such antihypertensive drugs along with alcohol can therefore cause troublesome blood pressure drops.
Always check in the drug description what substance your medicine contains. In principle, however, one should be careful with alcohol in connection with all medication.
I myself have lived with the delusion that if I just avoid the painkillers on the day I planning to have a glass of wine or two, it is risk-free, but unfortunately I had to revise my belief considerably after this year's Midsummer Eve. The feeling after three glasses of rosé during the evening became a rather unpleasant experience and although I have difficulty describing the reaction that arose, I know that I don't want to experience it again since it was really frightening. I realized that after years of daily intake of various pills, my whole body is like a walking pharmacy and to skip one day doesn't help at all.
Whilst completely abstaining from alcohol is certainly not a problem for me, it is still sad not to be able to enjoy a cold beer on a hot summer day or have a glass of wine for dinner, especially in social contexts which unfortunately, or in this case "fortunately", are relatively rare occasions for a chronically ill person.
So please, never drink and medicate before you've checked the the medical table of contents...
XOXO
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