Consuming alcohol while on medication alters efficacy – Expert

A former President of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Dr Samuel Adekola, has said people who consume alcohol while on medication will alter the potency of such drugs and worsen their side effects.

Adekola stated that most patients do not consider alcohol a drug capable of interacting with medications, warning that such interaction could result in the damage of vital organs of metabolism such as the liver and the kidneys.

According to the pharmacist, combining alcohol with drugs will either nullify the effects or over-increase the effects of the drugs.

“Anyone on medication should avoid alcohol consumption especially those battling non-communicable diseases.

“We know that some of the chronic diseases have alcohol intake as one of the predisposing factors, for example, hypertension. One of the predisposing factors for hypertension is alcoholism, even also with kidney disease, diabetes, and liver disease. If a patient is being treated for any of these diseases, he or she should know that alcohol is a culprit.

“If someone is taking hypertensive drugs, the patient should know that alcohol is a culprit. It is alcohol that predisposes the patient to hypertension; you take the drugs and now you are again taking alcohol. Now, it is either the alcohol nullifies the effects of your drugs or you are also increasing the causes indirectly.

“In terms of interaction, there are different forms of interaction of alcohol with medications. It’s either perhaps the alcohol reduces the effects of the drugs or in some cases over increases the effects of the drugs,” he explained.

Adekola pointed out that it had been established in the literature that there are drugs that alcohol will potentiate.

“They will act as an argument- chemicals that argument. They act to increase the action. So, there are certain drugs that alcohol will directly affect. In such cases, what patients attribute to are side effects and complications. There are some drugs that alcohol will act as an antagonist to. In that case, alcohol will reduce their action and negate the action of that drug.

“Once they block the action of those drugs, what you see is therapeutic failure. What that means is that you use the drugs and there is no action,” he said.

The pharmacist emphasised that many complications are associated with drug and alcohol interaction while urging Nigerians to stop patronising quacks who lack the knowledge to sensitise them about the rational use of drugs.

Adekola called for pharmaceutical care in Nigeria to sensitise the public on the rational use of drugs while advising Nigerians to live healthily and avoid alcoholism.