Painkillers after alcohol

introduction

The morning after excessive alcohol consumption can be uncomfortable. Headache, nausea, and general malaise are signs of mild to severe alcohol intoxication, popularly known as a hangover. This is caused by intermediate substances that are created in the liver when alcohol is broken down.
Read more information on the topic here: Hangover after alcohol- what to do?

The next morning, a lot of people grab it Painkillersto get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. It is widely known that alcohol and medication do not get along well and can be harmful. In the following, the risks of taking painkillers after alcohol consumption will be explained and recommendations will be given in the event that painkillers need to be taken after alcohol.

Which pain reliever works best?

The benefits and risks should be carefully weighed. Painkillers such as ibuprofen or paracetamol can be taken in high doses and are also very effective against mild to moderate pain, but both substances are harmful to the liver. This harmfulness increases with the amount of the dose. The most common recommendation is to take Aspirin® with plenty of water. Alcohol removes water from the body, i.e. liquid that can also cause headaches. So first of all you should drink a lot of water. Aspirin slightly inhibits coagulation, making the blood a little more fluid, which is also a positive side effect of aspirin after consuming alcohol. In general, however, it is not advisable to take pain relievers after drinking alcohol, as it can be harmful to the liver.

Further information on the subject can be found at: Aspirin® and alcohol - are they compatible?

Risks and Problems

The central problem or risk of taking pain relievers after consuming alcohol is that liver toxic potential both substances. Alcohol consumption not only kills individual brain cells, but also damages the cells in the liverthat at many Dismantling and remodeling processes involved in the body. The alcohol is also broken down in the liver. The first thing is the alcohol (Ethanol) by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in acetaldehyde reduced.

This intermediate is responsible for the hangover the next morning and that most toxic metabolic producteven more harmful than the alcohol itself. This step takes some time because the body has only a limited number of enzymes to break down ethanol. In the further course, the body converts this metabolic product into acetic acid, a harmless intermediate product, which is then released into the body fluid, where it is converted into further enzymes in carbon dioxide and water.

The dangerous potential of alcohol unfolds mainly at constant and excessive consumption. Acetaldehyde in particular damages the liver cells and inhibits their function because too many fatty acids are produced and the liver converts these into fats and stores them. The fats are stored in the liver cells, which creates one Fatty liver. This fatty degeneration of the liver is initially reversible, but over time it occurs Conversion to liver cirrhosisirreparable damage to the liver. The liver is damaged after alcohol consumption, the liver cells are busy breaking down the metabolites, a process that can take several hours. Painkiller will too broken down by the liver and claim them too. Additionally the pain relievers are used degraded more slowly, because the liver is already “involved” in the breakdown of alcohol. So there is this riskthat the liver is one permanent damage takes when both substances are taken consecutively. That's why you shouldn't if possible Take pain relievers after consuming alcoholFor example, to combat the hangover's headache the next morning.

Time interval between alcohol consumption and taking painkillers

The The liver breaks down alcohol at different rates. Women generally break down alcohol more slowly than men. But body weight also influences speed. Another factor is that Getting used to, People who drink more often seem to be better at breaking down alcohol. In general it can be said that the alcohol at a rate of 0.1 to 0.2 per mille per hour is dismantled. This means that when you consume one liter of beer, depending on the alcohol content of the beer, about 0.6 per mille is in the body. The body needs between three and six hours to break down this amount. The Taking painkillers should not be done until the Liver is done with the breakdown of alcohol. However, this point in time is difficult to estimate, which is why it is generally not recommended. Single ingestion does not damage the liver permanently, but it should be done the day after drinking alcohol prefer not to use pain medication become. If absolutely necessary, only should low dosages be taken.