We offer a range of services like medical detox, residential treatment, partial hospitalization programs, and aftercare to serve you best. A treatment center will attempt to verify your health insurance benefits and/or necessary authorizations on your behalf. We cannot guarantee payment or verification eligibility as conveyed by your health insurance provider will be accurate and complete. Payment of benefits are subject to all terms, conditions, limitations, and exclusions of the member’s contract at time of service. Addiction Resource does not offer medical diagnosis, treatment, or advice.

Who Is at Risk of Liver Injury When Combining Alcohol and Tylenol?

1. Both substances are metabolized in the liver, and the simultaneous presence of alcohol can interfere with the liver’s ability to process acetaminophen effectively.
2. If you are not sure if it is safe to drink alcohol while you are taking medication, call a local pharmacy or talk to your doctor about the potential interactions.
3. The liver enzyme CYP2E1 breaks down Tylenol into a substance called NAPQI, which can harm the liver.
4. You should avoid drinking alcohol if you are taking allergy medications or any multi-symptom cold and flu formulation.
5. Tylenol and alcohol are foreign chemicals to the body, and the body breaks down both by using the liver.
6. No one should assume the information provided on Addiction Resource as authoritative and should always defer to the advice and care provided by a medical doctor.

So, you risk both the liver damage of acetaminophen and the stomach damage of ibuprofen. While taking Tylenol after drinking in moderation is generally considered safe, the best answer is to avoid this combination. If you drink alcohol and want to take Tylenol, always ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for the most customized recommendation about your specific scenario. As a general guideline, it’s advisable to wait until the alcohol has been fully metabolized and cleared from your system before taking acetaminophen to minimize the risk of liver damage.

How alcohol and acetaminophen affect your liver

For females, it’s consuming four or more alcoholic drinks on any day or eight or more in one week. People don’t realize that these doses all add up, and before you know it you’ve exceeded the recommended dose of acetaminophen. Drinking alcohol in moderation while taking acetaminophen should generally be safe as long as a person takes acetaminophen as advised and does not exceed the recommended dose. Firstly, the body processes around 90% of the drug via a process called glucuronidation.

Free Healthbeat Signup

Mixing anti-anxiety and epilepsy medications with alcoholic beverages can cause slowed breathing, impaired motor control, abnormal behavior, and memory loss. Here is what you need to know about the possible unsafe interactions between alcohol and common prescription and over-the-counter medications. If you take any medication—even over-the-counter (OTC) products—drinking alcohol might affect how your meds work.

About Medical News Today

If you have a hangover after a night of drinking, you may be looking for something to help. Unfortunately, it is best to avoid taking Tylenol for your hangover until the effects of alcohol have worn off — usually after 24 hours. You need to know that the timing for taking Tylenol after drinking alcohol depends on the amount of alcohol consumed, individual metabolism and liver health. Tylenol is a brand name for the over-the-counter medication known generically as acetaminophen.

Buprenorphine is also found combined with naloxone (Suboxone, Zubsolv) used to treat narcotic (opiate) addiction. Suboxone and other buprenorphine products indicated for opiate addiction are NOT approved by the FDA as pain medications, but some doctors may prescribe it off-label for this use. Other anti-inflammatory agents such as systemic corticosteroids (“steroids”), for example, prednisone or methylprednisolone, should be not be mixed with alcohol. This An In-Depth Look At Kratoms Long-Term Side Effects & How to Avoid Them can also elevate the risk for stomach side effects such as ulcerations and bleeding. This means that Tylenol remains in the body much longer if you take high doses and is more likely to cause liver damage.

Billions of doses of acetaminophen are consumed safely every year, but deaths still occur from accidental overdoses and thousands of people end up in the emergency room. More than 600 products contain acetaminophen, and inadvertently combining them can nudge you into the red zone. Your risk of severe liver damage from alcohol and acetaminophen increases as the amounts of each substance in your body increase. Liver damage can also occur if you take the right dose of acetaminophen but take it for longer than recommended, even if you drink in moderation.

Older people are also more likely to be prescribed medication that interacts with alcohol in the first place. The longer a person misuses stimulants and alcohol together, the higher the risk becomes of developing substance use disorders. Older adults (especially those who take more than one medication) are also more likely to experience problems, as the ability to clear both alcohol and drugs from the body is reduced with age. However, regular use of ibuprofen and alcohol increases the risk of GI problems and bleeding.

The two have very similar side effects so by taking both at the same time, you’re increasing your chances of experiencing drowsiness, grogginess and an inability to safely operate some machinery. Also taking naproxen while drinking increases your chance of developing a stomach ulcer or having gastrointestinal bleeding. Alcohol also messes with your liver’s ability to process acetaminophen, so drinking and taking this drug increases your chances of liver disease. Of course, these risks are much higher for people who use alcohol chronically, but the risks are definitely very real, even for light drinkers. Acetaminophen use can damage the liver, even when alcohol is not used. This is rare in healthy individuals who follow acetaminophen dosage instructions.

Regardless, any drug containing acetaminophen should generally not be mixed with alcohol. Erin is a Nurse Practitioner with 8 years of experience in midwifery and women’s health. She has spent the past 5 years specializing in the treatment of opioid and alcohol use disorders. As always, please consult your healthcare provider when taking any new medication. If you experience any of these symptoms, please get in touch with your healthcare provider immediately. If someone you care about struggles with alcohol addiction, The Recovery Village Atlanta can help.