alcohol and meds

[rick5110]

my husband had cabg on aug 30 we are wanting to know taking plavix and carvedilol can he drink alcohol on new years

[kenkeith]

I have provided some insight into the direct effect of alcohol and plavix, and if you have a different opinion from your doctor it would be interesting.  We are adults on this forum, and common sense dictates to always rely on your dotor's advice not information from this forum or any other forum as you probably already know. I was on plavix for more than a year and instructed not to drink alcohol for the reason I have given in the other post, if your doctor states it is okay to drink alcohol with plavix, it may be that a very small amount would not be harmful as the time required for the activity of a substance taken into the body to lose one half its initial effectiveness. I believe it is about 24 hours for alcohol to almost completely leavce the system...alcoholics may have a different half-life to their consumption of alcohol !? ..obvioulsly your husband doesn't fit that description otherewise you would already know the answer.  Enjoy the holidays.  Take care.

[cindy707]

This is something that you definately need to get the okay from with his doctor.....there is no way that we could possibly know what other meds your husband is on,,,what else he may have going on with him and you don't want to do anything at all to counter his treatment plan........there are alot of variables when it comes to medications vs. alcohol vs. a variety of diseases.....a simple call to the doc should clear it up for you because its always better to be safer than sorry......

[kenkeith]

Alcohol is known to have direct toxic effects on the heart, and in some patients is the sole reason for heart disorder. Carvedilol  should be taken with food, but I don't think there's a problem with moderate alcohol drinking while taking the med.

But alcohol and plavix should be avoided. Alcohol potentially increases the risk of bleeding within the digestive system (e.g., the intestines and stomach) and plavix helps prevent clotting and execessive bleeding can be a serious event with the interaction of alcohol and plavix.

Hope this helps.  Thanks for your question, and if you have any follow-up questions or comments you are welcome to respond.  Take care and enjoy the New Year.