Wine & Painkillers

[winecollector]

I'm curious to see how the rest of you feel about this, but when I have a headache at all I refrain from taking even the mildest of pain killers if I know I'm planning to drink wine later that day. Asprin, acetominiphin, ibuprophen, etc. I'm not sure if I'm being overly cautious, or if I'm being a fanatic. I've long been worried that it's too difficult on the liver to try and handle processing both alcohol & pain killers at the same time... but yet I know people who take this stuff regularly and think nothing of drinking while doing it. Any thoughts?

[thewoodman]

I take a lot of Ibuprofen and don't think much of drinking with it. I do drink LOTS of water when I take it.

[Zinner]

I tend to stay away from all pills unless I absolutely have to take something. But a wine writer friend takes ibuprofen and seems to do fine. Thinks it's Tylenol that you want to avoid--at least it seems I saw a TV show that said some folks had problems when they combined this medication with alcohol.

[Innkeeper]

I take a coated aspirin in the morning; doctor's orders. Pretty much out of the system before any wine drinking occurs. Unless WW is around.

[Kcwhippet]

Yeah, then we take the aspirin with Glenora Blanc de Noir.

[Thomas]

winecollector, it really depends on three things: dosage, frequency and one's physical make-up.

Low dosage, say 500 to 1000mg of acet.(Tylenol) really isn't problematic, as a healthy liver dispenses with it within a few hours. But if the low dosage is pumped into the body every few hours, then the liver will be taxed, and with alcohol added it can become a problem over time.

I think studies on Tylenol and the other non-aspirin pain killers show that liver toxicity can be reached at repetitive dosages of 4,000 mg plus a day--which is 8 pills of a generally usual dosage.

[Bucko]

Depends on the pill. Some Tylenols are 325 mg, some are 500 mg and some are 650mg. Max dose is 4000 mg/day, but 3200 is the usual recommended max dose.

As with everything, moderation is the key.

[winecollector]

I think if I need as much as 4,000 mg's in a days time, the last think I'm going to be in the mood to do is drink wine. Now I won't be so apprehensive to take something for a mild headache. Thanks for the replys. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]