Arterial hypertension is a disease caused by many causes. High blood pressure can be caused not only by heart and vascular diseases, but also by factors such as extreme fatigue, stress, drinking alcohol, etc. In medical practice, the drug Capoten is widely used to normalize mercury levels. Some patients take this medicine in combination with alcoholic drinks, without thinking that the compatibility of Capoten and alcohol is extremely undesirable. In the article we will consider what the consequences of this union are, as well as in what cases the medicine can be combined with strong drinks.
What is a hangover and how is it classified?
The hangover of a healthy person and an alcoholic are two completely different conditions. Without understanding the fundamental difference between them, it is impossible to prescribe adequate treatment for a hangover.
The basis of a hangover in a healthy person, the so-called veisalgia, is poisoning by the products of the breakdown of ethanol by liver cells. Acetaldehyde plays a major role in the formation of hangover symptoms. At the same time, the influence of alcohol itself and fusel oils contained in alcohol should not be excluded. A hangover manifests itself as a severe headache, nausea, vomiting, thirst (in common parlance, dried fruit) and other unpleasant sensations.
In a patient with chronic alcoholism, a hangover is a withdrawal syndrome and is called a hangover or withdrawal syndrome. It occurs due to the cessation of ethanol intake, which has already been integrated into the metabolic processes of the body and has become a physiological need. In fact, alcohol, as a more accessible and easily digestible energy material, replaces glucose and becomes vital. Alcohol withdrawal can provoke such severe conditions as delirium tremens and other alcoholic psychoses. A hangover, the treatment of which in this case requires the mandatory assistance of an experienced narcologist, has to be relieved with the help of a dropper. Its composition is determined by the doctor depending on the severity of the patient’s condition and the presence of concomitant diseases.
Treating alcoholism with acupuncture is an effective way to deal with addiction in the early stages.
More details about the symptoms of a hangover - how do they manifest themselves and what causes them?
Everything that a person experiences with a hangover is a subjective unpleasant sensation. The most common symptoms of a hangover include:
- Throbbing, pounding, severe headache.
- Tachycardia and arrhythmias.
- Tremors of the hands and whole body. Patients often complain that they are shaking after drinking.
- Heartburn, dry mouth and severe thirst, the so-called dry mouth.
- A sharp reaction to extraneous stimuli - increased sensitivity to any loud sound, noise and light, causing a surge in severe headaches
- Redness of the sclera of the eyes.
- “Adrenaline melancholy” is a complex of depressive phenomena associated with a feeling of guilt for past drinking and one’s behavior.
All these manifestations, as I said earlier, are associated with acetaldehyde poisoning. The kinetics of its effect on the body is quite complex and not fully understood. It is believed that acetaldehyde, when interacting with the hormones dopamine and norepinephrine, forms tetrahydroisocholines, and carbonyls with the amino acid tryptophan. All these metabolic products of acetaldehyde have a psychotropic effect with an effect on motor activity and convulsive readiness of the body. This is why convulsions after alcohol and even epileptic seizures are possible.
The development of hangover symptoms is not influenced by the type of alcohol, although some experts believe that strong alcohol is less likely to lead to a hangover than low-alcohol drinks, cocktails, and sweet alcohol. Basically, the occurrence of a hangover in a healthy person is observed when the risk dose is exceeded - 1 g of pure ethanol per 1 kg of body weight.
In addition, the diuretic effect of ethanol leads to increased urination and disturbances in the electrolyte composition of the blood. It also causes and increases inflammation of the intestines, pancreas, stomach, liver and kidneys. Nausea and vomiting during a hangover are associated with the inflammatory reaction in the gastrointestinal tract.
Thesis No. 4: If you have a headache from drinking alcohol, it is better to take paracetamol
Status: Myth
Paracetamol is metabolized by the CYP2E enzyme to form the hepatotoxic metabolite N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine. Normally, it is quickly inactivated by glutathione. When consuming alcoholic beverages, especially chronically, the activity of CYP2E1 increases, which leads to increased production of a toxic metabolite. In addition, during prolonged drinking, glutathione reserves are depleted, which is associated with the accumulation of a toxic metabolite in the blood and an increased risk of developing liver failure [5].
The likelihood of drug interactions between ethanol and paracetamol also increases when taking more than 4 grams of the drug per day. The American regulator FDA recommends that those who take more than 3 alcoholic units per day (remember, an alcoholic unit is 30 ml of 40% alcohol, 100 ml of wine or 250 ml of beer) consult a doctor before taking either paracetamol or over-the-counter analgesics [ 5]. During the New Year holidays, it is important for residents of the capital to draw the attention of consumers to the increased likelihood of hepatotoxic reactions when combining paracetamol and combination drugs containing it with alcohol.
How severe can alcohol poisoning be?
It all depends on the severity of the poisoning. Depending on the ethyl alcohol content, the following degrees of alcohol poisoning are differentiated:
- A mild degree that occurs when the concentration of ethanol in the blood is no more than 1 ‰ (ppm is 1 thousandth of something or 1 tenth of a percent (‰ = 1⁄1000 = 0.1% = 0.001). This degree of intoxication is accompanied by moderate disturbances of autonomic function in in the form of facial flushing, increased breathing, tachycardia, as well as fine motor disorders.These manifestations do not require special medical intervention and go away on their own after a few hours of sleep.
- The average degree is observed at an alcohol concentration of 1 to 2.5 ‰. With a hangover, nausea, vomiting, pallor or cyanosis of the skin, severe shortness of breath and tachycardia, and possible arrhythmia often develop. In this condition, urgent detoxification is required by a drug treatment team called to the home. Hospitalization for moderate alcohol poisoning is not provided.
- Severe degree - ethanol content exceeds 2.5‰, sometimes reaching very high levels requiring resuscitation measures. Accompanied by depression of consciousness, misunderstanding of speech, change in skin color, vomiting, salivation (hypersalivation) and even coma. Convulsions, epileptic seizures, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders that are life-threatening may occur.
The state of severe intoxication can only be relieved in a hospital setting.
Compatibility of the drug with alcoholic beverages
In search of an answer to the question of whether Capoten can be combined with alcohol, many patients read the instructions and discover that there is no detailed information about such an interaction. This does not mean that taking medications and alcoholic beverages is allowed.
Medicines and alcohol are a very dangerous combination
A careless combination of Capoten with ethyl alcohol can provoke extremely serious consequences, because each person’s body is individual, and no one can accurately predict what chemical reaction will occur in it.
How to relieve a hangover in a mildly intoxicated person?
Typically, a hangover in a healthy person lasts about 24 hours. You need to hold out for 24 hours. How to do it? Regardless of the severity of the symptoms, the most important way to relieve hangover symptoms is to quickly remove acetaldehyde from the body, and for this you need to drink as much as possible - water, weak sweet tea, tomato juice, cabbage or cucumber pickle.
When choosing an anti-hangover drink, listen to your body - drink what you want. The exception is strong tea or coffee. They will not help you, but will only increase the load on the heart, which is already damaged. It is advisable not to drink carbonated drinks.
And one more recommendation for mild intoxication is sleep, during which the liver enzyme systems will independently cope with the incoming dose of alcohol poison. What you should never do is get hungover. A new portion of alcohol will return the state of euphoria for an hour, but the ethanol processing systems already running in enhanced mode will quickly utilize ethanol to acetaldehyde and increase its concentration in the blood. This will ultimately only increase intoxication and initiate the onset of alcohol dependence. To summarize, we can say that if hangover intoxication is not severe, the best ways to cure a hangover are to drink plenty of fluids and sleep.
For severe headaches, you can take medications based on acetylsalicylic acid. To remove unabsorbed alcohol and reduce nausea, you can take enterosorbents. But do not experiment, use only drugs that you have already tested and tolerate well.
How the body reacts to alcohol
Drinks containing alcohol are not always harmful to human health; they can even be beneficial. Small doses of alcohol can provide some pleasure, especially if it is a quality product. When alcohol enters the body, the following processes occur:
- Blood pressure either increases or decreases.
- Blood sugar and cortisol levels increase significantly.
- During the processing of alcoholic beverages, toxic substances are released.
- The heart begins to beat faster.
- There is a violation of water-salt metabolism.
- Microelements and vitamins are less easily absorbed by the body.
What to do if the hangover is very severe?
If while drinking you have significantly exceeded your individual norm and the hangover is moderate to severe, then there is only one way to get rid of a hangover quickly - call a narcologist to your home. An experienced specialist, after examination and express diagnostics, will correctly assess the patient’s condition and prescribe adequate treatment. The fastest and most effective way to relieve a hangover is a dropper based on a saline solution with a composition that restores the water-salt and acid-base balance.
Additionally, the following devices can be connected to the dropper:
- Diuretics to force diuresis and rapid elimination of acetaldehyde.
- B vitamins, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
- According to indications, sedatives, antihypertensive drugs, hepato- and cardioprotectors are prescribed.
We provide 3 types of drips for alcohol poisoning: standard, intensive and triple. The latter provides protection for the heart, liver, nerve cells and kidneys from the toxic effects of alcohol.
Only a doctor can decide what to do in case of a severe hangover with life-threatening symptoms. Typically, in such cases, treatment for a hangover is indicated only in a hospital, in order to ensure the provision of resuscitation measures as quickly and fully as possible.
What not to do if you have a hangover?
Let's rephrase the question: what should never be used to treat a hangover? Because all the actions of a person suffering from a hangover are aimed at alleviating the symptoms. At the same time, the set of methods and means can be very diverse. But if some of them really help, while others play the role of a placebo, then others can only do harm. It is precisely these methods that I want to warn against:
- As already mentioned, you should not relieve a hangover with coffee or strong tea. The caffeine contained in them increases the myocardial need for oxygen, and the heart already needs it. And besides, caffeine can increase blood pressure, and this is already dangerous and can result in a stroke.
- You shouldn't fight a hangover in a bathhouse. It seems that all toxic metabolites will be released with sweat. But this is far from true. Excessive sweating will cause even more severe dehydration of the body, which, together with high temperature and high humidity, can be extremely dangerous for the heart and result in a heart attack.
- And I won’t tire of repeating – you can’t get hungover. This is the greatest harm, leading to increased intoxication, alcoholization of the body, and even binge drinking. The latter is especially relevant for the first stage of alcoholism and symbolizes its transition to the second stage.
By the way, call an ambulance immediately if, during a hangover, you suddenly feel something unusual in the form of:
- too pronounced tachycardia, when the heart almost jumps out of the chest;
- interruptions in cardiac activity (arrhythmias);
- sharp throbbing headache;
- pressing pain behind the sternum radiating to the left arm, etc.
These may be symptoms of a stroke or heart attack.
A few words about Kapoten's action
Capoten is classified as an antihypertensive drug that inhibits the transition of the enzyme angiotensin I to angiotensin II. Angiotensin is an enzyme synthesized by the kidneys to increase blood pressure. The action of Kapoten is aimed at dilating blood vessels and normalizing mercury levels.
In addition, the therapeutic effect of the drug is to reduce preload and normalize pressure in the right ventricle of the heart. By influencing cardiac output, Capoten increases its minute value. This makes it possible to use the medicine in the early and late periods after myocardial infarction to restore the activity of the heart muscle.
Patients often ask whether it is possible to take Capoten with alcohol? After all, blood pressure often increases precisely against the background of a hangover or in people suffering from alcohol addiction. A large number of hypertensive crises are also diagnosed in patients who have taken even a small amount of alcohol. To answer this question, let’s find out how Capoten and alcohol are combined.
What advice can you give to those suffering from a hangover?
The most important prevention of a hangover is not to abuse alcohol, and also to learn to say no to drinking company if you feel that your limit has already been exhausted. Of course, this is difficult to do - you need to have the will and character to resist temptation. But, if you do have too much, be prepared for a hangover and all its negative manifestations.
Read our articles on how to force your husband to stop drinking and start treatment for an alcohol-dependent person.
If you are feeling particularly hard the next morning, call ours - we will arrive as quickly as possible, promptly select an IV, and within an hour or two you will feel relatively normal and will even be able to go to work. Well, if the hangover is particularly severe, we will be able to completely restore your health upon admission to our clinic. The main thing is not to delay - because the sooner therapy begins, the faster and without complications there will be a way out of a hangover.
