Hello all:
Had every test imaginable plus sleep studies, and was put on 54 mg Concerta after a life-long battle with "cronic fatigue." Yay! it's changed my whole life, but I'm quite concerned about something: I am a fairly light social-drinker, maybe 1 or 2/month, yes, the bottle of Concerta says "no alcohol," my doctor, however, says provided it's been at least 9 hours after taking the med it's out of my system, and a modest amount of alcohol will do no harm. I have never had the intense alcohol affect that I now am getting since being on the Concerta. After one or two glasses of wine I am "gone," lights-out, completely drunk. I am just wondering if anyone can share their experiences and shed some light on what is happening. I just spoke with my doctor and he says that this particular med does greatly intensify the alcohol affect while it's in the system, but 9 hours later should have no affect.
Any and all comments would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Laura
How does alcohol affect you when taking Concerta?
Question posted by CFSCFS on 22 March 2006
Last updated on 26 January 2023 by WelshM
6 Answers
Since I’ve been taking concerta and have a few drinks I get a blackouts, get aggressive and then fall asleep. Anywhere. It was so bad I had to stop drinking all together or be at least a week clean before I have drinks. Very embarrassing. I won’t recommend taking the two together
A few days after starting Concerta ER (extended release) I woke up about 2 pm and took my pill. Later that night I had a few old friends from high school over for some drinks. A couple hours and five or so shots later I was far more drunk than I should have been. In fact I can't remember most of what happened that night. From what I could recall I was lead into my room by one of the girls there that night (I had no intention to sleep with her at any point before) and proceeded to have what seemed at the time to be the best sex of my life. (tried it again later while sober and it was terrible.) My memory was very patchy as to what happened, but according to my roomate I later came out with no clothes on and asked why everyone else wasn't getting laid. The next morning I had to have a sit down with my roommate and the girl to figure out what exactly happened.
They told me at several points throughout the night I'd stop and ask people where and who I was, and after everyone left I fell asleep while crying to my roomate about how my father didnt love me. Since I was drinking nearly a bottle a night at that point in my life they were extremely surprised and said they never seen me like that before.
In short. Yes. I've experienced extreme alcohol sensitivity with Concerta. Don't take Concerta with alcohol. Especially if you don't know how your body will react.
After reading the responses to your question, and I am pretty concerned. I have been taking 72mg Concerta every morning for the past +/- 4 years. My major concern is that for the greater part of the last year, if not last 2 years, i have been drinking multiple beers a day. I drink nothing but beer(no hard alcohol), but at an average i drink 1 beer a day(for lack of a better term). Please take into consideration I may not drink for 4 or 5 days but then ill drink 9-10 beers a night, multiple days in a row, after taking my meds at 7:30 every morning. To be truth ful, I have gone at almost one month straight every day binge drinking after work after taking meds in the morning.
Can anyone tell exactly how bad my liver is doing right now?
I made the mistake of drinking way too much the night before I had a doctor appointment. At the time I didn't feel like it made a big difference in the way I felt while drinking, maybe slightly more drunk than usual, the concerta should have worn off by the time I was drinking though. The next day though I went to the doctor and she checked my pulse and it was eratic and relatively high (90 to 110). I admitted I had drank the night before and she won't write me another prescription until I chart my pulse and bp for a few weeks. Today my pulse is back down to 70. She said you can only drink one glass, two at the very most of beer. I think after you get more used to Concerta your tolerance for alcohol goes back to normal, but since Concerta can raise your blood pressure, alcohol can make this affect worse and pose a lot of health risks in that regard. Also she said no caffeine maybe one cup of coffee a day max. The other thing they worry about is substance abuse because concerta could be addictive.
I took concerta several years ago ad just got back on it recently. I was at dinner and had a two glasses of wine. Now i drink on occasion so just two glasses shouldn't have effected me, but i felt as if i had been drinking all day. Later on in the shower that same day I felt my heart pounding slowly in my chest. It wasnt a rapid beating but it felt like i was being slowly struck in the chest with a hammer. I felt it again when i went to bed that night. has any one else had that problem?
I have been on many different medications for ADHD and found that none of them except Concerta (18mg) have a problem with alcohol. I find that even after one drink (on an empty stomach) I feel very tired and way more drunk then I should. On a full stomach it's better but it still is an unpleasant experience. This is a bummer because Concerta seems to work best for me but I also like to drunk once in a while.
-Vic
Related topics
Further information
- Concerta uses and safety info
- Concerta prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Concerta (detailed)
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