Sobering Thoughts

The other night I had a little too much wine at a restaurant. I do not mean I sipped one glass for two hours. No I mean more and quicker. This created a few problems for me. First off, my friends think I am yelling at them because my voice gets loud when I drink. Not only that, but I bumped into someone while wobbling to the restroom. I also almost knocked over tray full of food and drinks. And then there is the balance issues - and I don’t mean the Parkinson’s type. I mean the the type where you are stumbling down stairs and tripping on the chair in which you were sitting just moments before.

In light of this, one of my friends asked if the alcohol was affected by or affects my medication. I responded with an uninformed and slurred “no way!” His question stuck with me, so the next day I looked it up knowing that no doctor or drug company is going to say “go ahead and drink while using our drug.” Every medication info sheet says it “should not be taken with alcohol.” Medication warnings also say there are “no known interactions with alcohol”! In other words “we are not responsible for what happens to you or what you do if you take our drug with alcohol.” Does this mean for other drug interactions they will be responsible? Just look at carbidopa/levodopa side effects. They include twitching, twisting, bladder pain, bloody urine, chest pain, difficulty urinating, irritability, feeling sad and empty, tiredness, sticking out of the tongue, trouble, sleeping, lower back pain, hallucinations, trouble breathing, and inability to move eyes. These are all enough to make me want to drink.