Prescription medication could result in a DUI charge

You go to the doctor, and they prescribe you a course of medication. The only problem is, you have a party tomorrow night at a friend’s Florida beach house. What you need to know is, can you have a drink while taking this medication and safely drive home?

Alcohol may reduce how well the medicine works. More importantly, it could increase the side effects of the drugs or react with them and cause you harm.

• Opioid painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, anti-depressants, antihistamines and flu remedies usually sedate you to varying degrees, which makes driving dangerous. Adding alcohol makes it worse. Other effects of combining the two can be liver damage, stomach ulcers or death.
• Specific drugs taken for erectile-dysfunction, diabetes and blood pressure issues are also dangerous when taken with alcohol. They could cause you a heart attack, sudden drops in blood pressure, faintness or dizziness. If any of this happens while driving, it increases the risk you crash and injure yourself and others.
• Antibiotics can cause nausea when combined with alcohol, which distracts you from focusing on the road and the traffic around you.

If the police stop you and charge you with a DUI offense, it is essential to note down any medicines you have been taking and the doses and time you took them. An experienced Florida DUI attorney may be able to use this information to fight the charges against you. To reduce the possibility of this happening, make sure you check with the physician prescribing the drugs if it is okay to drink alcohol.