Welcome to the first spring semester installment of Ask Peer Health: a place where your Bowdoin or non-Bowdoin health-related questions, concerns or issues will be addressed. This week, our main focus is going to be prescription drugs and related questions, especially on campus. Questions asked by you, answered for you by students just like you! If you have a question you would like answered, you can e-mail peerhealth@bowdoin.edu or drop it into SU box 456.
I just had knee surgery and I have tons of leftover painkillers. I heard flushing them down the toilet is bad and don't like just leaving them around. Is there a specific way I should be getting rid of these pills?
Prescription painkillers are powerful drugs, and unlike some other prescription pills like antibiotics that you take the full course of they are often prescribed so that you can take them as you need them, which can result in leftover pills. Often highly addictive, having these pills on hand can potentially lead to abuse; it is therefore a great idea to get rid of them and avoid the potential for misuse.
It is correct that some pills, like Vicodin, should not be flushed or just thrown in the trash, which can lead to environmental toxins. Despite how sketchy this may sound, one way to get rid of the drugs is to take the pills out of their bottle and put them in a bag or mix them with an undesirable substance like used coffee grounds, and then toss them out. In addition, be sure to black out any personal info on the pill bottles before tossing those too. This may seem excessive and a little like what your grandma does—though mine uses kitty litter not coffee grounds. She also doesn't have a cat, and I could swear drinks a gallon of coffee a day.
If that method irks you as well, Maine is part of a DEA and law enforcement sponsored Drug Take-Back Program. This relatively new program was initiated in hopes of cutting down on the misuse of prescription drugs. The first collection on September 26 saw a total of 121 tons of pills returned across the U.S. You just take your drugs to certain pharmacies or law enforcement agencies that dispose of them appropriately.
A second collection day is coming up on April 30, which will allow for the safe disposal of prescription left-overs. Rite-Aid pharmacy is one of the partners in this effort and will be better able to help you safely get rid of any drugs you may have on hand at the moment.
Why exactly is mixing prescription pills like Adderall or Oxycodone with alcohol so bad for you?
Medically this is a tough concept, and unfortunately the exact results differ person to person and drug to drug.
Early in my Bowdoin career I decided labs were too time consuming so my understanding of body chemistry is shoddy at best, but I will do my best to explain broadly, yet adequately. Basically, when you put two substances meant to alter your system together, they compete with each other to be absorbed, thereby potentially changing the potency of either substance.
The exact nature of the interaction depends on the individual, the time frame in which the substances were mixed, as well as a number of other factors. A common outcome of drug-alcohol interactions is decreased medical effectiveness of the drug and increased risk of dangerous side effects.
The side effects vary extensively. For example, Adderall is a stimulant whereas alcohol is a depressant. Taking the two together can often mask the depressive effects of alcohol, which can greatly increase the risk of alcohol poisoning as well as causing nausea and severe headaches.
These depressive effects are symptoms your body uses to signal that you may have had one too many beers. In contrast, Oxycodone is a painkiller and therefore has different interaction effects. Mixing alcohol with painkillers can lead to liver failure, blood thinning, other serious internal complications, increased effects of alcohol, and a higher likelihood of overdose.
Basically, effects can range from feeling more of the negative aspects of being drunk to severe liver failure or fatality. The mixing of drugs and alcohol is really never a superb idea because, to be honest, you really never know what is going to happen.
The variables that effect the interactions are too numerous to allow for any sort of reliable prediction. In addition, an individual may experience two entirely different interactions effects at different points in time. What effects drug interactions may have is almost completely dependent upon the situation.
If you have more specific questions about the scientific explanations for these or other drug-alcohol interactions, the Health Center, the Counseling Center, or other more scientifically literate persons may be better able to illustrate the chemical effects inside our bodies.
Taking prescription pills without a prescription is dangerous because effects vary individually, but it is also illegal. I do get out sometimes, despite my friend's claims to the contrary, and I know that some Bowdoin students partake in recreation use of prescription drugs. Trust me, no judgment here; that is a personal choice we all get to make, but knowing the potential risks to health as well as your criminal record can only help us.