To think I had a near death experience because of my own stupidity?

[Sleeplessworried]

I was out for Christmas drinks with friends last week.
I rarely drink but had 2 Proseccos, 2 cocktails and a shot. This was from 5pm to 11pm. Not crazy but a lot for me.

I got home at around 12am and took two paracetamols 500mg each, thinking I was getting ahead of the hangover. I felt fine at this point and my friend even said I didn’t even seem like I’d been drinking before she dropped me off home.

I went to bed and jolted awake at around 2.30am. What followed was room spinning, struggling to see, the worst diarrhoea of my life, rounds of vomiting, stomach pain and hours of lying sweating on a bed while itching and shivering.

I know this is silly but because I don’t drink much, I had no idea you can’t take paracetamol after drinking. I realise now this is totally dangerous and stupid.

I remember panicking on the bed wondering if I’d been spiked and actually worrying that things were going to worsen and maybe I’d been poisoned. I know that sounds dramatic but I felt like I was going to die.

Anyway now I am feeling so embarrassed and stupid for taking paracetamol after alcohol.

It ended by me continuously putting fingers down my throat to encourage more vomiting and feeling slightly better after my stomach was completely empty. I managed to sleep from around 5am to 9am and felt only slightly nauseous in the morning.

Just wanted to write it down as I can’t tell any of my loved ones. I wouldn’t like to worry them and don’t want them to know how bloody clueless I am! It feels good to get it off my chest though.

If you learned the lesson, all is well.

Dont over think it

You’re beating yourself up, but it’s good to have this thought process and be more careful in future. Sounds like you drank too much and felt the effects of it.

I've taken paracetamol while drunk on numerous occasions and never had any reaction, so no I don't think you were 'stupid'.

@CleverGreyDuck do you think it was alcohol alone then? I’m just asking because the reaction seemed really extreme and it says online it’s dangerous to have paracetamol shortly after drinking and all the symptoms line up. I’ve never had the shivering thing with drink alone? Although I last drank heavily about 4 years ago so I am older!

I didn’t even know this was a thing, I would’ve say you were stupid.
Are you sure it’s not just because you’re not used to drinking, but even what you’ve described over that timescales isn’t that excessive?
I’d be inclined to think it was the drunk or maybe even you’d had a bug of some sorts.

I thought a pint of water and a couple of paracetamol was pretty standard after a few drinks 😂 sounds like you were just feeling the ill effects of being drunk.. nothing to beat yourself up about.

Wouldn’t, not would’ve

Sounds more like a bug

More likely you picked up norovirus or food poisoning while out. You can get food poisoning from drinks e.g. old juice or cocktail mixes that have been left out. Or, beer taps with line cleaner not rinsed out properly, that would make you ill!

I’ve taken paracetamol lots of times whilst drinking and ibuprofen and never had any bad effects so it was probably more the drink because you don’t drink much.

@Gerrysmum okay this is calming me down. Thank you. I’m out here feeling lucky to be alive 🤣 when maybe this was just an extreme reaction to the drink alone!

Ibuprofen is the way to go. And some electrolytes before bed.

I think it’s a bit dramatic to describe it as a near death experience .

@Floralnomad well this thread is making me realise that but honestly I felt horrendous and it was scary being unable to see. I was so out of it. At the time I thought someone had put something in my drink or something which was panicking me.

Why can't you take paracetamol after drinking

Sounds more like nasty bacteria.

Could be allergic reaction to the alcohol

@SnowFrogJelly it says on Google it can have a lethal interaction with alcohol because of the strain on the liver.

There is no rule about taking not paracetamol after drinking alcohol. That motion probably comes from deranged liver function tests / live disease and paracetamol.
Paracetamol doesn't provide an explanation for the itching, D&V and vertigo. Sounds more like intoxication or allergic reaction.

Unless you already have a severely compromised liver you can take paracetamol and alcohol together. And I would hope if your liver was in bad shape you wouldn’t be consuming alcohol!!

Alcohol and paracetamol both challenge the liver (big reason why they shouldn't be combined), which sounds like it took a little bit of a pounding. From your description, your drinks spread over 6 hours don't sound crazy, and your best defense against a hangover would have been to drink plenty of water along the way.

That is actually more likely than it being 2 paracetamol unless ,as somebody else said , your liver is shot .

The symptoms you're describing are norovirus, not near death from 5 drinks in 6 hours.

It sounds like food poisoning to me

This happens to my DH when he drinks more than 2 pints. It's horrible, but definitely not because of paracetamol.