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.

@DismissiveAgain I don't think it was either, I think it was mixing drinks that did it, or a low tolerance to alcohol.

Alcohol poisoning is pretty serious and you take a good few days to recover - it's unlikely to happen after two cocktails, two glasses of Prosecco and one shot.

Sounds to me like you may have been spiked. Exact same symptoms as my friend when it happened to her

2 paracetamol after drinking will not cause your experience. Think you just drank too much or have a bug

You could have been unlucky and have a bug/food poisoning....

Plenty of people take paracaetoml when drunk (I dont! But know many that have).

Also, you did not drink THAT much....as long as you had food as well. If not food, then you probably were sick from the alcohol. But if you eat and have water then that amount should be fine.....in the space of time....but hangover inducing for sure.

Stay hydrated and feel better.

Seems unlikely.

Spiking drinks is generally done to gain sexual advantage. Unless you have a REALLY specific kink, most men aren't going to want to be having sex with a woman who his having uncontrolled diarrhoea and vomiting....

Honestly as a dr, sounds like a bug rather than any reaction between paracetamol and alcohol (the thing about the interaction is that in paracetamol overdose, it's higher risk for liver damage if alcohol is taken with it).

I never knew you weren't supposed to take paracetamol after drinking

It does not sound like a small amount of alcohol to me. Esp with the cocktails which can have unpredictable effects. I guess everyone’s perception of this is different.

@Sleeplessworried
‘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’

this part is exactly my symptoms of vestibular migraine so if it happens again this is something you should consider. I didn’t have any obvious trigger for mine (suspected hormonal, I know of women starting to get these during menopause) but alcohol, food etc can trigger migraines. It would often come on in the night.

If it was alcohol poisoning, OP would have still felt horrendous the next day - as it was, she said she went back to sleep and was fine apart from a bit of nausea.

Unless her Prosecco glasses were huge and the cocktails were Long Island iced teas, she didn't actually drink that much - especially as it was over a six hour period, rather than all at once.

It reads to me like she mixed her alcohol and it made her feel sick - it's very common.

We went out for lunch one day. Everyone normal. That night my dh was vomiting, had diarrhoea, shivering etc. 4 days. He just happened to come down with noro. We had initially thought food poisoning but it was just unfortunate timing

Your symptoms sound like food poisoning rather than norovirus. FP can cause chills, shaking, diarrhoea and/or loose motions until all of it is out of your system. You could've got it from the alcohol or food you consumed. Looks like it has nothing to do with the paracetamol.

And unlike norovirus, the symptoms are gone once everything is purged from your body. I had the worst time once and was fine for a grand dinner next night.

The panic, stomach pain, vomiting, headache sounds like alcohol tbh.

At most id expect that your liver might have worked a bit harder due to paracetamol but it all sounds within range of what a healthy body can deal with as a one off without the need for medical support.

Look at it this way, plenty of people have a skinful on a Friday night, lounge around with a hangover and taking paracetamol all day on Saturday and then go out again Saturday night and take paracetamol all day on Sunday.

It's not ideal or healthy or something I'd encourage but I'm just giving you context of what many people did 20 years ago before times changed.

If Paracetamol after alcohol was THAT dangerous you would only be able to get it on prescription!

OTOH my DH must NEVER take Paracetamol because he has advanced liver disease from his alcoholism.

Near death experience due to taking some paracetamol after a few drinks?

Jesus take the wheel, that beats my cardiac arrest.

Took a while for this classic line to come up!

OP are you normally this bloody dramatic?
How do you get through life?

Evidence please

Exactly this. And if you're not used to it (or didn't eat enough beforehand) then you're bound to feel pretty shit afterwards.

It's a lesson most of us learn in our teens and twenties

Maybe you have Norovirus?

I would say it was from mixing your drinks

This doesn't sound like too much alcohol or the paracetamol to me.
Did you eat? Could be good poisoning?
Or maybe you actually were spiked? Did you leave your drink unattended at all?

Can’t see it being the two paracetamol. More likely the combination of the drinks. Prosecco can do funny things to the bowels…🤔.

Sounds like you got properly drunk is all. If those cocktails had three shots in you'd be wasted. 3 units on prosseco, six on cocktails, one on the shot. I'd be very ill on that, even if the cocktails only had two units (and they mostly don't these days).

Covid now often starts with similar symptoms. I had this about 6 weeks ago after a meal out. Dreadful digestion problem in the night and a fever - I was freezing cold for ages. Very scary.