Can I drink alcohol while taking morphine?

No, you should not drink alcohol while taking morphine . ¹²³

Combining alcohol with morphine is dangerous and strongly discouraged by medical guidelines.¹²³

Key Risks of Mixing Morphine and Alcohol

• Severe Respiratory Depression: Both alcohol and morphine slow down the central nervous system, which can dangerously depress your breathing or cause your breathing to stop completely (fatal respiratory depression).¹²³
• Extreme Sedation and Coma: The combination greatly increases drowsiness, dizziness, confusion, and the risk of falling into a coma.¹²³
• Accidental Overdose Risk: Because both substances impair brain function and judgment, mixing them significantly raises the chances of an accidental or fatal overdose.¹²
• Increased Nausea and Vomiting: Both substances can upset the stomach on their own, and combining them makes severe nausea and vomiting much more likely.¹²
• Impaired Coordination and Driving: Mixing them severely affects your reflexes, motor skills, and judgment, making driving or operating machinery extremely hazardous.¹²³

For official safety details on dosages and interactions, check the NHS Morphine Guide or MedlinePlus Morphine Information.¹²To help provide more relevant information, could you share:

• Are you or someone else currently taking morphine?
• What specific dose or form (tablet, liquid, extended-release) is being used?

No, you should not drink alcohol while taking morphine . ¹

According to the NHS Guide to Morphine, combining alcohol with morphine is strongly advised against.¹

Why It’s Dangerous

• Increased Sedation: Both alcohol and morphine depress the central nervous system. Mixing them amplifies drowsiness, extreme sleepiness, dizziness, and confusion.¹
• Respiratory Depression: Both substances can slow down your breathing. Combining them significantly raises the risk of dangerously slow or shallow breathing (respiratory depression), a medical emergency.
• Impaired Coordination and Judgment: Your reaction times, balance, and decision-making will be drastically impaired, raising the risk of accidents or falls.

What You Should Do

• Avoid alcohol completely for as long as you are prescribed and taking morphine.¹
• Consult your doctor or pharmacist if you have already mixed them or have questions about when it is safe to drink again after stopping your medication.
• Seek urgent medical help (call 999 or go to A&E in the UK) if someone who has taken morphine and alcohol shows signs of an overdose, such as extreme difficulty waking up, slow or shallow breathing, cold/clammy skin, or blue-tinted lips/fingers.

No. You should not drink alcohol while taking morphine. The combination can be extremely dangerous and, in some cases, fatal.

Why is it dangerous?

Both morphine and alcohol depress your central nervous system. Taking them together can cause:

• Severely slowed or stopped breathing (respiratory depression).
• Extreme drowsiness or unconsciousness.
• Dizziness, confusion and loss of coordination.
• Dangerously low blood pressure.
• Coma or death from overdose.

Even a small amount of alcohol can increase the effects of morphine.

How long should you wait before drinking?

It depends on:

• Whether you're taking immediate-release or slow-release morphine.
• Your morphine dose.
• How regularly you take it.
• Your individual metabolism.

There isn't a universally safe waiting period. Don't drink until you've checked with your pharmacist or prescriber.

Can I ask you three quick questions?

1. Are you taking morphine tablets, liquid morphine or Oramorph?
2. What strength or dose are you taking?
3. Are you taking it regularly, or just occasionally for pain?

I can help explain how long the effects may last and why alcohol is particularly risky with your particular type of morphine.

Important: If you've already mixed alcohol and morphine and are unusually sleepy, difficult to wake, or breathing slowly or irregularly, call 999 immediately. If naloxone is available, use it.