Question: My husband recently started taking 20 mg lisinopril for high blood pressure. He had a leg cramp in the early morning and got up to try to stop it. He fell and was unconscious for a short period of time. He had several drinks the night before, and I feel that the alcohol and lisinopril mixture was probably a cause of this fall. Does alcohol increase the effects of the lisinopril and make his blood pressure drop even lower than it would normally?

Dr. Hibberd's Answer:

Lisinopril generally does not cause fainting, and combining its use with alcohol is not expected to produce fainting or a pronounced lowering of blood pressure. Lisinopril is used to treat chronic hypertension, and rarely produces below normal blood pressure responses in the absence of underlying diseases or conditions. Alcohol excess does affect multiple organ systems, not just the liver, and toxicity and deaths do occur with acute intoxication. No self-treatment is recommended. Your husband needs evaluation for his unexplained fainting to exclude a life-threatening condition, and of course his large consumption of alcohol must be discouraged.