Often, patients who are treated with antibiotics are interested in whether these drugs are compatible with alcohol.
Antibiotics are drugs prescribed by a doctor for serious infectious diseases.Antibiotics work on bacteria, preventing them from multiplying in the body.
The range of application of antibacterial drugs is wide: they are prescribed for bacterial infections of the oral cavity and ENT organs, skin, internal organs, venereal and other diseases.
Such drugs require mandatory adherence to the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account.The instructions usually contain text that alcohol should not be consumed during antibiotic treatment.
How do antibiotics and alcohol interact?
For many years, scientists have studied how alcohol affects the human body while taking antibiotics and have come to the conclusion that in most cases the components of the drug do not interact with ethyl alcohol and therefore do not affect the treatment.But the researchers noted that they only studied one small dose of alcohol and that there was at least a one-day gap between taking the antibiotic and the alcohol.If the patient drank more often, the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy decreased.
Doctors do not advise drinking alcohol during treatment, and this applies not only to antibiotics, but also to all other drugs.
Reasons why antibiotics should not be combined with alcohol
Among the main reasons why it is not recommended to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics are two:
- Additional burden on the liver.
- The effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
In fact, during treatment with any medication, you should avoid drinking alcohol, as it can reduce the therapeutic effect of the medication.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active substance of the drug or disrupt its effect on the virus.In addition, alcohol can accelerate or inhibit the removal of drug components from the body.In the first case, the treatment will be ineffective, in the second, there will be an additional load on the internal organs, and intoxication of the body is possible.Especially in this case the liver suffers;possible adverse reactions to the kidneys, pancreas, central nervous system, brain, heart and blood vessels.
Liver dysfunction is associated with the negative effect of alcohol on the synthesis of fatty acids in the cells of the organ and with the blockage of the bile ducts.
Alcohol that enters the body is converted into acetaldehyde by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, and then into acetic acid by the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.Medicines slow down the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the liver, which causes severe intoxication.
In some people, alcohol has a sedative effect, as well as certain types of antibiotics with a sedative effect, so their combined use can lead to toxic depression of the central nervous system.
At the same time, the breakdown of antibiotics depends on the amount of alcohol consumed.If you drink a lot in a short period of time, the breakdown of the drug slows down and its level in the body increases, causing a large toxic load.
If you drink constantly, the enzymes begin to break down the drug faster and the benefit is practically zero, and you become dependent on antibiotics.
When you drink alcohol, the body does not receive enough nutrients, blood sugar levels increase, and protective functions decrease.Therefore, an additional load in the form of antibacterial drugs can cause not only the worsening of chronic diseases, but also an allergic reaction.Side effects may vary in each case.
Consequences of simultaneous application
Many people can say that they drank while taking antibiotics and nothing happened, but everyone's body is different and no one can predict the immediate or delayed effects of alcohol combined with medication.All factors are important: age, build, state of health, presence of chronic pathologies or allergies in the patient.
The combination of alcohol and antibiotics can cause:
- headache, dizziness;
- nausea, vomiting;
- sleep disorder;
- stomach or intestinal pain;
- body rash;
- increased heart rate, increased or decreased blood pressure;
- anaphylactic shock.
Alcohol also leads to dehydration, which slows down the body's healing and self-healing process.
How long after taking antibiotics can you drink alcohol?
It is not recommended to drink alcohol immediately after finishing the course of antibiotics.The drug tends to accumulate in the body and takes time to be eliminated.Therefore, before drinking a glass of your favorite wine or beer, it is better to wait a few days until the antibiotic is completely eliminated from the body.
Do you need to take medication if you have already drunk alcohol?
Many doctors agree that a proper course of antibiotics is a big part of the success of the treatment, so they must be taken according to a special regimen prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the entire treatment process can be reversed.Therefore, doctors are convinced that even if the patient continues to drink alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking an antibacterial drug.This can cause the bacteria to become more resistant to a certain type of antibiotic and require a stronger drug to treat the disease in the future.
You should absolutely not drink alcohol while taking antibiotics
A sip of wine or beer is unlikely to have much effect on your treatment while you are taking most medications.However, there are drugs for which alcohol is strictly contraindicated.
For example, fluoroquinolones affect the central nervous system, and mixing drugs from this group with alcohol can cause a person to fall into a coma.Alcohol can increase the side effects of aminoglycosides and cause toxic damage to the liver and the whole body.Nitroimidazoles and some cephalosporins prescribed for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections and sexually transmitted diseases cannot be combined with alcohol.In combination with alcohol, they increase the effect of the drug and become toxic.The combination of the mentioned antibiotics and ethanol can cause unpleasant side symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid heart rate, elevated temperature.Therefore, doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol before three days after the end of treatment.For example, a representative of the oxazolidinone class, when it interacts with alcohol, can cause an increase in blood pressure.Also, in the case of liver disease, the use of semi-synthetic antibiotics of the tetracycline group is strictly not recommended, as it worsens the patient's already difficult condition.
Macrolide antibiotic treatment may not be effective if you drink alcohol at the time.Alcohol will weaken the effect of the drugs, and the treatment will be delayed.
Some antibiotics in the instructions do not contain contraindications for alcohol.Although a history of jaundice or liver dysfunction may be a limitation.
It must be remembered that alcohol in combination with an antibiotic creates a heavy load on the liver and other organs, and also neutralizes the healing properties of the drug.One dose of a small amount of alcohol will not cause negative consequences, but it would be wiser to finish the course of treatment and only then allow yourself to relax.Moreover, in addition to antibiotics, the patient may take other drugs that also do not have the best effect on the body.After taking the antibiotic, you can drink it a day later: often this time is enough for the drug to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is better to extend the interval to avoid side effects.
In order for antibiotics to provide the necessary benefit, they should only be prescribed by a doctor, and the instructions and dosage schedule should be strictly followed.It is better to give up alcohol during treatment to give the body a chance to quickly cope with the disease and restore health.