What happens if you drink a glass or two of alcohol after taking an antibiotic pill?When can you drink alcohol, how many hours or days after taking antibiotics can you drink alcohol so as not to harm your health?
Antibiotic and alcohol
A mandatory consequence of the use of alcohol and antibiotics is a reduction in the effectiveness of treatment.When drinking alcoholic beverages, inflammatory processes develop in the intestines and local immunity decreases.
At the same time, the disorder in the intestines caused by antibiotics, which is caused by taking antibiotics, also increases.
Violation of drug concentration
The antibiotic begins to work after it reaches a sufficiently high therapeutic concentration in the blood.Due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, the amount of drugs in the body decreases.
This type of medication, when trying to take antibiotics after alcohol, can be considered pointless and even dangerous.
Violation of the treatment regimen, reduction of drug concentration, increases the resistance of pathogenic microflora to the action of antibiotics.And the disease itself, against which an antibiotic is prescribed, has a chance to turn from acute to chronic.
The concentration of the drug decreases due to the fact that the nephrotoxic metabolite of ethyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, disrupts the process of reabsorption of nutrients in the renal tubules.
Water reabsorption is also impaired, which increases blood viscosity, and the concentration of antibiotics in the blood can change in the most unpredictable way.
Properties of metabolism
Antibiotics are drugs that are metabolized in the liver.Busy processing ethyl alcohol, the liver does not have time to neutralize all possible intermediate metabolic products of the drug.
In addition, ethanol can affect the activity of liver enzymes and even react directly with the antibiotic or its metabolites.These properties are expressed differently in antibacterial drugs.
One of the most dangerous features of combining the drug with ethyl alcohol is the interaction of these chemical compounds with the development of a disulfiram-like reaction.
Let's figure out whether it is possible to drink alcohol, beer, while taking antibiotics, after which it is not dangerous to drink alcohol, and after which it is absolutely forbidden.
Disulfiram-like reaction
The disulfiram reaction is used to code alcoholism, accompanied by nausea, cramps, cough, vomiting, shortness of breath and a drop in blood pressure.
A similar effect occurs quite often when taking drugs with ethanol.
Below is a list after taking which antibiotics and for how long you should not drink alcohol.
The consequences of ethanol intake during antibiotic treatment depend on the dose.
When you can drink alcohol after taking pills or antibiotic injections is calculated based on the time it takes for the antibiotic to be eliminated from the body.
List of antibiotics
Do not drink with alcohol:
- nitroimidazoles - do not combine with alcohol for up to 48 hours (the drugs cause a reaction similar to disulfiram);
- cephalosporins - the chemical structure of this group resembles the disulfiram molecule, which gives a reaction similar to disulfiram with ethyl alcohol.You can drink alcohol every other day;in case of kidney failure, the interval is extended;
- fluoroquinolones - synthetic antibiotics depress the nervous system and can cause coma.Take alcohol no earlier than 1.5 days;
- tetracyclines - high risk of liver hepatocyte damage;they are eliminated from the body for a long time.You can drink alcohol after 3 days;
- aminoglycosides are ototoxic, nephrotoxic, drug side effects increase, and drug toxicity increases.Drink alcohol no earlier than 0.5 months;
- lincosamides - the central nervous system and liver are affected, a disulfiram reaction develops.4 days after the treatment you can drink alcohol;
- macrolides - the risk of liver cirrhosis increases, especially when erythromycin is taken, they are slowly eliminated from the body.Alcohol is allowed after 3.5 days;
- anti-tuberculosis drugs - can cause drug-induced hepatitis with a fulminant course.Alcoholic drinks are prohibited!
The rate of elimination of antibacterial drugs from different areas of the body varies.So, if aminoglycosides are eliminated from the blood of adults in an average of 2.5 hours, then from the fluid of the inner ear this time can be up to 350 hours.
If we consider the ototoxicity of aminoglycosides, it is easy to understand that drinking alcohol within 2 weeks after treatment can cause deafness.
Interaction
A disulfiram-like reaction during antibiotic treatment and alcohol consumption develops due to blocking the synthesis of enzymes that destroy the ethanol molecule into simple substances.
The result is an increase in the concentration in the blood of the intermediate product of the breakdown of ethyl alcohol - acetaldehyde.Ethanol metabolite acetaldehyde is more toxic than ethyl alcohol itself.
And the lack of liver enzymes, which is a consequence of the toxic effect on the liver, causes a decrease in the synthesis of norepinephrine, due to which the symptoms of intoxication appear brighter the next morning and are more difficult to bear.
Consequences
The combination of small doses of alcohol and medicine may not cause any symptoms, but when drinking large doses of alcohol, the side effects of both the medicine and ethyl alcohol increase.
One of the most dangerous consequences of combining alcohol with an antibiotic is a disulfiram-like reaction.The danger of this condition is that it is masked by alcohol and is not recognized by others as a distress signal.
The disulfiram reaction is caused by an increase in the concentration of acetaldehyde in the blood and is manifested by the following symptoms:
- heartbeat;
- nausea, vomiting;
- heat wave, hot feeling;
- dizziness;
- abdominal pain;
- a sharp drop in pressure.
If the patient's blood alcohol level is above 125 mg/100 ml, and the victim is not given timely help, even death is possible.
How to combine
Some medicines absolutely must not be combined with ethyl alcohol in any dose:
- nitroimidazoles;
- cephalosporin group;
- fluoroquinolones;
- aminoglycosides.
How many days after antibiotics can you drink alcohol?Is it possible to interrupt the course of treatment for a while?
It is best not to combine antibiotics and alcohol at all and not to take ethanol during treatment.If for some reason this is not possible and you have to drink alcohol, then you can calculate how long after drinking antibiotics you can use a special alcohol calculator.
The alcohol calculator takes into account the person's weight, the amount and strength of the drink.Thus, in men weighing 70 kg, 100 g of vodka will be completely eliminated from the body in 5.8 hours, and 200 g of beer - in 1.44 hours.
It must be taken into account that all these calculations are approximate, and the actual rate of elimination from the body depends not only on the properties of these chemical compounds, but also on the condition of the kidneys, intestines and liver.
Conclusion
It takes from 1 to 3.5 - 5 days to completely remove the antibacterial drug from the body.The elimination time depends on the health condition, age and metabolic characteristics of the person.
In most cases, drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics weakens the effectiveness of the treatment, increases the side effects of the drug, causes a disulfiram-like reaction and is full of serious consequences.