Often patients undergoing antibiotic treatment are interested in whether these drugs are compatible with alcohol.
Antibiotics are drugs that a doctor prescribes for serious infectious diseases.Antibiotics act on bacteria, preventing them from multiplying in the body.
The range of use 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 compliance with the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into consideration.The instructions usually contain the wording that alcohol should not be consumed during antibiotic treatment.
How do antibiotics and alcohol interact?
Scientists have been studying for many years how alcohol affects the human body when 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 a single dose of alcohol in a small amount and that there was a gap of at least a day between taking the antibiotic and taking the alcohol.If the patient drank more often, the effectiveness of the antibacterial therapy decreased.
Doctors do not recommend 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 there are two:
- Additional load on the liver.
- The effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
In fact, during treatment with any drug, you should avoid drinking alcohol, as it can reduce the therapeutic effect of the drugs.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active ingredient of the medicine or interrupt its effect on the virus.Additionally, alcohol can speed up 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 will be possible.Especially in this case the liver suffers;Adverse reactions affecting the kidneys, pancreas, central nervous system, brain, heart and blood vessels are possible.
Liver dysfunction is associated with the negative effect of alcohol on the synthesis of fatty acids in the cells of the organ and blockage of the bile ducts.
Alcohol entering the body is converted to acetaldehyde using the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase and then to acetic acid using the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.Medicines slow the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes acetaldehyde to build up in the liver, causing severe intoxication.
For some people, alcohol has a sedative effect, as do some 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 degradation of the antibiotic depends on the amount of alcohol consumed.If you drink a lot in a short period of time, the degradation 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 medicine faster and the benefit from it is practically zero, and you also become dependent on antibiotics.
When drinking 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 an exacerbation of chronic diseases, but also an allergic reaction.Side effects may vary in each case.
Consequences of concomitant use
Many people can say they drank while taking antibiotics and nothing happened, but every body is different and no one can predict the consequences, immediate or delayed, that alcohol in combination with drugs causes.All factors are important: age, size, 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 disorders;
- stomach or intestinal pain;
- rash on the body;
- 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 a course of antibiotics.The medicine tends to accumulate in the body and takes time to eliminate.Therefore, before drinking a glass of your favorite wine or beer, it is better to wait a few days for the antibiotic to be completely eliminated from the body.
Should you take medicine if you have already drunk alcohol?
Many doctors agree that the correct course of antibiotics is a large part of the success of treatment, so they must be taken according to a special regimen prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the entire treatment process can be canceled.Therefore, doctors are sure that even if the patient continues to drink alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking the antibacterial drug.This can cause the bacteria to become more resistant to a particular type of antibiotic and require a more potent drug to treat the disease in the future.
When taking antibiotics you should absolutely not drink alcohol
Taking a sip of wine or beer is unlikely to have a significant effect on your treatment while taking most medications.However, there are drugs for which alcohol is strictly contraindicated.
For example, fluoroquinolones affect the central nervous system, and by mixing drugs from this group with alcohol, a person can fall into a coma.Alcohol can increase the side effects of aminoglycosides and cause toxic damage to the liver and the entire body.Nitroimidazoles and some cephalosporins prescribed for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections and sexually transmitted diseases cannot be combined with alcohol.When combined with alcohol, they increase the effect of the drug and become toxic.The combination of the listed antibiotics and ethanol can cause unpleasant side symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, fever.Therefore, doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol before three days after finishing treatment.For example, a representative of the oxazolidinone class, when interacting with alcohol, can cause an increase in blood pressure.In addition, for liver diseases, the use of a semi-synthetic antibiotic from the tetracycline group is strictly not recommended, as it aggravates the already difficult condition of the patient.
Treatment with a macrolide antibiotic may not be effective if you drink alcohol during this time.Alcohol will weaken the effect of drugs and treatment will be delayed.
Some antibiotics do not contain contraindications for alcohol in their instructions.Although a history of jaundice or liver dysfunction may be a limitation.
It should be remembered that alcohol in combination with an antibiotic creates a large load on the liver and other organs, and also neutralizes the medicinal properties of the drug.A single dose of small amounts of alcohol will not cause negative consequences, but it would be wiser to complete the course of treatment and only then allow yourself to relax.Also, in addition to antibiotics, the patient may take other drugs that do not have the best effect on the body.After taking antibiotics, you can drink it the next day - often this time is enough for the medicine to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is better to lengthen the interval to avoid side effects.
In order for antibiotics to provide the necessary benefit, they should be prescribed only by a doctor, and the instructions and dosing schedule should be strictly followed.It is better to give up alcohol during treatment to give the body the opportunity to quickly cope with the disease and restore health.