Often patients undergoing antibiotic treatment are interested in whether these medications 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, venereological and other diseases.
Such medications require mandatory adherence to the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account.The instructions usually contain 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 while taking antibiotics and have come to the conclusion that in most cases, drug components do not interact with ethyl alcohol and therefore do not affect treatment.But the researchers noted that they studied only a single dose of alcohol in a small amount and there was a gap of at least a day between taking the antibiotic and 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 medications.
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 treatment decreases.
In fact, during treatment with any medications, you should avoid drinking alcohol, as they can reduce the therapeutic effect of the medications.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active substance of the medicine 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; adverse reactions from 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 with blockage of the bile ducts.
Alcohol entering the body is converted into acetaldehyde using the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, and then into acetic acid using the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.Medicines slow down the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes acetaldehyde to accumulate in the liver, causing severe intoxication.
For some people, alcohol has a sedative effect, as do 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 the antibiotic 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, which causes a large toxic load.
If you drink constantly, enzymes begin to break down the medicine faster and the benefit from it is practically zero, and you also become addicted to 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 that 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 medications causes.All factors are important: age, build, health status, the presence of chronic pathologies or allergies in the patient.
The combination of alcohol and antibiotics can cause:
- headache, dizziness;
- nausea, vomiting;
- sleep disturbance;
- pain in the stomach or intestines;
- 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 process and self-healing.
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 it takes time to eliminate it.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.
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 nullified.Therefore, doctors are confident that even if the patient still drank alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking the antibacterial drug.This can cause bacteria to become more resistant to a particular type of antibiotic and require a stronger drug to cure 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 much effect on your treatment while taking most medications.However, there are medications 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 enhance 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 enhance 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 earlier than three days after the end of treatment.For example, a representative of the oxazolidinone class, when interacting with alcohol, can cause an increase in blood pressure.Also, for liver diseases, it is strictly not recommended to use a semi-synthetic antibiotic of the tetracycline group, as it aggravates the patient’s already difficult condition.
Treatment with a macrolide antibiotic may not be effective if you drink alcohol at this time.Alcohol will weaken the effect of the 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 must 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.Moreover, in addition to antibiotics, the patient may take other medications that also do not have the best effect on the body.After taking antibiotics, you can drink it a day later: often this time is enough for the medicine to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is better to make the interval longer 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 the opportunity to quickly cope with the disease and restore health.