Often, patients undergoing antibiotic treatment want to know if these medications are compatible with alcohol.
Antibiotics are medications that a doctor prescribes to treat serious infectious diseases.Antibiotics act on bacteria, preventing them from multiplying in the body.
The spectrum of use of antibacterial drugs is wide: they are prescribed for bacterial infections of the oral cavity and ENT organs, skin, internal organs, venereological diseases and others.
These drugs require mandatory compliance with the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account.The instructions usually contain a statement 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 an interval of at least a day between taking the antibiotic and the alcohol.If the patient drank more often, the effectiveness of the antibacterial treatment decreased.
Doctors do not recommend 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 are two:
- Additional load on the liver.
- The effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
In fact, during treatment with medications, you should avoid drinking alcohol, as this can reduce the therapeutic effect of the medications.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active substance of the drug or disrupt its effect on the virus.Additionally, alcohol can accelerate or inhibit the elimination 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 effects on 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.The drugs slow the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes acetaldehyde to build up in the liver, causing severe poisoning.
For some people, alcohol has a sedative effect, as do some types of antibiotics that have 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 breakdown of the drug slows down and its level in the body increases, causing a significant toxic load.
If you drink constantly, the enzymes start to break down the medicine faster and its benefits are 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, 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, body size, state of health, the presence of chronic pathologies or allergies in the patient.
The combination of alcohol and antibiotics can cause:
- headache, dizziness;
- nausea, vomiting;
- sleep disturbances;
- pain in the stomach or intestines;
- rash on the body;
- increased heart rate, increased or decreased blood pressure;
- anaphylactic shock.
Alcohol also causes 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 completing antibiotic treatment.The medicine tends to build up 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 medication if you have already drunk alcohol?
Many doctors agree that the correct treatment of antibiotics is a large part of the success of treatment.So they need to be taken according to a special regimen prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the entire treatment process may be canceled.Therefore, doctors are confident that even if the patient still drank alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking the antibacterial drug.This may make bacteria more resistant to a particular type of antibiotic and require a more powerful drug to cure the disease in the future.
When taking antibiotics, you absolutely should not drink alcohol
Taking a sip of wine or beer is unlikely to have much effect on your treatment while you are taking most medications.However, there are medications for which alcohol is strictly contraindicated.
For example, fluoroquinolones affect the central nervous system, and when 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 enhance the effect of the drug and become toxic.The combination of listed antibiotics and ethanol can cause unpleasant side symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, fever.Therefore, doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol more 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.In addition, for liver diseases, it is strictly not recommended to use a semi-synthetic antibiotic from the tetracycline group, as this aggravates the already difficult condition of the patient.
Treatment with a macrolide antibiotic may not be effective if you drink alcohol at the time.Alcohol will weaken the effect of medications and treatment will be delayed.
Some antibiotics do not contain alcohol contraindications in their instructions.Although a history of jaundice or liver dysfunction may be a limitation.
It should be remembered that alcohol combined with an antibiotic creates a significant 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 lead to negative consequences, but it would be wiser to complete the treatment and then allow yourself to relax.Also, in addition to antibiotics, the patient may take other drugs that also do not have the best effect on the body.After taking antibiotics, you can drink it a day later: this time is often enough for the medicine to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is best to extend the interval to avoid side effects.
For antibiotics to provide the necessary benefits, they should only be prescribed by a doctor and the instructions and dosage regimen should be strictly followed.It is better to abandon alcohol during treatment to give the body the opportunity to quickly cope with the disease and regain health.