What happens if you drink a glass or two of alcohol after taking an antibiotic tablet?When can you drink alcohol, how many hours or days after antibiotics can you drink alcohol so as not to harm your health?
Antibiotic and alcohol
An obligatory consequence of alcohol and antibiotic consumption is a decrease in the effectiveness of treatment.When consuming alcoholic beverages, inflammatory processes develop in the intestines and local immunity decreases.
At the same time, antibiotic-associated intestinal disorders caused by taking the antibiotic are increasing.
Violation of drug concentration
The antibiotic begins to work after reaching a sufficiently high therapeutic concentration in the blood.Due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, the amount of medicine in the body decreases.
This type of medication, when trying to take antibiotics after alcohol, can be considered unnecessary and even dangerous.
Violation of the treatment regimen, a decrease in the concentration of the drug, increases the resistance of the pathogenic microflora to the action of the antibiotic.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 nutrient reabsorption in the renal tubules.
Water reabsorption is also impaired, which increases blood viscosity, and the concentration of the antibiotic in the blood can change in the most unpredictable way.
Characteristics of metabolism
Antibiotics are drugs metabolized in the liver.Busy processing ethyl alcohol, the liver does not have time to neutralize all possible intermediate metabolic products of the drug.
Additionally, 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 a drug with ethyl alcohol is the interaction of these chemical compounds with the development of a disulfiram-like reaction.
Let's see if 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 prohibited.
Disulfiram-like reaction
The disulfiram reaction is used to code for 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 containing ethanol.
Below is a list of antibiotics after taking and how long you should not drink alcohol.
The consequences of taking ethanol during antibiotic treatment depend on the dose.
When you can drink alcohol after taking antibiotic tablets or 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 (drugs cause a reaction similar to disulfiram);
- cephalosporins - the chemical structure of this group resembles the structure of the disulfiram molecule, resulting in a reaction similar to that of disulfiram with ethyl alcohol.You can drink alcohol every other day;in case of renal failure, the interval lengthens;
- fluoroquinolones - synthetic antibiotics depress the nervous system and can cause coma.Take alcohol no earlier than after 1.5 days;
- tetracyclines - high risk of damage to hepatic hepatocytes;they are eliminated from the body over a long period of time.You can drink alcohol after 3 days;
- aminoglycosides are ototoxic, nephrotoxic, side effects of the drug increase, and drug toxicity increases.Drink alcohol no earlier than 0.5 months;
- lincosamides - the central nervous system and liver are affected, a reaction to disulfiram develops.You can drink alcohol 4 days after treatment;
- macrolides - the risk of liver cirrhosis increases, especially when taking erythromycin, 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 elimination rate of antibacterial drugs from different environments of the body differs.Thus, if aminoglycosides are eliminated from the blood of adults in 2.5 hours on average, this time can reach 350 hours in the fluid of the inner ear.
If we take into account the ototoxicity of aminoglycosides, it is easy to understand that alcohol consumption within 2 weeks after treatment can cause deafness.
Interactions
A disulfiram-like reaction develops during treatment with antibiotics and alcohol consumption due to blocking the synthesis of enzymes that break down the ethanol molecule into simple substances.
The consequence is an increase in the blood concentration of the intermediate breakdown product of ethyl alcohol - acetaldehyde.Acetaldehyde, a metabolite of ethanol, is more toxic than ethyl alcohol itself.
And the lack of liver enzymes, resulting from a toxic effect on the liver, causes a decrease in the synthesis of norepinephrine, which is why the symptoms of intoxication the next morning appear brighter and are more difficult to tolerate.
Consequences
The combination of small doses of alcohol and medications may not cause any symptoms, but when consuming large doses of alcohol, the side effects of the medication 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 intoxication and is not recognized by others as a signal of distress.
The reaction to disulfiram is caused by an increase in the concentration of acetaldehyde in the blood and is manifested by the following symptoms:
- pulsation;
- nausea, vomiting;
- hot flash, feeling of heat;
- dizziness;
- abdominal pain;
- a sharp drop in pressure.
If the patient's blood alcohol level is more than 125 mg/100 ml and the victim does not receive timely assistance, death is even possible.
How to combine
Certain medications should absolutely not be combined with ethyl alcohol, whatever the dosage:
- nitroimidazoles;
- cephalosporin group;
- fluoroquinolones;
- aminoglycosides.
How many days after antibiotics can you take alcoholic drinks?Is it possible to interrupt treatment for a certain period of time?
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, you can calculate how long after drinking an antibiotic, you can use a special alcohol calculator.
The alcohol calculator takes into account the weight of the person, the quantity and strength of the drink consumed.Thus, in a man 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 real 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
To completely eliminate the antibacterial drug from the body, it should take 1 to 3.5 to 5 days.The elimination time depends on the health status, age and metabolic characteristics of the person.
In most cases, drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics weakens the effectiveness of treatment, increases the side effects of the drug, causes a disulfiram-like reaction and leads to serious consequences.