Often, patients undergoing antibiotic treatment wonder whether these drugs are compatible with alcohol.
Antibiotics are medicines prescribed by a doctor for serious infectious diseases.Antibiotics act on bacteria, preventing them from hitting the body.
The range of use of antibacterial drugs is wide: they are prescribed for bacterial infections of the oral cavity and organs, skin, internal organs, venereological and other diseases.
Such drugs require mandatory adherence to the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account.The instruction usually says not to consume alcohol during antibiotic treatment.
How do antibiotics and alcohol interact?
For years, scientists have been studying how alcohol affects the human body when taking antibiotics, and in most cases, they have come to the conclusion that drug components do not interact with ethyl alcohol and therefore do not affect treatment.However, the researchers noted that they received only a single dose of alcohol in small quantities and that there was at least a day gap between taking the antibiotic and the alcohol.If the patient drinks more often, the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy is reduced.
Doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol during treatment, and this applies not only to antibiotics, but also to all other drugs.
Reasons for combining antibiotics with alcohol
There are two main reasons why it is not recommended to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics:
- Extra load on the liver.
- The effectiveness of treatment decreases.
In fact, you should avoid drinking alcohol during treatment with any medication, as they will reduce the therapeutic effect of the medication.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active substance of the drug or impair 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 acidic acids and blockage of the bile ducts.
Alcohol entering the body is converted into acetaldehyde using the enzyme dehydrogenase, then the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.Medicines slow down the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the liver, causing severe intoxication.
For some people, alcohol, like certain antibiotics, have a sedative effect, so their combined use can cause 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 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, the enzymes begin to break down the drug faster, and the benefit from this is practically zero, and you 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 only lead to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, as well as an allergic reaction.Side effects may vary in each case.
Consequences of infectious 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 causes of alcohol in combination with drugs.All factors are important: age, build, 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 disturbance;
- pain in the stomach or intestines;
- rash on the body;
- increased heart rate, increased or decreased blood pressure;
- anaphylactic shock.
Alcohol also causes the body's healing process and self-healing thirst.
How much alcohol can you drink after taking antibiotics?
It is not recommended to drink alcohol immediately after finishing a course of antibiotics.The drug 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.
Do you need to take medication if you have already drunk alcohol?
Many doctors believe that the correct course of antibiotics is a big part of the success of the treatment, so a special regimen prescribed by the doctor must be followed, otherwise the entire treatment process can be canceled.Therefore, doctors are confident that even if the patient still drinks alcohol, it is impossible to take antibacterial drugs.This can cause bacteria to become more resistant to a particular antibiotic, requiring a stronger drug to treat the disease in the future.
You should absolutely not drink alcohol while taking antibiotics
Taking a sip or a beer is unlikely to have much of an effect on your treatment while on medication.However, there are drugs that are strictly contraindicated in alcohol.
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 whole 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 listed antibiotics and ethanol can cause unpleasant side symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, fever.Therefore, doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol three days before the end of treatment.For example, when interacting with alcohol, a representative of the oxazolidinone class can cause an increase in blood pressure.Also, for liver diseases, it is not recommended to use semi-synthetic antibiotics of the Tetrascline group, as it aggravates the already difficult condition of the patient.
If you drink alcohol at this time, treatment with macrolide antibiotics may not be effective.Alcohol will weaken the effect of the medicine and delay the treatment.
Some antibiotics do not have contraindications for alcohol.A history of precipitation or liver dysfunction may be a limitation.
It should be remembered that alcohol together with an antibiotic creates a great burden on the liver and other organs and neutralizes the medicinal properties of the drug.A small dose of alcohol will not cause negative consequences, but it would be wise to complete the course of treatment and only then allow yourself to rest.Moreover, in addition to antibiotics, the patient can take other drugs, and other drugs may not have the best effect on the body.After taking the antibiotic, you can drink it a day later: often this time is enough for the drug to be completely removed from the body.If possible, it is better to make the interval longer to avoid side effects.
Antibiotics should be prescribed only by a doctor and the instructions and dosage schedule should be strictly followed in order to provide the necessary benefit.It is better to give up alcohol during treatment to allow the body to cope with the disease and restore health.