Patients undergoing antibiotic treatment are often interested in whether these drugs are compatible with alcohol.
Antibiotics are drugs that are prescribed by a doctor for serious infectious diseases.Antibiotics act on bacteria, preventing them from multiplying in the body.
Antibacterial drugs have a wide range of uses: they are prescribed for bacterial infections of the oral cavity and ear-nose-throat organs, skin, internal organs, venereal 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 instructions usually include the text that you should not drink alcohol during antibiotic treatment.
How do antibiotics and alcohol interact?
For years, scientists have been studying how alcohol affects the human body while taking antibiotics, and have come to the conclusion that in most cases the drug components do not interact with ethyl alcohol and therefore do not affect the treatment.However, the researchers noted that only a single dose of alcohol was studied in small amounts, and at least one day elapsed between the antibiotic and the alcohol intake.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 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 main reasons:
- Additional burden on the liver.
- The effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
In fact, alcohol consumption should be avoided during any drug treatment, as it can reduce the therapeutic effect of the drugs.This is due to the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the drug's active ingredient or interfere with 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 case, there will be an additional load on the internal organs, and poisoning of the body is possible.Especially in this case the liver suffers;side effects 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 the blockage of the bile ducts.
Alcohol entering the body is converted into acetaldehyde with the help of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, and then into acetic acid with the help of the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.Medicines slow down the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, which causes the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the liver, causing severe poisoning.
For some, alcohol is a sedative, as are certain types of sedative antibiotics, 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 rises in the body, causing a large toxic load.
If you drink it constantly, the enzymes start to break down the drug faster and it is practically useless, and you become dependent on antibiotics.
During alcohol consumption, the body does not receive enough nutrients, blood sugar levels rise, and protective functions decrease.Therefore, the additional load in the form of antibacterial drugs can not only aggravate chronic diseases, but also cause an allergic reaction.Side effects may be different in each case.
Consequences of simultaneous 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 immediate or delayed consequences of alcohol and drug combination.All factors are important: age, body structure, 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 disorder;
- 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 can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
It is not recommended to drink alcohol immediately after finishing the course of antibiotics.The drug tends to build up in the body and takes time to clear.Therefore, before drinking a glass of your favorite wine or beer, it is better to wait a few days until the antibiotic is completely cleared from the body.
Do you need to take medication if you have already drunk alcohol?
Many doctors agree that a large part of the success of the treatment is the correct course of antibiotics, so they must be taken according to the special dosage regimen prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the entire treatment process can be nullified.Therefore, doctors are sure that even if the patient continued to drink alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking the antibacterial drug.This can result in the bacteria becoming more resistant to a certain type of antibiotic, and a stronger drug will be needed to cure the disease in the future.
If you are taking antibiotics, you should not drink alcohol under any circumstances
A sip of wine or beer is unlikely to have much effect on your treatment while taking most medicines.However, there are drugs for which alcohol is strictly contraindicated.
For example, fluoroquinolones affect the central nervous system, and if drugs from this group are mixed 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 throughout the body.Nitroimidazoles and some cephalosporins prescribed to treat 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 effects: 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, if it interacts with alcohol, can cause an increase in blood pressure.In addition, in the case of liver diseases, it is strictly not recommended to use semi-synthetic antibiotics of the tetracycline group, as this aggravates the already difficult condition of the patient.
Treatment with macrolide antibiotics may not be effective if you drink alcohol at the time.Alcohol weakens the effect of medicines and treatment is delayed.
Some antibiotics do not contain contraindications related to alcohol.Although it may be limited by a history of jaundice or liver dysfunction.
It should be remembered that the combination of alcohol and antibiotics causes a heavy load on the liver and other organs and neutralizes the medicinal properties of the drug.A single dose of a small amount of alcohol does not cause negative consequences, but it would be wiser to finish the course and only then allow yourself to relax.Moreover, in addition to antibiotics, the patient can also take other drugs, which also do not have the best effect on the body.After taking antibiotics, you can drink them a day later: often this time is enough for the medicine to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is better to extend the interval to avoid side effects.
In order for antibiotics to provide the necessary benefits, they can only be prescribed by a doctor and the instructions and dosage regimen must be strictly followed.During treatment, it is better to give up alcohol so that the body has the opportunity to quickly cope with the disease and restore health.