Is it possible to combine alcohol and antibiotics?Even doctors do not give an exact answer to this popular question.And while some are categorically against such duets, others believe that it is important to consider what kind of alcohol you drink and how much.There is also a third opinion, according to which, by approaching the problem wisely, you can successfully participate in treatment while maintaining social activity.
Do you really need to abstain from alcohol in combination with a course of antibiotics?Let's figure it out.
Much depends on the active ingredient of the drug.Some types of antibiotics are not at all friendly with alcohol, while others may interact normally.Of course, after reading this article, don't confuse alcohol with pills.However, knowing certain things will help you not to panic, but to intelligently understand the problem, if for some reason you did drink alcohol during antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotics and alcohol: myths and legends
There is a version that after the war, scary stories about not combining alcohol and antibiotics began to spread.According to the first legend, during this period venereology clinics in our country and abroad were simply overcrowded.The patients are soldiers and officers who have fully tasted the "delights" of martial law.Medical staff deliberately intimidated patients, talking about the serious consequences of the combination of alcohol and antibiotics, because after drinking, patients again plunged into all serious actions, and the result of such "exploits" could be a new sexually transmitted infection.
According to another legend, due to the difficulty of obtaining penicillin, it evaporated from the urine of treated soldiers.For this reason, the soldiers were forbidden to drink beer during the therapy.
The danger of drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics is in the air, and modern people prefer to avoid such mixtures.But what does evidence-based medicine think about this?
What do the studies say?
At the beginning of the 21st century, studies were conducted on the effects of ethanol on different types of antibiotics.Experiments on laboratory animals and volunteers have shown that most antibiotics are not affected by alcohol consumption.
Thus, the tested antibiotics were equally effective in the experimental and control groups.No significant differences were observed in the mechanism of absorption, distribution in the body or elimination of decomposition products.
By the way, there is a hypothesis that the consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the harmful effects of antibiotics on the liver.Such cases are rarely described in the medical literature due to their rare occurrence (up to 10 cases out of 100,000).However, no further research has been conducted in this regard.Are all fears unfounded?
Which antibiotics should not be combined with alcohol?
No, the fears are not unfounded: there are many antibiotics that cause extremely unpleasant symptoms in contact with alcohol - this is the so-called disulfiram-like reaction.The reaction occurs when ethanol chemically reacts with certain specific antibiotic molecules, which changes the metabolism of ethyl alcohol in the body.In particular, an intermediate substance, acetaldehyde, accumulates.Poisoning of the substance causes the following symptoms:
- severe headache
- nausea and vomiting
- increased heart rate
- redness of face, neck, chest, "heat" in them
- intermittent heavy breathing
- limb spasms
A large dose of alcohol can be fatal!
These symptoms are very difficult to bear, often causing fear of suffocation or death.A disulfiram-like reaction is used in clinics to treat alcoholism ("coding").
Antibiotics that can cause the following symptoms:
- active ingredient metronidazole
- Active ingredient ketoconazole (prescribed for thrush, for example in the form of suppositories)
- active ingredient furazolidone (prescribed in case of food poisoning or unspecified diarrhea)
- active ingredient chloramphenicol (toxic, rarely used: urinary tract infections, biliary tract and some other diseases)
- active ingredient co-trimoxazole (can be prescribed for respiratory, kidney and urinary tract infections, prostatitis)
- active substance lornoxicam (used to treat bacterial infections of the respiratory and otolaryngological organs, kidneys, urinary tract infections, etc.)
- active ingredient tinidazole (often prescribed for an infection caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach ulcers)
- active ingredient cefamandol (injections for infections of unspecified nature)
- active ingredient cefoperazone (available by injection, for the treatment of the respiratory tract, including pneumonia, bacterial diseases of the urogenital system and other diseases)
- active ingredient moxifloxacin (a broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribed for serious conditions such as fever when a bacterial infection is suspected)
Alcohol consumption must be avoided when taking these medicines (oral medicines and suppositories or eye drops).
In order to make sure that your antibiotic does not belong to the group of drugs that are prohibited in combination with alcoholic beverages, consult your doctor and carefully read the instructions for the drug.
Smart decision
If we are treating any disease with antibiotics, we must not under any circumstances overload our body with alcoholic beverages.After all, like all toxic substances, ethanol requires "neutralization" in the body.The body uses additional reserves to fight the poison, often the last, especially if the illness is prolonged.The energy spent cleaning the body can damage the immune system and significantly prolong the recovery period.
In addition, research and medical practice confirm that both alcohol and antibiotics have a depressing effect on the liver.
Despite the fact that the opinions of experts are divided about the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial agents (except for those drugs that are subject to categorical restrictions), most of them tend to believe that it is better to avoid alcoholic beverages during antibiotic therapy.You should also know: if you drank a glass of wine during therapy, you should not refuse the next dose of antibiotics (of course, if it is a drug for which alcohol is not a contraindication).