Often, patients undergoing antibiotic treatment are interested in 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 multiplying in the body.
The scope of use of antibacterial drugs is wide: they are prescribed for bacterial infections of the oral cavity and ENT organs, skin, internal organs, venereal and other diseases.
Such drugs require mandatory compliance with the dosage regimen and have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account.The instructions usually contain text that during antibiotic treatment one should not drink alcohol.
How do antibiotics and alcohol interact?
Scientists have been studying for many years how alcohol affects the human body while taking antibiotics and have come to the conclusion that in most cases medicinal components do not interact with ethyl alcohol and therefore do not affect the treatment.But the researchers note that they studied only one small dose of alcohol, and there was an interval of at least one day between taking the antibiotic and the alcohol.If the patient drinks more often, the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy decreases.
Doctors do not advise drinking alcohol during treatment, and this applies not only to antibiotics, but also to all other drugs.
Reasons not to combine antibiotics with alcohol
Among the main reasons why it is not recommended to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics, there are two:
- Additional burden on the liver.
- The effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
In fact, during treatment with any drugs, you should avoid drinking alcohol, as they can reduce the therapeutic effect of the drugs.The reason is the properties of alcohol, which can destroy the active substance of the drug or disrupt its effect on the virus.In addition, alcohol can accelerate or suppress the removal of medicinal 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 on the part of 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 with blocking 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 leads to the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the liver, which leads to severe intoxication.
In some people, alcohol has a sedative effect, as do certain types of antibiotics with 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 large toxic load.
If you drink constantly, enzymes begin to break down the drug faster and its benefit is practically zero, and you also become addicted to antibiotics.
When drinking alcohol, 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 cause not only an exacerbation of chronic diseases, but also an allergic reaction.Side effects may vary from case to case.
Consequences of simultaneous use
Many people can say that they drank while taking antibiotics and nothing happened, but everyone's body is different and no one can predict the consequences, immediate or delayed, that alcohol in combination with medication causes.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 disorder;
- stomach or bowel pain;
- body rash;
- increased heart rate, increased or decreased blood pressure;
- anaphylactic shock.
Alcohol also leads to dehydration, which slows down the healing process and self-restoration of the body.
How long after taking antibiotics can you drink alcohol?
It is not recommended to drink alcohol immediately after completing the course of antibiotics.The drug tends to accumulate in the body and takes time to eliminate.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 agree that the correct course of antibiotics is a large part of the success of the treatment, so they must be taken according to a special scheme prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the entire treatment process can be canceled.That is why doctors are confident that even if the patient still drank alcohol, it is impossible to skip taking the antibacterial drug.This can cause the bacteria to become more resistant to a certain type of antibiotic and require a stronger drug to cure the disease in the future.
When taking antibiotics, you should absolutely not drink alcohol
Taking a sip of wine or beer is unlikely to have much of an effect on your treatment while you are taking most medications.However, there are drugs in 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 whole body.Nitroimidazoles and some cephalosporins prescribed to treat 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 the listed antibiotics and ethanol can cause unpleasant side symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid pulse, fever.That is why doctors do not recommend drinking alcohol earlier 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.Also, with liver diseases, the use of a semi-synthetic antibiotic from the tetracycline group is strictly not recommended, as it worsens the already difficult condition of the patient.
Macrolide antibiotic treatment may not be effective if you drink alcohol at the time.Alcohol will weaken the effect of the drugs and the treatment will be delayed.
Some antibiotics do not contain contraindications for alcohol in their instructions.Although a history of jaundice or liver dysfunction may be a limitation.
It should be remembered that alcohol in combination with an antibiotic creates a heavy load on the liver and other organs, and also neutralizes the healing properties of the drug.A single dose of small amounts of alcohol will not lead to negative consequences, but it would be more reasonable to complete the course of treatment and only then allow yourself to relax.In addition, in addition to antibiotics, the patient can take other drugs, which also do not have the best effect on the body.After taking antibiotics, you can drink it a day later: often this time is enough for the drug to be completely eliminated from the body.If possible, it is better to make the interval longer to avoid side effects.
In order for antibiotics to provide the necessary benefit, they should be prescribed only by a doctor and strictly follow the instructions and dosage scheme.It is better to give up alcohol during treatment to give the body an opportunity to quickly cope with the disease and restore health.