Reception of antibiotics and alcohol consequences. What are the consequences of taking antibiotics with alcohol at the same time?

Many people have a question, is it possible to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics. After all, there is an opinion that drugs lose their effectiveness if they are taken with alcohol. Another point of view argues that alcohol and antibiotics are incompatible and are a deadly combination.

Alcohol poisons the cells of the body, disrupts their ability to recover and regenerate, leads to fatigue and dehydration, which negatively affects the diseased body. And although alcohol does not completely nullify the effect of drugs, the recovery process greatly slows down. This is one of the reasons why you shouldn't drink alcohol with antibiotics. Since beer is also a type of alcoholic beverage, everything said about alcohol and antibiotics certainly applies to beer and is the answer to the question of whether beer can be with antibiotics.

Prohibition violated: what to do?

If we talk about what will happen if the ban was violated and the person took antibiotics and alcohol at the same time, then you should know that the strength of the manifestations of side effects largely depends on the general state of health, the amount of alcohol consumed, and the ability of the liver to utilize these substances. Not all of the consequences are pronounced, but in the worst case, a fatal outcome is possible.

If the prohibition was violated, and an adverse reaction occurred, you should immediately call an ambulance. This is the only correct way out in case of consequences from mixing ethanol with antibiotics. Severe symptoms after antibiotics and alcohol are:

shallow breathing;
chest pain;
irregular heartbeats;
dizziness;
nausea;
vomit.

Since the possibility of interaction between alcohol and antibiotics can be fatal, the appearance of the above symptoms requires immediate medical attention. If a person with these signs is left without timely medical attention, the consequences can be fatal. For example, an arrhythmia can lead to cardiac arrest, and dehydration due to vomiting causes blood pressure to drop to dangerous levels.

Sometimes drugs do not help to cope with the disease, and doctors resort to "heavy artillery" by prescribing antibiotics.

The question immediately arises before the patient: “Is it possible to drink wine while taking antibiotics?”, because parties and holidays often take place in life!

We will find out how compatible alcohol is with such serious drugs in order to protect ourselves from bad consequences.

Can you drink wine while taking antibiotics?

The point of view of doctors took root in the minds of their wards, and they told their friends and family about it. And so it happened: pills separately, alcohol - separately. But in fact, is it possible to drink wine with antibiotics?

The mythical side of the issue

Where did we get the idea that antibiotics and alcohol are incompatible? From the forties of the last century, when after the war in Soviet and European hospitals a lot of officers and soldiers were being treated for venereal diseases.

It was the soldiers who were warned by the doctors that during the treatment one should not drink alcoholic beverages!

Doctors were afraid that after drinking libations, patients would be drawn to new exploits, and they would pick up something else from the bouquet of Venus!

How alcohol affects the body when taking antibiotics

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, scientists conducted several studies to determine exactly how ethanol affects certain antibiotic agents. Research has been done on both animals and humans.

The results showed that many antibiotics are quite compatible with alcohol intake: they do not lose their properties and do not hit the liver with a vengeance!

Is it really possible to forget about fears and safely drink wine while taking an antibiotic?

Antibiotics incompatible with alcohol

Of course, not all antibiotic drugs are safe when taken with alcohol! Among them, there are agents that can lead to a disulfiram-like reaction, when acetaldehyde accumulates in the body, poisoning it and causing the following unpleasant symptoms:

convulsions;
Exhausting migraine;
Vomiting;
Acceleration of the heartbeat;
Respiratory failure;
Heat in the neck, chest and face.

A person at this time feels fear of death and suffocation. And, indeed, if a lot of alcohol is drunk, then death is quite possible! By the way, doctors use this reaction when they code alcoholics from drunkenness.

Let's name all antibiotics that are incompatible with ethanol:

Cefamandol used in the treatment of various infections;
Cefoperazone treating pneumonia and other diseases;
Ketoconazole prescribed for the treatment of thrush;
Metronidazole and other antibiotics containing it;
Levomycetin, because in itself it is already very toxic;
Furazolidone treating diarrhea and food poisoning;
Tinidazole used to treat infection with Helicobacter pylori, leading to stomach ulcers;
cefotetan treating bacterial infections that affect different organs;
Co-trimoxazole curing prostatitis, inflammation of the respiratory system, etc .;
moxalactam, prescribed for bacterial infections.

If you still doubt whether it is possible to drink wine with antibiotics, you definitely cannot drink it with these types!

As for other types, alcohol can be drunk with them only in moderate doses. When alcohol is abused, the body will need more energy to eliminate toxins, and it will borrow the resources that were thrown into curing the disease.

Antibiotic "Supraks" and alcohol: is it possible to combine

Suprax is one of the most popular antibiotics prescribed for various diseases. Can it be combined with alcohol?

Like any other antibiotic, Suprax negatively affects the work of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys.

To get rid of the remnants of the drug, the body spends a lot of resources! If he has to remove alcohol toxins along with them, he will get a strong shake. The process of removing toxins will intensify, but healing will weaken.

In addition, the combination of Suprax and wine or vodka will harm the cardiovascular and urinary systems.

Now you know if you can drink wine while taking antibiotics. It’s better to drink it after treatment, a week after the end of taking the drug, and then within reasonable limits - a glass or two, because after a course of taking antibiotics, the body needs to recuperate!

Surely every average citizen of our country at least once took antibacterial drugs. These funds treat many diseases, ranging from inflammation of the skin and ending with infections of the internal organs. Quite often antibiotics are prescribed even for children. From an early age, a person gets acquainted with this antimicrobial agent.

Many people know that alcohol should not be drunk during antibiotics. The main question arises: why? This is what will be discussed in this article. You will also learn about the consequences of drinking alcohol after antibiotics. What to do if a festive event is scheduled and there is a need to receive

The ban on mixing antimicrobials with ethanol: the legend

Even in ancient times, a ban was introduced on the combination of alcoholic beverages and treatment. At that time, there was a mass infection of men and women with venereal diseases. Physicians frightened their patients, reporting that the use of even a small amount of ethanol would make the entire treatment ineffective.

Such information was disseminated for only one purpose. The medical staff simply feared that the person, having taken a little "on the chest", would again go into all serious trouble and begin to seek adventure. But sexual life at the time of treatment was strictly prohibited. After that, an attitude appeared in the minds of people that it was absolutely impossible to drink alcohol after antibiotics. In fact, everything is not so scary.

So why not antibiotics with alcohol?

The answer to this question can be given by any qualified physician. There are a number of medical antimicrobials that are strictly forbidden to be used with ethanol. And the point is not that the treatment will be ineffective. There are several answers to the question of why antibiotics with alcohol are not allowed. And all the reasons are good enough.

No therapeutic effect

This consequence of the simultaneous administration of ethanol with antimicrobial agents is the most harmless. Molecules of antibacterial drugs, entering the human body, bind to proteins, which are pathogenic microorganisms.

After taking a certain dose of alcoholic beverages, proteins are somewhat modified. Many antibacterial substances in this case react with ethanol. In this case, the treatment is simply ineffective and useless. It turns out that a person drinks medicines, "poisons" his body, but there is no sense in this. After such treatment, the doctor is forced to prescribe a new course of other antibiotics. This can go on for quite a long time.

Load on the liver

Combining alcohol and you can expect quite unpleasant. Surely everyone knows that the liver in our body acts as a so-called filter. It is through this organ that all drugs pass and leave their negative effect.

Alcohol contributes to the destruction of the liver. This is especially noticeable during antimicrobial treatment. Often a person begins to complain of pain in the liver and yellowing of the mucous membranes. It is worth noting that hepatitis is a liver disease. If this organ is sick, it affects the state of the whole human body. If you want to avoid this negative effect, then you should drink alcohol after antibiotics (when they are completely removed from the body). Usually the time is always indicated in the instructions.

Influence on the work of the gastrointestinal tract

If you drink alcohol at the same time and can be expressed as incomplete absorption of the active substance. After taking the drug, it enters the stomach, and from there - into the intestines. It is in this place that the main absorption of antimicrobial agents occurs.

Alcohol also has some effect on the stomach and intestines. After taking a dose of ethanol, blood circulation increases due to vasodilation. It also enhances peristalsis. Too high doses of ethanol can cause diarrhea and indigestion. All this contributes to the rapid removal of antibiotics from the body. As a result of this process, treatment may be defective.

Disulfiram-like reaction

If you drink alcohol and antibiotics in parallel, the consequences can be the most unexpected. Some drugs can cause a disulfiram-like reaction. It is worth noting that this information is always indicated on the packaging. If you find the use of ethanol in contraindications, then you should heed this instruction. A disulfiram-like reaction can manifest itself with the following symptoms:

severe nausea and vomiting that does not bring relief;
headaches that do not even allow you to talk;
fever and chills;
convulsions or coma;
fatal outcome.

Similar symptoms may begin after drinking one glass of beer or wine. That is why you should refrain from taking alcohol and antimicrobials at the same time.

The appearance of allergies

If you combine alcohol and antibiotics, the consequences may appear in the form of an unexpected allergic reaction. Often antibacterial drugs are available in colored capsules. Also, many types of drinks containing ethanol have a certain color. Taken together, these substances can cause a completely unexpected reaction. Most often, an allergy is expressed in the form of urticaria: a person begins to itch, sneeze, becomes covered with red spots.

Such a reaction forces you to change the method of treatment and refuse to take this drug. At the same time, the doctor states the following facts: the treatment is not completed, the body still has a bacterial infection, there is a need to start taking alternative drugs after the disappearance of the allergic reaction.

How to combine alcohol with antibiotics without consequences

If you have a solemn event planned, as well as treatment, then you need to correctly calculate the timing. It may make sense to delay taking antimicrobials or to get by with safer means. After the event, you can safely wait for the complete removal of ethanol from the body and begin treatment.

When can you drink alcohol after antibiotics

Each drug contains instructions in the package. It must be studied before starting treatment. Carefully read the paragraph that tells about the time of removal of the drug from the body. Note that there is a half-life. He doesn't fit. Alcohol can only be consumed after the active substance has been completely eliminated from the body. Calculate when the substance becomes inactive. Immediately after this, you can drink alcohol without fear that an unexpected reaction will occur.

Now you know about whether alcohol is possible with antibiotics. Many people claim to have used it concomitantly with antimicrobials without any complications. You could say they were just lucky. Not always the absence of a reaction in one person guarantees a similar outcome in another.

Follow the recommendations of your doctor. Ask him if it is possible to combine the treatment prescribed for you with the use of alcohol. In case of a ban, you should refrain from alcoholic beverages. It should be noted that treatment with antibacterial agents is not prescribed for a long time. Most often, the course of admission is from three days to one week. It's not that long. You can completely tolerate and not drink alcohol during treatment. Be healthy!

Surely every average citizen of our country at least once took these drugs to treat many diseases, ranging from skin inflammations and ending with infections. Quite often antibiotics are prescribed even for children. Already from an early age, a person gets acquainted with this

Another potential problem with this association is the fact that patients who need antibiotics are the ones with the infection and therefore need a competent immune system to fight it. A beer or two may not hinder in any way the body's ability to fight infections, but large amounts of alcohol can indeed weaken the immune system, making it difficult to cure disease.

Why you shouldn't drink antibiotics with alcohol

Another point to note is the fact that alcohol is a substance that is metabolized in the liver using the same enzymatic pathways that metabolize some of the antibiotics. Excessive and repeated alcohol can leave the liver "busy" processing excess alcohol, causing the antibiotic to not be properly metabolized. This can lead not only to a decrease in the action of the antibiotic, but also to the accumulation of toxic metabolites, increasing the frequency of side effects.

The ban on mixing antimicrobials with ethanol: the legend

In short, you can even take a beer or a regular glass of wine with your meal, even if it's under antibiotic treatment. But if you are sick, it is advisable to avoid drinking alcohol, as well as smoking, excessive physical exertion, poor nutrition, sleeping several hours a night, and excessive sun exposure. There is, therefore, in most cases, a formal contraindication, it is simply a matter of common sense.

Antibiotics that contraindicate drinking alcohol

Despite combining alcohol and antibiotics to be safe in most cases, there are important exceptions. Some classes of antibiotics may suffer significant interactions, even with low doses of alcohol. In other countries, such as metronidazole and tinidazole can cause serious side effects known as the disulfir effect.

So if you're feeling well, have a party scheduled for the weekend, feel like drinking responsibly, but in the final stretch of antibiotic treatment, your best option is to investigate if your antibiotic is part of a small group of medications that contraindicate alcohol consumption.

Non-alcoholic beer and antibiotics: compatibility and consequences

Metronidazole. - Tinidazole. - Cefotetan. Even metronidazole or tinidazole cream for vaginal use can cause a disulfir effect. It is important to note that many gynecological creams may have 2 or 3 different substances in their composition, metronidazole or tinidazole alone.

So why not antibiotics with alcohol?

The answer to this question can be given by any qualified physician. There are a number of medical ones that are strictly forbidden to be used together with ethanol. And the point is not that the treatment will be ineffective. There are several answers to the question of why antibiotics with alcohol are not allowed. And all the reasons are good enough.

To avoid the effect of disulfir, the patient must be at least 72 hours without antibiotics in order to be able to consume alcohol. Rarely, the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole trimethoprit, known as Bactrim, may also cause a disulfir effect. Typically, this only happens when the patient is abusing alcoholic beverages.

Other side effects of the antibiotic-alcohol combination

Griseofulvin: may cause disulfir effect. - voriconazole: interferes with the effect of antifungals. - Ketoconazole: increases the risk of liver damage. - Didanosine: increases the risk of developing pancreatitis. The antibiotics listed above are the ones that cause the most severe reactions when taken with alcohol. However, there are still a few antibiotics that can cause other types of reactions, and as such, its association with alcohol should be avoided.

Linezolid: May cause a hypertensive crisis if consumed along with alcohol rich in tyrosine such as beer or red wine. - isoniazid, rifampicin or pyrazinamide: these drugs have an increased risk of liver toxicity, so drinking alcohol, especially frequently, should be discouraged. - erythromycin or doxycycline: alcohol may reduce the effectiveness of the antibiotic.

Load on the liver

Combining the consequences you can expect very unpleasant. Surely everyone knows that the liver in our body acts as a so-called filter. It is through this organ that all drugs pass and leave their negative effect.

Disulfirs, Antabuse commercially available under the name, is a substance used in the treatment of alcoholism. Disulfirs prevent the liver from metabolizing the most toxic metabolite of alcohol, such as acetaldehyde, increasing up to 10 times their toxicity to the body.

Acetaldehyde is responsible for hangover symptoms that occur in people who drink too much. In the video below we will explain the role of acetaldehyde and the hangover comes. When a patient takes disulfir alcohol, even in small doses, he quickly poisons and feel side effects such as vomiting, heart palpitations, fever, excessive sweating, respiratory distress syndrome, headache and a sharp drop in blood pressure.

If the patient insists on drinking alcohol, drugs can lead to coma or death. The antibiotics listed in the previous section, in particular metronidazole and tinidazole, can cause the same effect as disulfiram. Therefore, alcohol should be strictly discouraged within 24 hours before treatment and 72 hours after the end of antibiotic treatment.

Antibiotics that allow drinking in moderation

So far we have cited 10 that antibiotics should not be mixed with alcohol. If you are taking an antibiotic that has not been mentioned above, there is no scientific evidence to support moderate alcohol consumption during treatment. To be more precise, there is no formal contraindication to low-dose alcohol for those using amoxicillin, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, penicillin, cephalexin, ceftriaxone, and other common antibiotics.

Influence on the work of the gastrointestinal tract

If you drink alcohol and antibiotics at the same time, the consequences can be expressed in the form of incomplete absorption of the active substance. After taking the drug, it enters the stomach, and from there - into the intestines. It is in this place that the main absorption of antimicrobial agents occurs.

Clinical situations that should prevent a mixture of alcohol and antibiotics

As we said earlier in the text, the fact that there are no official contraindications to the use of alcohol and certain types of antibiotics does not mean that this combination is completely safe. Remember that the patient under antibiotic therapy is sick and not abusing alcohol will do you no good.

Incompatibility due to release of acetaldehyde

If the patient is in a serious or potentially serious infection, then obviously alcohol consumption should be avoided, even if the drink does not have a direct interaction with a course of antibiotics. The question is not the antibiotic itself, but the disease. The same reasoning applies to patients with any liver problems, even if temporary, since an alcohol-based antibiotic combination can increase the hepatotoxicity of both.

Alcohol also has some effect on the stomach and intestines. After taking a dose of ethanol, blood circulation increases due to vasodilation. Also, alcoholic products increase peristalsis. Too high doses of ethanol can cause diarrhea and indigestion. All this contributes to the rapid removal of antibiotics from the body. As a result of this process, treatment may be defective.

Myths related to the compatibility of antibiotics and alcohol

Studies show that patients being treated for sexually transmitted infections are at increased risk of having unprotected sex until the end of their course of antibiotics if they drink alcohol. This behavior puts others at risk and promotes the spread of STDs.

Today our post comes to clarify once and for all the functioning of alcohol and remedies in the human body. It's another fair! Let's cuckoo work! Or, even worse, did you stop taking the antibiotic one day to keep from mixing with alcohol?

Disulfiram-like reaction

Basically, oral medications do sort of a standard way of being absorbed by the body. First they enter the stomach, where the stomach enzymes begin to work, removing or crushing capsules, pills or diluting liquid solutions, dissipating the active principle. From there it goes to the intestines. Since this is a very irrigated and very vast area, most of the absorption of drugs by the body takes place in this region, at which point the active principle of the drug passes into the bloodstream through the permeable membranes that exist there.

Okay, the drug's in the bloodstream, so what? It's a very interesting thing, young Padawan, the human body is a very naughty machine, and each organ only interacts with a drug if its receptor molecules somehow interact with this active principle, in such a way that pharmaceutical companies prepare Drugs, each of which interacts with a specific organ. In the normal process, the active principle either acts directly on the area for which it was intended, or is metabolized by the liver, and then the by-product of your metabolism will act somewhere in the body.

severe nausea and vomiting that does not bring relief;
headaches that do not even allow you to talk;
fever and chills;
convulsions or coma;
fatal outcome.

Similar symptoms may begin after drinking one glass of beer or wine. That is why you should refrain from taking alcohol and antimicrobials at the same time.

But, it follows the opinions of experts

And after interacting with the body, the drug is eliminated by the excretory systems. Most oral drugs are excreted in the urine after collection by the kidneys. Beauty, beauty, beauty, but what is this alcohol? Substance that potentiates the effect: When the enzymes that metabolize the drug are the same as alcohol, processing overload can occur and the substance remains "sideways" for more time and concentration than is normal in the body. Alcohol inhibitory effect: This happens to those who usually consume more than moderate doses. A constant alcohol stimulus in the liver causes an increase in liver enzymes. When the drug enters this organ, there is an excess of these substances to metabolize it, inactivating the drug much faster than normal. This excess of enzymes may remain for weeks after alcohol is stopped. Let's assume that the half-life of the drug is 5 hours, so we must take the drugs every 4 hours so that the body is not left without it for a moment.

In addition, there is a term called the half-life of the drug.
This is the time it takes for the body to excrete 50% of the drug.

Used to treat infections.

The appearance of allergies

What is the main danger of such a combination?

Used in the treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders and panic attacks. Contact your doctor. Analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Mixing alcohol will not affect the effect of the product. Indicated in the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. The combination of alcohol and benzodiazepines is the most explosive of all, as it causes sedation, lack of coordination, and memory impairment, with the risk of accidents.

Used to treat allergies, they often cause drowsiness. Combining with alcohol can exacerbate this side effect by making you even more unsteady and affecting motor coordination. They prevent pregnancy by blocking the ovulation process. Unless, of course, you filled your face and forgot to take a pill. 😉. Next time, you can take your amoxicillin alone until, and only, you fill your face. 2 jars released 🙂 But count how many times they stopped coming out due to medicine?

How to combine alcohol with antibiotics without consequences

When can you drink alcohol after antibiotics

Now you know about whether alcohol is possible with antibiotics. Many people claim to have consumed alcohol at the same time as antimicrobials without any complications. You could say they were just lucky. Not always the absence of a reaction in one person guarantees a similar outcome in another.

Good time readers! There is an opinion that taking antibiotics eliminates the use of alcohol. Today I decided to figure out: is it possible to drink alcohol when taking antibiotics? Let's clarify the situation and determine which drugs, after what time after drinking alcohol, can be taken without health consequences.

The compatibility of the drug with alcohol depends on the type of antibacterial agent. Some antibiotics (metronidazole, nitrofuran derivatives, tinidazole) block the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. Therefore, toxic substances accumulate in the blood. After taking these drugs, as a consequence, the peripheral vessels expand, causing redness of the face.

Poisonous substances that accumulate in the blood lead to nausea and vomiting. The response to poisoning is accompanied by arrhythmia and dizziness. Of course, drinking alcohol without antibiotics can cause similar symptoms.

But it is unlikely that after prescribing the drug, the doctor will tell you in detail after what time you can take alcohol. Unfortunately, you will not hear a reasoned answer. The instructions always contain information about the compatibility of the drug with alcoholic beverages and other drugs.

Only after a detailed explanation can we conclude whether it is worth risking your health, and how long after taking it you can drink. It must be said that there are antibacterial drugs that do not interact with alcohols. A categorical contraindication exists only for metronidazole and drugs of this group.

Why You Can't Combine Alcohol With Antibiotics

Many call the ban on the use of alcoholic beverages during treatment a myth associated with the need for a proper lifestyle for a sick person. Perhaps there is some truth in this. But it is absolutely certain that the consequences of a teturam-like reaction lead to a life-threatening slowdown in the work of the heart, suffocation and a drop in pressure.

It turns out that in order to process a toxic substance, enzymes are needed that break down the drug and contribute to its excretion. Alcohol blocks the production of dehydrogenase, so the amount of toxic acetaldehyde reaches a critical amount.

Such a condition can manifest itself as a sharp loss of consciousness due to a drop in blood pressure. The condition may be accompanied by convulsions, fever, suffocation.

The following antibiotics prevent the breakdown of alcohol:

Streptomycin;
Ketoconazole;
Trichopolum (metronidazole), ornidazole, metrogyl-gel,
A group of cephalosporins - ceftriaxone, cefamandol, cefatoten;
Levomycetin, biseptol.

All antibiotics of the tetracycline group (doxacycline, metacycline, vibramycin) are incompatible.

There is evidence that antibiotics of the nitromidazole group give a disulfiram-like (teturam) reaction. The cephalosporin molecule resembles the structure of disulfiram, and therefore also causes similar phenomena.

Another reason for the undesirable intake of alcohol is a decrease in antimicrobial action and a toxic effect on the liver. In addition, the likelihood of developing side effects after drinking alcohol increases.

The consequences are individual for everyone. Therefore, it is better to wait with the use of alcohol until recovery and not experiment with your health.

The simultaneous use of medications with alcohol threatens the following consequences:

poisoning with toxins;
Violation of the production of enzymes by the liver;
Inactivation of the active substance of the drug;
Treatment failure;
Exacerbation of the disease;
allergic reactions;
Kidney overload.

Antibiotics slow down the breakdown of alcohols. The result is a severe hangover the next day.

Based on the above, I will say goodbye to alcohol until I fully recover from illness. Otherwise, my recovery will be in jeopardy, and the chance of catching a chronic form increases significantly. That's why.

The purpose of taking antibiotics is to destroy pathogens. In the stomach, the drug tablet dissolves and is absorbed into the blood. Through the vessels, medicines are carried throughout the body, penetrate into the focus of inflammation, kill, and suppress the reproduction of bacteria.

After that, the liver begins to work actively. Its task is to process the decay products of bacteria and antibiotics, and then, using the excretory system, remove them from the body.

Is it possible to drink soft alcohol

The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, regardless of their strength, is ethanol. A small concentration of this substance is enough to start chemical reactions. Ethanol interacts with antibiotics, paralyzing their work.

Alcohol also acts on enzymes that do not break down alcohol. Therefore, it circulates in the blood in the form of toxic substances, causing symptoms of poisoning. The decay products of bacteria also form toxic complexes with alcohol.

How does ethanol interact with drugs

I will not pretend, sometimes, if there is no direct prohibition in the instructions, I took alcohol after taking antibiotics. I did not notice any consequences. True, I always noted how much time has passed since taking the pill.

I learned that drug manufacturers do not test drugs on people who are intoxicated. Therefore, the instructions do not give recommendations on this matter. But there is always a note: take strictly according to the doctor's prescription.

It should also be said that the disease exhausts the body, and recovery requires the mobilization of all systems. Therefore, you should not weaken it additionally by taking alcohol and create obstacles for the antibiotic to work. Against the background of taking antibiotics, even the most harmless infection leads to adverse consequences.

Therefore, any treatment involves the rejection of alcohol during the course of therapy. In addition to the antibiotic, as a rule, other drugs are prescribed, which together create a lot of work for the liver to process decay products.

An additional load on the liver cells can lead to their death. How long does it take to remove an antibiotic from the body? It is recommended to refrain from alcoholic beverages for another three days after treatment in order to completely clear the medicine.

Treatment with antibacterial drugs is prescribed in some cases of bacterial and less often fungal infections. It is important to remember that the course of antibiotic treatment should never be interrupted. Its duration may be different, depending on the type of disease and its severity (from 3-7 days or more). The thought that it is necessary to “fall out” of the festive life and not accept invitations to any feast frightens many. But in practice, everything is not so scary.

If you approach this problem competently, from a medical point of view, then you can also participate in feasts with relatives and undergo a course of antibiotic treatment.

Golden rule: always drink in moderation

Under certain conditions, described below, you can, of course, combine alcohol with antibiotics. But when prescribing antibiotics, care must be taken not to overload your body with excess alcohol. In any case, ethanol gets inside you, and all your defenses will be thrown into the fight against it. And in the case of, for example, a protracted illness, these forces may be the last. Immunity will be weakened even more, and recovery will be pushed back into the unforeseeable future. And in some cases described below even death is possible.

Myths related to the compatibility of antibiotics and alcohol

Frightening stories that it is absolutely impossible to combine antibacterial drugs and alcohol, most likely, began to spread immediately after the Second World War. At that time, venereal clinics in the Soviet Union and European countries were simply overcrowded with soldiers and officers who had endured all the hardships of military life on their shoulders.

Doctors then categorically forbade their patients to take alcohol during antibiotic therapy, but not because of the harm to health from mixing the latter, but for a very banal reason - after drinking a glass, a soldier could "go all out" and get a new sexual infection.

According to another version, the ban was born due to the large labor costs in obtaining penicillin, oddly enough, it was evaporated from the urine of the treated military. Therefore, in order to obtain a medically pure drug, they were forbidden to drink beer during the entire time of treatment.

Since that time, the theory of the dangers of mixing alcohol with antibiotics has become popular among the people, and many still believe that it is impossible to combine them. But what is the opinion on this issue of evidence-based medicine?

Research Facts

It is known that at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, a number of studies were carried out on the subject of the effect of ethanol on various types of antibacterial drugs. The experiments were carried out both on laboratory animals and human volunteers. The results clearly showed that most types of antibiotics are not affected by alcohol.

All the studied antibiotics were effective both in the control and in the experimental group, no global deviations in physicochemical reactions (drug distribution throughout the body, mechanisms of absorption and removal of decay products to the outside) were found.

However, there is a hypothesis that alcohol still enhances the negative effects of antibacterial drugs on the liver. But in the scientific medical literature, cases of describing such situations are quite rare (up to 10 cases per 100,000), and no special studies have been conducted in this area.

Antibiotics incompatible with alcohol still exist

There are some types of antibacterial drugs that, when interacting with alcohol, give very unpleasant symptoms - in medical practice they are called a disulfiram-like reaction.

This reaction occurs during the chemical interaction of ethanol and some specific molecules of antibiotics, due to which there is a change in the metabolism in the body of ethyl alcohol and an accumulation of acetaldehyde is observed.

Signs of acetaldehyde poisoning:

Vomiting, nausea.
Strong headache.
Cramps of arms and legs.
Increased heart rate.
Heavy, shaky breathing.
Heat and redness in the chest, face and neck.

In such cases, when taking large doses of alcohol, a fatal outcome is possible!

All of the above symptoms are very difficult for a person to tolerate, so a disulfiram-like reaction is used in many medical clinics in the treatment of alcoholism (the so-called "coding").

Which antibiotics cause this reaction? Here is the list:

"Ketoconazole" (appointment - thrush, for example, candles "Livarol").
"Metronidazole" (similar names "Metroxan", "Rozamet", "Metrogil", "Klion").
"Furazolidone" (appointment - diarrhea of unknown etiology or food poisoning).
Levomycetin (due to its toxicity, it is used extremely rarely, for example, for infections of the bile ducts and urinary tract).
"Co-trimoxazole" (appointment - prostatitis, infections of the respiratory tract, ureter and kidneys).
"Tinidazole" (appointment - a stomach ulcer caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori).
"Cefotetan" (appointment - a bacterial infection of the respiratory and ENT organs, urinary tract, kidneys).
"Cefamandol" (used as an injection for infections of unknown etiology).
"Cefoperazone" (used as an injection, the appointment is pneumonia, bacterial infection of the genitourinary system).
"Moxalactam" (appointment - a wide range of diseases, including very serious conditions, fever - if its bacterial nature is suspected).

When treating with all these drugs, alcohol must be completely excluded from the diet! All other types of antibiotics are allowed with the prudent intake of alcoholic beverages of any strength.

Listen to a biochemist if you're more into watching videos