Can I drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?

Unfortunately, a stereotype of the illness of a non-drinker has developed. If you refuse a glass of vodka during a feast, there will certainly be someone who asks - "Is it sick? " But few people understand that alcohol is very harmful to the body. , and especially during the treatment of other diseases. In this article we will talk about the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibiotic therapy. Is it possible to drink during treatment, let's try to figure it out.

compatibility of antibiotics and alcohol

Consequences of taking antibiotics in combination with alcohol

Antibiotics are one of the most powerful, effective, and efficient groups of drugs that have completely changed science and medicine. A few centuries ago, the average life expectancy of a person was around forty years, and with the introduction of antibiotics into the masses, a person began to live much longer. Today, antibiotics are very controversial, many young mothers talk about the horrors and consequences of the frequent and prolonged use of this drug by children. Indeed, like any powerful drug, antibiotics require special attention and special admission rules. And one of them is the refusal of alcohol during treatment. Otherwise, it can lead to serious consequences.

  1. Decreased drug concentration.As you know, the antibiotic does not begin to act immediately, but only after a certain amount of the drug has accumulated in the body. And alcohol significantly reduces the absorption of the drug in the walls of the stomach and intestines. This means that alcoholic drinks simply cancel out the effect of antibiotic therapy by reducing the concentration of the drug in the body. Due to this, taking the drug simply becomes unnecessary, and sometimes dangerous, since the lack of therapeutic effect leads to the fact that the disease flourishes, the number of bacteria increases. In addition, small doses of an antibiotic lead to the fact that harmful microorganisms develop resistance to that antibiotic, subsequently it becomes ineffective.
  2. Load on the liver.Another negative consequence of the combination of alcohol and antibiotics is an extremely high load on the liver. This organ is involved in the processing of ethyl alcohol and the neutralization of metabolic intermediates of drugs. That is, during the period of taking antibiotics, the liver works as actively as possible, in combination with alcohol consumption, the load on the organ is high, sometimes the liver may refuse.
  3. Disulfiram-type reaction.Sometimes taking alcohol with an antibiotic ends with a strong reaction in the form of nausea, vomiting, seizures and malaise. This happens when certain groups of antibiotics are taken in combination with ethanol. Often this reaction is used to code a person to drink alcohol. A special tablet containing a substance is sewn into the subcutaneous space, which in equal doses enters the body for a long time - several months. If alcohol enters the human body during this period, all of the above symptoms appear. A person develops a persistent aversion to alcohol.

In addition, alcoholic beverages very strongly thicken the blood, causing dehydration of the body. How an antibiotic behaves under such conditions is a mystery, as each organism is individual. Sometimes the consequences of such a combination can be dangerous and irreversible. Therefore, the consumption of alcohol during antibiotic therapy is strictly prohibited. This also applies to drinks with a low alcohol content.

How to take antibiotics correctly

For a drug to be beneficial, it must be taken according to certain rules. As stated, it is impossible to combine it with alcohol, you need to wait until the drug is completely eliminated from the body. It may take several hours to several days after the last dose of the medicine. Here are some additional guidelines to follow when taking antibiotics.

Antibiotics should be taken at regular intervals, this is very important. If the doctor prescribes injections or pills twice a day, they should be taken strictly after 12 hours. If a three-part dose is prescribed, you should take antibiotics every 8 hours - for example, at 6: 00 a. m. , 2: 00 p. m. and 10: 00 p. m.

Antibiotics may not work if the bacteria are very resistant to this group of drugs. Before starting treatment, ideally, you should have a bacteriological culture done to identify the most sensitive drug in a particular case for a given organism.

Any antibiotic should only be taken as directed by a doctor - it's not even worth talking about. Some illnesses, regardless of the severity of the symptoms, may not be susceptible to antibiotic therapy, for example viral illnesses.

Before prescribing, be sure to tell your doctor that you have ever had allergic reactions to any medications. You should also tell your doctor about any medications you take all the time - hormonal contraceptives, blood thinners, antihistamines, etc. Combining certain drugs with antibiotics can have unintended consequences.

Antibiotics should not be taken for less than 5 days, usually the course lasts about 7-10 days. Even if on the third day of taking the drug you feel better, you should not cancel it, otherwise the bacteria, which are not completely removed, will start to multiply and attack the body again. Another consequence of early withdrawal of the antibiotic is that this bacterial strain acquires resistance to the antibiotic taken. Next time with a similar illness, this drug will be powerless.

Take antibiotics exactly as directed, especially when combined with food. As a rule, most of the drugs in this group should be drunk after meals with plenty of water. Drugs are not watered with juice, coffee and milk, their effectiveness may be reduced.

Antibiotics should be combined with the supply of beneficial bacteria, since antibiotic therapy can completely kill the intestinal microflora, which leads to dysbiosis, diarrhea or diarrhea. To avoid this, you need to drink probiotics and prebiotics in parallel.

These are the basic rules for taking antibiotics, which should be strictly observed, regardless of the group of drugs. Sometimes the doctor may not talk about these simple rules, because they should be known to everyone.

When can we combine antibiotics with alcohol?

There are certain antibiotics whose association with alcohol is strictly contraindicated. These are fluoroquinolones, nitroimidazoles, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, erythromycin, and a drug against tuberculosis. In no case should they be combined with alcohol, otherwise a complex disulfiram-like reaction will develop. If you are planning to take alcohol, which cannot be avoided in any way, you should try to drink alcohol so that it does not interfere with the medicine in the body. For example, some types of antibiotics are eliminated from the blood within 2-3 hours. During this interval, you can drink a glass of beer, which a man of average build will hatch in a few hours. That is, by taking the drug again, the body will be sober and clean again. There are a lot of nuances in such a theory, you need to take into account the rate of drug and alcohol elimination from the body, to know the time interval between taking the drug. Therefore, it is always better to refuse alcohol during treatment for your own health.

The first mention of the dangers of alcohol during antibiotic treatment dates back to the 1940s of the last century. During World War II, doctors began to actively use penicillin, which was introduced for the first time, in the treatment of large masses. Then the patients were European soldiers who liked to drink beer. And beer, as you know, had a pronounced diuretic effect and simply flushed the drug out of the body. Then the doctors decided to "scare" the soldiers and told them about the serious consequences of the combination of treatment and alcohol. People in white coats were intuitively right and even then they protected their patients from trouble. Take care of yourself, do not drink alcohol during the treatment!