All people get sick from time to time, and many of them have to resort to taking antibiotics. It is widely believed in society that these drugs are incompatible with alcohol, but what if the treatment period coincided with the holidays? Where is the truth, and where is the legend in our understanding of the interaction of antibiotics with alcoholic beverages?
Antibiotics and alcohol
Antibiotics are medicines designed to fight bacteria. They penetrate pathogenic microorganisms or interfere with their metabolism, disrupting it completely or partially.
The question of the compatibility of antibiotics with alcohol and regarding when you can drink after therapy, doctors still have different attitudes. There are many doctors who strongly recommend that patients completely exclude alcohol during therapy in order to avoid the consequences of taking an antibiotic and alcohol at the same time. They explain this by the fact that these drugs, together with ethanol, destroy the liver and negate the effectiveness of the treatment.
To date, many studies have been carried out, the results of which allow us to safely assert that the pharmacological effect of most antibiotics under the influence of alcohol does not worsen, and the load on the liver does not increase.
However, alcohol itself causes intoxication and dehydration. If you drink antibiotics with large doses of alcohol, the body will weaken, and in this case, the effectiveness of treatment, of course, will decrease.
A number of antibiotics are also isolated, which enter into a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol. Their simultaneous intake with alcohol is contraindicated, as this will cause intoxication, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, convulsions. In very rare cases, death is possible.
Myths and reality
Historically, there have been myths in society about the complications of drinking alcohol during antibiotic treatment.
The main myths are as follows:
- Alcohol neutralizes the effect of antibiotics.
- Alcohol, along with antibiotics, increases liver damage.
- Alcoholic beverages reduce the effectiveness of experimental therapy.
In fact, these theses are only partially true, which is confirmed by the results of numerous studies on compatibility. In particular, the available data suggest that the intake of alcoholic beverages does not affect the pharmacokinetics of most antibiotics.
At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, a lot of research was carried out on the combined action of antibacterial drugs and alcohol. The experiments involved humans and laboratory animals. The results of antibiotic therapy were the same in the experimental and control groups, but there were no significant deviations in the absorption, distribution and excretion of the active substances of the drugs from the body. The data from these studies showed that it is possible to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics.
Back in 1982, Finnish scientists conducted a series of experiments among volunteers, the results of which showed that the antibiotics of the penicillin group do not enter into any reactions with ethanol, so you can use them with alcohol. In 1988, Spanish researchers tested amoxicillin for compatibility with alcohol: only insignificant changes in the rate of absorption of the substance and the delay time were found in a group of subjects.
It was also found that the pharmacokinetic parameters of some antibiotics, for example, the tetracycline group, are significantly reduced under the influence of alcohol. However, fewer drugs with this effect have been identified.
The common belief that alcoholic beverages, along with alcohol, increase liver damage, is also refuted by scientists around the world. Rather, alcohol can increase the hepatoxicity of antibacterial drugs, but only in very rare cases. This fact becomes the exception rather than the rule.
The scientists also proved that ethanol does not affect the antibiotics used in the treatment of experimental pneumococcal infection among experimental rats.
Reasons for incompatibility
Despite the fact that the safety of the simultaneous use of most antibiotics with alcohol has been proven, there are a number of drugs that are incompatible with alcohol. These are drugs whose active substances enter into a disulfiram-like reaction with ethyl alcohol - primarily nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins.
The reason why it is impossible to take both antibiotics and alcohol at the same time lies in the fact that the composition of the above drugs contains specific molecules that can change the exchange of ethanol. As a result, there is a delay in the excretion of acetaldehyde, which accumulates in the body and leads to intoxication.
The process is accompanied by characteristic symptoms:
- intense headache;
- rapid heartbeat;
- nausea with vomiting;
- heat in the areas of the face, neck, chest;
- difficult breathing;
- convulsions.
A disulfiram-like reaction is used in coding for alcoholism, but this method should only be used under the strict supervision of a specialist. Even a small dose of alcohol causes poisoning during treatment with nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins. Alcohol abuse in this case can result in death.
Doctors allow a small amount of alcohol in the treatment with penicillins, antifungal drugs, and some broad-spectrum antibiotics. A serving of a fortified drink while taking these drugs will not affect the effectiveness of therapy and will not cause negative health effects.
When can
Although alcohol is allowed with most antibiotics, they should not be taken at the same time. The better to drink such drugs, it is indicated in the instructions.
For example, the effectiveness of erythromycin and tetracyclines increases drinking alkaline mineral water, and sulfonamides, indomethacin and reserpine - with milk.
If the antibiotic does not enter into a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol, you can drink alcohol, but not earlier than 4 hours after the drug. This is the minimum time that antibiotics circulate in the blood, respectively, and is the answer to the question of how much you can drink after taking the drug.
In any case, during the treatment period, it is allowed to take only a small dose of alcohol, otherwise dehydration will begin in the body, and the antibacterial drug will simply be excreted in the urine.
The combination of alcohol with any antibacterial composition is dangerous for the body. Having figured out how long after taking the medicine it is allowed to drink alcohol, you can exclude all possible side effects.
conclusions
The myth of the incompatibility of antibiotics and alcohol appeared in the last century, while there are several hypotheses about the reasons for its occurrence. According to one of them, the authorship of the legend belongs to venereologists who wanted to warn their patients against drunkenness.
There is also an assumption that the myth was invented by European doctors. Penicillin was a drug in short supply in the 1940s, and soldiers liked to drink beer, which has a diuretic effect and removes the drug from the body.
It has now been proven that alcohol in most cases does not affect the effectiveness of antibiotics and does not increase liver damage. If the active substances of the drug do not enter into a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol, you can drink alcohol during treatment. However, 2 main rules should be observed: do not abuse alcohol and do not drink an antibiotic with it.