Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, the doctor strictly warns that it is absolutely impossible to drink alcohol during therapy. But now the necessary course of treatment has been completed and the question arises how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days, or maybe hours, should be spent on the release of the body from the remnants of aggressive medications? Or can you immediately celebrate the successful completion of treatment? The issue is urgent and should be dealt with.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotic drugs are used to treat numerous infectious and inflammatory pathologies. With such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs, and the body's immune system is sometimes unable to cope with them on its own.
The work of antibiotics lies in their effect on the cellular bacterial structure.. This reduces the ability of pathogenic microflora to multiply at a tremendous rate and gradually kills the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient's condition and help him quickly get rid of bacterial diseases.
But, antibiotics have another side of the coin: the main burden for their removal from the body falls on the liver. It is the liver organ that cleans the internal organs from the remnants of the decay of drugs.
The hepatic organ, taking on the main blow, is no longer able to cope with the additional load. If you simultaneously load the body with alcohol (during antibiotic treatment), you can expect the following:
- Complete disappearance of the expected effect of the therapy.
- The appearance of unpleasant symptoms in the form of nausea, profuse vomiting, general weakness. This is an intoxication of the body with antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the hepatic organ (especially if the liver is already in a weakened state). This option is fraught with the development of additional and sometimes life-threatening pathologies.
How exactly the body reacts depends on the degree of aggressiveness of the antibiotic drug. This nuance will be better explained by the attending physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are forbidden to combine with alcohol
But many especially frivolous individuals, despite medical prohibitions, still take risks and take alcohol on their chest during antibiotic treatment. People do not even think about the possible negative consequences of such a disregard for their own health.
Even if everything went well and the simultaneous intake of alcohol and an antibiotic did not affect your well-being, for the body the use of such a cocktail never passes without a trace.
The components of ethanol, reacting with the ingredients of antibiotics, are able to react at a "slow" pace. Such effects can suddenly "surface" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after they met in the process of treatment with alcohol.. These are the following tools:
- Tetracyclines. Used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetins. Aggressive antibiotics are marked by their own "rich" list of all kinds of side effects. Alcohol greatly enhances the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamides. If you combine antibiotic drugs of this series with alcohol, you can pay for the health of the liver and central nervous system.
- Aminoglycosides. They are considered the most powerful drugs. They not only do not combine with alcohol, but also do not tolerate the presence of other drugs in the body. The influence of alcohol during the period of treatment with such drugs causes the most severe health consequences and in special cases can provoke cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-grade alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify the treatment with cephalosporins by drinking is guaranteed to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs of this antibiotic series and drinking has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocides (liver cells).
Antibiotics, which are used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis, also fall under the ban. All strict prohibitions must be prescribed in the annotations to the medicines. But manufacturers do not always write about such a taboo. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you can’t take alcohol in the instructions for the following drugs:
- an antibiotic from the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic;
- an antibiotic for external use produced by a radiant fungus;
- antifungal drugs;
- antibiotics of the penicillin series.
To the dismay of those who suffer from drinking, the absence of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and this medicine. Keep in mind that man is a unique creation. The body of someone really does not even "notice" extraneous alcohol interference, while for others it will react with severe poisoning.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period allowing to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics is prescribed in the instructions attached to the drug.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. The doctor can change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- Weight, build and age of a person.
- The aggressiveness of the drug and the duration of the course of its administration.
- The initial state of health of the patient, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of antibiotic drug residues from the body and, accordingly, the time how much you can not drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions do not say anything about this nuance, you should not rush with intoxicating libations either. In this case, you should wait at least 2-3 days after the end of the therapeutic course.
The Consequences of Frivolity
Even if the patient is familiar with the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, he may sometimes not pay attention to the ban. Or do not wait for the marked time of "quarantine". The remains of the antibiotic, which did not have time to safely leave the body, will begin to actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What to expect from a situation where ethanol will accumulate in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, manifested in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on the state of health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed to come to a person:
- profuse vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- bouts of severe nausea;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- pain of a pressing (squeezing) type in the sternum;
- migraine-type headache of such intensity that it cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And this is not the whole list of troubles that fall on a person who neglects common sense. Wait until you can really drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, a person simply runs the risk of being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be borne in mind that not all antibiotic agents have been subjected to specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have yet proven to be incompatible with alcohol.. But this does not mean that you should be the test subject.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol is not going anywhere, but health can be significantly and irrevocably worsened by frivolity. Wait all the prescribed time after the end of antibiotic treatment and it is better not to take a glass at all.Health to you!