All people get sick from time to time and many of them have to use 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 created to fight bacteria. They penetrate pathogenic microorganisms or interfere with their metabolism, disrupting it completely or partially.
The issue of compatibility of antibiotics with alcohol and when you can drink after therapy, doctors still have different views. There are many doctors who strongly recommend that patients completely avoid alcohol during therapy in order to avoid the consequences of taking an antibiotic and alcohol at the same time. They explain this with the fact that these drugs, along with ethanol, destroy the liver and negate the effectiveness of the treatment.
To date, many studies have been conducted, the results of which allow us to state with certainty 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 take 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 concomitant intake of alcohol is contraindicated, as it 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 compliance studies. In particular, the available data suggest that the intake of alcoholic beverages does not affect the pharmacokinetics of most antibiotics.
In the late 20th and 21st centuries, much research was conducted 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. Data from these studies showed that it is possible to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics.
In 1982, Finnish scientists conducted a series of experiments among volunteers, the results of which showed that antibiotics of the penicillin group do not enter into any reaction with ethanol, so you can use them with alcohol. In 1988, Spanish researchers tested amoxicillin for alcohol compatibility: only insignificant changes in the rate of substance absorption and 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, were 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, has also been refuted by scientists around the world. Conversely, alcohol may increase the hepatoxicity of antibacterial drugs, but only in very rare cases. This fact becomes the exception and not the rule.
The scientists also confirmed that ethanol does not affect the antibiotics used in the treatment of experimental pneumococcal infection in experimental rats.
Reasons for incompatibility
Despite the fact that the safety of concomitant use of most antibiotics with alcohol has been proven, there are a number of medications that are incompatible with alcohol. These are drugs whose active substances react in a disulfiram-like reaction to ethyl alcohol - mainly 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 alter ethanol exchange. As a result, there is a delay in the secretion of acetaldehyde, which accumulates in the body and leads to intoxication.
The process is accompanied by characteristic symptoms:
- intense headaches;
- rapid heartbeat;
- nausea with vomiting;
- heat in the areas of the face, neck, chest;
- shortness of breath;
- convulsions.
A disulfiram-like reaction is used in coding 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 nitroimidazole 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 medications will not affect the effectiveness of the therapy and will not cause adverse health effects.
When can
Although alcohol is allowed with most antibiotics, they should not be taken at the same time. How best to take such medication is indicated in the instructions.
For example, the effectiveness of erythromycin and tetracyclines increases the drinking of alkaline mineral water, and sulfonamides, indomethacin and reserpine - with milk.
If the antibiotic does not react with a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol, you can drink alcohol, but not earlier than 4 hours after taking 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, only a small dose of alcohol is allowed to be taken, otherwise dehydration will start in the body and the antibacterial drug will simply be excreted in the urine.
Combining alcohol with any antibacterial compound is dangerous for the body. Once you understand how long after taking the medicine you are allowed to drink alcohol, you can rule out all possible side effects.
conclusions
The myth of the incompatibility of antibiotics and alcohol emerged in the last century, while there are several hypotheses about the reasons for its emergence. According to one of them, the authorship of the legend belongs to venereologists who wanted to warn their patients against intoxication.
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 already 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 may drink alcohol during treatment. However, 2 main rules must be followed: do not abuse alcohol and do not take antibiotics with it.