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 is over and the question arises how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days, or perhaps hours, should be spent on freeing the body from the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate the successful completion of the treatment? The issue is urgent and needs to be addressed.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotic drugs are used to treat many 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 bacterial cell structure.. This reduces the ability of the pathogenic microflora to multiply at an extraordinary rate and gradually kills the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient's condition and help him get rid of bacterial diseases quickly.
But antibiotics have another side to the coin: the main burden of removing them from the body falls on the liver. It is the organ of the liver that cleanses the internal organs from the decaying remnants of drugs.
The hepatic organ, receiving the main shock, is no longer able to withstand the extra load. If you load your body with alcohol at the same time (during antibiotic treatment), you can expect the following:
- Complete disappearance of the expected effect of therapy.
- The appearance of unpleasant symptoms in the form of nausea, 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 best explained by the attending physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
Which drugs are forbidden to combine with alcohol
But many particularly unserious individuals, despite medical prohibitions, still take risks and take alcohol in the chest during antibiotic treatment. People do not even think about the possible negative consequences of such neglect for their health.
Even if all 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.
Ethanol compounds, reacting with antibiotic components, are able to react at a "slow" rate. Such effects may "appear" suddenly years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. They are the ones who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after meeting in the process of alcohol treatment.. These are the following tools:
- Tetracyclines. Used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomicetina. Aggressive antibiotics are marked by their "rich" list of all kinds of side effects. Alcohol greatly increases the occurrence of side effects and worsens the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamide. If you combine the antibiotics of this series with alcohol, you can pay for the health of the liver and central nervous system.
- Aminoglycosides. They are considered to be 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 serious health consequences and in special cases can provoke cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-quality alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify treatment with cephalosporins by drinking is guaranteed to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs of this series of antibiotics and beverages has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocytes (liver cells).
Antibiotics, which are used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis, are also under ban. All strict prohibitions are necessarily described in the medication notes. But manufacturers do not always write about such a taboo. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you can not take alcohol in the instructions for the following drugs:
- an antibiotic from the ansamycin group;
- antibiotic tricyclic glycopeptide;
- an antibiotic for external use produced by a radiation fungus;
- antifungal drugs;
- penicillin series antibiotics.
For those suffering from drinking, the lack of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and this drug. Keep in mind that man is a unique creation. One’s body really doesn’t even "notice" the external intrusion of alcohol, while for others it will react with severe poisoning.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period that allows you to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics is described in the instructions attached to the medicine.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. The doctor may 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 its course of 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, how long you can not drink after antibiotics depends on this data. If the instructions say nothing about this nuance, you should not rush even with intoxicating libations. In this case, you should wait at least 2-3 days after completing the therapeutic course.
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 "quarantine" time. Antibiotic residues, 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 tissues and internal organs? Drunkenness, 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:
- multiple vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- periods of heavy mixing;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- oppressive (squeezing) pain in the sternum;
- migraine-type headaches of such intensity that they cannot be stopped with sedatives.
And that's 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 risks being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be noted that not all antibiotic agents have undergone specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have yet been proven to be incompatible with alcohol.. But this does not mean that you should be subject to testing.
Do not risk your health! Alcohol is not going anywhere, but health can deteriorate significantly and irreversibly from frivolity. Wait for all the deadlines after the end of the antibiotic treatment and it is better not to take a glass at all.Health for you!