What happens if you drink a glass or two of wine after taking an antibiotic pill?When can you drink alcohol, how many hours or days after taking antibiotics can you drink alcohol so as not to harm your health?
Antibiotics and alcohol
The obligatory consequence of using alcohol and antibiotics is a reduction in the effectiveness of treatment.When drinking alcoholic beverages, an inflammatory process develops in the intestines and local immunity decreases.
At the same time, antibiotic-associated disorders in the gut, caused by antibiotic use, will increase.
Violation of drug concentration
Antibiotics begin to work after reaching sufficiently high therapeutic concentrations in the blood.Due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, the amount of drugs in the body is reduced.
This type of medicine when they try to take antibiotics after drinking alcohol can be considered meaningless, even dangerous.
Violation of the treatment regimen reduces the concentration of the drug, increases the resistance of the pathogenic microflora to the effects of antibiotics.And the disease itself for which antibiotics are prescribed has the risk of turning from acute to chronic.
Drug concentrations are reduced due to the nephrotoxic metabolite of ethyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, which disrupts renal tubular reabsorption of nutrients.
The ability to reabsorb water is also impaired, increasing blood viscosity, and the concentration of antibiotics in the blood can change in the most unpredictable ways.
Characteristics of metabolic processes
Antibiotics are drugs that are metabolized in the liver.Busy processing ethyl alcohol, the liver does not have time to neutralize all possible intermediate metabolic products of the drug.
In addition, ethanol can affect liver enzyme activity and even react directly with antibiotics or its metabolites.These properties are expressed differently in antibacterial drugs.
One of the most dangerous features of combining drugs with ethyl alcohol is the interaction of these chemical compounds with the development of a disulfiram-like reaction.
Let's find out whether it is okay to drink alcohol or beer while taking antibiotics, then drinking alcohol is not dangerous and then absolutely prohibited.
Disulfiram-like reaction
The disulfiram reaction is used to code for alcoholism, accompanied by nausea, cramps, coughing, vomiting, dyspnea, and hypotension.
Similar effects occur quite often when taking drugs containing ethanol.
Below is a list of which antibiotics to take and how long you should not drink alcohol.
The consequences of using ethanol during antibiotic treatment depend on the dose.
The time you can drink alcohol after taking medication or injecting antibiotics is calculated based on the time needed to remove the antibiotic from the body.
List of antibiotics
Do not drink with alcohol:
- nitroimidazole - do not combine with alcohol for up to 48 hours (the drug gives a disulfiram-like reaction);
- cephalosporins - the chemical structure of this group is structurally similar to the disulfiram molecule, giving rise to a disulfiram-like reaction with ethyl alcohol.You can drink alcohol every other day;In case of kidney failure, the period will be longer;
- fluoroquinolones - synthetic antibiotics that weaken the nervous system and can cause coma.Drink alcohol no earlier than after 1.5 days;
- tetracyclines - high risk of liver cell damage;They will be eliminated from the body over a long period of time.You can drink alcohol after 3 days;
- Aminoglycoside causes ototoxicity, nephrotoxicity, increased drug side effects and increased drug toxicity.Drink alcohol no earlier than after 0.5 months;
- lincosamide - the central nervous system and liver are affected, disulfiram reactions develop.You can drink alcohol 4 days after treatment;
- macrolides - the risk of cirrhosis increases, especially when using erythromycin, they will be gradually eliminated from the body.Alcohol is allowed after 3.5 days;
- anti-tuberculosis drugs - may cause acute drug-induced hepatitis.Alcoholic drinks are prohibited!
The rate of elimination of antibacterial drugs from different environments of the body is different.So, if aminoglycosides are eliminated from the blood of adults in an average of 2.5 hours, this can be up to 350 hours from the inner ear fluid.
Taking into account the ototoxicity of aminoglycosides, it is easy to understand that drinking alcohol within 2 weeks after treatment can cause deafness.
Interact
Disulfiram-like reactions during antibiotic treatment and alcohol consumption develop due to blocking the synthesis of enzymes that destroy the ethanol molecule into simple substances.
The consequence is an increase in the blood concentration of the intermediate breakdown product of ethyl alcohol - acetaldehyde.The ethanol metabolite acetaldehyde is more toxic than ethyl alcohol itself.
And the lack of liver enzymes due to toxic effects on the liver reduces the synthesis of norepinephrine, which is why the next morning symptoms of intoxication appear more clearly and are more difficult to tolerate.
Consequence
Combining alcohol and drugs in small doses may not cause any symptoms, but when alcohol is taken in large doses, the side effects of both drugs and ethyl alcohol are increased.
One of the most dangerous consequences of combining alcohol with antibiotics is a disulfiram-like reaction.The danger of this condition is that it is masked by intoxication and is not recognized by others as a signal of distress.
Disulfiram reaction occurs due to an increase in the concentration of acetaldehyde in the blood and is manifested by the following symptoms:
- heart rate;
- nausea, vomiting;
- hot flashes, feeling of heat;
- dizzy;
- stomach-ache;
- pressure drops sharply.
If the patient's blood alcohol concentration is above 125 mg/100 ml and the victim does not receive timely assistance, death may even occur.
How to combine
Some drugs should absolutely not be combined with ethyl alcohol at any dosage:
- nitroimidazole;
- cephalosporin group;
- fluoroquinolone;
- aminoglycoside.
How many days after taking antibiotics can you drink alcoholic beverages?Is it possible to interrupt the treatment process for a while?
It is best not to combine antibiotics with alcohol and do not use ethanol during treatment.If for some reason this is not possible and you have to drink alcohol, then you can calculate how long you can use a special alcohol calculator after taking antibiotics.
The alcohol calculator takes into account the person's weight and the quantity and concentration of drinks consumed.Thus, in a man weighing 70 kg, 100 g of vodka will be completely eliminated from the body after 5.8 hours, and 200 g of beer - in 1.44 hours.
It must be borne in mind that all these calculations are only approximate and the actual rate of elimination from the body depends not only on the properties of these chemical compounds, but also on the condition of the kidneys, intestines and liver.
Conclude
To completely eliminate antibacterial drugs from the body, it takes from 1 to 3.5 - 5 days.Elimination time depends on the person's health status, age and metabolic characteristics.
In most cases, drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics will weaken the effectiveness of treatment, increase drug side effects, cause disulfiram-like reactions and cause many serious consequences.