Almost each of us has faced diseases that require the use of antibacterial drugs to achieve effective treatment. They are drugs that have a positive effect on the microflora. That is why the question arises how long you can drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, since many people will not want to give up wine, cognac, beer or vodka for a long time.
The question is unclear and there is no direct monosyllabic answer to it. There are many different opinions in the media. Some people, on a holiday with a party, consider it more correct to refuse to drink alcoholic beverages, based on intuition rather than on reliable information from authoritative sources. Such a person in the company causes sympathy and understanding, usually no one else doesDon't persuade him to drink. However, sometimes someone mentions an article in which a doctor explains what is popular and does not always hinder the healing process.
Why you shouldn't take medicine with alcohol
As you know, without fire there is no smoke. Doctors can scientifically justify a ban on the use of antimicrobial drugs and the consumption of vodka or beer at the same time. Furthermore, they claim that you can take antibiotics after drinking alcohol after a strictly defined period of time. Experts call for the following facts:
- Ethanol at the biochemical level significantly reduces the therapeutic effect of antimicrobial drugs;
- The combination of alcohol with antibacterial drugs causes toxic damage to liver cells, as well as other internal organs;
- Alcohol consumption suppresses the immune system and has devastating effects on health, during drug treatment.very undesirable.
There is a rationale in the above arguments. The biochemical processes occurring in the body are extremely complex and balanced, therefore, saturation of the tissues of internal organs with a biologically active compound such as ethyl alcohol cannot affect thethe metabolism. Alcohol can actually significantly reduce the therapeutic effect of the drug. It destroys the atomic structure of the active ingredient or prevents the drug from reacting with proteins of pathogenic microorganisms. Furthermore, alcohol can cause the drug to be eliminated faster or make it difficult to absorb the drug. So it happensreduce treatment effectiveness, or develop unwanted side symptoms.
Affects liver function and condition
Scientific research and clinical medical practice confirm the liver-damaging effect of combining antibiotics with alcoholic beverages. That is why the instructions for use of the drug indicate contraindications and side effects for this extremely important organ. For patients with chronic liver disease, many medications are not available. If antibiotics and alcohol are combined, the negative effects will double. How often should you drink alcohol after a course of antibiotics?depends on the general conditionthe body and its resilience.
Under the action of enzymes, ethanol is decomposed into water and carbon dioxide, but not immediately, bypassing the intermediate stage of the formation of an extremely toxic compound - acetaldehyde, a tissue poison. The faster alcohol decomposes, the less harmful it is to the body. However, with the simultaneous presence of antibacterial drugs in the tissues of internal organs, alcohol catabolism significantly slows down due to inhibition of the production of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which is necessary to complete the breakdown reaction. ethanol into simple compounds. .
Ethanol does not interact directly with antibiotics
To find out how alcohol affects the medicine, as well as how many days after you can drink alcohol after finishing a course of antibiotics,laboratory experience. First, scientists conducted experiments on animals, then invited volunteers who were asked to undergo a course of antibacterial therapy. The participants were divided equally into two groups. Representatives of the first group were offered alcoholic beverages during the experiment, while representatives of the second group were not. The main goal that the organizers tried to achieve was to determine the effect of ethanol on the biological activity of the drug.
Experimental results show that most antibacterial drugs interact slightly or do not interact at all with ethyl alcohol - in fact it does not reduce the effectiveness of the drug used. A similar conclusion was made after studying and comparing the results of antibacterial treatment between the two groups. Turns out they are identical. The difference does not exceed the allowable error. The rate of absorption, distribution into tissues of internal organs as well as elimination of active ingredients isapproximately the same.
HoweverOne should not draw hasty conclusions that the simultaneous use of antibiotics and alcohol is completely safe. Experts ask you to take into account some nuances:
- The experiment is isolated and not confirmed by other studies, so one should not insist on the safety of the combination of drugs and alcohol;
- Test subjects were given small amounts of alcoholic beverages, but in reality, moderate consumption of vodka and beer is quite rare;
- Studies were only concerned with the interaction of the drug with ethanol, the effect of this combination on the condition of internal organs has not been studied, so the negative impact cannot be denied.
This is the first tentative step towards a complete answer to the important question of how long after taking antibiotics can you drink alcohol, so finally andno clear results.
Reasons to avoid drinking alcohol during treatment
Clinical medicine has every right to say that the combination of alcohol and drugs should be avoided. Even if their mutual effects have not been thoroughly studied, enough is known about the health effects of ethanol to draw certain conclusions. Can not deny that:
- alcohol disrupts metabolism if consumed regularly;
- Ethanol causes an increase in blood sugar;
- Drinking alcohol leads to physical and nervous exhaustion;
- The risk of allergic reactions increases by an order of magnitude.
Each person has unique characteristics of internal biological processes, so the body's response can be predictedalmost impossible, but it is hardly positive.
Interaction of alcohol with antibacterial drugs
According to experiments, drinking alcoholic beverages does not affect the pharmacological properties of most antimicrobial agents and does not cause significant side effects. However, there are antibacterial drugs that absolutely should not be used with alcoholic beverages, because such a combination will lead to truly dangerous consequences.
Just a few days laterYou can drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, which affects metabolism. For example, antifungal drugs and their analogues require the participation of an enzyme in a biochemical reaction that is also necessary for the breakdown of ethanol. Its supply is limited. When consuming large amounts of ethanol, a conflict arises. There simply isn't enough enzyme to interact with the drug or react with ethyl alcohol. In the first case, we will certainly observe a decrease in the therapeutic effect of the drug, plus possible allergic reactions and increased side effects of the drug. Without decomposition of ethanol, acute intoxication with all its subsequent consequences cannot be avoided. That's why you should not take antibacterial drugs of this type at the same time as alcohol.
Disulfiram-like reactions are the main reason to prohibit alcohol consumption during antibiotic treatment. Interference with the catabolism of ethanol in the body leads to the accumulation of acetaldehyde - the previously mentioned acetaldehyde. This is a strong poison that has a global negative effect on the body. Most popular andUncomfortable signs of intoxication:
- nausea accompanied by vomiting;
- stomachache;
- acute headache;
- perspire;
- general weakness, dizziness;
- fast heart beat;
- increased pressure.
Agree that this physical condition most clearly proves the point that antibiotics should be used a few days after a bout of alcohol consumption, so that the ethanol and its toxic decomposition products have time to leave the bodynaturally.
By the way, disulfiram-like reactions are so called because of the banned drug treatment for chronic alcoholism - disulfiram. Its use forces alcoholics to give up drinking due to the development of panic, fear of symptoms.Acute poisoning. The drug is injected into the subcutaneous layer (implantation), from where it gradually enters the body and blocks the production of the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of ethanol.
What complications can occur?
How long it takes to safely resume drinking alcohol after a course of antibiotics depends on the type of antimicrobial (its rate of absorption and elimination), as well as individual characteristics of metabolism. of a person.
Doctors emphasize that the ban does not apply only to a glass of cognac or vodka. You need to forget about wine, beer, drinks with low alcohol content. Furthermore, ethyl alcohol is often found in other foods as well as in medicines, so you should pay attention to this aspect.
You may often hear that someone you know has been drinking alcohol and taking antibiotics without experiencing any negative consequences. However, no one knows what happened to this man's body.How effective?It turns out how long the treatment will last and how his health is now. Meanwhile, in clinical medical practice, there are many cases where people do not comply with recommendations on how long to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, but instead drink during treatment and eventually become victims:
- violateLiver function;
- anaphylaxis;
- disruptions in the functioning of the brain and central nervous system in general (severe headache with dizziness, nausea with vomiting, convulsions);
- gastrointestinal diseases;
- sleep disorders;
- High Blood Pressure;
- negative skin reactions (dermatitis);
- arrhythmia;
Our natural filter, the liver, suffers the most. Despite its ability to renew cells, it is negatively affected to the point of eventually losing its function.
The final word in the debate about the combination of alcohol and antibiotics
After completing drug treatment, you need to wait a few days before starting to drink alcohol. This is because the body eliminates the products of drug catabolism and this takes a certain amount of time. All drugs take different times to reach maximum blood concentration and elimination. It's alwaysstated in the instructions.
It is not recommended to consume alcoholic beverages at the same time not only with antibacterial drugs, but also with other drugs. However, antibacterial drugs are one of the few that are strictly prohibited. If you are about to undergo a course of medication, be sure to ask your doctor how long you can drink alcohol after taking antibiotics.
Despite the fact that expert opinion on the admissibility of simultaneous use of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial drugs is divided (excluding drugs withobvious limitations), most doctors tend to conclude that it is better for patients to stop drinking alcohol during treatment.
In any case, alcoholic beverages are not a product worth risking your health with, even if the risks seem insignificant. Nothing bad will happen if you become an alcoholic for 2 weeks. Even a healthy person's body succumbs to alcohol over time. Long-term consumption of alcoholic beverages leads to the development of a large number of various mental and physical disorders. If a person does not give up alcohol when sick, then we can confidently say about physical and mental healthThe decline will accelerateDuring this time period. Even if you can drink alcohol at the same time as taking medication, you still shouldn't do it. Ethanol is toxic but it is impossible to count how many fates vodka has broken