All people get sick from time to time, and many of them have to resort to taking antibiotics. It is widely believed in society that these drugs are incompatible with alcohol, but what if the period of treatment coincides with the holiday? 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 drugs used to fight bacteria. They penetrate pathogenic microorganisms or interfere with their metabolism and completely or partially disrupt it.
When it comes to the question of the compatibility of antibiotics with alcohol and when drinking is allowed after therapy, physicians still have different opinions. There are many doctors who strongly recommend that patients completely abstain from alcohol during therapy in order to avoid the consequences of taking an antibiotic and alcohol at the same time. They explain this by saying that these drugs, together 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 say with certainty that under the influence of alcohol, the pharmacological effect of most antibiotics does not worsen and the load on the liver does not increase.
However, alcohol itself causes intoxication and dehydration. If you drink antibiotics with large doses of alcohol, the body will be weakened, and in this case, of course, the effectiveness of treatment will decrease.
A number of antibiotics are also isolated that undergo a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol. Their simultaneous intake with alcohol is contraindicated, as this leads to intoxication with 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 effects of antibiotics.
- Alcohol, along with antibiotics, increases liver damage.
- Alcoholic beverages reduce the effectiveness of the experimental therapy.
In fact, these theses are only partially correct, which is confirmed by the results of numerous studies on tolerability. In particular, the available data suggest that ingestion of alcoholic beverages does not affect the pharmacokinetics of most antibiotics.
At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, much research was done on the combined effects of antibacterial drugs and alcohol. Humans and test animals were involved in the experiments. The results of antibiotic therapy were the same in the experimental and control groups, but there were no significant differences in the absorption, distribution and excretion of the drugs' active ingredients from the body. The data from these studies showed that it is possible to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics.
Already in 1982, Finnish scientists conducted a series of experiments on volunteers, the results of which showed that the antibiotics of the penicillin group do not react with ethanol, so you can use them with alcohol. In 1988, Spanish researchers tested amoxicillin for compatibility with alcohol: in a group of subjects, only insignificant changes in the rate of absorption of the substance and the lag time were noted.
It was also found that the pharmacokinetic parameters of some antibiotics, for example, the tetracycline group, are significantly reduced under the influence of alcohol. However, fewer drugs with this effect have been identified.
Also, the widely held assumption that alcoholic beverages along with alcohol increase liver damage is being disproved by scientists around the world. Rather, alcohol can increase the hepatotoxicity of antibacterial drugs, but only in very rare cases. This fact is becoming the exception rather than the rule.
The scientists also demonstrated that ethanol does not affect the antibiotics used in the treatment of experimental pneumococcal infections in experimental rats.
Reasons for incompatibility
Although the safety of using most antibiotics with alcohol has been demonstrated, there are a number of drugs that are incompatible with alcohol. These are medicines whose active ingredients react with ethyl alcohol in a disulfiram-like reaction – primarily nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins.
The reason why it is impossible to take antibiotics and alcohol at the same time lies in the fact that the composition of the above drugs contains specific molecules that can change the exchange of ethanol. This leads to a delayed excretion of acetaldehyde, which accumulates in the body and leads to poisoning.
The process is accompanied by characteristic symptoms:
- strong headache;
- rapid heartbeat;
- nausea with vomiting;
- heat in areas of face, neck, chest;
- difficult breathing;
- Cramps.
A disulfiram-like response is used to code for alcoholism, but this method should only be used under close specialist supervision. Even a small dose of alcohol causes intoxication during treatment with nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins. Alcohol abuse in this case can lead to death.
Doctors allow a small amount of alcohol in treatment with penicillins, antifungal drugs, and some broad-spectrum antibiotics. A serving of an enriched drink while taking these drugs will not reduce the effectiveness of therapy and will not have a negative impact on health.
When can
Although alcohol is allowed with most antibiotics, they should not be taken at the same time. In order to drink such drugs better, it is indicated in the instructions.
For example, the potency of erythromycin and tetracyclines increases with drinking alkaline mineral water, and sulfonamides, indomethacin and reserpine - with milk.
If the antibiotic does not give a disulfiram-like reaction with ethanol, you can drink alcohol, but no earlier than 4 hours after the drug. This is the minimum time antibiotics circulate in the blood at any one time and is the answer to the question of how much you can drink after taking the drug.
In any case, during the period of treatment it is allowed to take only a small dose of alcohol, otherwise dehydration will begin in the body, and the antibacterial drug will simply be excreted in the urine.
The combination of alcohol with an antibacterial composition is dangerous for the body. Having figured out how long it is allowed to drink alcohol after taking the drug, you can rule out all possible side effects.
Conclusions
The myth of intolerance to antibiotics and alcohol appeared in the last century, while there are several hypotheses about the reasons for its occurrence. According to one of them, the authorship of the legend belongs to venereologists who wanted to warn their patients about drunkenness.
It is also suspected that the myth was invented by European doctors. Penicillin was a shortage drug in the 1940s, and soldiers liked to drink beer, which has a diuretic effect and removes the drug from the body.
It has now 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 react with ethanol like disulfiram, you can drink alcohol during treatment. However, 2 main rules should be observed: do not abuse alcohol and do not drink antibiotics with it.