Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, the doctor expressly warns that it is absolutely impossible to drink alcohol during therapy. But now the necessary cure has been completed and the question arises as to how long one can continue to drink alcohol after antibiotics.
How many days, or maybe hours, should be spent on ridding the body of the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you celebrate the successful completion of treatment right away? The problem is urgent and should be addressed.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotics are used to treat numerous infectious and inflammatory pathologies. In such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs and the body's own immune system can sometimes no longer cope with it on its own.
The effect of antibiotics lies in their effect on the cellular structure of bacteria.. This reduces the ability of pathogenic microflora to multiply at tremendous speed and gradually kills the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient's condition and help him quickly get rid of bacterial diseases.
But antibiotics have another side of the coin: the main burden of removing them from the body falls on the liver. It is the liver organ that cleans the internal organs from the remnants of drug decay.
The liver organ, which receives the main blow, is no longer up to the additional strain. If you load the 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, severe vomiting, general weakness. This is poisoning of the body with antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the liver organ (especially when the liver is already in a weakened state). This option is fraught with the development of additional, and sometimes life-threatening, pathologies.
Exactly how the body reacts depends on the degree of aggressiveness of the antibiotic. This nuance is better explained by the attending physician, who will prescribe one or another antibiotic.
Which drugs are not allowed to be combined with alcohol?
But many particularly careless people take risks despite medical prohibitions and take alcohol on their chests during antibiotic treatment. People don't even think about the possible negative consequences of such disregard for their own health.
Even if everything went well and taking alcohol and an antibiotic at the same time did not affect well-being, for the body the use of such a cocktail never passes without a trace.
The components of ethanol that react with the ingredients of antibiotics can be "slow" to react. Such effects can suddenly "appear" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who experience the most depressing and sad consequences after meeting each other on treatment with alcohol.. These are the following tools:
- tetracyclines. For the therapy of diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetins. Aggressive antibiotics are distinguished by their own "rich" list of all possible side effects. Alcohol significantly increases the manifestation of side effects and aggravates intoxication of the body.
- lincosamides. If you combine antibiotics of this series with alcohol, you can pay for the health of the liver and central nervous system.
- aminoglycosides. They are considered the strongest drugs. They not only do not associate with alcohol, but also do not tolerate the presence of other drugs in the body. The influence of alcohol during treatment with such drugs causes the most serious health consequences and in special cases can provoke cardiac arrest.
- cephalosporins. Also, poor-quality alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs provoke 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 from this series of antibiotics and drinking has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocidal (liver cells).
Antibiotics used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis are also covered by the ban. All strict prohibitions are necessarily prescribed in the annotations to the medicinal products. But manufacturers do not always write about such a taboo. For example, the instructions for the following drugs say nothing about not drinking alcohol:
- an antibiotic from the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic;
- a topical antibiotic produced by a glowing fungus;
- antifungals;
- Penicillin series antibiotics.
To the dismay of those suffering from alcohol use, the lack of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and this medicine. Remember that man is a unique creation. One's body really doesn't "notice" alien alcohol disorders, while in others it responds with severe intoxication.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period during which it is allowed to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics is prescribed in the instructions attached to the drug.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. The doctor can change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- A person's weight, build and age.
- The aggressiveness of the drug and the duration of its administration.
- The initial state of health of the patient, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of antibiotic residues from the body and, accordingly, the time when you can not drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions do not say anything about this nuance, then you should not rush intoxicating libations either. In this case, you should wait at least 2-3 days after the end of the therapeutic course.
The consequences of frivolity
Even if the patient is familiar with the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, sometimes he does not pay attention to the ban. Or do not wait for the marked time of "quarantine". The remnants of the antibiotic, which have not had time to safely leave the body, will actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What to expect from a situation where ethanol accumulates in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, manifested in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on the state of health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed to appear in a person:
- severe vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- bouts of severe nausea;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- Pain of the pressing (squeezing) type in the sternum;
- migraine-like headache of such intensity that it cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And this is not the whole list of problems that fall on a person who neglects common sense. Wait until you can actually drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise you run the risk of lying in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be noted that not all antibiotics have undergone specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have yet proven to be incompatible with alcohol.. However, this does not mean that you should be the test subject.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol is not going anywhere, but health can be significantly and irrevocably worsened by recklessness. Wait all due dates after the end of antibiotic treatment, and better not take a glass.health for you!