Everyone gets sick at times and many of them have to resort to antibiotics. It is widely believed in society that these drugs are incompatible with alcohol, but what if the treatment period coincides with the holidays? Where is the truth and where is the legend in understanding the interaction between antibiotics and alcoholic beverages?
Antibiotics and alcohol
Antibiotics are drugs that are designed to fight bacteria. They invade the pathogenic microorganisms or disrupt their metabolism, completely or partially disrupting it.
Physicians continue to have differing views on the compatibility of antibiotics with alcohol and when to drink after therapy. Many doctors strongly recommend that patients avoid alcohol altogether during therapy to avoid the consequences of taking antibiotics and alcohol at the same time. This is explained by the fact that these drugs, along with ethanol, destroy the liver and negate the effectiveness of the treatment.
To date, a number of studies have been conducted, the results of which allow us to state with certainty that the pharmacological effects of most antibiotics do not deteriorate under the influence of alcohol and that the liver load does not increase.
However, alcohol itself causes poisoning and dehydration. If you drink a large amount of antibiotics with alcohol, your body will weaken, in which case the effectiveness of the treatment will naturally decrease.
Several antibiotics are also isolated that react disulfiram-like with ethanol. Their concomitant use with alcohol is contraindicated as it is accompanied by poisoning, nausea and vomiting, cramps. In very rare cases, death is possible.
Myths and reality
Historically, myths have circulated in society about the complications of alcohol consumption during antibiotic treatment.
The main myths are:
- Alcohol neutralizes the effects of antibiotics.
- Alcohol, along with antibiotics, increases liver damage.
- Alcoholic beverages reduce the effectiveness of experimental therapy.
In fact, these theses are only partially true, which is confirmed by the results of several compatibility studies. In particular, the available data suggest that the consumption of alcoholic beverages does not affect the pharmacokinetics of most antibiotics.
At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, there was a wealth of research on the combined effects of antibacterial drugs and alcohol. The experiments involved humans and laboratory animals. The results of antibiotic therapy were similar in the experimental and control groups, but there was no significant difference in the absorption, distribution, and excretion of the drugs. Data from these studies have shown that alcohol can be consumed while taking antibiotics.
In 1982, Finnish scientists conducted a series of experiments among volunteers, the results of which showed that antibiotics in the penicillin group do not react with ethanol, so they can also be used with alcohol. In 1988, Spanish researchers tested the compatibility of amoxicillin with alcohol: they found only a negligible change in the rate and time of absorption of the substance in a group of subjects.
It has also been found that the pharmacokinetic parameters of some antibiotics, such as the tetracycline group, are significantly reduced under the influence of alcohol. However, fewer drugs with this effect have been identified.
The public belief that alcoholic beverages, along with alcohol, increase liver damage is also refuted by scientists worldwide. Rather, alcohol may increase the hepatoxicity of antibacterial drugs, but only in very rare cases. This fact will be the exception rather than the rule.
Scientists have also shown that ethanol has no effect on antibiotics used to treat experimental pneumococcal infection in experimental rats.
Causes of conflict of interest
Although the safety of concomitant use of most antibiotics with alcohol has been demonstrated, there are a number of drugs that are incompatible with alcohol. These are drugs whose active substances react in a disulfiram-like manner with ethyl alcohol, especially nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins.
The reason why it is not possible to take antibiotics and alcohol at the same time is that the composition of the above drugs contains specific molecules that can alter the exchange of ethanol. As a result, the excretion of acetaldehyde is delayed, which accumulates in the body and leads to poisoning.
The process is accompanied by characteristic symptoms:
- intense headache;
- fast heartbeat;
- nausea with vomiting;
- heat in the face, neck, chest area;
- difficulty breathing;
- cramps.
A disulfiram-like reaction is used to encode alcoholism, but this method should only be used under the strict supervision of a person skilled in the art. Even a small amount of alcohol causes poisoning during treatment with nitroimidazoles and cephalosporins. Alcohol abuse can lead to death in this case.
Doctors allow small amounts of alcohol to treat penicillins, antifungals, and some broad-spectrum antibiotics. A dose of fortified drink while taking these drugs does not affect the effectiveness of the therapy and does not cause any negative health effects.
When can it be
Although alcohol is allowed with most antibiotics, it should not be taken at the same time. The better it is to drink such medications, as instructed.
For example, the effectiveness of erythromycin and tetracyclines increases the potency of alkaline mineral water with sulfonamides, indomethacin and reserpine.
If the antibiotic does not react with disulfiram-like ethanol, you may drink alcohol, but not earlier than 4 hours after taking the medicine. This is the minimum time that antibiotics circulate in the blood and is the answer to the question of how much to drink after taking the drug.
In any case, only a small amount of alcohol should be taken during the treatment period, otherwise dehydration will start in the body and the antibacterial drug will simply be excreted in the urine.
The combination of alcohol and any antibacterial preparation is dangerous to the body. Once you have figured out how long you should drink alcohol after taking this medicine, you can rule out all possible side effects.
conclusions
The myth of the incompatibility of antibiotics and alcohol appeared in the last century, while there are several hypotheses about the causes of its occurrence. According to one of them, the authors of the legend belong to venereologists who wanted to warn their patients about drunkenness.
There is also an assumption that the myth was invented by European doctors. Penicillin was in short supply in the 1940s, with soldiers preferring to drink beer, which has a diuretic effect and removes the drug from the body.
To date, it has been shown that alcohol in most cases does not affect the effectiveness of antibiotics and does not increase liver damage. If the active substances do not react with disulfiram-like ethanol, you may drink alcohol during treatment. However, there are 2 main rules to follow: do not abuse alcohol and do not drink antibiotics with it.