Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, your doctor will strictly warn you that it is completely impossible to drink alcohol during therapy. Now, however, the necessary cure has been completed and the question arises as to how long alcohol can be drunk after antibiotics.
How many days or even hours do it take to free the body from the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you celebrate the successful completion of the treatment immediately? The problem is urgent and needs to be addressed.
The essence of the effect of antibiotics
Antibiotics are used to treat a number of infectious and inflammatory pathologies. In such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs and the body’s immune system is sometimes unable to cope with them on its own.
The effect of antibiotics lies in their effect on the cellular bacterial structure.. This reduces the tremendous ability of the pathogenic microflora to multiply and gradually destroys the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient's condition and help them get rid of bacterial diseases quickly.
However, there is another side to antibiotics: the main burden of removing them from the body lies with the liver. It is the liver that cleanses the internal organs of the remnants of drug breakdown.
The liver that receives the main blow is no longer able to cope with the overload. If you are taking 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 is nausea, profuse vomiting, general weakness. This is the poisoning of the body by antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the liver (especially if the liver is already weak). This possibility is fraught with the development of additional and sometimes life-threatening pathologies.
Exactly how the body responds depends on the degree of aggression of the antibiotic drug. This nuance is better explained by the treating physician who prescribes one or the other antibiotic.
What medicines should not be combined with alcohol
But many particularly frivolous individuals take risks despite medical prohibitions and take alcohol to their chests during antibiotic treatment. People don’t even think about the negative consequences that such neglect of their own health can have.
Even if all went well and the simultaneous consumption of alcohol and an antibiotic did not affect your well-being, the use of such a cocktail for the body will never go unnoticed.
The components of ethanol react "slowly" with the components of the antibiotics. Such effects can suddenly "surface" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. They cause the most depressing and saddest consequences after encountering alcohol treatment.. These tools are:
- Tetracyclines. It is used to treat diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetins. Aggressive antibiotics are marked by their own "rich" list of all kinds of side effects. Alcohol greatly increases the occurrence of side effects and aggravates the body’s intoxication.
- Lincosamides. Combining the antibiotics in this series with alcohol can pay for the health of your liver and central nervous system.
- Aminoglycosides. These are considered to be the strongest drugs. Not only do they not combine with alcohol, but they do not tolerate the presence of other drugs in the body. During treatment with such drugs, the effects of alcohol cause the most serious health consequences and, in special cases, can cause cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-quality alcoholic beverages, in combination with such drugs, elicit a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify their treatment with cephalosporins by drinking is guaranteed to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs and drinking of this series of antibiotics has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocides (liver cells).
Antibiotics used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis are also banned. Any strict prohibitions must be included in the product information. But manufacturers don’t always write about such a taboo. For example, the instructions for the following medications say nothing about not taking alcohol:
- an antibiotic from the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic;
- an antibiotic produced by a radiant fungus for external use;
- antifungal agents;
- antibiotics of the penicillin series.
To the shock of those who drink, the lack of a ban does not mean that alcohol and this drug can be combined. Remember that man is a unique creation. Someone’s body really doesn’t "notice" foreign alcohol interference, while others react with severe poisoning.
When can I drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the duration of alcohol consumption after taking antibiotics is prescribed by the instructions that come with the medicine.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. Your doctor may change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- A person’s weight, physique, and age.
- Drug aggression and duration of dosing.
- The patient's initial state of health, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
Depending on these data, the rate at which antibiotic drug residues are excreted from the body and how long it is not possible to drink after antibiotics. If the instructions don’t say anything about this shade, you shouldn’t rush intoxicating liking either. In this case, wait at least 2-3 days after completing the therapeutic course.
Consequences of frivolity
Even if the patient is familiar with the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, they may sometimes ignore the ban. Or don’t wait for the indicated time to "quarantine. " Residues of the antibiotic that didn’t have time to leave the body safely actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What can be expected from a situation where ethanol accumulates in all internal tissues and organs? Poisoning, which varies in severity - it all depends on your health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed to occur in a person:
- profuse vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- severe nausea;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jump in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- squeezing pain in the sternum;
- migraine-type headaches of an intensity that cannot be stopped with an analgesic.
And this is not a complete list of troubles for a man who ignores sober Estonians. Wait until you can actually drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, a person is simply in danger of lying in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be borne in mind that not all antibiotics have undergone special clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have yet been shown to be incompatible with alcohol.. But that doesn’t mean you have to be the test subject.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol leads nowhere, but frivolity can significantly and irreversibly worsen your health. Wait for all due dates after stopping antibiotic treatment, and it is better not to take it with a glass at all.Cheers to you!