Almost every one of us has to deal with a disease that requires the use of antibacterial drugs to achieve a therapeutic effect. They are aggressive drugs against microflora. That is why the question arises about how long you can drink alcohol after antibiotics, because many do not want to leave wine, cognac, beer, or vodka for a long time.
The question is ambiguous and there is no monosyllabic answer at all. There are different opinions in the media. Some people, during a holiday with a party, consider it more correct to refuse to drink alcoholic beverages, based more on intuition than on reliable information from authoritative sources. Such a person in the company evokes sympathy and understanding, usually no onedid not persuade him to drink. However, there are times when someone refers to an article where doctors generally describe things that do not always interfere with the healing process.
Why you should not take medicine with alcohol
As you know, there is no smoke without fire. Doctors can scientifically justify the prohibition of the use of antimicrobial agents and the use of vodka or beer at the same time. Also, they claim that you can take antibiotics after drinking alcohol after a strictly defined period of time. Experts appeal to the following facts:
- ethanol at the biochemical level significantly reduces the therapeutic effect of antimicrobial agents;
- 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 adverse effects on health, which is during drug therapyvery undesirable.
There are rational details in the above argument. Biochemical processes occurring in the body are very complex and balanced, so the saturation of internal organ tissues with biologically active compounds such as ethyl alcohol cannot but affect metabolism. Alcohol can indeed reduce the therapeutic effect of drugs significantly. It either destroys the atomic structure of the active substance or prevents the reaction of the drug with the protein of the pathogenic microorganism. In addition, alcohol can cause accelerated elimination or make it difficult to absorb the drug. So it happeneddecreased effectiveness of therapy, or unwanted side symptoms develop.
Effects on liver function and condition
Scientific research and clinical medical practice confirm the damaging effect on the liver of the combination of antimicrobial drugs with alcoholic beverages. That is why the instructions for the use of the drug indicate contraindications and side effects on this very important organ. For patients with chronic liver disease, many drugs are not available. If you combine antimicrobial drugs and alcohol, the negative effects will double. How long should you drink alcohol after a course of antibiotics?depending on the general situationbody and its ability to recover.
Under the action of enzymes, ethanol is broken down into water and carbon dioxide, but not immediately, but bypasses the intermediate stage of the formation of a highly toxic compound - acetaldehyde, which is a tissue poison. The faster alcohol is broken down, the less harm it causes to the body. However, with the simultaneous presence of antimicrobial drugs in the tissues of internal organs, the catabolism of alcohol slows down significantly due to the inhibition of the production of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme, which is necessary to complete the reaction of breaking down ethanol into simple compounds. .
Ethanol does not interact directly with antibiotics
To find out how alcohol affects medicines, as well as how many days after you can drink alcohol after finishing the course of antibiotics,laboratory experience. First, scientists conducted experiments on animals, and then invited volunteers who were asked to undergo a therapeutic course using antibacterial drugs. Participants were divided equally into two groups. Representatives of the first group were offered alcoholic beverages during the experiment, while the second were not. The main goal that the organizers are trying to achieve is to establish the effect of ethanol on the biological activity of the drug.
Experimental results show that most antibacterial drugs interact little or not at all with ethyl alcohol - practically do not reduce the effectiveness of the drug used. The same conclusion was reached after studying and comparing the results of antibacterial drug therapy between the two groups. They turned out to be similar. The difference does not exceed the permissible error. The rate of absorption, distribution in the tissues of internal organs, as well as the removal of active substances aremore or less the same.
HoweverOne should not jump to conclusions that the simultaneous use of antibiotics and alcohol is completely safe. Experts ask you to take into account some nuances:
- the experiment was isolated and not confirmed by other studies, therefore one should not insist on the safety of the combination of drugs and alcohol;
- experimental subjects are offered small doses of alcoholic beverages, but in real life moderation in the use of vodka and beer is quite rare;
- The study only involved drug interactions with ethanol; the effect of this combination on the condition of internal organs has not been studied, so the negative effect cannot be denied.
This is the first tentative step towards a complete answer to the important question of how long after a course of antibiotics you can drink alcohol, so the last andno clear results.
Reasons to avoid drinking during treatment
Clinical medicine has the right to say that the combination of alcohol and drugs should be avoided. Although their joint effects have not been properly studied, enough is known about ethanol's effects on health to draw certain conclusions. It is impossible to deny that:
- alcohol disrupts metabolic processes if consumed regularly;
- ethanol causes an increase in the level of sugar in the bloodstream;
- alcohol consumption leads to physical and nervous exhaustion;
- the risk of an allergic reaction increases by an order of magnitude.
Each person has individual characteristics of internal biological processes, so it is possible to predict the body's responsealmost impossible, but it is unlikely to be positive.
Alcohol interactions with antimicrobial 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 antimicrobial drugs that absolutely should not be taken with alcoholic beverages, because such a combination leads to truly dangerous consequences.
Just a few days laterYou can drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, which affects the metabolism. For example, those drugs against fungal infections and analogues require the participation of enzymes in biochemical reactions that are also necessary for the breakdown of ethanol. The supply is limited. When taking a significant dose of ethanol, a conflict arises. There is not enough enzyme to either interact with the drug or react with ethyl alcohol. In the first case, we will definitely see a decrease in the therapeutic effectiveness of the drug, plus the possibility of an allergic reaction and an increase in the side effects of the drug. If you do not break down ethanol, then acute intoxication with all the subsequent consequences is inevitable. That is why you should not take this type of antimicrobial agent at the same time as alcohol.
Disulfiram-like reactions are the main reason to prohibit the use of alcohol during antimicrobial therapy. Interfering with the catabolism of ethanol in the body leads to the accumulation of acetaldehyde mentioned earlier - acetaldehyde. This is a powerful toxin that has a global negative effect on the body. The most common andunpleasant signs of intoxication:
- nausea with attacks of vomiting;
- stomach discomfort;
- acute headache;
- sweating profusely;
- general weakness, dizziness;
- tachycardia;
- increased pressure.
Agree that this physical condition most clearly proves the thesis that antibiotics should be used after a course of alcohol a few days later, so that ethanol and its toxic breakdown products have time to leave the body naturally.
By the way, disulfiram-like reactions are called so because of the drug for drug prohibition therapy for chronic alcoholism - disulfiram. Its use forces alcoholics to stop drinking alcohol precisely due to the development of panic fear of symptomsacute hangover. The drug is injected into the subcutaneous layer (implanted), from where it gradually enters the body and blocks the production of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of ethanol.
What complications can be expected
How long it takes to safely drink alcohol again after a course of antibiotics depends on the antimicrobial drug (its rate of absorption and elimination), as well as the individual characteristics of a person's metabolism.
The doctor emphasized that the ban does not apply only to a glass of cognac or vodka. You need to forget about wine, beer, low-alcohol drinks. Moreover, ethyl alcohol is often found in other foods, as well as in medicines, so you should pay attention to this aspect.
You often hear that someone you know drinks alcohol and takes antimicrobial drugs, without any negative consequences. However, no one knows what happened to this man's body,how effective it isIt turns out that the treatment lasted, how long, how is his health now. Meanwhile, in clinical medical practice, many cases have been recorded when people did not adhere to the recommendations of how long to drink alcohol after antibiotics, but drank it during treatment, and ended up becoming victims:
- violationliver function;
- anaphylactic shock;
- disorders in the functioning of the brain and the central nervous system in general (severe headache accompanied by dizziness, nausea with vomiting attacks, convulsive attacks);
- gastrointestinal disease;
- sleep disorders;
- high blood pressure;
- negative skin reactions (dermatitis);
- heart rhythm disorders;
Our natural filter, the liver, suffers the most. Despite the ability to renew cells, they are negatively affected until they eventually lose function.
The last word in the debate about the combination of alcohol and antibiotics
After completing drug therapy, you need to wait a few days before starting to drink alcohol. This is due to the removal of drug catabolism products from the body, and this takes a certain amount of time. All drugs have a different time to reach the maximum concentration in the blood and elimination. It always isshown in the instructions.
It is not recommended to take alcoholic beverages at the same time not only with antimicrobial agents, but also with other drugs. However, antimicrobial drugs are one of the few that are completely prohibited. If you are going to undergo a course of drug treatment, be sure to ask your doctor how long after you can drink alcohol after taking antibiotics.
Despite the fact that expert opinion on the acceptability of the simultaneous use of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial drugs is divided (excluding drugs that haverestrictions are clear), most doctors tend to conclude that it is better for patients to stop drinking alcohol during treatment.
In any case, alcoholic beverages are far from a product worth risking your health for, even if the risk seems insignificant. Nothing bad will happen if you become an avid teetotaler for 2 weeks. Even healthy people's bodies succumb to alcohol over time. Long-term use of alcoholic beverages leads to the development of a large number of different somatic and mental disorders. If a person does not give up alcohol during illness, then we can say with confidence that it is physical and mentaldeterioration will be acceleratedduring this time period. Although you can drink alcohol at the same time as taking medicine, you still should not. Ethanol is poison, but it is impossible to count how many fates have been broken by vodka