Unfortunately, a stereotype of the non-drinking disease has developed. If you turn down a glass of vodka during the course of a feast, there is bound to be one person who will ask - "Are you sick? " But few people understand that alcohol is very harmful to the body, especially during the treatment of other illnesses. In this article, we are going to talk about the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibiotic therapy. Is it possible to drink during treatment, let's try to find out.
Consequences of taking antibiotics in combination with alcohol
Antibiotics are one of the most powerful, effective and efficient groups of drugs that have completely changed science and medicine. A few centuries ago, the average life expectancy of a person was around forty years, and with the introduction of antibiotics into the masses, a person began to live much longer. Today antibiotics are very controversial, many young mothers talk about the horrors and consequences of frequent and prolonged use of this medicine by children. In fact, like any potent medication, antibiotics require careful attention and special admission rules. And one of them is the refusal of alcohol during treatment. Otherwise this can lead to serious consequences.
- Decrease in drug concentration.As you know, the antibiotic does not start acting immediately, but only after a certain amount of the drug has accumulated in the body. And alcohol significantly reduces drug absorption in the walls of the stomach and intestines. This means that alcoholic beverages simply cancel the effect of antibiotic therapy, reducing the concentration of the drug in the body. Therefore, taking the drug is simply useless, and sometimes dangerous, as the lack of therapeutic effect makes the disease flourish, the number of bacteria increases. In addition, small doses of an antibiotic cause harmful microorganisms to develop resistance to that antibiotic, later making it ineffective.
- Load in liver.Another negative consequence of combining alcohol with antibiotics is an extremely high load on the liver. This organ is involved in the processing of ethyl alcohol and in the neutralization of intermediate metabolic drug products. That is, during the period of taking antibiotics, the liver works as actively as possible, in combination with drinking alcohol, the load on the organ is high, sometimes the liver may refuse.
- Similar reaction to disulfiram.Sometimes drinking alcohol with an antibiotic ends up with a strong reaction in the form of nausea, vomiting, convulsions and malaise. This occurs when certain groups of antibiotics are taken in combination with ethanol. This reaction is often used to stop a person from drinking alcohol. A special pill with a substance is sewn into the subcutaneous space, which in equal doses enters the body for a long time - several months. If alcohol enters the human body during this period, all of the above symptoms will appear. The person develops a persistent aversion to alcohol.
Also, alcoholic beverages thicken the blood heavily, leading to dehydration of the body. How an antibiotic will behave in these conditions is a mystery, because each organism is individual. Sometimes the consequences of such a combination can be dangerous and irreversible. Therefore, drinking alcohol during antibiotic therapy is strictly prohibited. This also applies to drinks with a low alcohol content.
How to take antibiotics correctly
For a drug to be beneficial, it must be taken according to certain rules. As already said, it is impossible to combine it with alcohol, you have to wait until the drug is completely removed from the body. This can take anywhere from several hours to several days after the last dose of medicine. Here are some more guidelines to follow when treating antibiotics.
Antibiotics must be taken at regular intervals, this is very important. If the doctor prescribes injections or pills twice a day, they should be taken strictly after 12 hours. If a dose of three times is prescribed, you will need to take antibiotics every 8 hours - for example, at 6 am, 2 pm and 10 pm.
Antibiotics may not work if the bacteria are highly resistant to this group of drugs. Before starting treatment, ideally, it is necessary to pass a bacteriological culture to identify the most sensitive drug in a particular case for a particular organism.
Any antibiotics should only be taken as directed by a doctor - they are not even worth talking about. Some diseases, despite all the severity of symptoms, may not be sensitive to antibiotic therapy, for example, viral diseases.
Before prescribing, be sure to tell your doctor that you have already had an allergic reaction to medications. You will also need to tell your doctor about the medications you are taking all the time - hormonal contraceptives, blood thinners, antihistamines, etc. Combining some medications with antibiotics can have unintended consequences.
Antibiotics should not be taken for less than 5 days, usually the course is about 7 to 10 days. Even if on the third day of taking the drug you feel better, you should not cancel it, otherwise the bacteria, which are not completely suppressed, will multiply and attack the organism again. Another consequence of early antibiotic withdrawal is that this bacterial strain will acquire resistance to the ingested antibiotic. Next time with a similar illness, this medicine will be impotent.
Take antibiotics exactly as directed, especially when combined with food. As a general rule, most drugs in this group should be taken after meals with plenty of water. The remedies are not accompanied by juice, coffee and milk, their effectiveness may be reduced as a result.
Antibiotics must be combined with ingestion of beneficial bacteria because antibiotic therapy can completely kill the intestinal microflora, which leads to dysbiosis, diarrhea or diarrhea. To avoid this you need to drink probiotics and prebiotics in parallel.
These are the basic rules for taking antibiotics, which must be strictly observed, regardless of the drug group. Sometimes the doctor may not talk about these simple rules as they must be known by everyone.
When can antibiotics be combined with alcohol?
There are some antibiotics whose combination with alcohol is strictly contraindicated. They are fluoroquinolones, nitroimidazoles, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, erythromycin and a drug for tuberculosis. In no case should they be combined with alcohol, otherwise a complex reaction of the disulfiram type will develop. If you are planning to drink alcohol, which cannot be avoided at all, you should try to drink alcohol so that it does not come into contact with the medicine in your body. For example, some types of antibiotics are cleared from the blood within 2-3 hours. In between, you can drink a glass of beer, which an average-built man will hatch in a few hours. That is, with a new intake of the drug, the body will be sober and clean again. There are many nuances in this theory, it is necessary to take into account the rate of elimination of the drug and alcohol from the body, to know the time interval between ingestion of the drug. Therefore, it is even better to refuse alcohol during treatment for your own health.
The first mention of the dangers of alcohol during antibiotic treatment dates back to the 1940s. During World War II, doctors began to actively use penicillin, which was introduced for the first time, to treat large masses. Next, patients were European soldiers who liked to drink beer. And beer, as you know, had a pronounced diuretic effect and simply eliminated the drug from the body. Then the doctors decided to "scare" the soldiers and told them about the serious consequences of the combination of treatment and alcohol. People in white coats were intuitively right and still protected their patients from problems. Take care, do not drink alcohol during the treatment period!