Is a combination of alcohol and antibiotics possible?Even doctors do not give an exact answer to this popular question.And while some categorically reject such duets, others believe that it is important to consider what kind of alcohol you drink and how much.There is a third opinion that one can successfully undergo treatment while maintaining social activities if one approaches the problem wisely.
Is it really necessary to avoid alcohol in combination with a course of antibiotics?Let's find out.
A lot depends on the active ingredient of the drug.Some types of antibiotics do not tolerate alcohol at all, while others can interact normally.Of course, after reading this article, you should not mix alcohol with pills.However, knowledge of certain things will help you not to panic, but to intelligently understand the problem if for some reason you still drank alcohol during antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotics and Alcohol: Myths and Legends
There is a version that after the war, scary stories about the non-combination of alcohol and antibiotics began to spread.The first legend says that at that time the venereological clinics in our country and abroad were simply overcrowded.The patients are soldiers and officers who have tasted the “joys” of martial law to the fullest.The medical staff deliberately intimidated the patients and talked about the dire consequences of the combination of alcohol and antibiotics, because after drinking the patients could again engage in any serious actions, and the result of such “heroic deeds” could well be a new sexually transmitted infection.
Another legend says that penicillin evaporated due to the laborious extraction from the urine of treated soldiers.For this reason, soldiers were forbidden to drink beer during therapy.
The danger of drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics is in the air and modern people prefer to avoid such mixtures.But what does evidence-based medicine think about this?
What do the studies say?
At the beginning of the 21st century, studies were carried out on the effect of ethanol on various types of antibiotics.Experiments on laboratory animals and human volunteers have shown that most types of antibiotics are not affected by alcohol consumption.
The antibiotics examined were equally effective in the experimental and control groups.No significant differences were found in the mechanisms of absorption, distribution in the body or excretion of decay products.
By the way, there is a hypothesis that consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the harmful effects of antibiotics on the liver.Due to their rare occurrence (up to 10 cases per 100,000), such cases are rarely described in the medical literature.At the same time, no further research was carried out in this regard.Are all fears unfounded?
Which antibiotics should not be combined with alcohol?
No, the fears are not unfounded: There are a number of antibiotics that cause extremely unpleasant symptoms when they come into contact with alcohol - the so-called disulfiram-like reaction.The reaction occurs when ethanol chemically reacts with certain specific antibiotic molecules, resulting in changes in the metabolism of ethyl alcohol in the body.In particular, an intermediate substance, acetaldehyde, is produced.Poisoning with this substance leads to the following symptoms:
- severe headache
- Nausea and vomiting
- increased heart rate
- Redness in the face, neck, chest area, “heat” in it
- intermittent heavy breathing
- Cramps of the limbs
Large amounts of alcohol can be fatal!
These symptoms are very difficult to endure and often cause fear of suffocation or death.The disulfiram-like reaction is used in clinics to treat alcoholism (“coding”).
Antibiotics that can cause the following symptoms:
- Active ingredient metronidazole
- Active ingredient ketoconazole (prescribed in the form of suppositories for thrush, for example)
- Active ingredient furazolidone (prescribed for food poisoning or diarrhea of an unknown nature)
- Active ingredient chloramphenicol (toxic, rarely used: for infections of the urinary tract, biliary tract and some other diseases)
- Active ingredient cotrimoxazole (can be prescribed for infections of the respiratory tract, kidneys and ureters, prostatitis)
- Active ingredient Lornoxicam (used to treat bacterial infections of the respiratory and ENT organs, kidneys, urinary tract, etc.)
- Active ingredient tinidazole (often prescribed for an infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach ulcers)
- Active ingredient cefamandole (injections against infections of an unspecified type)
- Active ingredient cefoperazone (available in injections, treats respiratory system, including pneumonia, bacterial diseases of the genitourinary system and other diseases)
- Active ingredient moxifloxacin (broad-spectrum antibiotic, prescribed for severe illness, including fever, when a bacterial infection is suspected)
When taking these medications (both oral medications and suppositories or eye drops), you must definitely avoid alcohol!
To make sure that your antibiotic does not belong to the group of drugs that are prohibited from combining with alcoholic beverages, consult your doctor and carefully read the instructions for use of the medication.
Smart decision
When treating an illness with antibiotics, you should definitely not overload your body with alcoholic beverages.After all, ethanol, like any toxic substance, must be “neutralized” in the body.To combat the poison, the body draws on additional reserves, often the last ones, especially if the illness lasts for a long time.The energy spent on cleaning the body can damage the immune system and significantly prolong the recovery period.
In addition, research and medical practice confirm that both alcohol and antibiotics have a depressant effect on the liver.
Although the opinions of experts on the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial agents are divided (with the exception of medicines to which categorical restrictions apply), most tend to believe that it is better to avoid alcoholic beverages during antibiotic therapy.You should also know: if you drank a glass of wine during therapy, you should not refuse the next dose of antibiotics (of course, if it is a drug for which there is no contraindication to alcohol).