Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, the doctor strictly warns that it is absolutely impossible to drink alcohol during therapy. But now the necessary course of treatment has been completed, and the question arises how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days, or perhaps hours, should be spent on the body's release from the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate the successful completion of the treatment? The issue is urgent and must be addressed.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotic drugs are used to treat numerous infectious and inflammatory diseases. With such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack internal organs and the body's immune system is sometimes unable to cope with them on its own.
The work of antibiotics lies in their effect on the cellular bacterial structure.. This reduces the ability of the pathogenic microflora to multiply at a tremendous rate and gradually kills the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient's condition and help him quickly get rid of bacterial diseases.
But antibiotics have another side of the coin: the main burden for their removal from the body falls on the liver. It is the liver organ that cleans the internal organs from the remnants of the decay of drugs.
The hepatic organ, undergoing the main blow, is no longer able to cope with the additional load. If you simultaneously load the body with alcohol (during antibiotic treatment), you can expect the following:
- Complete disappearance of the expected effect of therapy.
- The appearance of unpleasant symptoms in the form of nausea, profuse vomiting, general weakness. This is an intoxication of the body with antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the liver organ (especially if the liver is already in a weakened state). This option is fraught with the development of additional and sometimes life-threatening pathologies.
The exact reaction of the body depends on the degree of aggressiveness of the antibiotic drug. This nuance will be best explained by the attending physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are forbidden to combine with alcohol
But many particularly frivolous individuals, despite medical bans, still take risks and drink alcohol on the chest during antibiotic treatment. People do not even think about the possible negative consequences of such a disregard for their own health.
Even if everything went well, and the simultaneous intake of alcohol and an antibiotic did not affect your well-being, for the body the use of such a cocktail never passes without a trace.
The components of ethanol, reacting with the ingredients of the antibiotics, are able to react at a "slow" pace. These effects can suddenly "surface" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after meeting in the process of alcohol treatment.. These are the following tools:
- tetracyclines. Used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetine. Aggressive antibiotics are characterized by their "rich" list of all types of side effects. Alcohol greatly improves the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamides. If you combine the antibiotic drugs of this series with alcohol, you can pay for the health of the liver and central nervous system.
- Aminoglycosides. They are considered the most powerful drugs. Not only do they not combine with alcohol, but they also do not tolerate the presence of other drugs in the body. The influence of alcohol during the period of treatment with such drugs causes the most serious consequences for health and in special cases can provoke cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-quality alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify cephalosporin treatment by drinking is guaranteed to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs from this series of antibiotics and alcohol consumption has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocides (liver cells).
Antibiotics, which are used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis, also fall under the ban. All strict prohibitions are necessarily prescribed in the annotations to medicines. But the producers don't always write about such a taboo. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you cannot take alcohol in the instructions for the following drugs:
- an antibiotic from the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic;
- an antibiotic for external use produced by a radiant fungus;
- antifungal drugs;
- antibiotics of the penicillin series.
To the dismay of alcohol sufferers, the absence of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and this medicine. Keep in mind that man is a unique creation. Somebody's body doesn't actually "notice" the extraneous interference of alcohol, while others will react with severe poisoning.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period that allows you to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics is prescribed in the instructions attached to the drug.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. The doctor can change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- Weight, build and age of a person.
- The aggressiveness of the drug and the duration of the course of its administration.
- The patient's initial state of health, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of antibiotic drug residues from the body and, consequently, the time you cannot drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions say nothing about this shade, you shouldn't rush into intoxicating libations either. In this case, you should wait at least 2-3 days after the end of the therapeutic course.
The consequences of frivolity
Even if the patient is familiar with the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, sometimes he may not pay attention to the ban. Or don't wait for the "quarantine" time. The remnants of the antibiotic, which did not have time to leave the body safely, will begin to actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What to expect from a situation where ethanol accumulates in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, manifested in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on the state of health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed for a person:
- profuse vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- bouts of severe nausea;
- shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (hives, itching, swelling);
- pressing (squeezing) pain in the breastbone;
- migraine-like headache of such intensity that it cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And this is not the whole list of problems that fall on a person who neglects common sense. He expects to actually be able to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, a person simply runs the risk of being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be borne in mind that not all antibiotic agents have undergone specific clinical studies.Not all modern antibiotics have yet been shown to be incompatible with alcohol.. But that doesn't mean you should be the test subject.
Don't put your health at risk! Alcohol is not going anywhere, but health can be markedly and irrevocably worsened by frivolity. Wait for all the deadlines after the end of the antibiotic treatment and it is better not to take a glass at all.Cheers to you!