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 as to how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days, or maybe hours, should be spent on ridding the body of the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate the successful completion of treatment? The problem is urgent and must be treated.
The essence of the action of antibiotics.
Antibiotic drugs are used to treat numerous infectious and inflammatory pathologies. With such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs, and the body's immune system sometimes cannot cope with them on its own.
The work of antibiotics lies in their effect on the bacterial cell structure.. This reduces the ability of 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 elimination from the body falls on the liver. It is the hepatic organ that cleanses the internal organs from the remains of the decomposition of drugs.
The liver organ, receiving the main blow, can no longer cope with the additional load. If you simultaneously load the body with alcohol (during antibiotic treatment), then 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 a poisoning 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. This nuance will be better explained by the treating physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are prohibited to combine with alcohol?
But many especially frivolous people, despite medical prohibitions, still take risks and drink alcohol to the chest during antibiotic treatment. People do not even think about the possible negative consequences of such 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.
Ethanol components, reacting with antibiotic ingredients, may react at a "slow" rate. Such effects can suddenly "flare up" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are absolutely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after they met in the process of alcohol treatment.. These are the following tools:
- tetracyclines. It is used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetins. Aggressive antibiotics are marked by their own "rich" list of all kinds of side effects. Alcohol greatly increases the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamides. If you combine antibiotic drugs from 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. They not only do not combine with alcohol, but 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 health consequences and, in special cases, can lead to cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-grade alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify treatment with cephalosporins by drinking, is guaranteed to face serious intoxication.
- macrolides. The combination of drugs from this series of antibiotics and the drink has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocidal (liver cells).
Antibiotics, which are used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis, are also subject to the ban. All strict prohibitions are necessarily prescribed in the drug annotations. But manufacturers don't always write about that taboo. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you can not drink 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 medications;
- antibiotics of the penicillin series.
To the dismay of those who suffer from drinking, the absence of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and this drug. Keep in mind that man is a unique creation. Someone's body does not really even "notice" the strange interference of alcohol, while for others it will react with severe intoxication.
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. Your doctor may change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- Weight, complexion and age of a person.
- The aggressiveness of the drug and the duration of the course of its administration.
- The initial health status of the patient, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of antibiotic residues from the body, and, accordingly, how long you can not drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions do not say anything about this nuance, then you should not rush with intoxicating libations either. In this case, you need to 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, he may sometimes not pay attention to the ban. Or don't wait for the time marked "quarantine". The remnants of the antibiotic, which did not have time to safely leave the body, will begin to actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What to expect in a situation where ethanol will accumulate in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, which manifests itself in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on the state of health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed to come to a person:
- profuse vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- bouts of severe nausea;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (hives, itching, swelling);
- pressing type pain (tightness) in the sternum;
- migraine-like headache of such intensity that it cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And this is not the complete list of problems that fall on a person who neglects common sense. Wait until you can actually drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, a person is simply at risk of being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe intoxication.
It must be taken into account that not all antibiotic agents have been subjected to specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have been shown to be incompatible with alcohol.. But this does not mean that you should be the test subject.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol is not going anywhere, but health can be significantly and irrevocably worsened by frivolity. Wait for all expiration dates after the end of antibiotic treatment and it is better not to drink a glass.Health to you!