Is it possible to combine alcohol and antibiotics? Even doctors do not give an accurate answer to this popular question. And if some are categorically against such duos, others believe that it is important to consider what kind of alcohol you drink and how much. There is a third opinion that a competent approach to this issue can be successfully treated, while maintaining social activity.
Is it really necessary to abstain from alcohol in combination with a course of antibiotics? Let's figure it out.
Much depends on the active substance of the drug. Some types of antibiotics are not friends with alcohol at all, while others can communicate normally. Of course, mixing alcohol with pills after reading this article is not worth it. However, knowing certain things will help you not to panic, but to understand the problem correctly, 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, frightening stories began to spread that alcohol and antibiotics should not be combined. The first legend says that in that period, venereal clinics in our country and abroad were simply overcrowded. Patients are soldiers and officers who have fully tasted the "charms" of the state of emergency. The medical staff especially intimidated the patients, talking about the terrible consequences of the combination of alcohol and antibiotics, because after drinking, the patients could get into serious trouble again, and the result of such "feats" could be a new sexual infection.
Another legend says that due to the hard work of obtaining penicillin, it evaporated from the urine of treated soldiers. For that reason, the soldiers were forbidden to drink beer during the 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 conducted on the effect of ethanol on different types of antibiotics. During experiments on laboratory animals and human volunteers, it was proven that alcohol does not affect most types of antibiotics.
Thus, in the experimental and control groups, the tested antibiotics were equally effective. No significant deviations in the mechanisms of absorption, distribution throughout the body and excretion of decomposition products were found.
Otherwise, there is a hypothesis that drinking alcohol increases the harmful effects of antibiotics on the liver. In the medical literature, such cases are rarely described due to their rare occurrence (up to 10 cases per 100, 000). At the same time, no further research has been done in this regard. Are all fears unfounded?
Which antibiotics cannot be combined with alcohol
No, the fears are not unfounded: there are a number of antibiotics that, in contact with alcohol, give extremely unpleasant symptoms - the so-called disulfiram-like reaction. The reaction occurs during the chemical interaction of ethanol with some specific antibiotic molecules, as a result of which the exchange of ethyl alcohol in the body changes. In particular, there is an accumulation of an intermediate substance - acetaldehyde. Poisoning with this substance gives the following symptoms:
- severe headache
- nausea and urge to vomit
- increased heart rate
- redness of the face, neck, chest, "heat" in them
- occasionally difficult breathing
- limb cramps
Large doses of alcohol can be fatal!
These symptoms are very difficult to tolerate, often causing fear of suffocation or death. A disulfiram-like reaction is used in clinics to treat alcoholism ("coding").
Antibiotics that can cause these symptoms:
- active ingredient metronidazole
- active substance ketoconazole (prescribed for thrush, for example, in the form of suppositories)
- active ingredient furazolidone (prescribed for food poisoning or diarrhea of indeterminate nature)
- active substance chloramphenicol (toxic, rarely used: for urinary tract infections, biliary tract and some other diseases)
- active substance cotrimoxazole (may 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 Helicobacter pylori infection, which causes stomach ulcers)
- active ingredient cefamandol (injections for infections of unspecified nature)
- active ingredient cefoperazone (available in injections, treats the respiratory tract, including pneumonia, bacterial diseases of the genitourinary system and other diseases)
- active substance moxifloxacin (a broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribed for severe conditions, including fever, if a bacterial infection is suspected)
Alcohol should be avoided during therapy with these drugs (both oral medications and suppositories or eye drops)!
To make sure that your antibiotic is not included in the group of drugs that are forbidden to combine with alcohol, check with your doctor and read the instructions for the drug carefully.
Rational decision
When treating any disease with antibiotics, you should never overload the body with alcoholic beverages. After all, like any poisonous substance, ethanol requires "neutralization" in the body. To fight the poison, the body throws additional reserves, often the last, especially if the disease is long-lasting. Spending energy on cleansing the body can damage the immune system and significantly prolong the recovery period.
In addition, studies and medical practice confirm that both alcohol and antibiotics have a depressant effect on the liver.
Despite the fact that expert opinions on the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial agents are divided (with the exception of those drugs for which restrictions are categorical), most tend to believe that it is better to refuse alcohol during antibiotic therapy. . You should also know: if you still drank a glass of wine during the therapy, you should not refuse the next antibiotic (of course, if it is a drug for which there are no contraindications for alcohol).