Is it possible to combine alcohol and antibiotics? Even doctors do not give an exact answer to this popular question. And if some are absolutely opposed to such a duet, others believe that it is important to consider the type of alcohol you drink and how much. There is also a third opinion that by efficiently approaching this issue, one 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 think.
Much depends on the active ingredient of the drug. Some types of antibiotics are not friends with alcohol at all, while others can interact normally. Of course, mixing alcohol with pills after reading this article is not worth it. However, knowing certain things will help not to panic, but to understand the issue properly, if for some reason you still drink alcohol during antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotics and alcohol: myths and legends
There is a version that the scary story that alcohol and antibiotics cannot be combined began to spread after the war. The first legend says that during this period, venereal clinics in our country and abroad were simply overcrowded. Patients are soldiers and officers who have fully experienced the "charms" of martial law. Medical staff specifically intimidate patients, talking about the bad consequences of a combination of alcohol and antibiotics, because after drinking, patients can again experience all the serious problems, and the consequences of such "exploitation" can be a new sexually transmitted infection.
Another legend says that because of the difficulty of obtaining penicillin, it was evaporated from the urine of treated soldiers. For this reason, soldiers are prohibited from drinking beer during therapy.
The dangers of drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics are in the air and modern people prefer to avoid such mixtures. But what is the evidence -based medical opinion on this?
What does the study say?
At the beginning of the 21st century, studies have been conducted on the effects of ethanol on various types of antibiotics. During experiments on laboratory animals and human volunteers, it has been proven that alcohol does not affect most types of antibiotics.
So, in the experimental and control groups, the antibiotics studied were equally effective. Significant deviations in the mechanisms of absorption, distribution throughout the body, and excretion of decomposition products were not identified.
By the way, there is a hypothesis that the consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the adverse effects of antibiotics on the liver. In the medical literature, such cases are rarely described because of their rare occurrence (up to 10 cases per 100, 000). At the same time, no further studies were conducted in this regard. Are all fears unfounded?
What are antibiotics that should not be combined with alcohol
No, that fear is not unfounded: there are some antibiotics that, when in contact with alcohol, give very unpleasant symptoms - so -called disulfiram -like reactions. The reaction occurs during the chemical interaction of ethanol with certain antibiotic molecules, as a result, the exchange of ethyl alcohol in the body changes. In particular, there is an accumulation of intermediate substances - acetaldehyde. Poisoning with this substance gives the following symptoms:
- severe headache
- nausea and desire to vomit
- increased heart rate
- redness of the face, neck, chest area, "hot" in it
- intermittent heavy breathing
- limb cramps
Large doses of alcohol can be fatal!
These symptoms are very difficult to accept, often leading to fear of suffocation or death. Disulfiram -like reactions are used in the clinic in the treatment of alcoholism ("coding").
Antibiotics that can cause these symptoms:
- metronidazole active ingredient
- active ingredient ketoconazole (prescribed for thrush, for example, in suppository form)
- active ingredient furazolidone (prescribed for food poisoning or unspecified diarrhea)
- active ingredient chloramphenicol (toxic, rarely used: for infections of the urinary tract, bile ducts and some other diseases)
- active ingredient co-trimoxazole (can be prescribed for infections of the respiratory tract, kidneys and ureters, prostatitis)
- active ingredient lornoxicam (used to treat bacterial infections of the respiratory organs and ENT, kidneys, urinary tract, etc. )
- active ingredient tinidazole (often prescribed for Helicobacter pylori bacterial infections, which cause stomach ulcers)
- active ingredient cefamandol (injection for infections of unspecified nature)
- active ingredients cefoperazone (available in injections, they treat the respiratory tract, including pneumonia, bacterial diseases of the genitourinary system and other diseases)
- active ingredient moxifloxacin (a broad -spectrum antibiotic, prescribed for severe conditions, including fever, if a bacterial infection is suspected)
During therapy with these medications (both oral medications and suppositories or eye drops), alcohol should be avoided!
To ensure that your antibiotics do not fall into the group of drugs that are prohibited to be combined with alcohol, check with your doctor and read carefully the instructions for the drug.
Rational decisions
When treating any disease with antibiotics, in any case, you should not overload your body with alcoholic beverages. After all, like any toxic substance, ethanol requires "neutralization" in the body. To fight toxins, the body sheds extra reserves, often the latter, especially if the disease is protracted. Spending energy to cleanse the body can damage the immune system and significantly increase the recovery period.
In addition, medical studies and practice confirm that both alcohol and antibiotics have depressing effects on the liver.
Despite the fact that expert opinions on the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibacterial agents are divided (with the exception of drugs whose restrictions are categorical), most tend to believe that it is better to reject alcohol during a course of antibiotic therapy. . You should also know: if during therapy you still drink a glass of wine, you can not refuse the next antibiotic (of course, if it is a drug for which there are no contraindications to alcohol).