Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, doctors strongly warn that it is 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 liberation from the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate the success of completing the treatment? This issue is urgent and needs to be addressed.
The essence of antibiotic action
Antibiotics are used to treat various infectious and inflammatory pathologies. With such diseases, when aggressive bacteria invade internal organs, and the body's immune system is sometimes unable to cope 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 reproduce at an unusual rate and gradually kills the entire colony of pathogenic bacteria.
Antibiotics improve the patient’s condition and help him get rid of bacterial diseases quickly.
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 cleanses the internal organs of the decay residues of the drug.
The hepatic organs, taking the main blow, can no longer withstand the additional load. If you fill your body with alcohol simultaneously (during antibiotic treatment), you can expect the following:
- Complete loss of the expected therapeutic effect.
- The appearance of unpleasant symptoms in the form of nausea, profuse vomiting, general weakness. This is intoxication of the body with antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the hepatic organs (especially if the liver is already in a weak state). This option is fraught with the development of additional and sometimes life-threatening pathologies.
How exactly the body responds depends on the level of aggression of the antibiotic. These nuances will be better explained by the attending physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are prohibited to be combined with alcohol
But many especially trivial individuals, despite medical restrictions, still take risks and take alcohol in their chests during antibiotic treatment. People do not think about the possible negative consequences of neglect on their own health.
While everything went smoothly and the simultaneous intake of alcohol and antibiotics did not affect your well -being, for the body the use of such cocktails never passed without a trace.
The ethanol component, reacting with the antibiotic ingredient, is capable of reacting at a "slow" rate. Such effects can suddenly "surface" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are completely incompatible with ethanol. They are the ones who cause the most sad and heartbreaking consequences after they meet in the process of treatment with alcohol.. These are the following tools:
- Tetracyclines. Used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetin. Aggressive antibiotics are marked with their own "rich" list of all kinds of side effects. Alcohol greatly increases the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates body intoxication.
- Lincosamides. If you combine this series of antibiotics with alcohol, you can pay for the health of the liver and central nervous system.
- Aminoglycoside. 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 severe health consequences and in special cases can trigger a heart attack.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-grade alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause disulfiram-like reactions. Patients who dare to diversify treatment with cephalosporins by drinking are guaranteed to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolide. The combination of drugs of this series of antibiotics and drinking has a very strong and damaging effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatosides (liver cells).
Antibiotics, used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis, are also included under the ban. All strict prohibitions must be set out in the annotations to medicines. But manufacturers do not always write about such taboos. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you should not consume alcohol in the instructions for the following medications:
- antibiotics from the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotics;
- antibiotics for external use produced by radiant fungi;
- antifungal drugs;
- penicillin series antibiotics.
To the disappointment of those who suffer from drinking, the absence of a ban does not mean that it is possible to combine alcohol and these drugs. Keep in mind that humans are unique creations. One’s body really doesn’t "observe" external alcohol disturbances, while for others it will react with severe intoxication.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period of permitting alcohol consumption after taking antibiotics is specified in the instructions attached to the medication.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. Doctors can change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- A person's weight, build and age.
- Drug aggression and duration of its administration.
- The initial state of health of the patient, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of residual antibiotics from the body and, thus, how much time you should not drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions don’t say anything about these nuances, you also shouldn’t rush into an intoxicating drink. In this case, you need to wait at least 2-3 days after the end of the therapeutic course.
Consequences of Negligence
Although the patient is familiar with the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, he or she may sometimes not pay attention to the ban. Or don’t wait for the time marked "quarantine". Antibiotic residues, which do not have time to leave the body safely, will begin to actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What is to be expected from a situation where ethanol will accumulate in all tissues and internal organs? Poisoning, manifested in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on the state of health. The following unpleasant symptoms are guaranteed to come to a person:
- heavy vomiting;
- increased sweating;
- severe nausea attacks;
- shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and confusion;
- allergic reactions (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- pressing pain (redness) in the sternum;
- migraine -type headaches of such intensity that they cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And this is not the whole list of problems that befall someone who ignores common sense. Wait until you can actually drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, a person only runs the risk of being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
Keep in mind that not all antibiotic agents have undergone specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics are still proven to be incompatible with alcohol.. But this does not mean you should be the subject of a test.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol won’t go anywhere, but health can be significantly and irreversible by recklessness. Wait for all maturity dates after the end of antibiotic treatment and it is better not to take a glass at all.Health to you!