Before prescribing antibiotics for treatment, the doctor strictly warns that it is absolutely impossible to drink alcohol during treatment. But now the necessary treatment is over, and the question arises, how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days, or maybe hours, should be spent freeing the body of the remnants of harsh drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate successful treatment? The problem is urgent and must be addressed.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotics are used to treat many infectious and inflammatory pathologies. With such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs, the body's immune system is sometimes unable to handle them on its own.
The job of antibiotics lies in their effect on bacterial cell structure.. This reduces the ability of pathogenic microflora to multiply at a breakneck pace 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 of eliminating them from the body lies with the liver. It is the organ of the liver that cleanses the internal organs from the remnants of the decomposition of drugs.
The hepatic organ, taking 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 weakened). This option is fraught with the development of additional and sometimes fatal pathologies.
The exact reaction of the body depends on how aggressive the antibiotic is. This nuance will be best explained by the attending physician, prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are prohibited to combine with alcohol
But many particularly frivolous individuals, despite medical prohibitions, still take risks and drink alcohol on their chests 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 harm your well-being, for the organism the use of such a cocktail never passes without leavingtrace.
The components of ethanol, reacting with the ingredients of antibiotics, are able to react at a "slow" rate. Such effects can suddenly "surface" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics absolutely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after meeting them in the process of alcohol treatment.. These are the following tools:
- Tetracyclines. Used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Levomycetins. Aggressive antibiotics are marked by their own "rich" list of all sorts of side effects. Alcohol significantly enhances the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamides. If you combine antibiotics of this series with alcohol, you can pay for liver and central nervous system health.
- 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 leads to the most serious health consequences, and in special cases can cause cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-grade alcoholic beverages in combination with such drugs cause a disulfiram-like reaction. A patient who dares to diversify the treatment with cephalosporins by drinking is sure to face severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs from this series of antibiotics and drink 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, are also prohibited. All strict prohibitions are necessarily prescribed in the annotations to drugs. But manufacturers do not 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 chagrin of those who suffer from alcohol, the absence of prohibition does not mean that it is possible to associate alcohol and this drug. Bear in mind that man is a unique creation. Someone's body does not even "notice" extraneous interference from alcohol, while for others it will react with severe poisoning.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period for drinking alcohol after taking antibiotics is prescribed in the instructions attached to the drug.. On average, this period is 10 to 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 its administration.
- The initial state of health of the patient, the presence of additional chronic diseases.
The rate of excretion of antibiotic residues from the body and, accordingly, the time during which you can not drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions do not say anything about this nuance, then one 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 knows the instructions and knows when to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics, sometimes he may not pay attention to the prohibition. Or don't wait for the marked "quarantine" time. 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 from a situation where ethanol will accumulate in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, manifesting itself 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 breathing;
- jumps in blood pressure;
- dizziness and disorientation;
- allergic reactions (hives, itching, swelling);
- pressing (squeezing) type pain in the sternum;
- 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. Wait until you can actually 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 trials.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 risk your own health! Alcohol does not go anywhere, but health can be significantly 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 drink at all.Health to you!