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 is complete and the question arises how long after antibiotics you can drink alcohol.
How many days or maybe hours do you have to take to rid the body of the remnants of aggressive drugs? Or can you immediately celebrate the successful completion of the treatment? The problem is urgent and needs to be solved.
The essence of the action of antibiotics
Antibiotics are used to treat many infectious and inflammatory pathologies. In such diseases, when aggressive bacteria attack the internal organs, and the body's immune system is sometimes unable to cope with them alone.
The work of antibiotics consists in their effect on the cellular bacterial structure.. This reduces the ability of the 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 to the coin: the main burden of removing them from the body falls on the liver. This is the liver organ that cleanses the internal organs of the remnants of the breakdown of drugs.
The hepatic organ taking the main blow is no longer able to cope with the additional load. If you load your body with alcohol at the same time (during antibiotic treatment), you can expect the following:
- Complete disappearance of the expected effect of the therapy.
- The appearance of unpleasant symptoms in the form of nausea, vomiting, general weakness. This is intoxication of the body with antibiotics mixed with alcohol.
- Diseases of the liver (especially if the liver is already weakened). This option is met with the development of additional and sometimes life-threatening pathologies.
How exactly the body reacts depends on the degree of aggressiveness of the antibiotic drug. This nuance will be better explained by the attending physician prescribing one or another antibiotic.
What drugs are forbidden to combine with alcohol
But many particularly frivolous individuals, despite medical prohibitions, still take risks and drink alcohol on their breasts during antibiotic treatment. People do not even think about the possible negative consequences of such neglect of their own health.
Even if everything went well and the simultaneous intake of alcohol and antibiotics did not affect your well-being, for the body the use of such a cocktail never goes unnoticed.
The components of ethanol that react with the ingredients of antibiotics are able to react at a "slow" rate, and such effects may suddenly "emerge" years after treatment.
There are antibiotics that are completely incompatible with ethanol. It is they who cause the most depressing and sad consequences after encountering in the process of treatment with alcohol.. These are the following tools:
- Tetracyclines. It is used for therapy in diagnosed infectious diseases.
- Chloramphenicol. Aggressive antibiotics are marked with their own "rich" list of all types of side effects. Alcohol significantly enhances the manifestation of side effects and exacerbates the intoxication of the body.
- Lincosamides. If you combine the antibiotics of 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. Not only do they not combine with alcohol, but they also do not tolerate the presence of other drugs in the body. The effects of alcohol during treatment with such drugs cause the most severe health consequences and in special cases can provoke cardiac arrest.
- Cephalosporins. Even low-quality 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 severe intoxication.
- Macrolides. The combination of drugs from this antibiotic series and drinking has a particularly strong and destructive effect on the state of brain receptors and hepatocides (liver cells).
Antibiotics used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis are also banned. All strict prohibitions are obligatorily prescribed in the annotations to the medicines. But manufacturers do not always write about such a taboo. For example, nothing is said about the fact that you can not drink alcohol in the instructions for the following drugs:
- an antibiotic of the ansamycin group;
- tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic;
- antibiotic for external use, produced by a radiant fungus;
- antifungal drugs;
- penicillin series antibiotics.
To the horror of those who suffer from drinking, the lack 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 really doesn't even "notice" someone else's alcohol interference, while for others it will react with severe poisoning.
When can you drink alcohol after taking antibiotics?
Usually, the period allowing to drink alcohol after taking antibiotics is prescribed in the instructions attached to the drug.. On average, this time is 10-14 days. The doctor may change this time, taking into account the following factors:
- Weight, physique and age of a person.
- The aggressiveness of the drug and the duration of the course of its application.
- 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 the time you cannot drink after antibiotics depends on these data. If the instructions do not say anything about this nuance, you should not rush with intoxicating infusions. In this case, you should wait at least 2-3 days after the end of the treatment 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 ignore the ban. Or don't wait for the marked "quarantine" time. Residues of the antibiotic that have not had time to leave the body safely will begin to actively block the absorption of ethyl alcohol.
What to expect from a situation in which ethanol will accumulate in all internal tissues and organs? Intoxication, manifested in varying degrees of severity - it all depends on 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 (urticaria, itching, swelling);
- pain of the pressing (pressing) type in the sternum;
- migraine-type headaches of such intensity that they cannot be stopped with painkillers.
And that's not the whole list of troubles that befall a person who ignores common sense. Wait until you can really drink alcohol after taking antibiotics. Otherwise, one simply risks being in a hospital bed with symptoms of severe poisoning.
It should be borne in mind that not all antibiotics have been subjected to specific clinical trials.Not all modern antibiotics have yet proven to be incompatible with alcohol.. But that doesn't mean you have to be tested.
Don't risk your own health! Alcohol does not go anywhere, but health can be significantly and irreversibly deteriorated by frivolity. Wait for all appointments after the end of antibiotic treatment and it is better not to take a glass at all.Health for you!