In life, there are often situations when we have to take antibiotics and at the same time are invited to a celebration. Therefore, the question of whether one can drink alcohol while taking antibiotics is very acute in such cases. Below we will provide complete information on this issue.
Treatment with antibacterial drugs is prescribed in some cases of bacterial infections and, less frequently, fungal infections. It is important to remember that the course of antibiotic treatment should not be interrupted. The duration can vary, depending on the type of disease and its severity (from 3-7 days or more). The thought that it is necessary to "get out" of the festive life and not accept an invitation to any meal scares many. But in practice, everything is not so scary.
If you approach this problem efficiently, from a medical point of view, then you can take part in the celebration with relatives and undergo antibiotic treatment.
The golden rule: always drink in moderation.
Under certain circumstances, described below, you can, of course, combine alcohol with antibiotics. But when prescribing antibiotics, you need to be careful not to overload your body with excessive alcohol. In any case, ethanol gets into you, and all your defenses will be thrown into the fight against it. And in the case, for example, of a protracted illness, this power may be the last. Immunity will become weaker, and recovery will be delayed to an indefinite future. And in some cases describedbelow, even death is possible.
The myth of the compatibility of antibiotics and alcohol
The frightening story that it was impossible to combine antibacterial drugs and alcohol, most likely, began to spread shortly after World War II. At the time, venereal disease clinics were only crowded with soldiers and officers, who bore all the hardships of military life on their shoulders.
Doctors then absolutely forbid their patients to consume alcohol during antibiotic therapy, but not because of harm to health from mixing the two, but for very superficial reasons - after drinking a glass, a soldier can "pass out" and get a new drug. genital infections.
According to another version, the ban was born out of high labor costs when receiving penicillin, strangely enough, it evaporated from the urine of treated military personnel. Therefore, in order to get a medically pure medicine, they are forbidden to drink beer during the treatment period.
Since then, the theory of the dangers of mixing alcohol with antibiotics has become popular among the public, and many still believe that it cannot be combined. But what is your opinion on this evidence -based medical issue?
Fact research
It is known that in the late 20th century-early 21st century, several studies were conducted on the effects of ethanol on various types of antibacterial drugs. Experiments were conducted on laboratory animals and on human volunteers. The results clearly show that most types of antibiotics are not affected by alcohol intake.
All antibiotics investigated were effective in both the control and in the experimental group, no global deviations in the physicochemical response (drug distribution throughout the body, mechanism of absorption and excretion of decomposition products) were found.
However, there is a hypothesis that alcohol enhances the negative effects of antibacterial drugs on the liver. But in the scientific medical literature, cases describing such situations are relatively rare (up to 10 cases per 100, 000), and no special studies have been conducted in this area.
Antibiotics that are incompatible with alcohol do exist
There are several types of antibacterial drugs that interact with alcohol and produce very unpleasant symptoms - called disulfiram -like reactions in medical practice.
This reaction occurs during the chemical interaction of ethanol and certain antibiotic molecules, as a result of which there are changes in the metabolism of ethyl alcohol in the body and the accumulation of acetaldehyde is observed.
Signs of acetaldehyde poisoning:
- Vomiting, nausea.
- Severe headache.
- Cramps in the arms and legs.
- The heart rate increases.
- Heavy and intermittent breathing.
- Fever and redness in the chest, face and neck.
In such cases, when taking large doses of alcohol, fatal results are possible!
All of the above symptoms are very difficult for a person, therefore, disulfiram -like reactions are used in many medical clinics in the treatment of alcoholism (so -called "coding").