Unfortunately, a stereotype has developed about the disease of the non-drinker. If you refuse a glass of vodka during a feast, you will certainly find a person who will ask - "Is he sick? " But few people understand that alcohol is very harmful to the body and especially during the treatment of other diseases. In this article we will talk about the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibiotic therapy. Is it possible to drink during treatment, let's try to understand.
Consequences of taking antibiotics in combination with alcohol
Antibiotics are one of the most powerful, effective and efficient groups of drugs that have completely changed science and medicine. A few centuries ago, the average life expectancy of a person was about forty years, and with the introduction of antibiotics in the masses, people began to live much longer. Today, antibiotics are very controversial, many young mothers talk about the horrors and consequences of frequent and prolonged use of this drug by children. In fact, like any powerful drug, antibiotics require careful attention and special rules of administration. And one of them is abstinence from alcohol during treatment. Otherwise, this can lead to serious consequences.
- Decreased drug concentration.As you know, the antibiotic does not start working immediately, but only after the accumulation of a certain amount of the drug in the body. And alcohol significantly reduces the absorption of the drug in the walls of the stomach and intestines. This means that alcohol simply reverses the effect of antibiotic therapy by reducing the concentration of the drug in the body. Therefore, taking the drug becomes simply useless and sometimes dangerous, as the lack of therapeutic effect leads to the fact that the disease thrives, the number of bacteria increases. In addition, small doses of antibiotic lead to the fact that harmful microorganisms develop resistance to this antibiotic, subsequently it becomes ineffective.
- Load the liver.Another negative consequence of combining alcohol with antibiotics is the extremely high load on the liver. This organ is involved in the processing of ethyl alcohol and the neutralization of drug intermediates. That is, during the intake of antibiotics the liver works as actively as possible, in combination with the intake of alcohol, the load on the body is high, sometimes the liver may refuse.
- Disulfiram-like reaction.Sometimes taking alcohol with an antibiotic ends in a severe reaction in the form of nausea, vomiting, seizures and malaise. This occurs when certain groups of antibiotics are taken in combination with ethanol. Often this reaction is used to code a person from drinking alcohol. A special tablet is sewn into the subcutaneous space with a substance that enters the body in equal doses for a long time - several months. If alcohol enters the human body during this period, all of the above symptoms appear. A person develops a constant aversion to alcohol.
In addition, alcoholic beverages thicken the blood very much, which leads to dehydration of the body. How an antibiotic will behave in such conditions is a mystery, because each organism is individual. Sometimes the consequences of such a combination can be dangerous and irreversible. Therefore, drinking alcohol during antibiotic therapy is strictly prohibited. This also applies to low-alcohol beverages.
How to take antibiotics properly
For a drug to be useful, it must be taken according to certain rules. As noted, it is not possible to combine with alcohol, you have to wait until the drug is completely removed from the body. This may take several hours to several days after the last dose of the medicine. Here are some more guidelines to follow when treating antibiotics.
Antibiotics should be taken at regular intervals, this is very important. If your doctor prescribes injections or pills twice a day, they should be taken strictly after 12 hours. If a triple dose is prescribed, then you should take antibiotics every 8 hours - for example at 6: 00, 14: 00 and 22: 00.
Antibiotics may not work if the bacteria are highly resistant to this group of drugs. Before starting treatment, you should ideally undergo a bacteriological culture to identify the most sensitive drug in a particular case for an organism.
All antibiotics should be taken only as directed by a doctor - not even worth talking about. Some diseases, despite the severity of the symptoms, may not be sensitive to antibiotic therapy, such as viral diseases.
Before prescribing, be sure to tell your doctor that you have previously had allergic reactions to medications. You should also tell your doctor about the medicines you are taking all the time - hormonal contraceptives, blood thinners, antihistamines and more. Combining some medications with antibiotics can have unintended consequences.
Antibiotics should not be taken for less than 5 days, usually the course is about 7-10 days. Even if you feel better on the third day of taking the medicine, you should not cancel it, otherwise the bacteria, which are not completely suppressed, will start to multiply again and attack the body. Another consequence of early discontinuation of the antibiotic is that this bacterial strain will become resistant to the antibiotic being taken. Next time with such a disease, this drug will be powerless.
Take antibiotics exactly as directed, especially when combined with food. As a rule, most drugs in this group should be taken after a meal with plenty of water. Medicines are not washed off with juice, coffee and milk, so their effectiveness can be reduced.
Antibiotics should be combined with the intake of beneficial bacteria, as antibiotic therapy can completely kill the intestinal microflora, leading to dysbiosis, diarrhea or diarrhea. To avoid this, you should take probiotics and prebiotics in parallel.
These are the basic rules for taking antibiotics, which must be strictly followed, regardless of the group of drugs. Sometimes the doctor may not talk about these simple rules, as they should be known to everyone.
When can antibiotics be combined with alcohol?
There are some antibiotics whose combination with alcohol is strictly contraindicated. These are fluoroquinolones, nitroimidazoles, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, erythromycin and a drug for tuberculosis. Under no circumstances should they be combined with alcohol, otherwise a complex disulfiram-like reaction will develop. If you plan to drink alcohol, which can not be avoided in any way, you should try to drink alcohol so that it does not cross with the drug in the body. For example, some types of antibiotics are cleared from the blood within 2-3 hours. During this interval you can drink a glass of beer, which a man of average build will hatch in a few hours. That is, when you take the medicine again, your body will be sober and clean again. In such a theory there are many nuances, you need to take into account the rate of elimination of the drug and alcohol from the body, to know the time interval between taking the drug. That is why it is still better to give up alcohol during treatment for your own health.
The first mention of the dangers of alcohol during antibiotic treatment dates back to the 1940s. During World War II, doctors began to actively use penicillin, which was first introduced in the treatment of large masses. At the time, patients were European soldiers who loved to drink beer. And beer, as you know, had a pronounced diuretic effect and simply removed the drug from the body. Then the doctors decided to "scare" the soldiers and told them about the severe consequences of the combination of treatment and alcohol. People in white coats were intuitively straight, and even then they protected their patients from problems. Take care of yourself, do not drink alcohol during the treatment period!