Can I drink alcohol after antibiotics?

Unfortunately, in Russia there is a stereotype of the disease of a non-drinker. If you refuse a glass of vodka in the process of a feast, there will certainly be a person who asks, “Is it a sick person?”. But few people understand that alcohol is very harmful to the body, and especially during treatment for other diseases. In this article we will talk about the compatibility of alcoholic beverages and antibiotic therapy. Is it possible to drink during treatment, try to figure it out.

The consequences of taking antibiotics in combination with alcohol

Antibiotics - this is one of the most powerful, effective and effective groups of drugs that has completely changed science and medicine. A few centuries ago, the average human life expectancy was about forty years, and with the introduction of antibiotics to 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 medicine by children. Indeed, like any potent medicine, antibiotics require careful attention and special rules for admission. And one of them is the rejection of alcohol during treatment. Otherwise, it can lead to serious consequences.

1. Decreased drug concentration. As you know, an antibiotic does not begin to act 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 into the walls of the stomach and intestines. This means that alcohol simply cancels the effect of antibiotic therapy by reducing the concentration of the drug in the body. Because of this, taking the medicine becomes simply useless, and sometimes dangerous, because the lack of therapeutic effect leads to the fact that the disease flourishes, the number of bacteria increases. In addition, small doses of the antibiotic lead to the fact that harmful microorganisms develop resistance to this antibiotic, and subsequently it becomes ineffective.
2. The load on the liver. Another negative consequence with the combination of alcohol with antibiotics is the extremely high load on the liver. This body is involved in the processing of ethyl alcohol and the neutralization of products of the intermediate exchange of drugs. That is, during the period of taking antibiotics, the liver works as actively as possible, in combination with the intake of alcohol, the load on the organ is high, sometimes the liver may fail.
3. Disulfiram-like reaction. Sometimes taking alcohol with an antibiotic results in a severe reaction in the form of nausea, vomiting, cramps, and poor health. This occurs when taking certain groups of antibiotics in combination with ethanol. Often this reaction is used to encode a person from drinking alcohol. A special tablet is sewn into the subcutaneous space with a substance that, in equal doses, enters the body 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 persistent hostility to alcohol.

In addition, alcoholic products thicken the blood very much, leading to dehydration. How an antibiotic behaves under 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 drinks.

How to take antibiotics

In order for the medicine to benefit, it must be taken according to certain rules. As noted, it is impossible to combine it with alcohol, you need to wait for the complete removal of the drug from the body. This may take from several hours to several days after the last dose of the drug. Here are a few more tips to follow when treating with antibiotics.

Antibiotics should be taken at regular intervals, this is very important. If the doctor prescribes injections or tablets twice a day, they must be taken strictly after 12 hours. If a three-time intake is prescribed, then antibiotics should be taken every 8 hours - for example, at 6.00, 14.00 and 22.00.

Antibiotics may not work if the resistance of bacteria to this group of drugs is high. Before starting treatment, ideally, you need to pass bacteriological culture to identify the most sensitive drug in a particular case for a given organism.

Any antibiotics should be taken only as prescribed by the doctor - this is not even worth talking about. Some diseases with all the severity of symptoms may not be sensitive to antibiotic therapy, for example, viral diseases.

Before prescribing, be sure to inform your doctor that you have previously had any allergic reactions to the medication. You also need to inform your doctor about the medications you take all the time - hormonal contraceptives, blood thinners, antihistamines, etc. The combination of certain drugs 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 again multiply and attack the body. Another consequence of the early withdrawal of the antibiotic is that this bacterial strain will become resistant to the antibiotic taken. Next time with a similar disease, this medicine will be powerless.

Take antibiotics strictly according to the instructions, especially in combination with food. As a rule, most drugs in this group should be drunk after meals with a large amount of water. Drugs are not washed down with juice, coffee and milk, their effectiveness may decrease from this.

Antibiotics must always be combined with the use of beneficial bacteria, because antibiotic therapy can completely kill the intestinal microflora, which leads to dysbiosis, diarrhea or diarrhea. To avoid this, you need to drink probiotics and prebiotics in parallel.

These are the basic rules for taking antibiotics, which must be strictly observed, regardless of the group of drugs. Sometimes a doctor may not talk about these simple rules, as they should be known to everyone.

When can antibiotics be combined with alcohol?

The first mention of the dangers of alcohol during antibiotic treatment was dated in the 40s of the last century. During the Second World War, doctors began to actively use penicillin for the first time in the treatment of the masses. Then the patients were European soldiers who were very fond of drinking beer. And beer, as you know, had a pronounced diuretic effect and simply washed the drug out of the body. Then the doctors decided to “scare” the soldiers and told them about the serious consequences of the combination of treatment and alcohol. People in white coats were intuitively right and even then protected their patients from problems. Take care of yourself, do not drink alcohol during treatment!

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