Is it true that you can't drink alcohol whilst taking a course of antibiotics?

Question

I always thought that the antibiotics didn't work properly and that you also got drunk more easily if you did this but now someone has told me it's a myth (although doctors tell you it's true)

Answer 1

You should not drink alcohol while taking any medication. Alcohol has a tendency to alter the way medication is absorbed in the body.

Answer 2

Nope! You are correct that it is a myth!

The widespread myth holds that you shouldn't drink alcohol while taking antibiotics, but in fact, drinking doesn't lessen the effects of the drugs. However, alcohol can lower your general energy and delay your recovery so it is best to minimize drinking until you've finished the prescribed course of antibiotic treatment. (Beyond that, chronic liver damage from excessive alcohol consumption can affect the metabolism and toxicity of antibiotics.)




The VD Clinics of the 1950s and 1960s gave the somber and serious advice that alcohol should absolutely not be used while taking penicillin. But there were no significant chemical interactions between penicillin and alcohol. The real reason that this advice was given was for moral reasons, not pharmacological reasons. The medicos of the day were worried that alcohol would reduce the inhibitions of the sufferers, and that, while under the influence, they might get a little "frisky" and pass on their infection to another person, before the penicillin had a chance to cure the sexually transmitted diseases.

That's how the mythconception that alcohol should never be taken with antibiotics arose.

Even so, it's well known that alcohol can interact quite nastily with a small number of modern drugs such as tinidazole (Fasigyn) and metronidazole (Flagyl), potentially causing nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headaches, fast heart rate and flushing. And alcohol can reduce the absorption of other antibiotics such as the doxycyclines and tetracyclines. But these few interactions are well known to both medical doctors and pharmacists.

Mind you, alcohol can put an extra load on your liver and immune system, can impair your judgment, liberate aggressive tendencies, reduce your energy state - and can be associated with staying up late, behaving recklessly, and not getting all the rest that your body needs to heal itself. So half a glass of an alcoholic beverage of our choice would be fine with most antibiotics.

Answer 3

As a general rule, a glass of wine with dinner isn't going to make any difference, but there's much to take into account. Some antibiotics, for instance, will make you quite alcohol-intolerant, and you'll throw up an unbelievable amount.
Doctors, knowing more about drugs, tend to have a much greater respect for their ability to do bad things to you than is the case with the general public, and like to keep things conservative with any drug, and even moreso with mixtures of drugs, and that includes alcohol.

Answer 4

For a very small number of antibiotics, alcohol inhibits their action. It is likely your doctor would tell you if you were on these, but you should ask if you are unclear. However for other antibiotics, as alcohol causes diuresis (i.e. makes you urinate more) it speeds up how fast the antibiotics are processed so would slightly reduce their effectiveness. With these, the antibiotics are more effective if you don't drink alcohol but they can still work.

Answer 5

A widespread myth holds that you shouldn't drink alcohol while taking antibiotics, but in fact, drinking doesn't lessen the effects of the drugs. However, alcohol can lower your general energy and delay your recovery so it is best to minimize drinking until you've finished the prescribed course of antibiotic treatment. (Beyond that, chronic liver damage from excessive alcohol consumption can affect the metabolism and toxicity of antibiotics.)

Answer 6

If you are taking flagyl (metradiazole) and you drink you will feel very ill. that's because chemically it is very similar to antabuse - the drug they give alcoholics - it reacts with the alcohol to make you feel sick.

Most antibiotics will work with alcohol.

The reason for the myth is that antibiotics were first used in numbers to treat venereal disease n the 1950's. Doctors thought that if people went to parties and got drunk they would have more sex and spread the disease before it had been cleared, so people were told to abstain from both sex and alcohol.

Answer 7

Just as it's true that oral contraception is not as effective whilst on medication, but the main thing with antibiotics is to make sure you finish the course.Where did you get them from? I thought doctors were under strict instructions not to provide them these days, sounds like your realy sick so what are you doing drinking alcohol?

Answer 8

It all depends on which antibiotics you are on,some of them react with alcohol resulting in the positive effects being cancelled out therefore being a waste of time taking them which is a waste of money & one of the reasons doctors will tell you not to drink on them since the NHS is already throwing away millions every year on medications that are wasted.Read the packet/leaflet with th tablets-they have to put the truth on them (side effects/do's & don'ts) by law.

Answer 9

It is never a good idea to drink alcohol with any prescribed medicine. However in this particular case, taking alcohol is unlikely to cause you any problems but it does neutralise antibiotics so your Amoxicillin will not be effective. Surely you can go without a drink for just one week to allow your medication to work.

Answer 10

Although the effect varies with the antibiotic, virtually all of them are degraded to some extent by adding alcohol to the body. Some of them are sensitive to other chemicals and patients are warned off other beverages including caffine containing soda and coffee. In some cases the effect occurs in the stomach when the medicine is taken in pill form, in other cases in the blood stream.
As for getting drunk more easily, that part sounds a little strange (how would you measure "drunk" - balance, vision, coordination, "buzz", judgement), since some drugs are disorienting with alcohol you might be more so.

Answer 11

won't hurt you but it won't help you either, it cancels out whatever dose is in your system at the time. So it doesn't make sense is all- if you must drink skip a dose and resume at your next dose like you do when you accidentally forgot to take it. Also Dr's don't like it because not only do they want you to take all your medication properly and on time, but drinking lowers your immune system- which if your on meds means your already compromised.