Antibiotics and Alcohol

Almost all the drugs and antibiotics interact with alcohol. Many of these drugs include over the counter drugs and those prescribed by the doctor. Antibiotics are anti-bacterial and include all the anti-fungal and anti-viral drugs. When a doctor prescribes you an antibiotic, you must let him know whether you consume alcohol on daily basis. Many of us have the same question in our mind of 'can you drink alcohol while taking antibiotics?' Although not all the antibiotics interact with alcohol, there are effects of alcohol on antibiotics.

What are Antibiotics
Antibiotics are formulated to kill microorganisms, but sometimes few antibiotic drugs have certain side-effects. Also, the dosage of antibiotics must be taken as per the doctor's prescription. Otherwise, you may build up immunity for that particular antibiotics. There may or may not be an interaction of antibiotic and alcohol. It is advisable that you must consult your doctor about the safety of the combination of antibiotics and alcohol. Alcohol affects antibiotics in a negative manner. Read more does alcohol affect antibiotics.

Effect of Alcohol on Antibiotics
Antibiotics are excreted from the body in various ways. Usually, the antibiotics are broken down by liver and excreted through urine and feces. A patient's medical history is noted down by the doctor, so as to determine for how much time the antibiotics will be retained by the patients body. One of the interaction of antibiotics and alcohol is that alcohol is responsible for the way in which the body breaks down the antibiotics. Many cases are found in which the alcohol is responsible for excess excretion of antibiotics. However, many a times, the opposite is observed. Antibiotics are retained in the body instead of being excreted. This means, that antibiotics and alcohol interact with each other to reduce the effect of antibiotics on the body. Many cases of illness and dizziness are registered with those who have combined antibiotics and alcohol. Also, the age of the person plays an important role in the antibiotics and alcohol interaction. It is often seen that older patients suffer from some side-effects when they combine antibiotics and alcohol. Some of the common side-effects are dizziness, upset stomach and sickness.

In short, alcohol hampers the overall healing procedure of the body after the bacterial attack. The side-effects mentioned above are some of the very minor interactions of antibiotics and alcohol. The major side-effects of consuming alcohol while taking antibiotics are vomiting, nausea, increase in heart rate and shortness of breath. The overall energy levels in your body are lowered by combing the consumption of antibiotics and alcohol. Thus, your healing process will slow down.

One more important point that is to be mentioned is, that some mouthwashes and medicines for cold and cough contain alcohol. So, care must be taken while consuming them. There is a certain class of antibiotics that react with alcohol. Here are some of them:

• Metronidazole
• Tinidazole
• Furazolidone (Furoxone)
• Griseofulvin (Grisactin)
• Antimalarial Quinacrine (Atabrine)

Read more types of antibiotics. This was all about antibiotics & alcohol. It is recommended that before taking antibiotics, let your doctor know about your alcohol consumption.