Can I drink alcohol while taking antibiotics?

Antibiotics are a relatively special type of medicine. They are usually in the form of pills. Most people have taken antibiotics. We usually take antibiotics when we are infected with a certain disease. Most people have also drunk alcohol. Different types of alcohol have different consequences, and their tastes are also different. Antibiotics are related to drinking. So, can you drink alcohol while taking antibiotics?

Antibiotics refer to a class of secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms (including bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes) or higher animals and plants in the course of their lives that have anti-pathogen or other activities and are chemical substances that can interfere with the developmental functions of other living cells. The antibiotics commonly used in clinical practice include extracts from microbial culture fluids and compounds synthesized or semi-synthesized by chemical methods.

There are currently more than 10,000 known natural antibiotics. The antibacterial or bactericidal effects of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents are mainly aimed at killing mechanisms that "bacteria have but humans (or other animals and plants) do not have". There are four major mechanisms of action: 1. Hindering the synthesis of bacterial cell walls, causing bacteria to swell, rupture and die in a low osmotic pressure environment. Antibiotics that act in this way are mainly beta-lactam antibiotics. Mammalian cells do not have cell walls and are not affected by these drugs. ②Interact with the bacterial cell membrane, enhance the permeability of the bacterial cell membrane, open the ion channels on the membrane, and allow the useful substances inside the bacteria to leak out of the bacteria or cause electrolyte imbalance and death. Antibiotics that act in this way include polymyxin and gramicidin. ③Interact with bacterial ribosomes or their reaction substrates (such as tRNA, mRNA) to inhibit protein synthesis. Antibiotics that act in this way include tetracyclines, macrolides, aminoglycosides, chloramphenicol, and others.

You should not drink alcohol when taking any antibiotics, because antibiotics need to be metabolized by the liver to be excreted from the body. If you drink alcohol while taking antibiotics, it will cause an overload on the liver, causing liver damage and elevated transaminase levels. Among them, the most common one is the "disulfide-like reaction" caused by drinking alcohol while taking cephalosporins: the main component of alcohol is ethanol. After drinking, 90% of the ethanol is metabolized in the liver, which requires the catalytic decomposition of alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. If these two enzymes are deficient or their functions are inhibited, it will lead to the accumulation of ethanol or acetaldehyde. Disulfiram-like reaction is the inhibition of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity, which causes symptoms of acetaldehyde accumulation poisoning. Common symptoms include facial flushing, conjunctival congestion, headache, dizziness, irritability, shortness of breath, and severe cases may cause breathing difficulties, impaired consciousness, coma, etc., and may even be life-threatening.

Even after stopping the medication, due to the chronic decomposition and residue of the drug, for safety reasons, you must wait 7 days before drinking normally.