How long after taking ceftriaxone can I drink alcohol?

In daily life, when the body has an infection or a cold, people take cephalosporin for treatment. Cephalosporin has a strong anti-inflammatory ability and can also prevent some infectious diseases. It is very good for the body. However, you cannot drink alcohol after taking cephalosporin. Since cephalosporin is an antibiotic drug, drinking alcohol after taking cephalosporin can cause great harm to the body.

How long after taking ceftriaxone can I drink alcohol?

You should not drink alcohol within one week after taking cephalosporins. Therefore, if you drink alcohol while taking cephalosporins, it is easy to cause a "disulfiram-like reaction" caused by the reaction of cephalosporins and alcohol. It may also cause a disulfiram reaction, such as facial flushing, headache, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, tachycardia, mild hypotension, and some patients may have difficulty breathing. In severe cases, liver failure or even death may occur within a short period of time. If you take cephalosporin antibiotics, you cannot drink alcohol today, otherwise it may cause adverse reactions to these drugs. Generally, you can drink alcohol one week after stopping taking the medicine. It is recommended that you drink more water to promote metabolism, and go to the hospital as soon as possible if you have any discomfort.

Why can't I drink alcohol while taking ceftriaxone?

Drinking alcohol after taking cephalosporins may cause a disulfiram-like reaction

Disulfiram-like reactions can be explained from the normal alcohol metabolism pathway. Alcohol, whose chemical name is ethanol, is first converted into acetaldehyde in the liver by the action of alcohol dehydrogenase, and acetaldehyde is then converted into acetic acid by the action of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Acetic acid enters the citric acid cycle and is finally converted into water and carbon dioxide and excreted. Two enzymes in this link play an important role in alcohol metabolism. Cephalosporin antibiotics, especially the third-generation cephalosporin antibiotics, contain methylthiotetrazolyl group (MTT) in their molecules, which can inhibit the activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, making it impossible to degrade acetaldehyde, resulting in acetaldehyde poisoning, which is the so-called disulfiram-like reaction. This can cause symptoms such as flushed face, rapid heart rate, and low blood pressure. In severe cases, it can lead to respiratory depression, myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, convulsions, and even death.

In addition to cephalosporin antibiotics, there are other drugs that can also cause disulfiram-like reactions: imidazole drugs such as metronidazole, ornidazole, etc.; other antibiotics such as furazolidone, ketoconazole, co-sulfamethoxazole, isoniazid, etc.; sulfonylurea hypoglycemic drugs such as gliclazide, glipizide, etc.; other drugs such as warfarin, tolazoline, etc.

Which drugs can cause disulfiram-like reactions?

1. Cephalosporin drugs include cefoperazone, cefoperazone sulbactam, ceftriaxone, cefazolin (Pioneer V), cefoperazone (Pioneer VI), cefmetazole, cefmetazole, cefminox, latamoxef, cefmenoxime, cefamandole, cephalexin (Pioneer IV), and cefaclor.

Among them, the disulfiram-like reaction caused by cefoperazone is the most reported and the most sensitive. If the patient eats chocolate with alcohol filling, takes Huoxiang Zhengqi water, or even just treats the skin with alcohol after using this product, a disulfiram-like reaction may occur.

The common feature of these cephalosporins in chemical structure is that at the 3-position of the 7-aminocephalosporanic acid (7-ACA) ring of their parent nucleus, there is a methylthiotetrazolyl (thiomethyltetrazolyl) substituent similar to the disulfiram molecule, which competes with coenzyme I for the active center of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, preventing the further oxidation of acetaldehyde, leading to acetaldehyde accumulation, and thus causing a disulfiram-like reaction.