Antibiotics and Alcohol: The Effects of Mixing Them

antibiotics while drinking

You should minimize alcohol intake while taking oral ketoconazole tablets. This interaction has not been fully established, but it is prudent to minimize your alcohol consumption. Antibiotics are one of the most commonly prescribed and important drug classes in medicine. But many antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections can have drug interactions with alcohol found in beer, wine, cocktails and even in other medicines. Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the outpatient setting (2). Warnings may vary depending on the pharmacy that dispense the prescription.

antibiotics while drinking

Table 1: Antibiotics That Can Interact With Alcohol

The articles were chosen after fun group activities for substance abuse treatment a search of published English language medical literature. A secondary search was performed via review of references found from the initial search. All randomized controlled trials and results from smaller, nonrandomized, open-label studies were included, provided that the studies had adequate methodology as judged by the authors. For drugs with limited information, case reports/series were included. Online drug information centers for Walgreen’s, Rite Aid, and CVS pharmacies were queried for each antimicrobial for concurrent alcohol use warnings (Table 1). Many prescription bottles come labeled with a sticker that warns against alcohol use with the antimicrobial (1).

In rare cases, mixing alcohol with CNS depressants can lead to a drug overdose that may result in coma or death. These types of drugs slow down the activity of your CNS, and combining CNS depressants can lead to severe and potentially life-threatening symptoms. Remember that the interactions mentioned above do not reflect every antibiotic that interacts with alcohol. While alcohol does not interact with every prescription drug, in many cases, it can worsen existing side effects or cause additional, independent side effects. Alcohol can make antibiotics less effective, as well as worsen existing side effects or create additional side effects.

  1. Levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and trovafloxacin had improved efficacy in alcohol-fed rats compared to alcohol-free rats (24).
  2. One such example is amoxicillin, a commonly prescribed, generic beta-lactam antibiotic, which can negatively interact with alcohol.
  3. A disulfiram-like reaction and a possible increased risk of hepatitis are potential concerns.
  4. Talk to your pharmacist or healthcare provider and weigh your overall health background in the context of your specific antibiotic treatment.
  5. Taking antibiotics that can also damage the liver may worsen these types of problems.

Penicillins.

Generally, the tyramine concentration in a high-tyramine meal ranged from 10 to 36 mg (85). Furthermore, what does a drug counselor do alcohol can cause hepatic stress or injury with or without the use of potentially hepatotoxic medications. These concerns may be responsible for alcohol warnings that accompany many antimicrobials, but what are the data and strength of support for these warnings? The goal of this review was to summarize existing data, which in turn generates insights into the origin of these warnings. This review may also be helpful in assessing a patient who presents with an adverse drug effect which may or may not have been due to an alcohol and antibiotic interaction.

Product Reviews

Physicians prescribe sulfonamide antibiotics to treat urinary, respiratory, and abdominal infections. Sulfonamide antibiotics include the combination drug trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, which healthcare professionals also call Septra. Also, the antibiotic linezolid (Zyvox) interacts with some alcoholic drinks, including red wine and tap beer. Drinking these with this medicine can cause a harmful rise in blood pressure.

Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances. Rarely, more severe reactions may include abnormal heart rhythm, heart attack, heart failure, unconsciousness, convulsions, and even death. Inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) by the antibiotic may result in an increased concentration of acetaldehyde leading to an unpleasant response. In many cases, you only need to take antibiotics for a week or two to fully recover from an infection. Drinking alcohol while taking these antibiotics may make them less effective. Cefotetan (Cefotan) is a broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic used to treat a variety of infections.

An occasional drink with fluoroquinolone can be safe, but regularly drinking alcohol may cause central nervous system side effects. People should avoid red wine and tap beers when taking linezolid. They should also avoid other foods that contain tyramine, such as strong cheeses and smoked meats. Doctors use oxazolidinones to treat abdominal, skin, lung, and urinary tract infections. Although some antibiotics can interact with alcohol, the risks are not the same for all types.

General Health

First-line treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) involves an initial phase of four agents (isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and rifampin) (98). Treatment is prolonged, with agents known to be hepatotoxic (98). Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has necessitated the use of second-line agents, which can result in adverse neurological reactions, making concomitant use with alcohol undesirable (99). The use of alcohol with griseofulvin is not recommended by the National Consumers League, the FDA, or the NIH (4, 5). Package labeling warns that griseofulvin may potentiate the effects of alcohol, resulting in tachycardia and flushing (93). Disulfiram-like reactions have been reported in the literature (94,–96).

While acute intake of alcohol is unlikely to impact therapeutic levels of doxycycline, alcoholics may have reduced doxycycline half-lives leading to liberty cap lookalikes poisonous subtherapeutic concentrations if dosed once daily. Alcohol intake has been reported to diminish the antimicrobial effect of doxycycline. Alcohol may adversely affect the PK of erythromycin and may increase blood alcohol levels.