Are you supposed to avoid alcohol if you are on antibiotics?!

Doctors recommend that you avoid alcohol whilst taking antibiotics because alcohol can react with some of the chemicals in the medication and cause problems. This should help;

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It depends on the type of antibiotic. Some have very adverse affects and interactions.....such as metroidazole, tidazole, co-trimnoxazole and erythromycin. There may be more i havent listed. It is advised to avoid alcohol completely while on the antibiotics mentioned above. Other antibiotics do not interact so fiercely with alcohol so a little consumption won't hurt, but do not drink excessively on them. If you are on antibiotcs to fight off an infection, drinking weakens your immune system so it is not going to help your recovery and can make the antibiotics less effective.

Side effects with antibiotics where alcohol should be avoided can include - drowsiness, breathlessness, headaches, chest pain, skin flushing, increased irregular heart beat, low blood pressure, nausea and vomiting.

There should also be an instruction leaflet with the medication which states what type of antibioic it is and precautions you should take. If in doubt ask the pharmacist when you go to collect them to double check.Health Question & Answer

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In general, alcohol should be avoided when taking antibiotics. However, contrary to a popular belief, only certain antibiotics have negative interactions with alcohol. Metronidazole, tinidazole, latamoxef, cefamandole, cefoperazone, cefmenoxime, and furazolidone, when taken with alcohol, provoke a disulfiram-like reaction (severe vomiting, nausea, shortness of breath, flushing etc.) Serum levels of doxycycline and erythromycin succinate may, in certain circumstances, be significantly reduced by alcohol consumption. Health Question & Answer

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Mixing antibiotics with alcohol can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, convulsions, and increase or decrease the effective of antibiotics, and can increase the risk and severity of side effects. Some drugs can also drastically increase how intoxicated alcohol makes you.

Alcohol makes the antibiotic ineffectiveHealth Question & Answer

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It is recommended to avoid alcohol.The main reason is that you are preventing antibiotics to help your body to fight with the ilness. Little amount of alcohol can not harm you but with all medication you should avoid drinking alcohol while on drugs.Health Question & Answer

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Mixing alcohol and ANY kind of medicine can kill you if you're not careful enough.

Drinking a little alcohol when taking any meds will cause some physical harm that is not even worth it.

The only medicine safe while drinking is the birth control pill.Health Question & Answer

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You don't have to avoid it.It doesn't really effect the drug, but alcohol can slow down your recovery (cause alcohol lowers your energy.)

So I wouldn't recommend it. Health Question & Answer

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yes, it doesn't harm you but it does stop the antibiotics working.
If you're paying

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