title_body: Myths and truths about alcohol and antibiotics
upvoted_answer: QI provides the answer: with a few exceptions (where it will make you vomit) it is perfectly safe to drink alcohol whilst taking antibiotics.
  
  
    Apart from some special circumstances, it is on the whole OK to drink while on antibiotics. The reason why people think that you should not is that when antibiotics was first being used it was to cure syphilis. The patients would still be infectious for the first week, so were told not to drink because they were more likely to have sex while drunk. This has since passed down and has become a "tradition" in a way. The main reason that people are told not to drink when on antibiotics is because doctors prefer people not to drink because it is better for them. However, the are some antibiotics like Flagyl which will make you vomit if you take them with alcohol.
  
  
  ref: Transcript for QI episode 8.10: "health and safety"