Title: What's the Real Deal With Drinking on Antibiotics? | Glamour
Headings: What's the Real Deal With Drinking on Antibiotics?
What's the Real Deal With Drinking on Antibiotics?
Content: Most antibiotics are metabolized or broken down by enzymes in your liver. “ Drinking alcohol may speed up or slow down these enzymes, resulting in too much or too little of the drug circulating through the body, causing either toxicity or ineffectiveness,” says Mayo. Drinking can also ratchet up the negative side effects of the drugs. Common side effects of antibiotics are nausea, diarrhea, and sometimes dizziness or drowsiness. Rashes can also occur if the person taking the antibiotic is exposed to an excessive amount of sunlight. A few varieties of antibiotics, when combined with booze, cause severe nausea, vomiting, and bright red flushing of the skin, explains Mayo. “ You should not drink any alcohol while on trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, metronidazole or tinadazol, as it can cause flushing of the skin, palpitations or heart racing, vomiting diarrhea and headache,” says Margarita Rohr, M.D., clinical instructor in the Department of Medicine at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at NYU Langone Medical Center. “ Certain antibiotics may also cause hepatitis, which is inflammation of the liver, so it would not be a good idea to add another agent like alcohol that may also cause inflammation of the liver,” says Rohr. Drinking while on antibiotics can also heighten the effects of the alcohol, explains Rohr. “ It can increase feelings of lightheadedness and drowsiness,” she says.