Alcohol & Penicillin

Hey guys, I was delivering leaflets for some guy door to door today, and almost lost 3 fingers to a vicious dog, so my hands a bit wrecked at the mo and anyway i've been given these Penicillin things in tablet form and told to take them for a week. I've been told not to drink alcohol while i'm taking them, but I planned on a night out this Friday. How serious is it to drink whilst on them? Should I do it anyway or observe the rules? Hehe.

Thanks for any help. :smile:

Reply 1

Agony Aunt

11

I don't think anything major will happen if you mix pennicilin and alcohol, however don't over do it. The only thing that could happen is that the drugs won't have any effect on you so therefore it will take longer for you to recover. If you really want to drink then make sure it's a one-off.

Reply 2

pharmgirl

12

Ther is no interaction between alcohol and penicillin. Only danger is if you get so drunk you barf and lose the tablet, then it wont have an effect. Or the antibiotic might cause stomach irritation or diarrhoea, which could be aggravated by alcohol. Certainly a bit of a myth though, as the only antibiotic that has a specific pharmacological interaction with alcohol is metronidazole.

Reply 3

hallowsfanatic

I was on antibiotics last week as I had both a chest and throat infection and I went out. Problem was my throat was so sore, it was taking me so long to drink every drink, so it was hardly worth it.

Just be careful, I was on antibiotics when my football team won the league last year and I induced a lot of alcohol, and it wasn't the best combination as I remember very very little about that night...

Take it easy with the drink, a few is fine just don't go on an all and all out binge :smile:

Reply 4

pharmgirl

12

True, what would be the pleasure if you are ill anyway? Having said that the antibiotics shouldnt make you drunker or more sleepy. But being ill in the first place will make it feel like that. Sounds like you need to take a rest if you are ill anyway.... sounds like you've had a dog-dgy week.

EDIT: Actually if its a dog bite am I right in saying its flucloxacillin you are on? if so, you need to take it on an empty stomach for it to work. Now I'm putting my BNF away.

Reply 5

Joric

I think that we should heed Doctor's advice.

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

Technically speaking, should you be asking anyone on this for advice about what to do when you have seen a professional who has told you not to?

Reply 7

loopymeg

13

I've had 3 courses of antibiotics over the past 2 months so I'll say that it's not that hard to avoid alcohol when you're on medication. I certainly wouldn't advise going against what you've been told by your Doctor.
You don't need alcohol to have a good time, so just finish the course and then you can get back to the drinking.

Reply 8

Revd. Mike

17

Ther is a very pervasive myth that mixing alcohol and antibiotics will make you ill/stop the antibiotics working. This is not true, unless you're taking metronidazle, which can have reactions similar to a drug called disulfiram given to alcoholics, which makes you violently sick on ingestion of alcohol.

If you take antibiotics, they may possibly irritate your stomach or give you diarrhoea, alcohol might make that worse. Other than that, there is no contraindication.

The amount of times this question has come up is unreal.

Reply 9

danesh

oooh disulfiram, thats some nasty ****e! They have actually stopped prescribing it in most cases as it is seen as a form of cruelty/abuse!

Reply 10

Breee

1

no you souldn't Hello? you've been told not to,. why risk it? you never know how your body's gonna react

Reply 11

Revd. Mike

17

danesh

oooh disulfiram, thats some nasty ****e! They have actually stopped prescribing it in most cases as it is seen as a form of cruelty/abuse!

I had heard about that, it does sound pretty awful. I am tempted to aquire some on the sly and slip some to a couple of people I know in 6th form who constantly brag about how wasted they got the other night, and how they can drink 15 pints "wihtout feeling a thing" and so on :rolleyes:

Reply 12

danesh

yeah i always thought that would be a great plan! It would certainly put them in their place: "so, i hear you can drink x number of pints" "yeah so what?" "Try this, ill pay you 5£ if you can finish these drinks :p:

"

Reply 13

masterofpuppets

OP

Cheers for the replies guys, i'm not exactly "sick" its just trying to make sure I don't develop rabies or something I guess, anyway I've got everyone to go next week instead now so it's all gurd because I should be off em by next Thursday.

Thanks again!

Alcohol & Penicillin

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