However, calcium supplements or calcium-fortified foods can both bind to Levaquin, making it less effective. Foods like dairy products and fortified juices and cereals that contain minerals such as calcium, iron and zinc can interfere with how well Levaquin (levofloxacin) works. You should also avoid taking Levaquin with alcohol, as its effects can increase, causing dizziness and impaired judgement. 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. If you choose to drink alcohol while taking an antibiotic, check on the safety with your doctor or pharmacist first.
Common side effects
However, a person should always consult a doctor before doing this. A person should speak with a healthcare professional if they have concerns about alcohol consumption and antibiotics. Doctors use oxazolidinones to treat abdominal, skin, lung, and urinary tract infections. Although nausea is a common side effect of both antibiotics and alcohol, not all people will experience this when using both at the same time.
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco. The Mayo Clinic states that using alcohol or tobacco with Levaquin may cause interactions to occur 35.
Does alcohol affect how well an antibiotic will work?
- The CDC describes binge drinking as consuming four drinks for women and five drinks for men on a single occasion.
- Metronidazole is a nitroimidazole antibiotic that doctors prescribe to treat abdominal infections, sexually transmitted infections, and other anaerobic bacteria-related infections.
- Note that this list is not all-inclusive and includes only common medications that may interact with levofloxacin.
- By Lauren Panoff, MPH, RDPanoff is a registered dietician, writer, and speaker with over a decade of experience specializing in the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.
- However, this medicine will not work for colds, flu, or other virus infections.
Avoiding alcohol entirely during treatment will help a person avoid discomfort and other more serious consequences. Levofloxacin is used to treat bacterial infections in many different parts of the body. It is also used to treat anthrax infection after inhalational exposure. Levofloxacin is also used to treat and prevent plague (including pneumonic and septicemic plague). It can weaken your immune system, prolong infection recovery, increase side effects like dizziness and drowsiness, and burden your liver, which processes alcohol and Levofloxacin.
Is it OK to drink alcohol while taking antibiotics?
Alcohol can affect this antibiotic, and it may be less effective for people with a history of excessive drinking or those with alcohol use disorder (AUD). This article discusses the risks of mixing antibiotics and alcohol. Although the risks of consuming alcohol may be lower with some types of antibiotics than others, it is still advisable to avoid alcohol intake while taking any antibiotics.
Keep in mind that some cold medicines and mouthwashes also have alcohol. See the Drugs.com Drug Interactions Checker to review drug combinations which may lead to serious interactions. Disulfiram-like reaction which may include abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headaches, flushing, sweating, fast heart rate or more severe reactions. Note that this list is not all-inclusive and includes only common medications that may interact with levofloxacin.
Although an occasional drink is safe with sulfonamides, healthcare professionals should exercise caution when prescribing trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole to people who drink alcohol regularly. 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. Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or can alcohol affect the gallbladder any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals.
This medicine may increase your risk for aortic aneurysm (bulge in the wall of the largest artery). Check with your doctor right away if you have sudden chest, stomach, or back pain, trouble breathing, cough, or hoarseness. Using this medicine ecstasy and weed with any of the following medicines is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with this medication or change some of the other medicines you take.
According to a study published in March 2014 in Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, calcium found in supplements can decrease the effectiveness of Levaquin. May occur with some other cephalosporin antibiotics, check with your doctor or pharmacist. Disulfiram-like reaction which may include abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headaches, flushing, or rarely more serious reactions. You should also avoid the use of alcohol while being treated with linezolid due to increased risk of CNS side effects.
Response and effectiveness
If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so. Appropriate studies performed to date have not demonstrated geriatric-specific problems that would limit the usefulness of levofloxacin in the elderly. So if you eat or drink large quantities of dairy or other foods that contain added or large amounts of natural calcium, the extra calcium may cause Levaquin to work less effectively. You should also avoid taking Levaquin with milk or other dairy products.
Nitroimidazoles, including metronidazole, tinidazole, and secnidazole, are often used for parasitic or anaerobic bacterial infections. A healthcare provider may prescribe one of several types of antibiotics, depending on the infection and your health history. When prescribing antibiotics, a healthcare provider often will discuss whether it’s OK to consume alcohol while taking them. A person should always consult a doctor before mixing alcohol and antibiotics, as some potential side effects can be dangerous. A person may be able to drink alcohol in moderation and with caution while they are taking some types of antibiotics.
Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine. If you need to take this medicine for anthrax infection or plague, your doctor will want you to begin taking it as soon as possible after you are exposed to anthrax or bacteria causing the plague. This medicine works best when there is a constant amount in the blood. Also, salvia dosage chart it is best to take the doses at evenly spaced times, day and night. For example, if you are to take one dose a day, try to take it at the same time each day.