Reach out to a treatment provider for free today for immediate assistance. But if you remember just a few hours before your next scheduled dose, take only one dose. Your risk may be higher if you’re an older adult, have a family history of QT prolongation, have hypokalemia (low blood potassium), or take certain drugs to control your heart rhythm. 500 mg taken every 24 hours for 10–14 days or 750 mg taken every 24 hours for 5 days.

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).

Is it safe to mix alcohol and antibiotics?

Also, 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. This medicine is best taken with a full glass (8 ounces) of water. Several additional glasses of water should be taken every day, unless otherwise directed by your doctor. Drinking extra water will help prevent some unwanted effects of levofloxacin.

However, having a drink while you are taking a course of certain antibiotics might not be a huge deal. This article discusses some key things to consider about this topic. Don’t take this drug again if you’ve ever had an allergic reaction to it.

Levofloxacin : Interaction with Foods, Herbs, Alcohol and Caffeine

It may be that alcohol even enhances the immune response in some of these people compared to non-drinkers. However, it still may be a good idea to give your body a break from drinking while your body recovers from the infection. If you have low blood sugar levels while taking this drug, stop taking it and call your doctor right away. Symptoms can include nausea or vomiting, stomach pain, fever, weakness, and abdominal pain or tenderness. They can also include itching, unusual tiredness, loss of appetite, light-colored bowel movements, dark-colored urine, and yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes.

Because of this, you should always avoid consuming Levaquin and alcohol at the same time. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously published warnings about the effects of fluoroquinolone antibiotics on mental health. Drinking alcohol while taking any kind of fluoroquinolone will increase these risks.In some cases, people have even experienced seizures while taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

Ask a Pharmacist

Despite an FDA warning, we were unable to identify published data that demonstrate an increased risk with concomitant ethambutol and alcohol use. Use of alcohol with griseofulvin should be avoided due to risk of a disulfiram-like reaction, which may be severe. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is used for urinary tract infections and pneumocystis infections (74). Package labeling recommends avoiding alcohol within 72 h of tinidazole due to its chemical similarity to metronidazole, but data to support this concern were not identified (72). Minocycline may attenuate alcohol-mediated toxicity in pregnant mice. Minocycline treatment in the third trimester protected against alcohol-induced neurotoxicity in the developing brain (38).

When the body breaks down alcohol, it produces acetaldehyde, which can cause nausea. Many people taking antibiotics already experience stomach or digestive side effects, and drinking alcohol while on these medications can increase feelings of nausea. In addition to gastrointestinal issues, both alcohol and antibiotics can hinder cognitive function, concentration, and coordination. Due to these factors, sober house it’s best to stay away from alcohol for the duration of antibiotic treatment. Consuming alcohol while taking these drugs can result in severe fatigue, a throbbing headache, dizziness, anxiety, chest pain, and heart palpitations. Alcohol can also worsen digestive side effects and turn into blood or mucus in stool, severe diarrhea, intense stomach cramping or pain, fever, uncontrollable vomiting.

Some of the unpleasant effects you get from alcohol may occur from antibiotics too. When you combine them, you get a double dose of side effects. Levaquin and alcohol can upset your stomach and make you dizzy or drowsy. The same thing happens when you use levofloxacin and alcohol.

These concerns may be responsible for alcohol warnings that accompany many antimicrobials, but what are the data and strength of support for these warnings? The goal of this review was to summarize existing data, which in turn generates insights into the origin of these warnings. This review may also be helpful in assessing a patient who presents with an adverse drug effect which may or may not have been due to an alcohol and antibiotic interaction. If a reaction does occur, this review provides mechanisms and symptom complexes potentially allowing for a more efficient diagnosis. Because chronic alcohol consumption can also weaken the immune system, it’s best to avoid alcohol while your body is fighting an infection.

For example, many antibiotics have potential side effects like stomach irritation or nausea. Obviously, these effects might be heightened if you have too much to drink. Other potential side effects, like headache or dizziness, might also be worse if you drink alcohol. Erymax (erythromycin) is an antibiotic that may cause this, which is one reason health professionals recommend not consuming alcohol while taking it. However, for most antibiotics, we don’t have clear evidence that drinking impairs the antibiotic’s direct effectiveness.

• Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the outpatient setting (2).
• Amoxicillin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid may lead to decreased alcohol consumption.
• Sometimes that’s because studies have shown that wasn’t the case.
• Another concern is that using alcohol with an antibiotic might increase side effects.
• Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections, not viral infections.
• There are specific rules about what you can and cannot consume when you are taking this drug.