I believe that many people know that it is generally not allowed to drink alcohol after taking medicine, especially some antibiotics and other drugs. If you drink alcohol after taking these drugs, it may cause discomfort or even harm your life. Then, as a common antibiotic, can you drink alcohol after taking roxithromycin? Let’s take a look together below to see if you can drink alcohol after taking roxithromycin.

Roxithromycin is a type of antibiotic, belonging to the macrolide class. It is best not to drink alcohol when taking antibiotic drugs. Because alcohol is already bad for the liver, and many antibiotics also have some effects on the kidneys, drinking alcohol after taking such drugs will increase the burden on the liver.

There is no big problem if you drink a small amount of alcohol after taking roxithromycin, because roxithromycin is not one of the drugs that can cause a disulfiram-like reaction with alcohol, in other words, it is not easy to cause nausea, dizziness, or even acute heart failure. However, it is also recommended that everyone not drink alcohol, as this may affect the efficacy of the drug. Disulfiram is a drug that requires alcohol abstinence, and after taking the drug, even a small amount of alcohol can cause severe discomfort in the body, achieving the purpose of alcohol abstinence. The mechanism of disulfiram is that when used with alcohol, it can inhibit the aldehyde dehydrogenase in the liver, so that alcohol cannot be further oxidized into hydrogen bromide after being oxidized in the body, and cannot be re-oxidized, causing an accumulation of hydrogen bromide in the body and causing a series of reactions.

Roxithromycin is used for infections caused by sensitive bacterial species, especially respiratory infections, lower respiratory tract infections, otolaryngological infections, and skin infections (except for chlamydial infections). The main indications of roxithromycin are infections of the ear, nose, throat, respiratory system, reproductive system, and skin caused by sensitive bacteria. The treatment rate for lower respiratory tract infections including pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae is 78% to 100%, and the bacterial clearance rate reaches 91% to 95%. The efficacy of acute and chronic non-chlamydial urethritis is similar to that of doxycycline hydrochloride, and the bacterial clearance rate reaches 86% to 100%. The efficacy for pediatric infections and skin and soft tissue infections is similar to that of other macrolides.

It is widely understood that there is an immediate association between taking medicine and drinking alcohol. Although drugs always have certain reactions and side effects, we must prevent them as much as possible. The damage to the human body caused by drinking alcohol is much greater than that of drug side effects, and everyone should try to avoid alcohol to prevent harm to themselves and their families.