Alcohol + Flagyl = ?Death, Can metronidazole and alcohol kill you? What happens if you drink alcohol with metronidazole?
Many Medical practitioners always tell you, NEVER take Flagyl & Alcohol together within 3 days (72 hours) apart but Never give you a concrete reason.
So it’s my duty as an #AprököPharmacist to disclose the Chemistry behind it.
Flagyl (Metro) itself is an Alcohol with Nitrogens attached to it.
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2-(2-Methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl) ETHANOL
The added moieties to the alcohol makes it effective on certain infections.
(Quick Remainder that Alcohol can be used as Sanitizer against microbes)
Drugs generally have side effects but those side effects become more pronounced when used with certain medications.
Now in the case of Flagyl, it can cause Disulfiram reactions especially when used together or few hours apart with Alcohol.
What’s a Disulfiram reaction?
Disulfiram reactions mimic hangover-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, flushing, dizziness, throbbing headache, chest and abdominal discomfort.
Those symptoms you get from alcohol OVERDOSE when clubbing.
Why is this So?
Flagyl itself has an Alcohol functional group hence, it possess some alcoholic symptoms whenever you are combined with another (Ethanol).
What’s Disulfiram?
Disulfiram is a drug used in treatment of chronic alcoholism by producing an acute sensitivity to ethanol.
which results in a highly unpleasant reaction when the patient under treatment ingests even small amounts of alcohol.
These unpleasant reactions include headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, blurred vision, confusion and sweating.
With such reactions, they tends to stop
Flagyl blocks the effects of this Alcohol dehydrogenase (the enzymes that metabolises Alcohol).
As a result, a person on Flagyl cannot fully digest alcohol abd drinking can cause the toxic acetaldehyde to build up in the bloodstream.
Because of this, people who drink alcohol while taking Flagyl may experience a disulfiram-like reaction.
So please, NEVER take Flagyl and Alcohol together within 3 days.
I repeat, NEVER take Flagyl and Alcohol together within 3 days.
I’m still begging you all, NEVER take Flagyl & Alcohol together within 3 days.
Credit:
Aproko Pharmacist
