What Happens When You Take Antibiotics With Alcohol?

What Happens When You Take Antibiotics With Alcohol?
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You know how your doctor's all, "Don't drink while you're on this medication I just prescribed you!" and you're all, "What? Don't be such a buzzkill, Dr. Loser!" and then you go pound three Mike's Hard Lemonades at your friend's party? Well, turns out that might not be such a good idea. To find out the dangers involved in consuming alcohol whilst on antibiotics, we consulted with Dr. Ana Blohm from Sherpaa.

[Editor's Note: We asked Dr. Blohm what happens to your body in the context of having a few drinks while you're taking antibiotics -- not drinking so much you toss your cookies and the antibiotics you were prescribed, which is a different scenario entirely.]

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The drugs you're taking might not work
Because every person reading this is a beautiful snowflake (i.e. our bodies are all different), the effects antibiotics will have on you when you're boozing depend entirely on the antibiotic and how much you drink regularly. But generally, Dr. Blohm says that when medication and booze combine, it can interact and cause "unwanted complications."

One complication is that it makes "the antibiotics less effective in treating the infection it was intended to treat." So while booze might make you forget you have chlamydia, it might also reduce your chances of the medicine getting rid of it.

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