My sister, being either very thorough or very bored, watched the entire QI clip that I linked to, and noticed that at 11:04 there’s a bit about antibiotics, sexually transmitted infections, and alcohol. She said I had to write a post about it.
So here.
Lots of people get told by their docs not to drink when they’re on antibiotics for STIs. QI tells us that the reason for this is not medical but behavioral: if you’re on antibiotics for an STI, you really oughta not be having unprotected sex, and getting drunk is maybe not helpful in that. So docs say, “Don’t drink with this antibiotic.”
Except for sometimes.
Allow me to tell you a story that illustrates the kind of relationships I have with my medical providers, as well as memorably reinforcing this idea of NOT drinking with antibiotics.
Several years ago, I was at the doc to get antibiotics for a UTI. I had a DOOZY of an infection, so I was in pretty serious pain while I waited for the test results to confirm the diagnosis. I did not want to chit chat with the doc, but heck I try to be friendly and darn it I talk about vaginas for a living, which is a pretty rare and appealing thing for a medical practitioner. It’s quite common for my doctor visits to take at least twice as long as planned because the provider gets into a conversation with me about birth control, sexual dysfunction, or STIs.
So we got to talking about antibiotics and STIs. Here’s what she told me, while I sat there blinking against the pain and taking deep, cleansing breaths:
DOC: Yeah, if you get the kind of antibiotics that say, ‘Don’t drink alcohol with these,’ take that really seriously. The antibiotics for STDs? Don’t ever drink with those.
ME: Yeah? How come? What happens?
(Here comes the punchline:)
DOC: You will puke up your toes.
A colorful phrase that I pass it on to you, to help you remember not to drink with your antibiotics if the label says not to.
I suffered about 10 extra minutes of UTI pain for that anecdote. You bet your bippy I want to make the most of it.
emily nagoski
6 Responses to “QI, Syphilis, antibiotics, booze”
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Entirely true! I took similar antibiotics once and when wondering aloud why I couldn’t drink with them, a friend immediately launched into the terrifying story of the time she didn’t take the warning seriously, and she vomited so many times that she burst a blood vessel in her face. My pharmacist has also told me that the same rule applies to topical creams that are antibiotics like those––your body is still absorbing the chemicals and it will STILL make you throw up.
They certainly convinced me!
My brother’s a pharmacist and that’s pretty much the guidance he gave me.
You are glorious, Miss Emily. I just found your blog and completely love it. Also, I plan on working in, “puke up your toes” into at least three sentences today.
Wow! I know that’s SO true for metronidazole (seriously, a friend spent an uncomfortable day puking up her toes just from the amount of alcohol in COUGH SYRUP when she was on metronidazole) and now I’m wondering which other antibiotics-given-for-STIs fall into that category.
My mother also warned me from experience about Darvon plus alcohol = puke up your toes, and I’ve discovered that alcohol plus anticonvulsant mood stabilizer = falling down drunk, LITERALLY not figuratively, alas, if I go beyond the ONE drink my prescriber said was okay.
I love how the “don’t combine this with alcohol” warnings don’t specify whether it’s “you will be FALLING DOWN DRUNK, we’re not talking don’t drive or operate heavy machinery, you might want to reconsider WALKING,” or “you will PUKE UP YOUR TOES,” or “you will get LIVER FAILURE AND DIE, no, seriously, IMMINENT DEATH, it’s not worth the risk.” I asked my prescriber to clarify on my mood stabilizer, and she gave a vague warning about “no liver failure, probably, but you might not have a good handle on how drunk you’ll get, ONE drink to be safe.”
I also love how the little warning labels on opiates say “don’t drive or operate heavy machinery,” but never warn “even without alcohol, you could PUKE UP YOUR TOES, if that happens, quit taking this and ask for a different painkiller, mmkay?” So many substances, so many side effects. Boo!