Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Help antibiotics

March 6, 2014 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Ralf Berg

Hello, I have been taking metronidazole 400 in the morning and evening and clarithromycin 500 in the morning and evening for 3 days now. I unknowingly drank 3 beers this evening and now I feel sick and have vomited. I'm not feeling great, should I be worried? I'm scared now because I still feel nauseous and a bit shaky. What can I do?

Dr. med. Ralf Berg

Hello,
what can you do: first of all, stop drinking beer "unconsciously", it's too bad, you don't get anything out of it......

but joking aside:
The combination of antibiotics you are taking is often used for infections in the genital area or intestines. It is very effective, but can cause gastrointestinal side effects (such as vomiting or diarrhea) even without alcohol consumption.
Of course, beer could have triggered your not so great condition in combination with the pills.
However, you don't need to worry. You should consider taking at least the clarithromycin again if vomiting and pill intake are less than 1 hour apart, just to prevent the antibiotic level from dropping too much.
What you can do for your stomach is: apply a hot water bottle, fast for 7-8 hours, drink warm herbal tea slowly. If you have Paspertin/MCP drops or tablets in your medicine cabinet, you can take them for nausea.
Most likely, it will get better on its own.
You don't need to worry too much tonight.
With best regards, Dr. R. Berg