Hey guys,
Hey guys welcome back today i wanted to go over why drinking alcohol while taking metronidazole an antibiotic is a very bad idea and why people feel like crap when they do so so quickly let’s go over alcohol metabolism ethanol is what’s in our alcoholic beverages it’s also used in hand sanitizer to kill kovat 19 which is crazy go figure ethanol gets broken down into
Acetaldehyde acetaldehyde and these arrows represent enzymes acetaldehyde then gets broken down into acetate and then acetate can basically get used to produce energy in our cells but the big enzyme we’re gonna be working on in this video is over here and it’s what’s responsible for breaking down acetaldehyde into acetate and it is called aldehyde dehydrogenase and
It’s a very cool enzyme this is all done in your liver and it’s responsible for breaking down acid hot acid aldehyde into acetate well what’s important with this enzyme and why we’re emphasizing it in this video is it’s actually not ethanol that makes you feel like crap it’s acetaldehyde that makes you feel like crap it’s toxic it’s highly toxic right everyone knows
This who’s had a hangover or seen someone with a hangover right nausea vomiting headache you know we talked about it one of my other videos the fear that’s a little different but it can partially be related to that the headache also can just be from the fact that alcohol is a diuretic so you just your your brain literally doesn’t float as well as it normally does
Because of how much fluid you lose but why this is important you guys aldehyde dehydrogenase is the enzyme that is responsible for taking a toxic metabolite and converting it into something that’s not toxic for your body so it’s a great enzyme it’s found in your liver well what’s interesting there are some people there is a medication called disulfiram or antabuse
Which some people and i have seen them in the clinic they are actually court-ordered to take this if they’ve had multiple duis die soul fury am antabuse is its brand name and what this does is this medication is used to deter people from alcohol right it helps with alcoholism well what it does is it goes over here and it puts a break on aldehyde dehydrogenase
Well if you can’t break down acetaldehyde into acetate you’re gonna have an increased buildup of the toxic metabolite right so obviously you’re not going to want to drink because you’re gonna feel like absolute crap that’s what antabuse does well it turns out metronidazole actually works in a similar manner in that it is a disulfiram like reaction it actually
Works by inhibiting this enzyme as well so people who are taking metronidazole for like giardia or a lot of people take it for like diverticulitis a lot of women take it for like bacterial vaginosis it’s actually found in a gel form it’s a very common medication it’s a cool antibiotic but one of the side effects is it does work on this enzyme so you’re just gonna
Have a toxic buildup of acetaldehyde if you drink on it and basically feel like crap because it’s not ethical that makes you feel like garbage it’s the acetaldehyde and notice how it’s part of this step right here that you gotta break this down into acetate which is not as harmful so it basically works in a similar mechanism as antabuse which is what they give for
Alcoholism some people literally or court-ordered to take it it’s pretty crazy i haven’t seen too many patients take it but i have seen enough so you guys that’s quickly alcohol metabolism in a nutshell in your liver and why metronidazole is a bad idea it’s a bad idea to drink alcohol if you’re taking metronidazole at the same time alright guys have a good one okay
Transcribed from video
Why is drinking alcohol while taking Metronidazole (an antibiotic) a bad idea? By Elliot Coughlin