December 30, 2015 20:53 First posted on Weibo New Year’s Day has arrived and the holiday mode for friends is about to start again. Every holiday, friends and family get together, a few glasses of wine is inevitable. But do you know? After using cephalosporins, it is not possible to drink alcohol! One year, I was on duty in the emergency room on the Fourth of July. The emergency room was particularly busy on the holiday, with a steady stream of intoxicated people, acute myocardial infarction patients, people with suddenly elevated blood pressure, and stroke patients …… until 7 or 8 o’clock at night, when I could finally get off work. I was about to change clothes, suddenly the phone rang, must be Xiao Zhao and Lao Zhao at home waiting for anxious. I thought while connecting the phone, the microphone came from the landlord Ma aunt’s choking voice: “Liu ah, you must help me! The old horse he, he can not ……” “Where is the person?” “In your emergency room.” “I’ll be right there.” Once downstairs, I saw Aunt Ma standing by the elevator with her hands and feet, full of panic, with blood on her face, hands and clothes. From the intermittent narrative of Aunt Ma learned that the original Ma and the old couple went to drink wedding wine at night, the Ma just drank two cups, and suddenly fell head first, only to see the Ma red face, breathing rapidly, blurred …… panic, Aunt Ma also cut the skin, bleeding a lot. I calmed Aunt Ma while rushing to the emergency room. The colleagues on duty told me (the non-medical background in blue can be ignored) that the blood pressure of Ma’s grandfather was 80/50mmHg, the ECG suggested sinus tachycardia, no other abnormalities such as myocardial infarction, myocardial enzyme profile, troponin, blood sugar, electrolytes, routine blood, blood gas analysis, D-dimer and cranial CT were not found to be abnormal. The initial judgment was that it might be a “disulfiram reaction”. I asked Aunt Ma: “Is Master Ma catching a cold and has he used cephalosporin?” Aunt Ma’s head shook like a drum: “No head bag, no head bag. He is a little uncomfortable these days, ate several days of anti-inflammatory drugs are not good, the morning to the health clinic downstairs, said “purulent tonsillitis” (Master Ma or Sister Li?) I went to the health clinic downstairs and said it was “septic tonsillitis” (is it Mr. Ma or Ms. Li?) and gave the water. That’s right! The “cephalosporin” is often said to be one of the “anti-inflammatory drugs”, since the health clinic confirmed that Master Ma is suffering from ‘purulent tonsillitis'”, according to the The doctor’s office confirmed that Mr. Ma was suffering from “purulent tonsillitis”, according to the treatment routine, should be given “cephalosporin” type of intravenous injection, so basically can be diagnosed as “disulfiram reaction”. “Disulfiram reaction”, also known as “withdrawal sulfur reaction”, is a toxic reaction caused by the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the body due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages (food) after the application of drugs (mainly cephalosporins). “This is a toxic reaction that causes facial flushing, headache, abdominal pain, sweating, palpitations, breathing difficulties and other symptoms. Master Ma’s case is not too serious, given general infusion, maintenance of blood pressure and other treatment, the condition gradually remitted. However, there are serious cases with respiratory depression, acute heart failure and convulsions occurring. If there is a combination of hypertension, coronary heart disease and cerebral infarction, it can even lead to death. New Year’s Day and Spring Festival are coming up, and it is difficult to avoid visiting friends and relatives and having banquets. I would like to remind you that you should not drink alcohol during the use of cephalosporin antibiotics for cold and fever and within 5~7 days after stopping the medication! Not only all kinds of alcohol, but also drugs, food and drinks containing alcohol (ethanol), such as patchouli water, hydrocortisone injection, wine core sugar, etc., should be avoided. In particular, patients with cardiovascular disease, liver and kidney insufficiency, the elderly and frail (some drugs are metabolized slowly in the body) should pay particular attention! In addition to cephalosporins, there are many other drugs, such as nitromidazole (methotrexate), tinidazole, ornidazole, Secnidazole, etc.; other antibacterial drugs such as furazolidone (dysentery), chloramphenicol, ketoconazole, ashwagandha, sulfonamides (sulfamethoxazole), etc., can also cause “disulfiram reaction”. In this way, it seems that during the period of sickness and medication, it is best not to drink alcohol for the time being.