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Does drinking alcohol make it harder to recover from the flu?

Did you know that drinking alcohol while you have a cold, flu, or other virus can weaken the body’s ability to fight viral infection?

 Drinking enough alcohol to get impaired or drunk is enough to cause weaknesses in the immune system. When you drink enough to get drunk, you are also producing nutrition deficiency. This will weaken your immune system. Additionally, the consumption of alcohol impairs the function of B-lymphocytes, which produce antibodies in the blood. These antibodies ward off viruses and other diseases that may attack the body, as well as compromising your immune system, making it difficult for your body to fight off the cold virus. This may result in prolonged illness or the possibility of the cold manifesting into a more serious condition.

Not only is alcohol ineffective at killing cold and flu viruses, it can actually have detrimental effects that may worsen the symptoms of the common cold or flu. Alcohol dehydrates the body, slowing down other bodily reactions and weakening the immune system. Additionally, alcohol may conflict with other medications, giving rise to serious complications. The bottom line is that any alcoholic beverage should be avoided when you’re sick.

A Dangerous Mix/Alcohol and over the counter cold remedies

Ingesting alcohol while taking OTC cold remedies has dangerous consequences. Cold medications that contain alcohol, antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine and dextromethorphan cough suppressants already have a sedating effect. Couple this with the ingestion of additional amounts of alcohol and sedation intensifies. The University of Southern California reports that combining alcohol and cold medications that contain acetaminophen, ibuprofen or naproxen has toxic effects on the liver and may also irritate the lining of the stomach.

Stay well, stay healthy and make healthy choices!

References: http://www.livestrong.com/article/26085-alcohol-affect-immune-system/#ixzz2JYxOba3T

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001698/

http://www.healthonlinezine.info/alcohol-weaken-body%E2%80%99s-ability-to-fight-viral-infections.html

http://www.contac.com/myths-about-cold-and-flu/drinking-a-hot-toddy-or-brandy-is-a-good-remedy-for-treating-a-cold-or-flu

New research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Immunology

 

Alcohol is known to worsen the effects of disease, resulting in longer recovery period after trauma, injury or burns. It is also known to impair the anti-viral immune response, especially in the liver, including response against Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Immunology shows that alcohol modulates the anti-viral and inflammatory functions of monocytes and that prolonged alcohol consumption has a double negative effect of reducing the anti-viral effect of Type 1 interferon (IFN) whilst increasing inflammation via the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School looked at the effect of alcohol on monocytes collected from the blood of healthy volunteers.  Prof Szabo said, "Alcohol has a profound effect of inhibiting IFN production in monocytes regardless of whether the danger signal is intracellular (TLR8) or surface-derived (TLR4). Such a reduction would impair the body's ability to fight off infection. Additionally, the fact that Type I IFN production is depressed despite increased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNFα, due to chronic alcohol exposure suggests that prolonged alcohol must change the immune balance of monocyte activation and impair host response to single-stranded virus infection like hepatitis C."

 

The flu vaccine is your friend!

Although getting the flu vaccine is not a guarantee that you will not experience influenza, it does decrease your chances greatly.  Want more information about what the vaccine actually does?  Here’s some information from WebMD:

How does the flu shot or influenza vaccine work to prevent flu?

Flu shots and the nasal flu vaccine work by causing antibodies to develop in your body. These antibodies provide protection against infection from the flu virus. This antibody reaction may cause fatigue and muscle aches in some people.

Remember that the flu vaccine cannot cause the flu. Sometimes people who get vaccinated during flu season catch the flu in the two weeks before the vaccine has a chance to work. While it's human nature to see a link between the two events, there's no medical evidence that flu vaccines cause flu or make people susceptible to flu. And even though flu vaccines are not 100% effective -- vaccinated people sometimes get flu infections -- vaccinated people almost always have milder flu than people who weren't vaccinated.

Each year, the flu vaccine contains several different kinds of the virus. The strains chosen are the ones that researchers say are most likely to show up that year.

What are some flu shot side effects?

You can experience soreness and/or swelling in your arm after getting a flu shot.

Some people have cold-like symptoms, including sniffles, headache, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and body aches for a day or two after getting the flu shot. In some cases, you may also experience a low-grade fever.

Serious side effects from the flu vaccine are very rare. If they do occur, it's within a few minutes to a few hours after getting the shot. 

It is important to note that the benefits of getting a flu shot far outweigh the risk of flu shot side effects.

Who should talk to their doctor before getting a flu shot?

According to the CDC, you should talk to your doctor before getting a flu shot or influenza vaccine if:

• You have had an allergic reaction to a flu shot in the past
• You have an allergy to eggs, as the influenza vaccine is grown in eggs. People with a severe egg allergy should not get the flu vaccine.
• You have previously had Guillain-Barre syndrome. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system.
• You are ill. If you have a fever, talk to your health care provider about getting the shot later. If you have a mild illness with no fever, it's OK to get a flu shot.

There will be limited quantities of shot vaccines available in Health Services by the end of the week. (We do not have nasal vaccines.)  Also, you can call around to local pharmacies, Target, etc. to see who has doses in stock.  In the meantime, be well!