Antibiotics are messing with my system. Has anyone else expe

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sugarbeans
sugarbeans Posts: 676 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Last week I did something stupid, left it alone until I couldn't walk due to the pain. On Sunday I had to go in and get very minor surgery done but I was prescribed an antibiotic to fight the infection =(

The antibiotic has been derived from mold and holy crap it smells but this is minor, everytime I take them my stomach feels like someone is using my stomach as a punching bag, or perhaps a soccer game. Severe pain!!! I am constantly bloated to the point I look like I'm having twins, I feel like I will also hurl but can't, headaches and just grumpy. Apparently these are all side effects and some have suggested to just stop taking them.

Went to the Dr's to see if I could take something different as well as to see if I was having a minor allergic reaction I'm not. I am just so frustrated right now, I can't work out and I am so tempted to just say to heck with the drugs!! I am seriously ready to just take probiotics and fight off the infection that way.

Sorry for the rant but I am gaining weight and I feel like I am getting off track due to this stupid situation.

Do antibiotics mess up anyone else or am I just sensitive?

Replies

  • gimedatnow
    gimedatnow Posts: 173 Member
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    I've totally been there, and trust me, it's better to stay on the antibiotics and kick this sickness early than try to go the natural route and stay sick even longer (or risk getting worse!). I had to be on/off antibiotics for a better part of 6 months in high school due to a serious dermal illness (so gross), and yup, I had all the symptoms you're describing, plus some others: bloating, headaches, mild nausea, lightheadedness and just overall feelings of gross-ness. I was on erythromycin for most of the time, although I think I started out on a different antibiotic.

    Depending on your medication, these symptoms may be relatively common. If you're concerned though or the side effects are really terrible, you should visit your doctor though, just in case.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I feel like ALL medications make me sick - from antibiotics to pain medication. However, if they gave you the antibiotics, please take them. I know that some of them are harder on our systems than other ones - is there anyway you could call back and ask for one that is just a little easier on the system?

    I don't have much advice -- just sympathy.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    Take with food. Last week I was on antibiotics. I forgot to eat one morning with it and I was dry heaving within 30 minutes. The insert with the medication said not to eat, but the pharmacist warned me that I needed to eat a little something right before taking them. So I listen to the pharmacist now! It's odd, but I also gained 2 pounds that week, but I lost it all a couple of days after I took the last one. Good luck! I've felt your pain! :sick:

    ETA: Probiotics WILL NOT fight your infection. They are NOT the same as antibiotics.
  • sugarbeans
    sugarbeans Posts: 676 Member
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    I have been taking them with food, man I would hate to see what I'd feel if I didn't and I did go back to the doctor's for a dressing change and told him the symptoms he just said to still take them that they were the best ones for what I have. =(
    Oh well 3 days down 7 more to go and I guess I will just have to suck it up.

    So frustrating but not much I can do about it. I just keep telling myself when I finish them I will drop 10lbs cause I swear I feel like i'm retaining that much water. lol
  • cawood2
    cawood2 Posts: 177 Member
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    That sucks that you can't take another one.. I had a bad sinus infection, and the antibiotics I got gave me the worst nausea- to the point that I couldn't function, I felt so bad all I could do was cry. Luckily they were able to give me some others, but I can sympathize. Hope things get better soon!
  • Tree72
    Tree72 Posts: 942 Member
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    I haven't dealt with this myself, but I've watched my roommate deal with it. She got a slow-growing bacteria through a minor cut on her skin and had to take antibiotics 3 times a day for six months (after being hospitalized and on IV antibiotics for a week). They can really do a number on your digestion. She did lose 35 pounds during those months, but not at all in a healthy way.

    There were a couple of things that helped her. Take pro biotic capsules daily. This will help replenish the good bacteria in your gut that the antibiotics are killing. Try to time it so that you take them at least an hour or two after taking your antibiotics, or several hours before, depending on what time(s) of day you have to take them. She also found some ginger hard candies that are designed to help settle your stomach that made her nausea more bearable. The ones she got are by The Ginger People, and are marketed to travelers to help settle motion sickness. (I found them at Spec's locally, though I think I've also seen them in World Market.)

    Please do stick with your antibiotics for the full course. It's not any fun, but it's much better to just get it over with than risk having to take another course of them or worse. Hope you are feeling better soon.
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
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    We think our little boy suffered with this. Having had an ear infection and some antibiotics, he suddenly started refusing to go to toilet, and, to cut a long story short, ended up with rectal prolapses. It was the doctor who suggested the connection, and she also told us antibiotics normally only reduce an ear infection by 2 days. So, with minor conditions, we won't be going the antibiotic route any more.

    In Japan, where my husband is from, you are normally given medicine to help your stomach cope with the antibiotics. I had so many tablets each time I was ill there, but I still always needed a second course of antibiotics.
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
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    yep I have to have carbs with my antibiotics or I get awful cramping. eat a piece of bread or a bagel before. Never take them on an empty tummy and run the full 7 or 11 day course even once you start feeling better,
  • katrinamaile
    katrinamaile Posts: 2
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    Okay, so I'm a total dork: The reason that you are experiencing fatigue, nausea, irritability, etc. is because the antibiotics you're taking, while effectively knocking out your horrible infection, are also taking a toll on is because the helpful bacteria living in your digestive tract and helping you break down all your goodies. The reason for this is they have very similar DNA to the ones that tried to kill you. Also suffering is the population of mitochondria in all of your cells ((they are actually not technically part of the human makeup because they have DNA like primordial cyanobacteria: why they die on antibiotics)), but the symbiotic relationship between us and them is so intimate that we could not survive five minutes without them! They produce ALL of our energy. This is why you're tired and grumpy.

    *It's totally normal* and within a few days to a week after you finish your 'script, you WILL lose all that water weight, get your energy back, and feel back to normal. Now, it's not magic and may take a day or two longer than you like, but for god's sake, DO NOT STOP TAKING A COURSE OF ANTIBIOTICS FOR ANY REASON. The ONLY exception to that rule is if you have been instructed to do so by your Doc. When people don't finish courses of antibiotics, they run the risk of training the strain of bacteria to become resistant to that medication (which is horribly dangerous for everyone around you: Google MRSA). If you don't kill it right the first time, it will come back stronger and meaner, and you may end up having to hang out in a hospital for a few weeks hooked up to IV antibiotics like that room mate in the previous post. Trust me: Deal with the nausea, and worry about getting better for a few days and forget the weight. You can work on that once you're better.

    The antibiotics are the ONLY thing that will wipe out an infection as serious as you mentioned. If you are feeling terrible, be thankful you're still feeling. Take the probiotics to REPLACE the helpful ones that are being damaged. This will help you feel normal faster, but as was mentioned in another previous post: probiotics do not fight infections. You take them *while* you're taking antibiotics, not *instead* of them.

    Feel better soon. Trust your doctor: He wouldn't put you through this unless it was absolutely necessary.

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