Antibiotics are messing with my system. Has anyone else expe

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.