I just took my first antibiotic in over 40 years.

Ugh. I’ve had this upper-respiratory nasty crud for two weeks. Coughing up crud, sneezing out crud. Ribs and throat hurt from coughing so much. I’ve been using my Advair inhaler, Mucinex-D, my sister’s nebulizer, to no avail. Finally I called the doctor’s office and they called in a prescription for antibiotics and prednisone.

The last time I took an antibiotic was probably before I turned 10. That’s pretty much when I stopped telling my parents when I felt sick. Can I expect any side effects?

StG

You may get some stomach upset and diarrhea because the antibiotics also kill bacteria in your gut. I’ve found some combination of live culture yogurt, acidophilus, and Kefir (should be available at any decent-sized grocery store) to be helpful with that. Taking it with food may also help, though it depends on the antibiotic. I was barely fazed by azithromycin, but clindamycin was a tool of the devil, absolutely nuclear heartburn if I didn’t take it with crackers.